On today’s show, we’re talking about jointing away from the fence, choosing a router for a router table, and using floats.
What’s on the Bench?
- Marc is buying Walnut for his upcoming sculpted rocker project
- Shannon did some spring cleaning and blew the dust out of his shop
- Matt got brisket nachos then went back for seconds after experiencing plywood gravitational kickback
What’s New?
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- Wade shared a blog on medieval woodworking
- Mark shared a post from Reddit on termite wood in a project
- Tommy shared some amazing cutting boards on the mtmwood YouTube channel
- Jeremy shared an article that busts the Golden ratio myth
Kickback
- David wants some clarification on match planing and if we have any tips.
- Stein has kickback on plane sole flatness and needs to only be as flat as the thickness of the shaving.
- John doesn’t get how running a panel through the planer right out of the clamps would work
- Jeff talks about injuries in the shop from the professional woodworker’s perspective.
Voicemail
- Brian is having problems with his MKII honing jig.
- Mark is looking for a wood to make a bow.
- Roberto is wondering about a specific paint sprayer model.
- Joel wants to know why Marc run his boards across the jointer away from the fence.
- Jeffrey is looking for a second router and wants to know if cheaper is an option.
- Chris wants to know, “what is the deal with floats”.
How You Can Support Us
Use the links in the left column and sign up for a recurring donation, kick it up a notch and wear a Wood Talk T-Shirt, or leave us an iTunes Review
11 replies on “WT234 – Vanderlist Nachos”
I love listening to your show, from my home workshop on the shores of the Indian Ocean, in Tanzania (East Africa in case you are wondering).
Your listener asking about making a bow reminded me of a camping holiday with the Hadzabe tribe, hunter-gatherers who use bows and arrows. Their bows are made from Dombeya kirkii (local name ‘Mutateko’). They will break a branch off, strip and plane it with a knife blade. They straighten their arrows by biting them and by occasionally passing them over the camp fire. Bow strings are made from giraffe ligaments (ideally, but nowadays often it’s nylon). They are an amazingly resourceful bunch of people.
But this message is mainly an excuse to write to thank you for making the show. Woodworking as a hobby is little known here & there are challenges getting hold of timber, equipment and supplies. As a beginner, I rely a lot on learning from the internet. So I much appreciate being able to listen to your conversations, which I value as much for their sense of fellowship & encouragement as for the woodworking advice and information.
Best wishes
Richard
I have had exactly the same issue with a mkII. As you say it was consistently off. On a 3/4″ chisel the micro bevel would be only just showing on one side of the chisel and about 1/8″ on the other side.
Veritas were great about the issue. Spent a lot of time exchanging emails with me trying to solve the issue. The jig was replaced. But I had exactly the same problem with the replacement jig. Again Veritas were very helpfull and eventually offered a refund if I wanted to return the jig.
I really liked the jig, but after so much frustration chose to go for the refund.
The question from Mark on making bows hits on both of my hobbies of wood working and archery. Shannon is right on the money for good woods to use. Take a look at Sam Harper’s web site. He has a number of tutorials including an excellent build for a bow using a home center red oak board.
http://poorfolkbows.com/
Hi Guys,
Regarding the MKII honing guide, my guide sharpens square with the cam in the standard angle position, but moves out of square when the cam is rotated to the micro-bevel position. I emailed Lee Valley and they acknowledged the issue and indicated that there is some variance in manufacturing the cam mechanism. Their position, in my case, is that the honing guide was within spec. for their allowable tolerances.
Bow woods, without getting technical. For a cheap doable bow you can use Hickory and Black walnut. Black walnut for the Belly and hickory for the back. Here is the thing, both have to be quarter sawn and when you epoxy them that the grain is linear or as it was explained to me that it looks like a stack of dimes on the side. Shannon Mentioned Osage Orange, and unless he drive out to the Midwest and as ask a farmer if you can cut down one from his hedge that has a 3′ section of trunk that is straight. he will be better off getting if possible quarter sawn 8-12/4 Argentinian Osage. Now if the caller can do a search for Pacific Northwest Yew he can get a split sister staves from off eBay and spend over $150 or more and will have to wait at least 4 years for it to dry. The best bet is for him to search Bingham Project where he can get plans, Video’s and all materials needed.
Another +1 on the Veritas MK2 issue discussed in this podcast! Thank you for acknowledging this – I was wondering if I just got a lemon. The key is that is was not affecting the functioning of my chisel and I was able to tolerate the skew within my OCD limits. The angle fence on my honing guide is very very slightly out of square and I think it might be related to how it registers against the lip on the front of the guide. In all, I’m still happy with it as my chisels still work great. There is something about it that bugs me though.
On the question about a cheapo router…STAY AWAY FROM SKIL…I bought a SKIL router and ended up throwing it in the trash with a nice bit still in it…it goes to the idea of buying something cheap ends up costing you more in the long run
I too had the exact same issue with MK II. I contacted Lee Valley’s customer service a couple of months ago and they were very responsive. I haven’t had an opportunity to test any of their suggestions, although I had watched their MK II promo/instructional videos prior to first using my MK II. I still kinda think I was operating the honing guide properly and my Shapton stones were definitely flat. In any case, this was Lee Valley’s response to my issue with the MK II:
“Thank you for your email. There may be are several reasons that could be causing the out of parallel bevels with the Mk.II Honing Guide (# 05M0901). One reason may be due to the stones or surfaces being used to perform the sharpening. Switching from a coarse stone for the primary bevel to a fine one for the micro bevel will give a difference between the bevels, especially if the stones or sharpening surface are not flat.
Another cause may be set-up and technique. The clamping jaws on the Mk.II Honing Guide are designed to be slightly concave throughout their length. Being concave, they should grip a flat blade at its four corners. When clamping the blade, it should be mounted in the center of the jaws using the scale on the top jaw. The jaws should be closed such that they are as close as possible to parallel, with equal pressure on both sides. The brass knurled-knobs should be tightened with sufficient finger pressure to hold the blade securely. During use, the paint from the jaws will get removed and this will help with the gripping of narrower blades.
You need to ensure you hold the guide correctly to avoid the clamped chisel from moving. It is important to make sure that you handle the guide by the body of the guide and not by the chisel handle when moving around during sharpening. Please find attached 2 photos showing the proper hand position when using the honing guide.
The other possibility is that chisels or blades may not have been ground exactly square or flat from the factory. Not to mention it’s fairly common for chisels to be twisted slightly along their length; this can lead to a difference between the bevels.
Finally, it could just boil down to your dominant hand. If you are right handed, you may be pushing down a little harder on the right side of the blade during sharpening without even realizing it. This would result in a wider micro-bevel extending from the right side of the blade to the left. The same would be true if you were left handed in that the wider micro-bevel would be on the left side.
You may also wish to view the video on our Webpage at http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078,51868,”
I would be curious to know if anyone has had any success correcting this issue.
P.S. Marc, I loved your mirror frame videos and how you’ve switched back to the more detailed format. You continue to raise the bar!
Thanks as always Marc, Matt and Shannon for the amazing podcast and your top notch woodworking websites!
Lots of kickback and comments! I felt like this episode was directed solely at me!
-1st thanks for the info on the floats and the kind shout out from Shannon! Very helpful. As my son said “well there goes $60.”
-Regarding Jeff’s question and a second router for his table. I owned a PC 690 that I got tired of taking in and out of my table. When I upgraded to a JessEm router lift , I went to ebay and was able to pick up just a used motor for the 690 at a fraction of the price.
-Brian’s question about the MK II guide. I’ve had the same issue and did lot’s a of research. What I ended up doing was adding a strip of sandpaper (I think i used that floor grip tape for stairs). It’s thinner than it sounds, but does lift the blade, which has a very slight effect on the angle–but it helps gip the blade. I might also try a thin piece of rubber, like a thick rubber band, glued on each side of the clamp.
-Finally the little plastic piece on the Powermatic jointer Marc described is the most annoying thing in the shop!! What was PM thinking? I’ve yet to find an explanation for it!! Tried the tape too! LOL
Thanks again!!
My MkII does the same thing. I called them, they admitted to difficulty in milling the eccentric, and sent me a knew one. It’s pretty much dead on. I didn’t realize it was that widespread a problem.
My main issue was that it took a lot longer to get a bevel ALL THE WAY ACROSS the edge. I realize it’s consistent, but I don’t always use the MkII, so it is an issue for me because of that.
Lee Valley is great though, they really stand behind their products.
Hi Guys,
Regarding the MKII honing guide, my guide sharpens square with the cam in the standard angle position, but moves out of square when the cam is rotated to the micro-bevel position. I emailed Lee Valley and they acknowledged the issue and indicated that there is some variance in manufacturing the cam mechanism. Their position, in my case, is that the honing guide was within spec. for their allowable tolerances.