Popular Woodworking 2000-04 № 114, страница 11

Continued from page 13

Scrollsaw

When this machine was first introduced, many woodworkers were disinterested because they viewed it as something for crafts or jigsaw puzzles.

The origin of the scrollsaw began centuries ago with treadle-powered machines made with wooden components. The same concept was used in sawmills that had a huge reciprocating saw blade to cut rough stock to size. The small units we now use were made possible by the advent of fine-toothed scrolling blades and compact electric motors.

My first powered scroll-saw was my sister's treadle-type sewing machine that I had modified by installing a fractional horsepower motor. This happened because an employee of the Bosch Manufacturing Co. thought of replacing the needle on his wife's sewing machine with a small blade. I tested and adopted the idea. Now we might smile at the concept, but I did OK with it for quite a while.

Modern machines have eclipsed their ancestors' reputation for cutting gingerbread and become an important woodworking machine. They can handle stock up to 2" thick with the table at 90 degrees. And it is adept at "pad sawing," which allows you to layer multiple pieces and cut them all at once.

Benchtop Mortiser

For most of my woodworking life I made

The first jigsaw.Though it looks much like today's models, modern tools are packed with features unheard of when the tool was introduced (photo courtesy of Bosch) (right). Pad sanders helped ease one of the most dreaded aspects of woodworking: finishing. This Rockwell sander was the first one DeCristoforo owned (middle right). An early router from the Carter company.Though modern tools have a boatload of features, the basic concept is still true.A spinning bit on the shaft of a motor.

(far right).

mortises with a mortising accessory on my drill press. I've never complained about this method, but I often thought it would be nice to have a permanent mortising setup.

The new benchtop mortisers give you a quick setup for mortising, and make the operation easier. For example, the Delta unit that I recently tried out borrows from the arbor press used in metal working. Its husky steel arbor and long handle let you convert 32 pounds of downward force into 320 pounds. The gearing allows you to make a complete cut with a 90-degree pull of the handle. A similar cut on a drill press would require you to turn the feed lever a full circle.

Router

I've done my share of routing with hand tools, namely Stanley planes designed for

Early jigsaws and scrollsaws shared a common ancestor, a sewing machine with a blade in place of the needle.An employee of Bosch came up with the idea, now Bosch makes what is considered to be the premium jigsaw for professionals and serious home users.

dadoing or combination machines that formed flutes, fillets and other moulding designs. While the tools strengthened my arms, I was happy to switch to an electric router — one of the wonder tools in woodworking.

The history of the router goes back to World War I, its invention generally credited to R.L. Carter, a patternmaker who designed a cutter from the worm gear of an electric barber's clipper and secured it to the shaft of an electric motor. The efficiency of the "Electric Hand Shaper" was quickly noticed and Carter found himself producing thousands of the units for sale. In the late 1920s, Stanley acquired the Carter business and produced the first "modern" router, not especially for me, of course.

There's little point to touting the virtues of the portable router because, "Is there a woodworker with a soul so dead he never to himself has said, 'I love my router'?" The mechanics of the router haven't changed but improvements continue to make it an exciting tool, especially the plunge feature.

What's next? A recent innovation is a wrench-free collet, something like the keyless chuck on a drill. I haven't had the chance to check it out, but if it eliminates having to use two wrenches in a tight area, I'll buy it.

Dovetail Jigs

Before the advent of dovetail jigs, you had to cut this joint by hand. Even though these jigs made the task quick, we didn't

12 Popular Woodworking April 2000