normanwisdom said that he worried about the need to buy expensive
kit for every operation, he is right BUT!!!!!!!!!!
many people who are now involved in woodworking have come to it
late, or even when young not had a proper apprentice ship or
training. one of the things that that means is that they are concerned
about the ability to get things square.
whilst i was a metalworking apprentice all those years ago, we learnt to
cut, and finish square and relatively quickly by using hand tools.
contemporary woodworkers also learnt to cut long bits of wood
with the hand saw, and became reasonable accurate in both
ripping and cross cutting. but, if you are a new diyer, you want something
finished in short order, and you want it to look reasonably like
something that you might have bought from ikea.
if you have had no training, then how do you learn economically
to cut both straight and true???? :? :? :?
all non professional woodworkers started out because they could not
afford to buy a piece of furniture or re-build things, and generally
have a problem making the budgetary decisions between mortgage
and tools that will not actually earn money.
since therefore almost all woodworking requires two specific cuts,
one rip and and a cross cut which is square to it, then it is logical to
look for a means to do that accurately, and relatively quickly.
the table saw is great if you have both the room, and the time
to make lots of case work. however, the saw and handrail system
offers many advantages for those who have little room.
when i started out again, i bought the wood from a yard who cut
the panels to size for me. and even now, if i buy 25mm panels i
have them cut down, because otherwise i cannot lift the b***y thing!! :lol: :lol:
like scrit however i do worry about the ability to cut squarely with the
rail system since in most cases the squaring portion is pivoted on such
a small area. before i got the table saw, i bought a number of large
framing type squares, but until i bought the edging clip from
LV that fixes on a square with two screws, i was concerned, with
good reason, that the square would move once i moved the saw.
even bessey clamps cannot guarantee that pressure placed at an
angle to their strengths will not move the bar, so what do you do then???
more importantly, sorry for the long windedness, a normal woodworking
square is almost never accurate. so you must look for something else.
the saw board offered is good, but how do you make one for
crosscutting???? :twisted: only when you can make
cuts along a 4ft edge at right angles to the longer edge do you have
the problem solved, and what do you use for your true edge????
have i murkied the waters even further???
paul :wink:
