Scrap is Gold

I love my bandsaw.

I decided to make a new zero-clearance throat plate for the Powermatic 66 today. I had half-inch MDF, and I had read that half-inch sheet goods were the thing to use. I used the old worn-out throat plate as a guide. I used it to set the table saw to the right depth to cut an MDF strip for throat plates, and then I put it on the MDF and traced its outline, to use as a pattern.

I stuck it on the bandsaw and cut off the ends, making the plate semicircular on each end. I did it very badly and was still well within a millimeter at every point. I didn’t feel like turning on the compressor and the Dynabrade, so I used the bandsaw to “sand” the sides of the plate until it popped into the table saw hole.

Problem: everyone who said half-inch material was the right choice is crazy. The hole for the throatplate is maybe 13/32″ deep. Now I had an MDF throat plate that was too thick to use.

By the way, I used my outfeed gadget to cut the MDF. It works like a dream.

I didn’t want to put MDF in my planer. It’s not wood, and planer knives are no fun to replace if you screw them up by planing the wrong material. So I was stuck. I could resaw the plate on the table saw, but I pictured kickback sending it whizzing into my face at a hundred miles an hour, propelled by my freakish 5-HP Baldor. No, for once I would be mature and not risk death.

I don’t have a resaw fence on the bandsaw. Yet. I figured it would be impossible to resaw this thing to size, even though it was only 4″ tall when stood on its side. I thought it would be too hard to keep aligned with the blade. But the choice was to pack up the tools and give up, so I gave it a shot. I moved the fence up to the 1/4″ blade, stood the MDF against it, and checked for squareness. Unbelievably, the tuning job I had done on the saw had worked. The blade was perfectly parallel to the MDF.

I started shaving little bits off. The blade didn’t seem to like that. It seemed to drift toward my right, onto the surface of the MDF. I thought I was hogging MDF too fast. The saw was whining a little (I don’t know what a happy bandsaw sounds like), and the cut was not good. But after I got the depth right, I found I actually needed to push the MDF much faster. It squirted right through! I looked at the MDF. The quality of the cut was amazing. Very flat.

I have crammed the plate into the table saw, and I have raised the blade to make a slot. This is what the experts tell you to do. What they don’t tell you is that the Powermatic 66 will not let you lower the blade enough to clear the plate. At least mine won’t. I had to run the saw with the plate halfway into the hole. But it worked.

Now I’m trying to find my Microjig splitter. I finally have a chance to use it. I’m not sure it’s any good, but I want to try it. I think they invented it because it’s an incredible pain in the butt to use their other product–the Gripper–with a regular splitter. Later I’ll go to Home Depot and get Allen screws to use as levelers.

My throat plate isn’t perfect, but to learn that, you’d have to go right up to it and check it pretty carefully. And it’s more than good enough. I plan to baste it with Danish oil. After that, I figure I’ll be done.

I cleaned the cast iron with Break-Free, Sheila Shine, and mineral spirits. I used a Scotchbrite pad, as a reader advised. Then I used car wax on the metal. It’s not really clean, but it sure is better.

I have to make a crosscut sled, before I turn my fingers into seviche. I have been going back to my books and DVDs and refreshing my table saw safety knowledge, and it looks like I’ve been committing a few really horrendous blunders. Example: crosscutting with the miter gauge, using the fence as a stop. Oh well. I’m alive.

That bandsaw is a dream come true. I have to agree with professional woodworkers who say it’s more important than a table saw. If you have a big bandsaw and a circular saw with a guide system, you can survive without a table saw for a very long time. But nothing replaces the bandsaw. And it’s so quiet and safe and handy, and there’s so much less dust. It rocks.

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This shows what a bandsaw can do. You’re looking at the throat plate and the layer I shaved off of it.