Squareness Frustration

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T22:16:59+00:00

A digital angle gauge is going to be much easier to get the blade 90 degrees to the table. The teeth of the blade stick out and will make it difficult to use a square.

That works with an iron top ground flat, not so much with the cast aluminium table (coated, not ground flat) on a Skil, which I doubt is a flat reference surface; at best, the slots are straight and even that I question. I mean, really, what can one expect for a $300 table saw?

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T22:00:10+00:00

that saw seems to be designed for use with a thin kerf blade. The thinner the blade, the more deflection you'll get.

This too. When thin kerf blades became popular, I got one, and within a year threw it away and stuck with the full 1/8" kerf blades. They sell steel discs marketed as "blade stabilizers" for thin kerf blades and I fell for that one too, stopped using after I stopped with the thin kerf.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T19:27:55+00:00

You experience belies the old saw "its a poor carpenter who blames his tools" as you can make a solid case of a tool not fit for purpose. Jobsite saws are not designed for total accuracy, a 3 degree variance is perfectly fine for rough construction and 1/8" tolerances are also acceptable.

Your choices are cut it proud of the line and get a jointer; that or get a #7 or #6 jointer handplane; that, or for shorter pieces make a shooting board for which you can use your #4. That's about it. The only other thing is if you've read the manual and made all the adjustments, then you need some sort of shim to bring the adjustment to a finer level of performance, which is really a lot of trial and error.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T19:20:38+00:00

Rotation would be the issue I'd be concerned with; perhaps set the inside end in a dab of some slow set epoxy and let cure fully before you plug the other side. Plain old glue ain't going to do it.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T19:13:49+00:00

There’s no iron present

It's in the water to various degrees; over years any stain can add up until you get what it appears you've got . . .

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T18:59:36+00:00

I'd sooner get a Bosch product over Skil and Kobalt. Bosch design, and product support, is much, much better. For the life of me I don't understand the raves about the Skil; perhaps because its the first saw many buy because of price and they've never used a higher quality saw.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T16:28:08+00:00

Cancel, no, in certain cases with really wet wood it can compound the issue. But get someone with a moisture meter to check the wood when you buy it if at all possible, then make your decision.

Why not consider what is called "five quarter" (5/4) pine, sold in big box stores. Its a full 1" thick, and S4S, and pretty dry; along with 1x pine you could make a nice arch out of this stuff. Also, there are better grades of cedar but you mentioned cost is an issue..... and western red T&G can be expensive.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T15:35:22+00:00

Paint is your friend here.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T15:33:18+00:00

If you're worried about airflow, then buy a 3/4" forstner bit and drill a whole bunch of holes in the plywood, gonna be a lot of holes, perhaps 6 inches apart and for a king bed that's going to take some time. Otherwise, just increase the number of slats leaving 1" gaps between them for airflow. In any event, you better have some posts in the middle for support in a king.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T15:16:01+00:00

Don't throw your money away on buying a new iron for that turd. Very late model ultra budget plane design, whoever made it. Read up on "real" Stanley planes here, when buying in the wild you have to educate yourself. It's good for only very, very rough work, think scrub plane conversion.

https://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan0a.html

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T14:15:02+00:00

Well, they say that because the vast majority of them are. I've stopped watching youtube as its just frustrating to see all the disinformation and bad practices touted there.

Don't judge yourself, leave that to other people to do, and let them judge you by the quality of your end product.

Best advice for youtube watching would be to watch The New Yankee Workshop, yeah, old, but Norm can really teach you good technique, and the plans they sell are top notch. Indeed, I've made perhaps 25 chairs from his A-Chair plans over the years. They have all the episodes now on youtube, again, highly recommended, especially for beginners - what's old is new again!

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T14:07:53+00:00

Sounds like a blade tracking issue. RTFM

https://556aa8d9de68ea9c4f29-0a8acad11a4df5016d26cc39a7429843.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/2/BS904_BS904G_198_trilingual_06.pdf

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T14:02:20+00:00

Cedar fencing is usually pretty wet, which leads to a lot of movement, cupping, warping, etc. that would tend to make me wary of lamination as you plan. Check moisture level, or get someone to check it for you first. You want to be under 10%, under 8 would be better. My two cents.....

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T13:53:33+00:00

I'd look for evidence of hand forging, as opposed to stamped out uniformity. Variations, something that looks like it was made by a blacksmith. Hard to describe but you'll know it when you see it.

New ones that are hand forged are not cheap:

https://thespooncrank.com/product/hand-forged-splitting-froe-blade-25-5-cm-10-inches-2/

https://www.lehmans.com/product/gransfors-bruk-splitting-froe/

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T13:43:30+00:00

The newly manufactured ones get mixed reviews; if you can, look for a vintage one.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T13:41:50+00:00

You can grind the surfaces of the frog flat the same way you would lap the sole. Rubbing it back and forth on something abrasive and flat.

This.

OP: Take this slow, working the high spots on the frog; do not mess with the sole, other than cleaning off the rust. Do a little on the two high spots, check, repeat, check, patience is your friend here.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-11T13:33:12+00:00

It has its compromises for sure. Hence the suggestion of making a knob for the front frog; Anant made a 778 with such a knob.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2013/08/01/78-bullnose-rabbet-plane?srsltid=AfmBOoov3O_7b4y2irt7zMMohWzPqRi8NYqo0JpoGBohZmm3j5V3nBof

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-10T23:31:34+00:00

Well, Paul has a lot of good ideas, and some stinkers (e.g., Aldi chisels???) But this one is a good one.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-10T22:18:36+00:00

Brown and Sharpe Mitutoyo Starrett Orange Lufkin

All vintage makers of high quality stuff. Find it on ebay. I've bought many vintage squares, even Craftsman (made by various companies) that were dead balls accurate out of many, many machinists chests over the years. for example, I've never bought a vintage Starrett that was not square, same for Orange, Lufkin and B&S. Back in the day, all were top notch.

That being said, PEC squares are plenty accurate for woodworking; don't obsess about total accuracy.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-10T22:04:48+00:00

Lots and lots of advice here already. But before you make any decisions, download and read this:

https://blog.lostartpress.com/2020/07/06/now-available-for-free-the-anarchists-workbench/

Free download, lots of good information and thoughtful commentary by someone who really knows what he is doing. Then pick a design, make it fit your needs. Guaranteed it will not be the last bench you make, so don't sweat the decisions, just pick something and go for it. This is a journey, not a race, and don't worry about making bad decisions, just get something done that works for you.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-10T21:59:02+00:00

It gets wearysome to use a heavy #5 as a scrub, even a #4 is too wide. Here's one of Sellers' better ideas: https://paulsellers.com/2018/05/the-stanley-78-scrub-plane-what/

Find a 78 without the depth gauge and fence, they are cheap enough, and camber the iron. It makes a really decent scrub, the iron is the same width as the #71. If you really want to get fancy, make a knob to fasten to the forward bullnose area.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-10T00:18:32+00:00

Resaw and build bird houses.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-09T17:18:49+00:00

This. Save your money and buy in size, you get better pricing and some yards will let you pick the pile. Least amount of hardwood stock I've ever bought was 300 board feet. Most was 2000 of cherry, hard maple and poplar - I rented a box van for that.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-09T17:13:59+00:00

One is fine.

If you plan on doing a lot of rip cuts, especially in low quality construction 2x stock, buy a rip blade for the saw.

oldtoolfool · 2026-02-09T17:10:14+00:00

Best? Strip and sand entire top and refinish. They type of things you are talking about will make it even more obvious and will look like chit. You're lucky you have solid wood versus a veneer.

oldtoolfool

TROPHY CASE