Small Veteran owned woodworking shop specializing in custom live edge, epoxy resins, wood turning, DIY Tools, and woodshop hacks. As often as possible I complete every part of the project myself; from standing (or fallen) tree to finished product. I'll take you through every step of making high quality products and hopefully we can all learn a little something along the way.
Great video! Did you buy extra long cross rails for stability or flexibiity (making wider in the future)? I'm building one and wonder if I should get much longer cross pieces than I need.
Yep, originally I had to use the collet extension but I have recently built a dropped sled to work around that. The collet extension worked well until the bit snagged one good time and knocked the collet out of true so it picked up a pretty good vibration.
Great idea. I did the same thing but just had router base running on bare metal with wax. Like the idea of using white board material to help glide. I have ordered my liner rails and waiting for them to arrive on the slow boat from China lol
the algorithm got me too. last year it was old bed frame and rail casters ... the slop and racking stupidity and now chasing that dragon of linear rails. now if i could only fix the electric bill for 100kwh from running the router.
Honestly can't say i did anything further than ensure the risers were of equal height and attached to a flat surface. Not resurfacing an engine block, so if its ~1/16th I'm pretty happy. Have any good examples?
For shorter pieces I just attach two wooden rails to my bench and go at it. For pieces that extend beyond the length of my bench (6-8 ft) I use the string method. I attach string trimmer string from one end to the opposing end and do the same for the remaining two ends. This forms a cross which meets in the middle. With a small piece of the same string I shim the top string at each end. Adjusting the rails so the strings just touch in the middle ensures the rails are co planar.
NICE, looking forward to more from you. I'm new to the craft but the round is not new to me. Was it green when you taped it? Why did you tape it? Did you treat it? My rounds are oak cut in 2021 (spring) but most have split and not evenly cut by the person I hired to slice the logs-lesson learned. Are you willing to share how to preserve a green round properly? I didn't worry because I planned to use the rounds like stepping stones for a walkway and rustic garden tables, benches and a pergola base, until I figured out the actual expense for Unfinished Everything. I'm going on 2 years with nothing to show for it. I've checked out kiln processes, air dry and solar kilns, as well as interior dries using wood stickers and a dehumidifier in a closed room/space. I will put these rounds in the ground this year, Oak will last until it doesn't but there's a lot I need to learn. I'm up North, but I am patient; Any suggestions?
Thanks Tammy! I sawed those slabs off of a trunk that was left at my moms house about 2 years ago. I didn’t treat them with anything, just stickered and stacked in my old dairy barn to dry…thankfully that part of our property has a nice breeze nearly all the time so I stacked them in front of an opening to help the drying process. End grain cookies dry significantly faster than plain/quarter/rift sawn lumber so in a little less than a year they were all down to <10%..however they’re also more unstable in the long run for the same reasons. I actually didn’t mind the checking/cracking because I backfilled them with epoxy for the projects I used them for..which is what the tape was for. Even at 10%, stabilized with epoxy, and flattened with the router sled, these will still tend to move with changes in temperature and humidity, so I’d recommend getting a pice or 2 of C-Channel or angle iron in the back rather quickly to keep them stable if you want a perfectly flat surface. Sounds like you’ve got a lot of ideas for projects so if I could offer a recommendation; pick 1 (the simplest) and follow it through to completion. You’ll learn a lot in the process and it will make you’re next project that much better. Also, I’d recommend a wood stove or fireplace, so when projects don’t go as planned the piece can still serve a purpose….it’s also cathartic. I’m no expert, but if you have any more questions I’m happy to talk it through with you!
Great build thanks for sharing it. When I built my panel saw I included a sled for my 3 1/4hp router so large surfacing jobs could be done on it. I like to make tables. It's great at dados on base cabinets. I'm trying to make a radius frame for the panel saw. Anyone got any thoughts? Looking forward to more videos.
Joe Longstaff, do you have a video and/or drawing plans for your panel saw? I have a basic idea of how I want to do mine, but if I had a different perspective to bounce mine off of, I believe I would have a very good setup. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, hope all is well.
Great looking router sledge for leveling projects. What were your final dimensions on your risers? I would suggest that you put up either "J" or " I " hook above your table to hang your extension and power cord to keep out of your work area.
Thank! It’s a big improvement over the simpler angle iron jig I used for the last couple years! I think those were 2” risers, but I’ve already decided to make those a little taller as I ran into a couple thicker pieces that it won’t clear. Normally my power cord is kept clear by the retractable reel on the ceiling, but it started shorting that day…..always something!