Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 96 i Australian Wood Review

Adding to their growing range of 18V cordless tools, last year Festool released the HKC55 circular saw. This is an extremely versatile saw, able to be used in the traditional freehand mode, with the proprietary Festool guide rail, or with the new specific FSK crosscut guide rail system. This rail system enables accurate and repeatable long mitre cuts that are beyond the capacity of a mitre saw, however I didn’t have access to one of these rails for the purpose of this review. Either the 4.2 or 5.2Ah battery from the Festool system powers the 18V EC-TEC brushless motor. There is a good range of job and material-specific 160mm tooling available and changes are fast, simple and tool-less with the FastFix system. The electric brake system brings the tool to…

Spiral cutterblocks for jointers and thicknessers are nothing new, having been commonly available for over a decade. I’ve used many of them, both here and in the USA, using a wide variety of woods and on a good range of machines, including 150 and 200mm jointers, 300mm benchtop and 450mm floor-standing thicknessers, through to retrofits on 600mm pre- WWII cast iron behemoths. Since moving back to Australia in 2014, I’ve used the Silent-Power cutterblock, available from Felder. I have a Hammer A331 and a Felder AD941, both combination machines. This cutterblock is available as an option on new-order machines from the Hammer/Felder/Format4 catalogue. It cannot be retrofitted to their machines with a traditional straight-knife cutterblock, nor can it be retrofitted to other brands of machines, but the staff at Felder…

Arcing up, twisting and turning like a headless snake, the end of one of Wayne Mavin’s lastest creations is trapped in his bench vice. It’s a staircase handrail but not understanding how it will eventually be anchored makes it a 3D mystery. There are curves and flowing lines that roll around. It’s made in ovoid and moulded sections that need to be seamlessly joined on angled faces. ‘You’ve got to sculpt it, but it’s following a line, it’s not freeform’, explained Wayne. ‘And you can’t fudge it, because if you do that your balustrading is not plumb. The centre line of the handrail has to follow down the string of the stairs and has to be a consistent height over the risers as it comes down.’ ‘There are formulas’, says…

In 2008, when I was undertaking my Certificate IV at Sturt School for Wood, the late Tom Harrington, then head instructor, told me about Lenox Woodmaster CT carbide tipped bandsaw blades. They were three times the cost of the high steel blades I was using, however Tom assured me carbide tipped blades would last at least three times longer. I do a lot of curved laminations – they are in just about every piece of furniture I make – however the biggest advantage of changing over to this new blade was its very small kerf of 1.3mm compared to the high speed steel blade of around twice that at least and with a much rougher cut. This meant getting many more laminations from a set width piece of timber. When…

I’d love a dollar for each of the times I’ve heard how ‘good’ wood smells, particularly from visitors to my shedudio. So ‘natural’, so ‘organic’, so ‘reminiscent of childhood’ and so on. For almost 40 years I’ve been making sawdust for a living but had no romantic notions and have always been aware of the risks of breathing it. For this reason I’ve always had dust extraction on power tools and machines as well using a mask in cases where extraction is insufficient. And by mask I mean the type with cartridges and a silicone face seal rather than the disposable version. So it was a very surprising and truly frightening experience earlier this year when I was barely able to breathe and had to lie in an air conditioned…

This machine, to my eye, mirrors the design of many high-end European planer/thicknessers. The operating modes, placement of handles and switch gear reminded me instantly of, say, the Hammer brand. However this machine comes from a Chinese factory and that is not a bad thing. Pitched to the part-time woodworker market it will get you planing and thicknessing for half the price of European machines with similar specs. The trade-off is less refinement in some components and a lower resale value, but not lower performance. The main tables are 250mm wide x 1050mm long and are made from machined cast iron. Maximum thicknessing depth is 180mm, enough for most workshop jobs. Set-up is straightforward and operation is easy. The cutterguard is a bit light duty although it worked well and…

Made in Taiwan this is a fairly rugged machine that comes equipped with a steel stand. This is a generic design based on the original Powermatic sander, and to me all drum sanders in this style are the same, albeit with different capacities, materials, and levels of refinement and build quality. As for all drum sanders of this type, winding and securing the abrasive on the drum is a skill you will develop, and once learnt it is a quick process. The large drum is supported by a 6mm thick aluminium frame, and rise and fall is via a top mounted winder. There is some adjustment of the drum to the table, a critical point as this distance needs to be constant over the width so it will sand evenly.…

This is a new take on the traditional combination square. Made in the USA, its main point of difference is the big cast and machined aluminium body. With this patented design tool you can mark a square line on the face of a board as you would with a traditional square and the extra width of the tool allows you to extend this line down the edge. In fact you can edge mark up to 24mm. Because of its comparative larger size it does not really suit thin boards, but for standard thickness wood of 19mm or so it is excellent. The 2mm thick etched ruler is high quality and a bubble level is built into the body. Ruler to body was a highly accurate 90° when checked against a…

To the Japanese, shoji are a way of life, a constant that has been an integral part of their national character for almost a thousand years. Shoji underwent a significant evolutionary change in the latter part of the 16th century with the growing power of the samurai warrior class and the emergence of the shoin-zukuri architectural style. In the four centuries since then, shoji design has continued to be further refined, and has risen to new heights of complexity and artistic expression. The advent of modern materials, tools and techniques, and the greater use of computers has also seen kumiko art reach new levels, and boundaries are constantly being pushed with every generation. Square asa-no-ha The project in this article is a single square asa-no-ha pattern in a frame with…

From the time a human infant picks up a rattle or spoon, he or she becomes a hand tool user. Over the millennia the shape and function of the objects we manipulate for a purpose has varied in a multitude of ways. There are museums and galleries all around the world that feature hand tools, but perhaps none with such a specialised and large collection as the Maison de L’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvrière (MOPO) in Troyes, France*. Translated, the name refers not only to the hand tools employed by artisans, but also to their way of thinking. Over 11,000 tools from the 1600s through to the 1800s are displayed in the most creative and visually stunning way – some are even suspended in cascading waves with lighting that…

Re-engineered and upgraded to benefit from innovative research and modern materials, the evolutionary links of the Veritas combination plane to the Stanley 45 are clearly evident. This version has however a smaller more compact feel with the designers also choosing to eliminate the inclusion of a front knob. Combination planes have polarised woodworkers for more than a century. Their supporters typically enjoy the versatility these planes offer whilst their detractors despise the fussiness and complexity that invariably results when a single tool is designed to perform a multitude of tasks. The plane is shipped with a single 1/4" ploughing blade and can be used to perform a number of joinery and moulding tasks such as beading, reeding, tongue and groove, fluting and rebating via a range of optional cutters. The…

Yet another innovative woodcarving attachment from Australian toolmakers Arbortech. The Ball Gouge is a clever round-headed cutter that is designed to carve mostly concave surfaces. Beautifully made, it has a 30mm diameter head with a reversible ring tungsten cutter that carves small and medium sized areas quite quickly. It will fit pretty well all angle grinders, screwing straight onto the shaft, although you may need the included adaptor depending on the shaft diameter your grinder has. As it is a rather long tool there is quite a bit of leverage generated so a good quality grinder is essential. The manufacturers claim it is self sharpening however I was unable to verify this. The cutting ring can be easily loosened and moved to a new sharp edge as needed and with…

Out In Front Another brand new innovation from HNT Gordon Planemakers is this alternative to traditional front vices. The handle is shaped for comfort as it winds smoothly and holds without excessive force. The vice is designed to not rack in any workholding situation. Made from high grade aluminium, it is light and strong and has a covered thread for longer life. After three years real workshop use testing, the new vice is now available online or email planemaker@hntgordon.com.au www.hntgordon.com.au Tool Trio New from Dremel is a three in one boxed DIY Maker Kit. The Dremel 3000 series rotary tool with its 130 watt motor cuts wood, metal and plastic, while the 290 Engraver has a reciprocating action for optimal control. Completing the trifecta is the 2000 VersaTip, an open flame…

I consider myself pretty fortunate when it comes to workshop space these days. I have just over 45m² in our new home and that is by far the largest shop I’ve ever had. Prior to this shop I was working in a one-car garage with about 16m², and the smallest shop I’ve ever woodworked in was my first one, which was under a set of stairs in a dark basement and it topped out at a whopping 3.7m². The point is that you don’t need a big shop full of tools to woodwork. What you need is the desire to work with your hands and some basic tools. This is the first article in a series of four that will help you get started working in a small space. The…

If you like handwork then this project may interest you. I made this cabinet to house my working plane collection and now they are all housed together and dust free. Obviously a piece like this can be made to store anything at all inside your home or workshop. For the carcase, back and door frames I used some lengths of oregon or Douglas fir, a species I like the look and feel of. The door panels are made of celery top pine. To establish the final dimensions of your cabinet you need to allow for its intended contents as well as the thickness of material and size of dovetails. With your measurements finalised the wood can be planed and sawn to final length. We are working here with two short…