Woodshop: Safety Class

Tl;Dr: I am a junior apprentice novice wood worker

I’m just back from the Safety class at the PNA Woodshop. I introduced myself as Junior Apprentice Novice Rough Carpenter, and I think that’s pretty accurate. And… super overwhelmed by the experience of the other volunteers – a guy who has most of the tools we used in his home shop, another guy who does most of his work at the Wooden Boat Center. The two instructors were awesome (Kevin and Brian). And I still feel like I have a lot to learn before I’d be competent.

We went over a few tools, writing these down here so I don’t forget

Jointer-planer

This tool makes wood flater. Most wood is not flat. It’s cupped or bowed, or twisted or warped. This must be done before ripping wood on the table saw for safety reasons. The Jointer-planer has 3 basic operations:

• Wide-edge surface flattening: If you have a piece of wood that’s wider across 1 side than the other (like the 4″ side of a 2×4), you can lay it flat on the jointer to gradually remove the ‘high spots’ from cupped piece of wood (or the low spots if you place it upside down)
• Narrow-edge surface flattening: The same operation can be performed on the narrow edge, so that the edge is flat. This is commonly used to create surfaces that can be glued together (as in a joint), which is where the name come from
• Wide-edge surface planing: Planing removes a uniform amount of wood from the surface so that your already-surface jointed wood is a specific thickness. This is often called Thickness planing.

The wide-edge surface flatting operation sounds a lot like the wide-edge-surface planning operation – the difference is that the planing tool requires 1 flat face already. So first you surface-joint, then you surface plan (to make both faces flat and paralell).

Surface jointing is a bit tricky since it requires you keep constant pressure on the wood faces which you apply with your hands. However, you have to Jump over the blade guard, which is tricky to do with only 2 hands.

From a tool perspective – the main thing about the jointer is: use the pusher pads and use them to keep even pressure. For Narrow edge jointing, good pressure against the fence and downwards is all that’s needed. Remember: the machine needs plugged in, and the dust collection gates need set correctly (check the bandsaw gate).

To convert the Jointer to a planer, you unlock the top surface of the tool and flip it up. The dust collection chute gets rotated so it collects from the top, and the vaccum hose gets moved. One trick – the thickness setting needs to be very tall to get it setup correctly. After that, use the board you want to plane as a guide and decrease the thickness settting a little at a time.

Table Saw

Wood must be flat (wide edge and at least 1 narrow edge) before ripping, so the wood doesn’t mis-feed and shoot back at you.

The Table saw has 2 main purposes: ripping (cutting lengthwise) and cross-cutting (cutting across the width). Ripping is done using a fence on the right hand side of the blade, cross-cutting is done using a sliding table (sled) and a cross-cut fence on the right hand side of the blade.

The shop has a stop-saw, which means it needs to be initialized (turned on) before the motor starts running. The saw is always run with a rivving knife (aka a splitter) to prevent the kerf from closing up and causing a problem. The shop rules are that you always use the blade guard as well, which prevents fingers or other things from getting into the path of the blade. Getting the guard on is a 2 hand operation, a little tricky.

Ripping is pretty straight forward: set the fence, feed with two hands like a pool queue: left hand pushes against the fence (but stays in place – does not move with the wood!), right hand pushes from the rear edge of the wood (to get enough friction to push the wood). Go Slow.

Cross cutting means finding and assembling the sled and fence. Unlock the sliding table below the saw using the round knob underneath. The cross cut fence is behind the saw (and often hidden by the take off tables. There’s a T-handle allan wrench needed to bolt the fence to the table, red handle.

The normal saw blade is a combination blade, but they also have ripping and cross cut blades. Changing the blade can be a bit finicky, the big deal is just not to drop it.

Band saw

Pretty straight forward to use, probably harder to tune up.

Don’t try to band-saw tight curves or even directly to your pattern. Use ‘leaf’ cuts that go perpendicular to curves to allow excess wood to be cut away (and relieve pressure on the saw blade). Go slow, don’t make sharp cuts. Pretty safe tool overall since it pushes the wood down (not backwards like the table saw or jointer). Make sure to check and set the vacuum gates.

Bench sander

Big sander – removes wood pretty stinking fast! Big flat belt for most things, there’s a disc sander as well.

Oscillating drum sander

Used for tighter curves, has a variety of drum sizes. Installing the drum is straight forward, bolt on and get it wrench tight. Make sure to attach the sander to the festool vaccum and plugin.

That’s about all for now. My practice cutting board is about 2/3rds done – still needs more sanding and some routeing for the edges – next time. Brain full. (Also I gave a double unit of red blood yesterday, so maybe a bit spacey today).