Day 165: Beveling and Some New Gadgets

As you may or may not know, I've recently been sick yet again. Not only did I pick up "stacked infections" - sinus and urinary tract - I got food poisoning from eating oysters at the Oregon Coast. If misery loves company, I'm overwhelmed with the turnout. Now, having whined about that, I can say with 100% confidence that all illnesses have left the building - and my body. I'm good to go, so here we go.

After conferring with both Ernie Miller and Owen Daly about completely different ways to approach cutting and bending the 8' and 4' bridges, I've decided to pursue both methods and then compare and contrast the differences between the two. In the end, I really just want to get them done - as soon as I can figure out how to cut a 30-degree bevel on the table saw.

I'm mostly kidding. A good buddy, John Finn, is visiting later today to chew the fat over the best way to accomplish the bevel. Honestly, I believe it involves tilting the the saw blade at the complementary angle to 30 degrees (that's right - 60 degrees) and ripping the beech board with the fence set very close to the blade. More on this later.

Over the last few weeks, I've engaged in my regular Tortuga Early Instruments Worldwide Headquarters Winter Cleanup, including selling the Laguna 14" SUV resaw band saw and dumping that money into a nice, little CNC machine - the Shapeoko 3 XL. I purchased it from Cool Craigslist Guy in Waldport, Oregon (hence the bad seafood story) and saved a cool $1000 off the regular price from Carbide3D.

I've since ordered the XL--> XXL upgrade kit to double the y-axis depth of the machine. Will I be using it for harpsichord work? Probably not, but it definitely changes the character of some of the other (ahem...guitar) work I do.

Along with this, I finally broke down and replaed the $7 spokeshave with this:

The Veritas Flat Spokeshave, O1. As I've said in the past, the poverty mentality that accompanies being the Cheapest Guy Alive no longer applies to the shop. From now on, it's heirloom quality tools for me. Another example of this sort of mentality is the former CNC machine that took up space for over two years under the assembly table:

Heirloom. Quality. Tools. Moving. Forward.

Speaking of heirloom quality tools, I also brought a Grizzly air filter into the shop. It's not really heirloom quality, but it does filter dust at the 5 and 1 micron levels. I'm really, really, really hoping this, combined with greater attention to dust collection at tool origins, will help me cut down on the bronchial/sinus infections I've been enduring the last couple of years. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I'll take that bet.

The little unit offers three speeds with three timer levels: 1, 2 and 4 hours, so I never have to remember to shut it off. I did the "flame test" by holding a lighter in various areas around the shop and I must say I'm impressed with its coverage. Grizzly claims it will recycle the entire shop air seven times per hour and I'm inclined to believe them.

Now, back to cutting that bevel.

Until next time...