Cordless saws

[Duiker]

Hello good people,

I have a few questions which I'm guessing you will know:

Can anyone recommend a medium priced, cordless, circular saw which wont wear the battery down in seconds and can still cut decent thicknesses of wood? I dont need to cut down trees or anything but if I'm going to spend a few hundred euro's I want to get the best I can.

If you want to cut mitres along the length, or grain, of a piece of wood what is the best way to do it to ensure a good cut? I've been using the bandsaw but its not really good enough. The table on my table saw doesn't tilt either so I guess I'm going to have to spend more money right?

The last question is about building wheels. How do you mark out the wheel itself (assuming it is built from several "blocks" rather than from one piece and cut out)? I thought of clamping the pieces together, marking them with the "compass" and then joining them later but I'm not sure if it would work?
Once you have this done how do you work out how to drill the spoke holes for the rim and centre?

I know it is a lot to ask but so far you guys have been great and I just know you can help!!!

Cheers,

Mick

 

[Chris Knight]

Mick,

Can't help with the cordless but a couple of thoughts on the other things.

To mitre a long plank along its length there are several options.

1. Table saw with tilting blade (tilting tables have not been seen for many a year)

2. A planer with the fence set at the appropriate angle

3. A specialist Router bit (CMT make sets with variety of angles. The 45 degree ones are made by most bit manufacturers)

4. A handplane - which is actually pretty easy - you can remove the bulk of the waste with your bandsaw if you want although I have used a drawknife for this in the past and it is really quite quick

5. Handheld circular saw (a quality tool with guide will do a good job)


Re the wheels. I would glue up the pieces first then mark and cut them

 

[ike]

a medium priced, cordless, circular saw which wont wear the battery down in seconds and can still cut decent thicknesses of wood?

Haha,ha,haha,ha...no, :roll: but we can operate robots on Mars! :?

 

[Alf]

Not circular, no. Long and tapered with a wooden handle at one end maybe...

Mitres along the length; well I've recently promoted a hand plane and fence to my number one way to do this. Maybe quicker to have a fancy powered device, but not nearly so satisfactory IMO.

Wheel making; the Crafts Council or somesuch body publish an excellent slim (again, IIRC) volume on making wheels. Somewhere I'm convinced I have a copy, but I can't find it despite extensive searching. Erm, Stobart Davies stock it; here we are "MAKING A WHEEL, How to Make a Traditional Light English Pattern Wheel by Wright and Hurford". But wait, what's this? I suppose the government had to be useful for something...

Cheers, Alf

 

[Aragorn]

I have a Black & Decker cordless circular saw, costs around £100. Couldn't exactly recommend it though as the batteries are drained quick quickly. Presumably the DeWalt cordless battery lasts a wee bit longer?

 

[Midnight]

re cordless.... I know the 18v Ferm is guaranteed to cause great clumps o hair to be torn out with every attempted use... terminating when the battery pack explodes... DAMHIKT...

long grain mitres huh..?? Rip as much waste as you can on the table saw with the blade tilted at 45.... then clean the cut edge with a hand plane and shooting board.. a #9 makes this ridiculously easy... :wink:

canna help with the wheels I'm afraid..

 

[Duiker]

Nice one, I can probably manage the planing but have one more question:
What is a fence?

As for the cordless saw, I'll give it a miss in that case. They are not exactly cheap and I can manage with my power saw for now. Just a bit inconvenient sometimes.

Thanks for the links etc, I'll give it a go before I go buying any moe books ;-)

See ya

 

[Alf]

Nice one, I can probably manage the planing but have one more question:
What is a fence?

Too many jokes, too little time... I had something like this in mind:

A Stanley #386; no longer in production and unfortunately not necessarily easy or cheap to acquire. All is not lost though; two options:

There's the Veritas version, but that needs an additional wooden face to get different angles, unlike the Stanley which is adjustable to the bevel angle of your choice.:

Or you could make your own, on the same principle as the Veritas, but using magnets or small G-cramps as you prefer.

Cheers, Alf

 

[houtslager]

Alf , just how good / strong are the magnets on the Veritus thingymejig ?

 

[Alf]

HS,

'Fraid I've no idea. I imagine pretty good, being the rare earth type, and there's also a little rod or pin that stops the fence sliding backwards as I understand it. Not too sure about it for other reasons though; last thing I need is a magnetised jointer picking up all the sharpening swarf... :roll: I could whisper nicely in Martin's ear and ask him for one to borrow for review I s'pose, if there's enough interest? And as long as someone tells me how to demagnetise my planes afterwards... :wink: There are some comments on it here

Cheers, Alf

 

[Duiker]

Oh so that's a fence. I'll keep my eyes open but I think I'll stick to the bandsaw for now.
Thanks again,

Mick