The Editor's Mailbox

Great News at IWF 2008

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:40:24 GMT

As we reported last year from AWFS Vegas, the Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL) has finally made European-style riving knives mandatory on all new tablesaws. Not surprisingly, then, the results were everywhere at IWF 2008. From only a few big cabinet saws and a couple benchtop models last year, the long-awaited riving knife has migrated onto dozens of saws, in all sizes and price ranges. So if you were waiting to trade in your new saw, your excuses are gone.

In case you haven’t yet received the riving-knife gospel, this safety device is a vast improvement over those inconvenient splitters and blade covers that U.S. manufacturers called “safety equipment” and we all tossed in the corners of our shops. A riving knife moves up, down, and sideways with the blade, and can even be adjusted below the top of the teeth, so it NEVER has to come off the saw for any type of cut.

A splitter that stays on the saw. A riving knife moves up, down, and side to side with the blade, and best of all, it can be adjusted below the top of the blade so it can stay on even for non-through-cuts (slotting, tenoning, etc.).

Therefore it stays on the machine, protecting the user from the worst tablesaw safety hazard: kickback. Kickback not only hurls a board at you at 100-plus mph, it can also drag your hand into the blade. With a riving knife in the saw kerf and far less fear of kickback, you can concentrate on keeping your fingers away from the blade.

RIVING KNIVES FOR ALL BUDGETS

Hybrid saws, too. Compared to a 3-hp cabinet saw like the new Unisaw, General International’s 50-220 Hybrid Tablesaw offers woodworkers a more affordable riving-knife-equipped saw. The 50-220 has a 2-hp motor and a roughly $1,400 sticker price, depending on fence options.

A riving knife for even less. Grizzly’s G0661 contractor’s saw offers a true riving knife and a surprisingly low sticker price: $725. Contractor’s saws like this one have enough power for serious woodworking.

Even benchtop models have them now. DeWalt’s DW 744X jobsite tablesaw has an innovative riving-knife system. The two-sided blade cover offers great sight lines but pops off easily for non-through-cuts, and no tools are required to quickly adjust the riving knife downward.

While you are shopping for a shiny new tablesaw, take a look at the new jointers and planers.

Inspired by huge industrial cutterheads, which have rows of four-sided carbide insert cutters set in a helical pattern, small-shop machinery manufacturers like Jet, Grizzly, General, and Laguna have come up with their own spiral heads for the consumer market. The designs vary somewhat, and but so far every machine we’ve tested at FWW has cut extremely well.

INDUSTRIAL CUTTERHEADS IN
HOBBYIST MACHINES

Great deal on a jointer. Grizzly’s G0593 offers 8-in. width, long beds, a spiral cutterhead with carbide inserts, and a low sticker price: $1,100. The inserts on this machine face forward.

General’s approach. The Canadian company claims its “draw-down” system for securing its carbide insert cutters avoids the alignment problems other systems have when their inserts are over- or under-tightened. The inserts are angled slightly to create shearing action.

True shearing action? Laguna’s Platinum Series jointers and planers feature their own proprietary approach to carbide inserts, called Shear-Tec, which aligns its cutters with their helical pattern for true shearing action potentially.

The cutting action is continuous and thus much quieter, and the carbide cutters stay sharp many times longer than steel blades. And when the cutters finally do dull or get damaged, you just pivot them to a fresh edge. My guess is that for most hobbyists, it will take years to dull all four sides of each insert. And when you do, replacing them all will run you under $100 in most cases. As for the shallow tracks on the wood that these new segmented cutterheads leave, they are only .001 in. at most (far less than the nicks and ridges you get with new steel blades after just a few boards). One pass with a handplane or sander cleans the surface perfectly for finishing.

In our tests we also saw much better results on figured wood than steel knives can produce, perhaps due to the shearing action of some of these cutterhead designs or just to the fact that segmented cutters take a short, broken chip.

Across the show floor, I saw these new heads in jointers, planers, and jointer/planer combos of all sizes, and in a tough economy, heard the product managers rave about their sales. Who wouldn’t want to say goodbye to dull or nicked planer and jointer blades?

Full disclosure: I just bought one of these myself and can’t wait to get it home. It is a planer-jointer combo (those are proliferating, too), so finally I’ll have a jointer as wide as my planer.

Makita’s New Cordless Driver-Drill

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:08:04 GMT

Posted by: Tom Begnal

There’s a lot to like about Makita’s new cordless driver-drill, model number DF030DW. It’s powerful, compact, lightweight, and comfortable -- features furniture makers are sure to appreciate.

Powered by a 10.8-volt lithium-ion battery, the tool generates an impressive 200 inch-pounds of torque. The tool has two speeds (0 to 350 rpm and 0 to 1,300 rpm) and 18 clutch settings. It weighs only 1.9 pounds. Also, it measures only 6-3/16-in. long, making it especially usefully for getting into tight places. Plus, an ergonomically-shaped soft-grip handle felt comfortable in my hand.

At the front of the driver-drill, an LED light makes it easier see when drilling holes or driving screws in dark corners of cabinets.

Makita’s DF030DW driver drill, including two batteries and a 50-minute battery charger, sells for around $150. For more details, go to www.makitatools.com, or call toll-free 800-462-5482.

Affordable Slot-Mortiser from Laguna

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:36:42 GMT

Posted by: Tom Begnal

We found, in the Laguna booth, their new Platinum-Series Slot-Mortiser that sells for an attractive price.

The machine is powered by a 3-hp, 220-volt, and reversible motor with a 5/8-in-dia. chuck. The 8-in.-deep by 19-1/2-in.-long worktable moves 5-1/2-in vertically, 5-1/2-in. front-to-back and 11-in. side-to-side.

The mortiser sells for $995. To learn more, call 949-474-1200 or visit their website at www.lagunatools.com.

Photo courtesy of Laguna Tools

Ready to Step Up to a Shaper?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:25:34 GMT

Posted by: Asa Christiana

A shaper offers many advantages over a router-table. The fence and controls are easier to use and more precise, but most importantly, even the heaviest cuts are much cleaner, even in end grain.

The secret is the larger cutters, which hit the wood at a shallower angle, shearing more than chopping. Plus, huge gullets extract the thickest chips easily. However, those same beefy, expensive cutters are the reason may woodworkers haven’t upgraded to a shaper.

Shaper-tooling manufacturers have responded, offering cutterheads with sets of multiple insert cutters. CMT is leading the way with its 13-cutter Cabinet and Joinery and Molding and Profile sets, each with a list price of $280. Do the math: Each profile costs less than a high-end router bit.

One box, 13 profiles. CMT’s shaper cutter sets combine 13 useful profiles with an aluminum cutterhead for a $280 list price. Additional pairs of knives are $25 each.

The two-knife cutterheads are designed to fit a 200-plus-profile line of insert knives, with each pair priced at about $25.

If you attended IWF 2008, you might have been tempted to pair the CMT cutterhead system with a new Jet shaper. The compact but powerful JWS-25X shaper has a roomy table and enough power (3 hp, 230-volt) for any task.

Great first shaper. The Jet 25X has industrial-strength features, such as thick spindles; a reversible, two-speed motor; and a high-quality fence/dust shroud.

It has all the basic features, including two speeds, reversible spindle, a good fence/dust shroud with micro-adjust and built-in featherboards, and multiple spindles (1/2 in., 1 in., and 30 mm, plus 1/4-in. and 1/2-in. router collets) to fit almost all the tooling on the market. At $1,700, it is a serious investment, but this might be the last shaper you buy.

New Veritas Rabbet Planes

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:59:21 GMT

Two Lee Valley planes snagged our attention at the IWF show in Atlanta, a skew rabbet plane and a side rabbet plane. Learn more about these handy new tools in two reports, one from Anatole Burkin, Fine Woodworking’s publisher, and another from associate editor Tom Begnal.

Veritas Skew Rabbet Plane

Posted by: Anatole Burkin

As much as I love vintage tools, there’s a special joy in getting my hands on a brand new tool that does what the original does -- and better. Such is the case with a new release from Lee Valley -- the Veritas skew rabbet plane. I got a chance to take one for a quick test drive at the IWF. Granted, it was tuned up and adjusted, so no surprise, it worked very well on my first try.

Modeled after the Stanley #289, the skew rabbet plane is perfect for cleaning up and fine-tuning the bottom of a groove or dado cut with power tools. Or, if you have the time, you can cut a rabbet from scratch with this tool.

The grip is comfortable and with a skewed blade, you can get a clean cut in all sorts of woods and grain situations. The skewed blade also steers the tool so that the fence stays snug against the edge of the workpiece.

The ductile cast iron fence is predrilled so you can add a longer wooden fence for even better control (useful for the beginning and end of a cut). As I’ve come to expect from Veritas hand tools, there are a host of adjustment mechanisms to fine tune and keep your settings put. With a weight of more than 3 lbs. and a 9-in. body, the tool has the proper heft and size which aids in control.

The tool comes in both left and right hand versions and sells for $249.

Veritas Side Rabbet Plane

Posted by: Tom Begnal

Lee Valley showed us their new side rabbet plane made under the Veritas brand name.

We’ve all cut rabbets, dadoes, and grooves, that end up just slightly too narrow. As a result, the mating part won’t fit. Typically, the solution is to trim the end of mating part. But that’s always fussy because the trimmed area must be exactly the same length as the rabbet, dado, or groove. Too short and the fit remains tight, too long and you unavoidably see where the trim begins. A better solution for a perfect fit is to trim the side walls of the rabbets, dados, and grooves. That’s what the side rabbet plane is designed to do.

It can be used in rabbets, dadoes, and groove as deep as 1/2-in. and as narrow as 3/16-in. The cast-iron plane body has two cutting blades made from O1 tool steel, one on each side of the plane body, plus a spring-loaded pivoting handle to accommodate use in either your right- or left-hand. As a result, you can cut in either direction along the rabbet, dado, or groove. That means you can count on a smooth cut no matter the grain direction.

A depth-stop establishes the correct depth of cut, plus it helps support the plane during a cut. It can be quickly reversed without the need to remove it from the plane body. The toe is removable for use when trimming stopped dadoes.

The Veritas Side Rabbet Plane sells for $140. For more information, go to www.leevalley.com, or call toll-free 800-267-8735.

Photos courtesy of Lee Valley Tools