Adding a Laguna Bandsaw

For a long time now, I've wanted to build boxes.  Beautiful boxes.  Boxes that feature beautiful wood.  And for some time now, I've been building up a stock of highly figured woods that could make boxes that are attractive and, I hope, salable.  I've got several nice, thick pieces of crotch walnut, some with gorgeous feathering, that would look lovely gracing the top of a box.  I've got some figured ash as well.  And small quantities of tiger and birds-eye maple.  Plus a goodly amount of less figured woods that would make attractive box sides to offset the figured tops, woods like quartersawn white oak, maple, cherry, hickory and mesquite, among others.

The thing about boxes is they are generally built from thinner than usual pieces of wood; 3/8" and 1/2" are common thicknesses.  While it's possible to plane wood to these thicknesses, it wastes a lot of valuable and perhaps irreplaceable wood.  So resawing--slicing wood vertically through its width--is the preferred solution.  Resawing is best done on a bandsaw.  Though a tablesaw can be used for narrower boards, for boards over 5-6" in width, a bandsaw is required.  In all cases, a bandsaw is both safer and takes a smaller amount of wood for a kerf.

I have a 14" bandsaw, a Grizzly GO555, and it's perfectly adequate for many operations.  But I've never had good results when resawing with it.  Drift is a big problem, plus I'm limited to 1/2" blades like Highland Woodworking's Woodslicer.  While this is a good blade, I'm looking for something even better.

Enter the Laguna 14" LT14 SUV.  It started with a sale that Woodcraft had on this saw.  So I did some research.  Actually, a lot of research.  This SUV model (SUV stands for "Souped Up Version") has several attractive features, including some that are new to this model.  It is driven by a 3 hp. motor.  It has a large table (slightly larger than 15" X 19") that is easily adjusted and that tilts in both directions.  It has two 4" dust ports.  It has a resaw height of just under 14".  The 125" blade is available in a 1" carbide tipped version called the Resaw King.  Amazingly enough, this 2-3 tpi variable pitch blade has no set, which helps it achieve a smooth cut.  The saw uses ceramic guide blocks that are easily adjusted above and below the table.  The fence has two positions, high and low, and can be quickly adjusted for drift.  Most reviews are high on this saw, which is said to give a superior cut when using the Resaw King blade.

The nearest competitor is the Hammer N4400, a 17" German saw from Felder, which will accommodate a 3/4" blade, quite adequate for resawing.  It has a 3.5 hp. motor.  The nicest thing about this saw is that the tires are flat, rather than crowned, so drift is never a problem.  I'd have easily have gone for this saw--I've seen it in action--but it costs almost $700 more than the Laguna's sale price.   As far as I can determine, each saw delivers excellent results when resawing.  Price being an important consideration, I decided on the Laguna.  It's on order now.

I'll be keeping my Grizzly bandsaw.  I've got plenty of jobs that call for smaller blades.  And, I'll slice logs into lumber on the Grizzly, leaving the Laguna for resawing and protecting the expensive carbide blade for high quality cuts.

Naturally, I'm eager for it to arrive.  Getting it off the truck (the crate weights 420 lbs) will be the first issue.  Then I'll need to go through the whole setup and testing process.  After I've had time to test it for myself, I'll write a review.

Have you used the Laguna bandsaw?  If so, share your thoughts with other readers by leaving a comment.

Norm

My SawStop Stopped!

A couple weeks ago I was ripping some sycamore to make frames for earring holders when my SawStop refused to cut. I had lightly touched the blade with the end of the board I planned to rip when the saw stopped running. After that, each time I tried to fire it up, it would start, then immediately stop.

I contacted the service department at SawStop and got a fast reply from Roger and Tom, who helped me diagnose the problem. The fix is to send me a new and upgraded control box and cable, which they can do since my saw is still under warranty. In addition, they asked me to send in my brake cartridges, the ones that keep the saw from cutting off my fingers, so their software could be updated to the latest version. These changes, we hope, will take care of the problem.

But I haven't been able to implement the fixes yet. The problem is not on SawStop's end; they responded quickly. It is due to Mother Nature, who dumped 35+ inches of snow on us two weeks ago, most of which is still on the ground and seriously impeding UPS deliveries in our area. The package with the control box has been on the truck, "out for delivery," several days this week but UPS has refused to leave it on the snow bank by the side of the road and each day it has gone back to the warehouse undelivered. I don't know how long this will go on; the prospects for this much snow melting anytime soon do not seem very good.

So for now, I'll just have to be content with other woodworking jobs that don't require my table saw, jobs like turning pens on my lathe, hand planing wood for cutting boards, cutting the boards to shape on the band saw and installing the vises that have been hanging around the shop for all too many months.

Norm

Preparing to Make Boxes

Today I jointed a sycamore board that I plan to use to make tissue box covers. Because it was 8 1/2 inches wide, I had to take the safety guard off my 6 inch jointer and run it through one end after the other so both sides would be smoothed. Planing it was no problem; my 12 inch planer did a good and quick job on it. When I finished the rough side, I ran the jointed side through one time to remove the groove left by the edge of the blade from the final pass on the jointer.

It was then that I turned my attention to my band saw and discovered that although I need 7 inch stock to resaw for the boxes, my saw will only accommodate 6 inches. So I got on line with Grizzly, the maker of my band saw, and ordered a riser kit for my saw. That will give me 12 inches of resaw capability. Now I'll have to get a new 105 inch saw blade to replace the Wood Slicer resaw blade I've never even used. I hope Highland Woodworking will take an exchange on it.

Norm

Building a Shaker Table

Last weekend, I took a class in furniture making at Woodcraft. The project was to make a small Shaker-style table out of cherry. The instructor was my friend Jeff Fleisher, from whom I had taken a previous class.

We began with rough 4/4 (1 inch) cherry boards that had been run through the jointer one time to help them acclimate to the humidity at which we would be working. We started by deciding which sections of the boards to use and marking them up. Then we cut them to length before running them through the jointer to get one smooth side. After that, we ran our boards through the planer to smooth the second side and reduce the width to 3/4 inch. Finally, we cut our boards to proper width by ripping them on the table saw.

As soon as we could, we glued up three boards side by side to make the table top. We then set these aside to dry overnight.

Next we moved on to the legs. These were made from 8/4 (i.e., 2 inch) boards cut into 2X2 widths. We marked up the ends of the boards so the grain would run at a 45 degree angle so it would approximate being rift sawn. The reason for this is so the grain would run straight along the length of the leg and also to add strength. In some cases, this required us to cut the legs lengthwise on a band saw with the table angled in order to achieve the desired angle of the grain. Once we had one edge cut to the proper angle, we jointed that edge, then rip cut the other edges on the table saw until the legs were square.

The legs are tapered on the two inner edges to give the table a lighter appearance. To taper them, we used a jig that Jeff provided. The jig held the legs at an angle so we could run them through the table saw at the proper angle.

Once all the parts were cut to final dimensions, we moved on to joinery. The method used was mortise and tenon. We used a mortising machine to cut the mortises on two sides of each leg, then cut the tenons on the apron pieces using a dado blade in the table saw. This is only one of several methods of making tenons, but it was easy and worked quite well. I will adopt this method at home, now that I've done it. It makes me wish I hadn't recently purchased a tenoning jig; I'll have to find a way to sell it to get my money back. After cutting the mortises and tenons, we cleaned out rough areas in the mortises with a chisel and trimmed the tenons with Jeff's Veritas shoulder plane until they fit snugly together. Then we sanded the parts and glued the legs to the aprons, completing the table assembly.

Next we turned our attention to the table top. Any unevenness was smoothed off using a scraper. This worked well to get rid of glue squeezeout, but I found it really hard on my arthritic thumbs and I was unable to do as much of it as the project needed. I eventually finished the job at home using a random orbit sander. The final stages of construction were to cut the table top to 18 inches square on the table saw, then by standing it on end using a special tall fence, we cut 2 inch bevels on the bottom of the tabletop which has the effect of making the table appear lighter, a nice effect.

The final step was to sand the top and attach it to the frame, which was done using figure 8 hardware.

We did not have time to put a coat of finish on the table so this will be done at home. I'll use the recommended oil-based sealer, followed up with four to five coats of an oil-urethane top coat. I hope to have the finishing done within the next week.

This was a really nice project. The table is lovely. But more important to me is all the knowledge I gained about furniture construction. I learned a lot, some from doing things right, some from mistakes I won't have to make a second time. Now I feel I'm ready to start designing and building my own furniture. Thanks, Jeff.

Making a Mallet

I had been making jigs to use in woodworking and decided what I really wanted to do was to make something "real." I remembered a simple band saw project in Mark Duginske's Band Saw Book for a wooden mallet. Knowing that I will soon be using my chisels to clean out mortises and the like, I decided a mallet would be a good next project.

I started with some rough soft maple and walnut and jointed and planed them smooth. Then I cut the maple into three short pieces and glued them together in a stack. This became the stock for the head of the mallet. While this was drying, I cut the handle from a larger piece of walnut. I cut the tenon on the walnut on the band saw with no difficulty. Then I cut the handle to shape to fit my hand and ran the whole piece through the router table using a roundover bit to ease the edges.

When the glue had dried on the maple, I cut the stack to final shape on the band saw. Then, I made the mortise on the mortising machine. I cleaned out the mortise with a chisel until the handle tenon fit tightly into the mortise. Finally, I glued the two pieces together. And the project was done! I now have a sturdy and, I think, attractive mallet that should give me good service.

Could I have done anything differently? Definitely. My chisel was not sharp enough and I did a lot of unnecessary work paring out the mortise. I cut the thick stack of maple with a 3/8" band saw blade; a 1/2" blade made for resawing would have cut better, I think. And, I might have improved the looks by sandwiching some walnut in between the maple boards (or vise versa) to create a more patterned look. But, hey, it was all about getting practice with my machines and developing a sense of accomplishment. And that I got.