Miniature wood working tool questions??
dreher
Member Posts: 8,893 ✭✭✭✭
Many years ago I bought some fancy wood pieces with the intention of trying to make a couple of sets of handgun grips. These wood pieces measure around 5 inches long and about 2 to 2 1/2 inches square on the end. All these years later I still have these pieces. I'm thinking about trying to make some very pretty Christian crosses. I just can't figure out what I need to cut these into pieces 3/16th inch thick. That 3/16 inch could easily change after I cut a few pieces and see what I think of that measurement.
Do I need a hand tool or some type of power tool?? A very, very fine, thin saw blade perhaps, with some type of jig to help make the cuts?? So what do I need to make some small wooden Christian crosses maybe a max of 2 inches long and 1 1/2 inches across?
I have good quality big tools but know nothing about something small enough to do what I'm talking about. Any advice would be appreciated!!
Comments
US Military Guy does some outstanding woodworking. I would suggest to ask him for advice.
Here's an example,in this thread, of the work he does.
New keypad is installed on the safe,, — GunBroker.com Member Forums
oldmagic is another,but hardly shows up here anymore.
I would think a band saw with fine teeth would get you started?
I've got a much older, all metal, version of this and it works well for every hardwood I've put it to.
It helps on thin cuts if you secure the wood with a clamp of some type.
You might search used tools online for a good price.
edit: not recommending that saw, just an example.
I recommend using a bandsaw to rip it to thickness then roughing the cross out and finishing it up on a spindle sander. I do things like your wanting on my jet bandsaw. I also have a powermatic planner and jointer for other projects.
Thanks for the shout out.
My advice might get rather long winded so I will make it is another post.
With reference to the original post and my suggestion . . . it looks like I might be a little late, but I have the same suggestion others have given.
Use a band saw.
You are cutting some fairly small pieces. Any type of saw with a circular blade will be very dangerous (without some type of jig or fixture to hold your work). That is not to say that you won't be safe using a band saw. It is just a less aggressive machine with slower blade speed. That being said - you will probably notice that most of your grocery stores with a meat section use a band saw to cut the meat. Consider your fingers to be "meat" and you will get the idea.
The absolutely best machine - in my opinion - to get the thickness you are trying to achieve will be a panel sander. It is rather like a planer except it uses sandpaper instead of knives. My Performax will easily handle your 5 inch x 2 inch x 3/16 inch material. It will sand to the thickness thinner than a credit card and you won't lose fingers. If necessary, you can use double faced tape to hold your material to a larger piece of material as you run it through the machine.
Of course, the "traditional" machine to use for this si
OK. What happened to my post?
It was such a really good post, but it looks like only a small part of it made it.
I don't think my Windows XP machine with a pop-up blocker likes this forum.
Just send me a PM.
A good variable speed scroll saw with a round cutting blade that allows for cuts in all directions is a good thing for small woodworking projects. Also the machine needs to have an easy way of changing the blades. (some are a pain to just change a blade)
Add a good small table type light that can be aimed down at the work piece.
How about some projects like this?