Friday, February 24, 2012

Big Saw

Picked up this a bandsaw this week. It's missing its guides, but I think I can get 16" of resaw out of it. It's a 28" saw with a 3 HP 3 phase direct drive motor on it. Made in Scotland in the 1920s. It's in nice shape, it needs a magnetic starter and some guides.

Unfortunately it is too tall for my shop, so I arranged to store it in a warehouse for now.

Meanwhile, a recent burst of activity in the shop has lead me to good progress on the desk for my daughter. All it needs is some finish and glue up. Oh, and a top.

I have also started on a Japanese inspired tool box, using some of my own catalpa, elm, and Monterey cypress. Cupping was a problem after resawing the catalpa and the cypress, fortunately I left the boards thick enough that after it settled for a  few days I was able to joint  the cup out without too much problem.



I've also found in the past the the Monterey cypress (and Port Orford cedar too) tends to bleed sap, so to prevent that I put my piece in the oven for a couple hours at 175 degrees F to try and set it. No sign of any new sap since then.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Good Day at the Office

Went down to the beach yesterday and milled up a piece of Manitoba maple, AKA box elder. It was badly rotten on one end but I still managed to get four decent slabs and a bunch of smaller pieces. They were nice because they had great brilliant colour and weren't too cracky, which this wood often is.


I closed the deal to rent my neighbour's garage for a year, so that will provide some relief on the storage front.