Learning about shop tools
A few weeks ago I was challenged with putting on my teachers hat and
giving my wife some lessons about woodworking. It's funny how much you
take for granted as you learn. I found that many of the things we
woodworkers do almost instinctively have to be learned by novices.
Somewhere in my past somebody took the time to show me and now it's my
turn to pass along the favour.
I chose a birdhouse grouping to give her an opportunity to try out the
table saw and tenoning jig, band saw, router, compound miter saw and
drill press .
The project includes some tricky angles and some simple joinery as well as an opportunity to learn the basics of finishing.
The pattern repeats itself so it gives the opportunity to teach repetitive cuts as well.
First step - cut out the basic roof shape and determine the height of the largest piece.
Next we decide on the relative height for the two adjacent houses to gain some symmetry and talk a bit about the Golden Rule.
The material is inexpensive so it's not too painlful to go back and repeat a part that just doesn't work .
The picture above show her first couple of hours with the basic
boxes cut out and a mock roof installed on a couple of them.
I exhausted my own bag of tricks when it can time to bevel the boards for the 30° pitch roof.
The bevel needed to be 15° on each piece and out of range for both the CMS, band saw and the table saw.
The solution became the use of the table saw tenoning jig and a slight angle on the saw blade.
The tenoning jig would only tilt 10° so the rest of the angle came from tilting the tablesaw blade 5°.
I thought of just tiltiing the TS blade but it did not give me enough
clearance on the bottom edge of the boards for complete safety.
Here's the set up with a trial stick in place.
With the angle set and tested we were ready for beveling the roof members
here's the completed angle.
Next the painting:
Linda gets some expert help from the Grand boy Dylan.
Onward and upward!
Next stage:
With the paint finished she put a coat of lacquer over it to protect it from moisture and then attached the roofs.
They are cedar and will not be painted to allow them to "silver out" over the next year.
The next stage is to put a stantion on the base and find a good spot in the yard to mount it on a pole.
After a few decorations and a couple of lessons on glueing and
joining the roofs we are now the landlords for a new condominium
complex for the back yard.
A fun project.
