Jigsaw and drill advice

[WonderWoman]

Ive just seen they do a 25mm spade bit.I saw they did spade bits while i was choosing a drill and I noticed the spade bits were compatible with the final drill I chose.Hoorah.

 

[Gill]

Dont know if I said but my boss bought a scroll saw, I tried it and the wood caught on the blade and it went all crazy, Im not strong enough for a scroll saw(im such a wimp)I was surprised how much puff jigsawing took out of me!

:shock:

No, you never mentioned that before. I wish you had. I also wish you lived a bit closer to me so that I could show you how to use a scrollsaw properly. Scrollsaws can catch the wood and lift it from the bed, but that's usually because the operator isn't using the saw properly. It does take a little bit of practice to master a scrollsaw, with the emphasis on 'little bit' . A novice will often find that blades break frequently or the wood catches on the blade and lifts off the table. Both can be disconcerting at first.

I'd suggest you try again with a scrollsaw and practice on some waste wood. It would probably be a good idea to use a fairly large (say, 25cm x 25cm) piece of 6mm plywood so that you've got something of substance to handle. When you feed the wood into the blade, try to just cut a straight line. You'll probably find this difficult to start with because scrollsaw blades have a tendency to track to the right of the line of cut. Just turn the wood very gently as you feed it in so that the cut gradually veers back to your line. Don't turn the wood suddenly or it'll be obvious where you've gone off-line.

In fact, it's turning the wood suddenly that often makes wood catch on a scrollsaw blade and get lifted off the table. This is because you can't make a turn on a scrollsaw unless you are feeding the wood forward at the same time. Although that might sound difficult to do, it isn't and many scrollers can make apparent 90 degree turns quite easily after a short while.

I'd be interested to hear what sort of scrollsaw you used. Some of the cheaper models can vibrate a lot, which makes it much more difficult to control the wood and increase the liklihood of a novice catching it on the blade.

I was astonished to hear you say that you needed strength to use a scrollsaw - something's wrong here!!! Most of the work I do uses the lightest of touches and I often find myself just using my thumbs to feed in the wood. Perhaps your blade was blunt and needed to be replaced? Thinking about it, you'd be more likely to catch your work on a blunt one than a sharp one, too.

Gill

 

[WonderWoman]

Im sure it was a new blade, I have a healthy fear of power tools so that combined with the saw wanting to take the wood up and down led to it actually happening,I wasnt gona argue.
Plus I was using it at work so I would have to stop to answer the phone at any moment which didnt put me at my ease.

It was a Ferm scroll saw, 90W, table tilt, NVR switch.

 

[StevieB]

Yup, just drill multiple holes and chisel out the triangular bits. You will need a centre line to start the holes off from though, and take it slowly at first as a 25mm bit if its not sharp can catch and bind on your workpiece.

I have to agree with Gill on the scrollsaw, if it takes effort something is wrong. Is your timber 2.5cm thick? That would need a very slow feed rate on a scrollsaw to stop the blade binding. I would recommend as Gill suggests - try a thin piece of ply and work your way up to more substantial pieces when you get a feel for it. The Ferm is not the greatest of scrollsaws, but it will be able to handle ply without problems so long as you do not try and cut too small a piece.

Best of luck,

Steve.

 

[WonderWoman]

Yeah, he just wanted a cheapy one,its not like i can buy,try then return different types of scrollsaws.Wood thickness is 2.5cm.
And buying all the wood mounts up too.
The scroll saw workes freat on a few mm thick balsa wood.

Ive come to realise im like Sherlock Holmes wanting to master the violin as quickly as possible, I want to just do what I want asap.

 

[WoodPecker]

WonderWoman (What happened to Seahorse :lol: )

When drilling with the spade bits drill about half way through (Or until the spike has come through the back) and then turn the piece around and drill through from the other side, you'll get a better finish.

 

[WonderWoman]

Thanks for the tip.......now, how the heck did yuo know my other name!!!!!

Im freaking out!!!!

 

[Gill]

Hi WonderWoman

It might not be a bad idea for you to visit a woodworking show so that you can see some of the tools we've discussed being demonstrated. Since you're in the south, perhaps the Axminster show might be within reach? If not, I'm sure there'll be other shows nearby; you might find details of one here.

If you live anywhere near Hailsham you could arrange to visit Hegner UK who will probably demonstrate what their saws can do. The only problem is that Hegners are rather pricey...

Are there any colleges nearby that run woodworking courses? I'm not suggesting that you should enroll, but perhaps a a college tutor might be persuaded to give you some assistance.

Heck, what you need is a friendly experienced woodworker in your neighbourhood who'll show you what decent quality tools can produce! If you can give us more idea of your locality, I'm sure you'll find a friendly volunteer here .

Gill

 

[WonderWoman]

Im not as south as Exeter.Plymouth was a 6 hour drive away for me and pals a couple of years back.

Ive looked into evening classes but they are pretty pricey, around £150 I think,tho its getting more tempting to give it a go.

I have a couple of friends who are into woodwork, my boss and the guy who is cutting the rectangles out for me but havnt seriously picked their brains.

 

[Adam]

If you could be more specific on your location - we might be able to help some more - there are all sorts of "free" courses - Homewood in worthing (sussex) were running some on saturday mornings - we just had the D&M tools show in Twickenham - its Scott & Sargent in Horsham (surrey?) this weekend etc etc.

Adam

 

[WonderWoman]

Berkshire

 

[WonderWoman]

And my latest installment...

I went ot a DIY shop, bought a 25mm spade drill bit, a 19mm chisel(gloves and masks to be safe)
The 9x2.5cm rectangle I wanted to cut out was 1.5cm from the edge of the wood blank.
I drilled out 3 holes (which took forever!)which admittedly didnt cover the space I wanted to get rid of, but most of it.
I started to chisel, which is quite fun.It took a while, I got a little brutal, near the end the side of the blank broke away.

What did I do wrong, was i too brutal?
Should I have used a smaller chisel?
Should I move the rectangle further away from the edge?

My dad suggested jigsawing out most of the rectangle then chiseling away the edges with a smller chisel.

All in all its a much better/straighter edged idea than just the jigsaw, but any ideas pleeeeaaase??!!

 

[StevieB]

Hmm, few quick thoughts - Did you sharpen the chisel after buying? Did the wood split along the grain while you were chiseling at a corner? Did you just put the piece on the bench and whack the chisel with a mallet or did you take delicate slices by hand?

I would guess you were possibly too brutal from your description, although if you are using soft pine with wide growth rings the edge could be too close to your cutout, but again being less brutal would help here. If you can post pictures it may help more, but I guess care is going to be the order of the day for better results. Plus a sharp chisel of course!

Steve.

 

[Gill]

Oh boy - are chisels ever a subject that others are better qualified than me to speak on!

But since nobody else has come forward yet... [Edit - looks like my post crossed with yours, Steve ]

When chiseling a hole I believe you should mark the hole to be cut on both the front and back of your timber. Use a square to do this accurately. Then mark the edges of the area to be cut, both front and rear, very lightly with either a knife or the chisel with the bevel edge towards the waste wood. At first, just concentrate on breaking the fibres of the wood you're cutting but then start to apply more pressure with the chisel.

The waste wood will be forced towards the centre of the hole because of the bevel on the chisel. This means there will be pressure on the remaining wood if the waste wood has nowhere to go and the wood will split, with the risk of splitting increasing the closer you get to the corners. There are ways to over come this, such as cutting out as much waste wood as possible using a coping saw or chiseling out as much waste wood from the centre as possible and working towards the corners slowly. Remember to remove a very small amount of wood at a time with the chisel and keep turning the wood over. Eventually, you'll cut through the last piece of waste wood at the centre of the hole and the cut will be as clean as possible.

DIY shed chisels are not renowned for their sharpness so make sure you have something to sharpen them. You'll find plenty of advice on how to do this in the "Hand Tools" section of the forum.

I hope this helps and my advice is accurate - if it's not, I'm sure someone will point out my errors and then both of us will have learned something new .

Gill

PS - It's very difficult to get a cleanly cut edge using a chisel on plywood.

 

[WonderWoman]

Its sycamore wood.

yes I was being brutal towards the end and the rectangle did run the same way as the grain.
Obviously my brutal force didnt help matters, yes it did split while i was doing a corner.The corner wasnt very drilled out so there was quite a lot of wood there.
No I didnt sharpen the chisel, I assumed it would be sharp as it was brand new.
How do I sharpen a chisel?

I thnk its gona be a case of alot of trial, error and patience.

 

[Alf]

How do I sharpen a chisel?

Such a simple question - so many answers.

But to keep it easy, try here first. Rather than learning the art of waterstone care and feeding, you might want to substitute them with abrasives. AKA Scary Sharp. A cheap but effective honing guide can be found here.

It's not the definitive answer, but it's a start.

Cheers, Alf

 

[WoodPecker]

Its sycamore wood.

You should try and get your hands on some cheap pine and practice on that first.

Mark out your holes on both sides.
Drill out some holes leave some waste all the way around particularly at the end grain side Or cut out the holes with a jig saw leaving some waste.
Buy a rasp :roll: (I'm going to get barred from this site for saying that ) rasp off the excess wood parallel to the grain and finish by sanding.
Then chizel off the waste at the end grain side, if you can, get someone to show you how to do this.
Practice on some cheap pine first, and don't forget to take off the end grain waste last as this will protect the ends when you are rasping.

 

[WonderWoman]

Okey doke, Ive no idea what a rasp is, Il have a google.

As i was about to go back to work my parenst called me into the kitchen and told me to close my eyes, I opened them and theyd bought me a workbench!!!!
My parents are loverly!!

 

[wizer]

thats fantastic WW, you're on your way!

 

[WonderWoman]

thats fantastic WW, you're on your way!

On my way , except for the fact that nothing I do goes right!!!sob sob sob sob sob.
I contacted my pal who is cutting the bits out for me so I can collect them this weekend.Il take whatever he has managed to do.Sooo exciting.