HORSESH*T #$^%$

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
4,981
I' better throw a son of a bitc# in there for good measure too.
Don't you just hate when you get a great idea ( or so you think) and it doesn't work a damn bit.
I got a set of dymond wood slabs to make folder scales out of. Trouble is they only came 3/8" thick. So I'm not looking forward to grinding more than half of them away which is a real waste and will be alot of wear on one of my grinding belts. So I got the idea of ripping it down into 2 peices just over 1/8" thick on my bandsaw. I don't have a rip fence and wasn't sure how to hold the peice against it without cutting off all my fingers anyhow.Then tonight I got the bright idea of making a jig that works off of the miter gauge. So I made a big F shaped jig that holds the slab in between the the shorter legs of the F, and then clamped it to the miter gauge on my saw from the long leg(only screwed that up twice before it was done right, maybe I shouldn't try and make things out of scrap wood thats far from being square or straight).I checked it all with a good square and its straight as an arrow. So this looks like it will work great, I kick the saw on and start the peice forward, the blade starts in and turns left abruptly so that theres no way in hell its going to come back over and cut straight. It was well beyond just a wobbling cut, it was going to come out the side of the slab. And no I wasn't pushing hard(hardly pushing at all) And yes the tension on the blade was as high as possible and all the guides were in place. So now I have 2 options, go buy a 3/8" blade which is the biggest my little toy of a bandsaw will run and try to ruin the slab completely with a second try, or buy a real bandsaw.Or I guess theres a 3rd option which is give up.
My bansaw is a little 8 inch benchtop delta that I got to rough out carvings with. Its great for that, but isn't performing real well at this knifemaking stuff.And I can't get carter guides or anything like that that will fit it. I guess I'll get a 3/8" blade and see if I can ruin some diamond wood.
Any other ideas?
Anyone else having as much good luck as me right now
rolleyes.gif


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It'll feel better when it stops hurting.
 
matt, even 3/8" will be too small of a blade. i use 3/4" blade, but i relise your bandsaw can't use that. one other option is to take your time and handsaw it, just make sure you leave a little room so you can belt sand it perfect.
 
Matt,

I think they make guides/bearings for what you are trying to do. I'm not sure what the proper name is. They are what guide your blade under the table. Huh, did any of that make any sense? Check at your local woodworker tool store.

Later,
Sashcord
confused.gif


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Be alert...the world needs more lerts.
 
Hi I run into stuff like this all the time. One of my first really good lessons in knifemaking was that it would take twice as much material to make a knife as I thought it would. I order lots and do not try to maximize what I can get out of a piece. It helps my sanity and fun. I wish knives where cheap to make but they cost in safty and cash and I hope to get to where I can sell them for what it costs to make and learn for free from then on. Knifemaking will always be about learning for me, once I am happy with a knife, then its time to stop making them.
In this specificc question I would take soem material off with the bandsaw on each scale and just be happy with saving that much wear on your grinder. The cost of knives is belts going to worthless so much faster thatn is fair and you are pulling your hair out over this, instead of being glad you have a fascination to make life sweet. Take a break and you will have alot of ideas that work I promise. Hell thats what keeps me making is the old sterotype lone and brilliant inventor aspect of making knives...I love that Part!
 
Sunfish...you got it goin on. If I had that good of an attitude, I'd probably still have most of my hair!!
Matt...best laid plans of mice and men ain't worth a sh!t when they go wrong. My best advice for you is to keep your fingernails trimmed short so that they don't dig into your skull when you go to pull your hair out. Keep at it, there will be many better days ahead.
Bob
 
hermes a/o 50 g are about 2.50 cents and my sanity is worth more that! i always like thick handle slabes that way you can get even more creative figuring out how to scalup the finger grooves so it all flows together! hang in there your own way will come to mind. i get alot of mine at three a.m. as i roll over in bed.

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Laurence Segal www.RHINOKNIVES.com
 
Yeah have the same damn band saw. Clamp a piece of 1 inch aluuminum angle to the work surface to act as a guide.You can set the blade to cut straight by adjusting the tracking knob in the back cut some 2x2s for practice. Buy 2-3 8 footers you'll need em.
I use a 1\4 inch new blade that hasn't cut anything but wood. Don't even cut brass with it.If you do the blade goes where it wants not where its aimed.
Take Care
TJ Smith
 
This is one of those seemingly simple chores that really call for a pretty darn good level of skill to do neatly. I have a very fine tooth English tenon saw I use for this sort of thing, but only after very carefully laying things out with a square, etc. also I use a small block plane for reducing thickness of stock quite a bit. Lay it out, cut to the line on the edges with a hand chisel, then plane flat.
 
I get chunks of cocobolo from a bud of mine...same problems that you did. I took my next block to a hobby wood store. They resawed it for me for nothing. You might try them.

Will
 
I ran into this problem with some African blackwood. Man, that is some hard stuff! While not very creative, take the easy road like I did, 1/8" micarta
biggrin.gif
.
 
A japanese pull saw will make a very straight cut, with almost no curf. I'm told they cost around $17. They're simple enough that even I can use them, and wood NEVER does what I want. My hacksaw cuts look like topographical maps when I make them on wood, but the two or three cuts I tried with the pull saw were perfectly straight.

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Oz

"Well, I gotta tell ya; I'd be very, very careful who you talk to about that, cause the person who wrote that, is dangerous. And this buttoned down, Oxford cloth psycho might just snap and stalk from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas powered semiautomatic weapon, pumping round after round into colleague and coworker. This could be someone you've known for years. Someone very, very close to you."
http://www.freespeech.org/oz/
 
matt, i just remembered Carter makes a guide called the stabalizer for that, but i donno if it will fit your saw. check through some of your woodworking magazines.
 
Thanks for the tips guys.

Magnum, I've seen those guides too, but as far I can remember they were only supposed to fit *most* 14" bandsaws, which is a far cry form my little benchtop saw. But its worth looking into still.
I'll probably go ahead and cut one of them by hand just to get it done so I can get on with the knife I'm working on. But it would be nice if I could figure out how to make the bandsaw work for it, since I'll probably be doing this again.

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It'll feel better when it stops hurting.
 
Thanks Jake
I started with a backsaw, but was having trouble getting it to bite in without sliding around. I don't think it had fine enough teeth. So I got the square back out and scored the line in real good with a utility knife then cut it with a hacksaw. It took awhile and wasn't the truest cut in the world but its cut now and both peices are usable.

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It'll feel better when it stops hurting.
 
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