I'm going to go the other way from Fred and recommend an axe. You can chop
down redwoods with an axe, surely you could cut a bit off a tiny ~6" square
hollow log...
OK--if you don't like that, how about a regular old manual, non-electric
saw? Actually would do a great job in the right hands. If you have a friend
you can use one with two handles.
On Tue, Aug 12, 2014 at 12:32 AM, Fred Baker (fred) <fred(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com>
wrote:
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.
--
Chris Elliott
chelliot(_at_)pobox(_dot_)com