Novice in need of help selecting the right tool.

Re: Novice in need of help selecting the right too

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>Lisa You have posted your message on the handtool forum you might want to post on the messages board. If you looking for options with hand tools I would suggest a backsaw and chisel. Cut down each side and chisel out the waste.

Re: Novice in need of help selecting the right too

Lisa - MKE

>Thank you. I will move this to the messages board!

Re: Novice in need of help selecting the right too

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I had planned to respond earlier and then had to stop (I'm doing this from work, but now I'm on the lunch hour rather than at break, eh). One thing I might add to Jim's comment is that 3/16" is pretty narrow to do two cuts with a saw - for the second cut, the saw's likely want to fall into the first kerf. You can somewhat control for this by making a block of wood that you can clamp to the stock to register the saw against for the second cut.

You didn't mention how many of these you need to do. If you're planning on 10,000 of them, a power tool solution probably makes more sense, in which case (forgive me; I can't stop now that I've started) a router table or dado-blade-in-tablesaw solution is probably best.

Re: Novice in need of help selecting the right too

mike recchione

>Lisa,

Am I right in interpreting the dimensions of the piece of wood you want to notch as 1/4" thick and 2" wide? If that's the case, you don't have all that many notches to make. (Unless you're making thousands of these things).

The way I would probably do this is by marking all the notches on both sides of the wood, defining the end of each notch using a 3/16 drill, then cutting down one side of each notch with a backsaw, leaving the line. (Do all the cuts at once to save time). I (very low-tech guy that I am), would then just whittle the other side of each notch to size with a knife - pine is very soft. Just make sure the knife is sharp. Finish up by cleaning the sawn side and squaring off the bottom of the notch with a 3/16 paring chisel.

Maybe there's a better way, but with that sized piece, I don't think I'd be running out to buy a table saw ;-)

- Mike