Popular Woodworking 2005-06 № 148, страница 26

Popular Woodworking 2005-06 № 148, страница 26

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Tricks of the Trade

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Refreshing a Sled to Restore Accuracy

I have become a firm believer in table saw crosscut sleds. A sled can carry a long, heavy board past the blade, and the saw kerf in the sled panel effectively serves as a zero-clearance throat plate, allowing me to line up a cut with one edge of the kerf.

Recently, however, I used a blade that inadvertently widened the kerf in the sled. When I remounted my favorite blade, I discovered that I had lost my cutline reference. To get it back, I "skinned" the sled panel by covering it with a piece of V4"-thick hardboard, such

as Masonite, then made a cut with my original blade. I screwed the hardboard to the sled panel so I can continue to use it for a long time. Whenever the kerf widens unaccept-ably, I simply unscrew the material, slide both halves against each other at the center, screw them down again, and make a fresh cut. The adjustment takes only a few minutes, and is much cheaper than making a new sled.

Robin Frost Clovis, California

Thread wire nut onto top of caulk tube nozzle

Capping Caulk

When using tubes of caulk or adhesive, I've gotten annoyed at the amount of product eventually wasted in partially used tubes. Many tubes don't come with any sort of tight-fitting cap to prevent the contents from drying out. I tried sealing the tip with different things, including towels and duct tape, but nothing made a tight enough seal. But then I discovered what turned out to be an old trick: capping tubes with electrical wire nuts. These plastic caps have a metal coil interior that is designed to thread onto the ends of electrical wires to join them together.

Available in different size s at hardware stores, wire nuts are inexpensive and will tightly seal the tube to prevent the contents from hardening. You'll want a variety of sizes because the interior metal coil needs to be the appropriate size to thread onto the plastic tube tip, whose diameter depends on how short it was cut.

Arthur Shady Oak Ridge, Tennessee

A Quick Swing to Center

When marking out centers on the ends of square turning stock, it's usual to lay out lines connecting opposing corners, with the center lying at the intersection of the lines. This can be done using a miter square or even a short straightedge. In both cases, however, you have to carefully align your guide with the corners of the stock. But there's a quicker way.

Engineer's squares - which are accurate, inexpensive and useful around the shop -have a notch at the intersection of the blade and body. Meant to accommodate the tip of a pencil, the notch can serve as a registration point for the corner of the stock. Simply tuck the workpiece's corner into the notch, swing the blade to the opposite corner, and draw your first line. Repeat the process on an adjacent corner to create your second line. Quick. Easy. Done. PW

Dave Whiting Townsend, Massachusetts

Make sure that corner of turning stock is located in notch of square

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Popular Woodworking June 2005