Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Two arms or one
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Jeff, I often rip using a two hand/arm stance with tatebiki, sort of a tripod (two feet and piece) arrangement. It's very comfortable.
I like this easel a lot, think it might work as well to mount it on a wall. But not quite sure how I'd reach pieces over 7' long.
Pam
Only two options I can think of....
Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs
>raise you (a ladder/platform) or lower the board (a pit).
Re: Only two options I can think of....
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>Yep. I was thinking about a trap door in the floor.
Pam
Japanese ripping
Adam Cherubini
>Pam,
How do the japanese rip?
I often say (as if its true) that one must see the cut to saw accurately. Now naturally, that doesn't apply to everyone. But I can't imagine that this is unique to western saws.
How do Japanese carpenters rip?
Adam
BSME, BSAE
Say ,Adam.
Bob Hackett
>Any chance of posting a pic of the credentials?
I know you must have a framed copy hanging on the wall of your studio.;^)
MB
Re: Dang It ! I've been outed
Paul Alt on Cape Cod
>Well, I've never had the thought or the need to use two hands on a saw while ripping on my bench regardless of saw type. Typically, the saw is in my right hand and I have three points of contact for stability: two feet on the ground, the left toe at the base of the bench the right one back, and and the left hand on the work or the diagonal beam, depending on circumstance.
Paul
Re: Say ,Adam.
Adam Cherubini
>That's funny! Only thing hanging in my shop besides saws and augers are drawings of or by my children!
Seriously though, like Jeff, I can usually spot fellow engineers. And though it never occurred to me before a lawyer friend brought it up, I think its been helpful. And even more so in my case since I work with some of the world's finest metalurgists and engineers. Unfortunately, I only understand half of their answers to my questions.
Here's an example- The other day I asked if it really helps to push hard when you are sanding metals. I think many of us think that's just common sense- at least that's my view. But I was interested in the mechanics. Sometimes my common sense is just plain wrong. Suffice it to say, I didn't understand the answer. But it souded like sawing; when the teeth get dull, down force is the only way to get engagement.
Adam
just another boring engineer
PS When I gave my presentation to the Central Jersey Woodworkers, I began by asking how many members were engineers degreed or non-degreed or would otherwise refer to themselves as tech workers and about 3/4 of the hands went up.
I wonder what the percentage is. I'm guessing it would be high. That would be a good question for Asa Christiana (FWW) or Chris Schwarz (PW). I kinda expect this community has a good percentage of techies just because its internet based.
Re: Say ,Adam.
Bob Hackett
>Wait a minute,I thought BSAE stood for BS Artist Extraordinare'.;^)
MB
Re: saw horses
paul womack
>
Re: Japanese ripping, for Adam
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>I've only seen two Japanese saw anything. Inamoto-san used a table saw to size dai. Odate-san, in the class I attended, had to use western workbenches. He taught me both my methods: sawing with one hand so that the arm pivots at the shoulder and elbow, with the forearm maintaining a single plane with the saw (that is, no up and down motion) and sawing with two hands with a two-leg wide stance, squared off to the joint.
However, according to the books, Japanese saw boards on a short trestle table setup. My problem with this is I don't see how the saw can clear the floor. They use a shallow angle, but still...
Pam
Re: Japanese ripping, for Adam
John Zahurak
>Is anyone aware of any woodworking videos which demonstrate traditional use of Japanese hand-saws? I have not been able to find any. The closest I saw was some in the DickGMB catalog. However, these are in the European format and won't work in a US VCR.
I am aware of the the sharpening and plane-tuning video from japanesetools.
Thanks - John Z
Re: Japanese ripping, for Adam
Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX
>There's an old video Jay van Arsdale made on Japanese stuff; but I haven't come across an available copy (haven't really been looking that hard, by the time I found out about it I didn't think I needed it).
If you have a fairly new dvd player, chances are it's multi-format; so you might investigate getting a European dvd instead.
Pam
Not a representative sample
mike recchione
>Adam,
The CJWA started out as a Bell Labs club, from back when there were such things, so you'd expect many of the members to be engineers. Back in the earlier days of The Porch, because internet access wasn't anywhere near as universal as it is today, many of the posters were scientists, engineers and IT folks. It would be easy to conclude that most woodworkers have science or engineering backgrounds, but I don't think these are representative samples. I wonder what kind of representation engineers have in woodworking outside of the online community...
Re: Not a representative sample
Doug Evans
>Hi Mike:
We do a lot of travelling to clubs to speak, like our upcoming West Coast trip. We are fairly in-touch with our existing customer base.
At the same time, we are a company focussed on high-end hand tools.
Here are some of the things that strike us:
There are a lot of medical professionals in high end hand tool woodworking. Ben once quipped that we would be better to start advertising in medical journals than FWW!
As a second group, I would say there are a lot of engineers or techincal folks.
There are also a lot of Military (retired and active) who are disposed to the hobby.
In general, the age ranges are 45 -65.
We get a lot of Magazine demographics and have noted small changes over a two year period. As a general population, about 90% of Woodworkers have access to the Internet. On the other hand, if you are disposed to Hand Tool WW (10% of all WW's), are you disposed to the use the internet more or less than the general pop.?
Say between FWW and Pop WW, you have a half million subscriptions. I would guess that the subscribers to these magazines would have a higher-than-average Hand Tool WW component, say 20% (100,000 people). There are a couple of questions that I am always trying to get to the root of... If 500,000 people subscribe to these magazines, how many are out there that do not subscribe to any magazines at all? The other one is looking at the rosters of WC, which has to be the largest home for Hand Tool WW enthusiasts, how many distinct individuals grace the forum over the course of a year?
Join in anytime, any pundits with the answers!
Cheers,
Doug
medical WWers
Clay Craig
>Doug,
You're not in fantasy-land. I know someone who got good results from an ad for a WW school placed in the Journal of Orthopedics, having noted how many orthos there are among WWers. Orthopedics is carpentry at its base - sawing, drilling, fitting, gluing, screwing, attaching ...
In fact, there's cross-fertilization both ways - I have used a few femoral rasps (used to hollow out the spot for implanting an artificial hip) on wood in the shop - they're incredibly well made. I look at one of these sometimes and think 'Holy Gamoly, what did this jewel cost new?'
Clay
OK, Clay
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>So where does one acquire these femoral rasps? Does Auriou have competition in the offing?
Maybe I need to get friendly with a local orthopod.
I'm waiting for the Canica's future catalogs
Eric Hedberg
>With all the history of integration of products and processes over there at Lee Valley, I'm waiting for Lee senior's Canica company to start their own "tool" catalog. Then we could get access to all those medical tools and supplies. It could take clamping and fixturing to a whole new level. Bone shaves perhaps? Eric (Whose had more than one project go code blue recently)
Where else? *LINK*
Clay C in Miami
>And at quite a gloatable price, too!
These arrived razor sharp, and it certainly looks like the teeth are hand-set - they're irregular. If anyone wants closeups, I happen to have them here at hand, with my camera ...
Re: Canica
Lyn J. Mangiameli
>Actually I have a Canica catalog, though its a couple of years old. Nice glossy detailed photos that some might not care to view at lunch.
Bought a Canica scalpel I used to use for brain cuttings, these days it resides in my tool chest. Really an excellent scalpel that fits the hand quite nicely.
Re: Scalpels in the toolbox
Denny
>I like to use a scalpel for marking out mortises. Using dispo blades, the scalpel is always razor sharp, and the blades are quite thin and reasonably strong.
Denny