Project Update: Some Tweaking Needed

As I've slowly moved back out to the shop, I've had time to notice a few things that need improvement. One that I will definitely work on today is a small separation beginning to show between the ceiling and the top of the go-bar deck. This is not good, particularly if I'm standing under it when it decides to pull free and crash down onto whatever's below it. You can see the potential disaster in the photo below.

The plan is to purchase a 3 1/2" inch carriage bolt and get the offending corners drilled and screwed in tonight.

Another nagging issue is with the throat plate that came with the Grizzly 10" table saw. Like the miter gauge, it's proving to be practically useless. I had picked up some ash to slice up and use for go-bars and got around to ripping it all up last night. One thing I noticed is that the throat plate is recessed too much, which allows the wood being pushed through to tilt and rub against the saw blade during the cut. Now, I like the pleasant smell of gently burning wood as much as the next guy, just not in my shop while I'm cutting wood.

This piece of ash was pretty great and I ended up cutting the bars to 5/8" x 3/4". Unfortunately, the go-bars I cut from it are now all decorated with unintended pyrography. And it's not that pretty.

Sure, they'll work just fine for clamping, yet I will have to look at those burn marks every time I use them from now until they disintegrate. To mitigate against future pyrography, I'm going to alter a zero-clearance throat plate I made from some of the Goby Free Box walnut I picked up months ago to accommodate the riving knife and use that plate 99% of the time moving forward. Fortunately, I possess a seemingly limitless capacity for ignoring that which is unsightly - my impending mortality, a possible Trump Presidency, burn marks on my go-bars. I can do this.

On a completely unrelated, happier, note, I rummaged through a toolbox Random Roger Green left before I came down with the creeping crud. The man owns some amazing tools that belong in the top drawer of any shop in the world. In this case, I pulled out an enormous chisel, a couple of planes, a nice auger bit, and some other trinkets.

Just holding the tools in my hands was quite motivating. Motivating enough, in fact, that I took a crack at smoothing one of the workbench leg tops a bit so I could start cutting the tenon into it. Yeah, it's on its side. No, it didn't hinder my work. It was on the assembly table, so I swung it around, clamped it, and went to town.

I did experience a little tearout, but nothing too bad. Of course, I posted this photo on the book of the face and got about 15 suggestions about how to do it better, most of which were really helpful. At the end of the day, I just need to smooth these a bit because I'll be cutting them of sufficient depth that they'll stick up a bit when the top is slid on. I can just trim them flush then and all will be well. Regardless, it was a little progress.

Until next time...