ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Best tool to cut posts 6.25 inches square x 96 inches

2014-08-11 23:32:49

On Aug 11, 2014, at 7:43 PM, Phillip Hallam-Baker 
<phill(_at_)hallambaker(_dot_)com> wrote:

Base of the TARDIS and the sign boards are both half done.

So now I come across a problem that nobody in the tardis-building
community has (yet) come to a good answer to, how to trim the posts
down to exact size.

They are 8' long ( a bit longer actually, that being the problem) and
made of 4 planks of 5 1/2 x 3/4 pine.  So they are heavy. Its at the
limit of a one person lift and certainly too big to handle on a table
saw.

Chop saw? Well too big for my 12" chop saw and a slide does not help here.


I am thinking I probably need to make a jig and use a circular saw.


I would use a table saw and a jointer. Used to work in a furniture factory, and 
that’s how we did it.

it being 8 feet long, this is a job for two people

First, run one side over the jointer to make a flat side. You can use a table 
saw for this with the right jig. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtSoo1AaBDo is 
inexpensive; I don’t like how close he got his hand to the blade (says the guy 
with a short finger). I like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKDxKb-B0sQ 
better, but it’s going to mean you have (from somewhere) an 8 foot long 
perfectly straight board to run down the guide. Probably means a piece of 
plywood.

Second, set up a guide the prescribed distance from the table saw blade. Make 
sure you have some other stick you can use to push the board through. Put the 
flat jointed side against the guide and the rough side on the other side of the 
blade. Push slowly past the blade, and pull from the other.

You can then rotate the board 90’ and repeat the second step. That makes it 
square.

There is value in having a second stick that looks something like a table fork 
but perhaps three feet long. Use that to push the board against the guide. 
You’d rather have the blade hit that than your fingers, and it keeps the board 
from migrating out.

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Message signed with OpenPGP using GPGMail