John D. Williams

Wood Turning Hints and Tips- Cheap brushes & Bandsaw jig

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Cheap disposable brush

Make your own disposable brushes. Using foam, a tongue depressor and masking tape. Cut the tongue depressor with scissors to straighten one end. Wrap a strip of 1/2 inch foam around the end and fasten with masking tape. Voila! disposable brush for pennies.

 

 

Here is a bandsaw attachment that I use all the time

Bandsaw attachment for ripping and cutting circles This attachment to your bandsaw will aid in cutting circles for the lathe directly from the faceplate making for perfectly centred bowl and plate blanks. Or use it with a centre point to cut circles. The attachment also doubles as a guide fence for ripping wide boards. To make this fixture you need to attach a length of 3/4 inch angle iron to the upper guide block of your bandsaw. The length of the angle iron you use is dependent upon the size of the circles that you will want to cut - remember this will be the radius of the circle so if you want a maximum of 16 inch diameter circles you will only need 8 inches of angle iron. If the angle iron wobbles a little this is not critical as you will find that with practice you will want to move the centre forward or back to accomodate blade wear since bandsaw blades tend to cut to one side or the other after they have been used for a while. Now make the appoximately 3/4 inch thick 2 by 3 inch block of wood with a dowel the size of your lathe spindle glued into it. The centre of the dowel should line up beside the centre of the saw blade when the block is clamped to the angle iron. Drill a hole for a trammel point for cutting circles whenever you do not want to use an attached faceplate.

Attaching a guide fence to the bandsaw table can be a hassle but it can be attached to the angle iron easily. The guide fence must be sharpened so that the point rides beside the centre of the blade. See the attached picture of the fixture parts. When ripping with the bandsaw use the guide fence but "steer" the wood through the saw making allowance for the imperfect tracking of the saw blade.