Cheap = Good

I love Taunton.com. I pay a piddling sum every year, and they let me root through their PDF articles. They also have videos.

Today I found a great article. A woodworker named Gary Rust (good thing he’s not a welder) invented a sled you can use to run warped boards through a planer. It will give you one flat, milled side. Then you flip the wood over and plane the other side without the sled.

This is fantastic. Not only can you avoid buying a jointer; you can use a $350 planer to plane boards nearly a foot wide. Yes, I said “plane.” Let’s be serious; that’s what a jointer does.

Grizzly’s cheapest 8″ jointer costs $700 plus shipping, and it’s merely a Grizzly, and it’s gigantic. This guy’s sled will do bigger boards, and it costs $20.

Here’s what I want to know. Why isn’t somebody patenting and selling this? Too late now; he put it in a magazine article. But he could have made some money. I would have been thrilled to pay between fifty and a hundred bucks for a simple, compact tool that would let me avoid buying a jointer.

If this thing works, it means you can plane and thickness your wood on your planer, square up the edges with your table saw or even a circular saw and track system, and avoid the jointer altogether.

Turn Off the Monitor and Get me a Sedative

Everyone who thinks I got a good deal on the Powermatic 66, take a look at this: CLICK. That’s an old Walker-Turner cabinet saw, for $195. Pretty cool.

I don’t know much about Walker-Turner, but I’ve heard about their tools, and I haven’t seen any critical remarks, except that their table saws are on the underpowered side. But that’s what new motors are for.

There is also an ad for a “commercial” Powermatic table saw in Hialeah, for $200. I hope it’s a pile of rust!

I read a little bit about planers and jointers yesterday. I drew two conclusions. First, if you can’t have both, a planer is better than a jointer. Second, sooner or later, you will need an 8″ jointer.

It’s kind of weird. The most popular size for a jointer is 6″, but I am told that most of the lumber you will want to mill with it will be about 7″ wide. I don’t know much about the way jointers work; maybe you can take a 7″ board and run it through a 6″ jointer twice, to get the whole thing done.

People are telling me the old Delta jointer I pointed out yesterday is probably a good buy. It’s something to think about. I linked to a giant Powermatic as a joke,  but I can’t see buying one, unless I find it within a block, and the owner is willing to help me wheel it over here. And it would take up a whole lot of room. The Delta looks small enough to hide by a garage wall.

Doug Stowe says he uses a combination jointer and planer, to save room.

Maybe someone in my area will retire and sell one cheap!

Of Solid Iron

I leveled up the wings on the Powermatic 66 today. I watched a woodworking video where the guy used clamps and straight pieces of wood, and I tried his technique. You set a straight piece of wood across each joint on a wing, and you put a clamp on each side of the joint. In theory, this pulls the wing level with the table. Didn’t work for me. The wings just sat there. So I used the wood and clamps for support while I leveled the wings by eyeball.

I needed the wings level so I could reattach the rails. But I learned something interesting. I don’t know how the rails go back on. There are all sorts of screw holes in the rails, so they’ll go on in a number of ways. Photos generally show rails set up so the front rail’s end is about at the left edge of the left wing, but I have to wonder, is that mandatory? Can I put the saw more toward the center of the rails?

I was actually wondering where the tube was supposed to go, but then I realized the graduations tell you where the saw blade is supposed to be, relative to it. I’m so smart.

I plan to saw up my old computer desk and stick it between the rails as a tablesaw insert, as soon as I can figure out where the rails are supposed to be.

The screws that hold the rails on are not in great shape. The saw’s previous owner broke a number of them. Guess Home Depot can replace them.

I considered buying a new miter gauge, but I decided against it. The old ones are usable, and I have become suspicious of fancy new tools, like the Incra gauge everyone loves. Better to see what miter gauges do, before spending money on them. I notice that the guys in the woodworking videos don’t have a lot of high-dollar, overly sophisticated stuff. Doug Stowe uses an ancient Atlas tablesaw, a plain old miter gauge, and a bunch of homemade sleds and jigs to do his thing.

From looking at my cousin’s shop, I can see that I didn’t even need the Powermatic 66. I could have done fine with a Home Depot contractor saw. BUT the contractor saw would have cost more than the Powermatic 66, so the choice was clear.

Uh oh. Look at THIS: CLICK.

I wonder if that thing can be brought back to life. I’m scared of used tools, but that one, like a table saw, is probably not too complicated. Maybe I’m wrong. Dang, for a hundred bucks, how bad could it be?

Here’s something really awful: CLICK.

I’m quitting now.

Welcome to Tools of Renewal

I finally got my site working again. My advice to those of you who think you may have to move a WordPress blog in the future is, delete your blog and go have a pizza. I had problems I could not have anticipated. Even if I were smart.

Now I’m back. Let the festivities resume.

Same Owner, New Management

I’ve been screwing around all day, getting it together after the Frostproof trip. My sleep schedule was disrupted up there, so I got up at 8:30. What a luxury. I had to pick Marvin and Maynard up from the bird hotel, and when I got home, packages started arriving. The dust door for the Powermatic 66. The Dewalt router my dad got me for Christmas. The 50-amp plug for the Powermatic.

I got the plug installed in about ten minutes. It would have gone faster, but I had cleaned the power cord with stuff made to put a shine on tires, and as a result, handling it made my hands very slippery, even though it’s dry. But I succeeded, and then I crammed the plug into the receptacle, hoped for the best, and hit the magnetic starter. The saw began without hesitation, throwing a considerable amount of dust into my face. It seems like there is no way to get all the dust out of that thing. It makes more while I sleep.

But it runs! It’s very quiet, too. Of course, it was only cutting air. Wood is louder. I’m not sure the blade is running as true as it should. But that can be fixed.

The dust door popped right in. I can see why the old one was gone. They have no hinges. They’re held in by a tab on one side and a latch sort of a thing on the other side. When you open the latch, the door comes completely off.

I am getting so much satisfaction from this saw. And I haven’t even used it yet. Just getting it here was a miracle.

I had to order the router myself. I decided to take a chance on reconditioned. I had read that the overwhelming majority of reconditioned power tools were unused, and that they were often better than new tools, because they had been sent back and looked over, getting more attention than the usual run of merchandise. The router looks great. I see no signs of use, although it looks like it may have been handled.

This is supposed to be a super-fantastic router. Better than the Bosch equivalent. I had my big Bosch in the lift, and that meant I had nothing to use freehand. Now that problem is fixed. I hope I don’t get addicted to expensive bits.

I am planning to do the URL switch right away, so there may be a short time during which you can’t access my blog. I know this will be devastating to you, but try to be strong and get over it.

Last night, it kept coming home to me, how much I preferred the new URL and name. My life is not inclined toward the negative any more, so why have a blog name that reflects a negative, counterproductive attitude? I’m also going to get rid of the pig logo, which most people hated anyway.

The Internet is a nasty place. It’s full of venom and bitterness and filth. It brings out the worst in us. I succumbed to that. I contributed to it. Now I want my site to be a refuge, where decent people don’t have to worry that they’ll be offended or corrupted.

We will see how that works out. I know a lot of people are disappointed in the turn the site has taken, but this is not a business, so I don’t really care. I have been taking this attitude since what, 2006? I still remember telling my editor not to mention this site on the cover of my first book.

Okay, this entry is going up, and then I’ll have to call my hosting company. Say goodbye to Hog on Ice.

Magical Town Where no One Gives You the Finger

I had an utterly fantastic weekend, and I am here to blog about it.

Before I even start, let me say that I have learned that being a curmudgeon is overrated. These days, I get up in the morning and literally get down on the floor and acknowledge God, and every night before I go to bed, I get down there again and thank him for a wonderful day, and I always mean it. And it doesn’t seem to matter what happened that day; in retrospect, it always seems wonderful. I hope I have that same feeling at the end of my life.

Being happy is something I highly recommend. While there is a certain amount of pleasure to be had from griping and criticizing, it’s not nearly as good as talking about how great things are going.

Where was I this weekend? Frostproof, of course. Home of my great Aunt Gladys, who is about to turn 93.

Unfortunately, due to FTP issues and laziness, I have many old blog entries which are not on my server, and one of them details my first visit to Frostproof. I’ll go over the basics again. Around Christmas of 2006, my dad started bugging me to go visit his 90-year-old aunt in Central Florida. I thought he was insane. I believe in showing respect to older relatives and so on, but he was trying to get me to go stay in her house. I pictured a frail old lady, having heart palpitations because of the stress of caring for two grown men. And I had never met her–didn’t even know who she was–and I didn’t understand why we should go spend time with a total stranger.

I agreed to go, because I was trying to be a better Christian and honor my father and so on. And as is so often the case when you do a thing like that, I ended up doing myself a bigger favor than I intended to do him. I met one of the most remarkable people I have ever known.

Gladys could pass for 75. Her hair is thick and silvery, not white and sparse. She sees well. She hears well. Her memory is phenomenal. When you converse with her, she reacts as quickly as a young person. And she’s physically active. She can’t sit still.

Gladys does, or has done, just about everything. She knows how to kill, scald, dress, can, render, and cook a hog. She can shoot. She can fish. She is a highly skilled woodworker, and her house is full of furniture she made. Her house is as clean as a hospital. She gardens. She knows how to build a house.

She and my great uncle Isaac moved to Frostproof–up in the citrus country–after they retired, and after he passed away, she was joined there by her son Steve and his wife. They live in a separate building behind her house, with a complete wood shop.

My grandfather died when my dad was 11, so I never knew him, but he was one of her favorite people, so she takes a great interest in me and my father. She was excited to meet me, and I guess she had been waiting to meet me for over four decades, and I didn’t even know who she was.

So anyway, she invited us up there for another visit this year, and we just went.

I can’t tell you what a strange experience it is to talk to these people. She has three kids. One is a writer. Another is a mechanical engineer. Another sings in the chorus of a major orchestra; her husband was in the horn section before he retired. The writer does metalworking and restores cars. The ME is a woodworker, and he cooks. The singer has–no joke–a 28-year-old African grey, plus three other parrots.

If you know me at all, you understand how odd this is. I am like no one in my mother’s family. Not in my interests, at least. I am a writer. I studied physics in college and graduate school. I am fascinated by music and tools. I wrote a cookbook. And of course, I have an African grey and a cockatoo. It’s crazy, how much I have in common with these cousins.

We got up there yesterday at around 1:30, I think, and she kept us up until nearly midnight. I almost had to beg to be allowed to drive to the motel to sleep. We returned at maybe 9:30 a.m., and she was still going full-throttle when we left at 4:30.

It’s amazing, watching her talk. All around her, younger people are sitting still. While she talks, she gestures constantly with the cane her kids make her carry. She grabs things absent-mindedly and handles them while she talks. She takes people by the arm or wrist and squeezes forcefully while she makes points. This afternoon, she dropped her cane, and she bent down and got it off the floor before I could.

Steve showed me his wood shop. It broke my heart. He built his own cyclone dust collector. He has a magnificent PVC system running all over the ceiling. It goes to a shiny new Grizzly bandsaw, a Ridgid planer, a Craftsman radial arm saw, a Craftsman contractor table saw with homemade router insert, an ancient drill press, and a spinning table housing a lathe, a grinder, and a miter saw. When you turn a crank, the miter saw disappears and the lathe pops up. And he has a 225-amp stick welder in the corner. Someone gave him a bunch of rough live oak boards, and they’re piled near the door.

The walls are covered with clamps and gouges and chisels. All hanging within easy reach.

His grandsons were visiting, and they were working on projects with him. What a great thing to share with your kids and grandkids.

Gladys showed me photos of their house in Indiana (like a lot of educated people from Eastern Kentucky, they had to leave in order to succeed). They bought a seedy-looking frame house, added a third to its width, put a columned porch on the front, and put a three-acre lake behind it. When they got done with it, it was as if they had rebuilt it from the ground up.

All day long, I kept thinking, “This is what you can achieve when your family isn’t dysfunctional.” When a man and his wife are a team, and they treat each other with love and respect, and they share interests, nothing is impossible. Your careers go well, your kids turn out well, and your home will be something you are proud to show off. I can’t imagine what it must be like to live like that. It was inspiring.

I got some pointers from Steve. He thinks my next tool buy should be a planer. He thinks it’s more important than a jointer. And I love that homemade cyclone. He says the explosion risk is nil, because the velocity is too low. He showed me a neat trick for cleaning the air, apart from the cyclone. He put an air conditioner filter on a box fan. As the air in the shop goes through it, the dust stays in the filter.

Some people do the things they dream about, and others sit on their butts and watch. I would really like to give woodworking a try before I die. I’m sure I could make some small doodads that would bring me great satisfaction.

Sorry I didn’t announce that I was going. I think it’s stupid to put a message on the Internet, telling the world your house is empty.

In other news, I am planning to change my domain and URL. I am tired of “Hog on Ice.” A hog on ice is a person who is unteachable and determined to continue repeating his mistakes. That’s what the expression means. That’s not me any more. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get the new URL working.

I’m going to Google real estate in Central Florida. I can’t stand it. Miami is crowded, hot, and full of rude people. I am sick of it. I really don’t understand what people see in this place.

There is a reason for all this. I am telling you, there is a reason. My life is just not the same these days.

I Have Returned

Hope everyone missed me.

Porn and Strife Delivery System Becomes Tool of God

Last night, I received the most amazing Christmas gift I have ever had. My sister got it for me. I have to tell you about it. It’s called PC Study Bible,and it’s made by a company called Biblesoft.

This is a gigantic program. I can’t even describe the amount of information it contains. Name a version of the Bible; it’s probably in there. It has maps. It has Strong’s concordance. Hebrew. Greek. Commentaries. Hyperlinks. You can create your own commentary as you go, verse by verse.

I stayed up late last night, entering my thoughts on Psalms I had memorized. I think I’m up to a dozen now. Let’s see; 1, 2, 3, 4, 15, 23, 34, 37, 41, 63, 101, 141…I believe that’s all. When you type commentary and you mention other Bible passages, the software creates links to them, so you can click and bring them up instantly.

If you’re a Bible student, you need this program. I have never seen anything like it.

I don’t see a lot of Jewish content in there; that’s a shame. Maybe it can be added. A Jewish version of this would probably be fantastic for rabbis. I haven’t checked to see if the program is Catholic-compatible, but it probably is.

The Bible says “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.” That’s exactly what my sister and I did. This program is an unexpected and astounding peace dividend.

TLC

While I wait to toss the rib roast in the oven, I have been fooling with the new old table saw. I wanted to get the blade and top aligned, and I thought I’d to a few other things.

When I took the top off this thing to move it, six shims fell out of the front side. They were between the cabinet and the top. I was not positive, but by the way they fell, it seemed likely that there had been three on each side. A commenter told me I was in danger of warping the top if I got the shims wrong.

I now think that has to be wrong. This top attaches at three points. It’s impossible for three points to define anything except a perfectly flat plane. So it should be impossible for the three mounting points to exert a flexing force on the top. It seems to me that the only important thing the shims can do is to prevent the top from sloping diagonally.

I got some advice on orienting the blade inside the throat plate slot, and I found out how to align the blade with the miter slots, and I took a crack at it. Now the table is tightened down, and everything looks kosher. I’m not one hundred percent certain about the squareness of the blade to the top, but it seems fine when measured with the tools I now have.

A woodworker told be about a couple of great tools for tuning table saws. One is a dial indicator which reads in tiny fractions of an inch when you depress its plunger. The other is a Chinese dial caliper. You’re supposed to mount the indicator on a cross made from scrap, put one part of the cross in the miter slot, and move it back and forth while checking the distance. You pick a tooth on the blade and use it as your reference. I haven’t been able to do that yet, but I was able to measure the distance between the near wall of the slot and one gap on the saw, and it looks fine.

I put stuff on the saw’s cord to polish it up, and I used orange-based gun cleaner on the top, to see if it did anything. It made the saw smell very nice, but no matter how much of the ancient varnish I remove, there is always more underneath. My only real concern is that it will stain wood that rests on it. And it might cause friction.

I wish my new plug were here so I could fire the saw up and make sure everything was right. Kelly Mehler has a blade-aligning trick that only requires a dowel and a miter gauge. I could do that if the saw were running.

The more I think about the extra-long rails, the more I think I might be able to make use of them. If I moved a cabinet in the garage, I would have room for the rails, and the cord would still reach my socket. I could put a big ol’ extension on the table and hang a router from it. I could put wheels on the whole operation. I could make a cabinet under the extension, with an enclosed dust-catching area for the router, plus a shelf or some drawers. If I did all that, I would have endless horizontal space to work with. I will never need it for stuff I’m cutting on the table saw, but it would be convenient to put tools and workpieces on it while I’m doing things.

The extension should be easy to make. A flat board with two legs and some bracing. A hole for a router. Casters. Done. Not sure how to compensate for the uneven garage floor, however.

It would be hilarious to use my old desk as the extension. It’s probably too narrow, though.

I’m wondering what other junk I need to do basic woodwork. Planer and jointer, I suppose. Surely that will be enough. Maybe it’s possible to survive without a jointer, if I get my wood squared up when I buy it. I think a planer would be harder to do without, because you wouldn’t want to have to drive five miles each way when you change your mind about the thickness you want.

This stuff is a tremendous amount of fun, regardless of whether I accomplish anything in the end.

Take by Ear, Twice Daily

I listened to Brooke Fraser today. I have to say I enjoyed the experience.

As much as I love music, I have neglected it in connection with my faith. Music is not a luxury or a distraction for Christians. It’s a must, like prayer or Bible reading. The Bible makes it very clear that we are obligated to support our faith with music.

Perry Stone says that when he stays in a strange place, he likes to play Christian music, even when he’s not in the room. For example, he might leave a recording on in his hotel room while he’s off teaching. The belief is that it exerts a purifying influence, which is probably a good idea, considering what people do in hotels. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google “ultraviolet light” and “hotel bedspreads.”

Don’t do that. You really don’t want to know. I’ll tell you what you need to know. You should always take your own pillow and blanket when you sleep in a hotel.

When good, effective Christian music plays, even in the background, it changes the atmosphere of a room. And it doesn’t seem to matter all that much what the music sounds like. Even fairly noisy music which resembles rock to some degree seems to work, when the people behind it have the right spirit. So I don’t think it’s a matter of emotion, leading people to think God is among them. I think it’s a supernatural thing. If it were just emotion, you would expect it to happen only when certain types of music were played.

I wanted to get some music to listen to in the mornings, when I study and pray. Music has power. It helps connect us with God. I want that edge.

Sadly, this is nearly the only thing I have. I have come to the reluctant conclusion that Mahalia Jackson is not for me. I have the Stanley Brothers, but they seem to miss the mark a little bit. That leaves Brooke Fraser, until I can find more for my collection. I better get on Itunes, before I hear this music 92 times and it drives me insane.

It’s Everywhere

I’m about to get ready for our late Christmas Eve lunch. I just started preparing the rib roast for tomorrow.

I’m completely in love with prime rib. I wish I were more than one person, so I could justify cooking it every week.

My sister felt that Publix and Winn-Dixie would not cut the mustard, so I ended up getting a roast at a local grocery called Milam’s. I don’t usually shop there. They had rib roasts on sale for $8.00 per pound. Unfortunately, they were all huge. They were Angus beef. I don’t know how big a deal that is. The folks who market it claim it’s amazing, but I have owned cattle, and I happen to know that an Angus is just a kind of cow. My grandfather–from whom I inherited my interest in a bunch of beef cattle–had a few Black Angus, and he may have had a few Red Angus. His stock was mostly Charolais; these are big mean white cows from France. The Black Angus cattle seemed very good-natured in comparison. Can’t tell you whether they tasted any better.

I got a nice surprise when I unwrapped the roast. It definitely smelled. So it’s not a brand-new roast. It has some age on it. That’s a break. I made a pile of pressed garlic, and I salted the roast and rubbed the garlic all over it. I wrapped it in foil, and it will be ready to cook tomorrow. I have heard people say you shouldn’t salt meat before you cook it, because it sucks the water out. Thing is, that doesn’t really happen.

I am wondering if wet-aging is better for rib roasts, since juiciness is so important.

The food will be very good; I’m not worried. Can’t be sure it will be outstanding, but very good is fine with me.

I am Done

I got all of my pre-Christmas-Eve errands done. At one point, I found myself at PetCo, evaluating toys for my sister’s dog. She felt it was imperative that our pets exchange gifts.

Either my heart has grown three sizes this year, or my brain has done the reverse.

I now possess a decent-looking rib roast. That should be enjoyable. I’m making potatoes au gratin with it. When I was a kid, my Uncle Jim used to cook Christmas Eve dinner for the family, and he always had some nice beef and a giant bowl of potatoes au gratin with mushrooms and lots of pepper. The mushrooms I can take or leave, but other than that, I miss those potatoes. And Jim. And being together with the family.

I have my own recipe, which is very much like my recipe for macaroni and cheese. Tell you what. I’ll paste it below. Maybe you can find a better way to brown the potatoes. I suggest increasing the cheese.

Potatoes au Gratin

Here’s the recipe for potatoes au gratin. You might want to pimp it out with bacon or mushrooms or something, but it’s great as is.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups half and half
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup minced onions
2 cloves garlic
4 tsp. pepper
3 egg yolks
12 oz. shredded Cheddar + extra for topping
dash hot sauce
3-4 big russet potatoes

Peel the potatoes and cut in slices less than a quarter of an inch thick. Arrange the slices on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Salt and pepper them and brush them with butter (both sides). Brown them under a broiler (I gave them 5 minutes per side at a distance of 6 inches, but your broiler may be different). When you remove them, lower the heat to 350.

Melt the butter in a saucepan on medium heat. Saute the onions in the butter. Add the flour and stir it in. Cook for a few minutes, until the flour is no longer raw.

Divide the half and half in two equal portions. Beat the egg yolks into one portion and set it aside. Pour the other portion into the flour, butter, and onion mixture. Cook while stirring, until the mixture bubbles. Now you have cheese sauce.

Use a whisk to mix the rest of the half and half into the contents of the saucepan. Get it bubbling. Add the cheese, salt, pepper, garlic, and hot sauce and mix it all in.

Butter the bottom of a casserole dish. I suppose a 2-quart Pyrex job would be ideal. Add a layer of potatoes. Cover them with cheese sauce. Repeat until the dish is full, and make sure the top layer of potatoes has sauce on it. Bury the dish in shredded Cheddar and pepper it generously. Cook at 350 until nicely browned. At least 30 minutes.

Soon I’ll be headed off to lunch with my sister and my father. Right now I’m listening to a Brooke Fraser CD that arrived today. I think it’s important to have some good Christian music on hand.

Wewease…Wodewick!

Longtime readers may be wondering why I’m not readying for a Noche Buena pig roast at Val Prieto’s house. Val has explained it all here. Val and his family have had a tough year, and the economy isn’t helping things any. When I found out the feast was cancelled, I offered to host it myself, but unfortunately it was too late to work it out.

I hope you will keep Val and his bunch in your prayers. Especially his brother-in-law, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

I keep telling how God seems to guide my life these days. Here is another example. This will be the first Christmas Eve without a pig roast in several years. “Coincidentally,” my sister and I are getting along now, and today is my father’s birthday, and we will be taking him to one of his favorite restaurants. Tomorrow I’m fixing prime rib for Christmas dinner, and soon we’ll all be headed up to Frostproof to visit my great aunt Gladys and her family. I wish we were doing Noche Buena this year, and I am deeply sorry Val and Maggie are having a tough time, but it looks like I won’t be idle.

If any of you are alone this week, let me remind you of one of God’s promises. The Bible says he sets the solitary in families. From Psalm 68:

Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Maybe that will be of help to someone.

I have to run errands and do things now, but before I go, I want to take time to thank everyone who comes here regularly and enriches my life with comments and emails. Merry Christmas to all of you!

Here are some scenes from better times. First, last year’s pig:

Second, the 2004 pig (bottom left, for you wise guys):

Third, my dad in 2004, doing quality control.

Talk to you later.

Gorgeous

I am feeling pretty smug. The new old saw is out of the car. It’s assembled. The car has been vacuumed. The tools have been put away. I am DONE. Look:

I had to order a new plug for it. It has a dryer plug, but my other stuff has 6-50P plugs, so I’m converting this one. I Googled around. Guess what a Leviton 6-50P goes for? About sixty bucks! For two ounces of plastic and a tiny amount of brass! Fortunately Ebay had one for five bucks. Which one do you think I bought?

The miter gauges on this thing are not looking good. I may upgrade.

I’m going to have to figure out the shims and get the top trued up and so forth. It seems like the dead blow hammer was made for this work. You can move the table in tiny increments, and it won’t mar the iron.

I checked the top with a straightedge. You can sort of see daylight under it, but just barely. It would take a pretty tiny feeler gauge to get in there.

I thought the 5 HP motor was a mistake, but apparently there are advantages. You can use any blade you want, and it will cut thick stuff without slowing down and causing burns. I think a lot of people use smaller motors, though. I am pretty sure Kelly Mehler uses a 110-volt job in his table saw video. I believe the saw is a contractor model, because the motor hangs out the side, supported by the belt.

There is a lot for me to learn. In addition to aligning everything, I have to find out how to tension the belts (plural).

I’m so grateful for this thing. What an adventure it has been already. And if I eventually manage to do useful work with it, it will be even better. This whole experience has been a blast. I wish I had a band saw so I could make new throat plates for it.

Now, how do I make myself sell my precious portable?

Metamorphosis Nearly Complete

The Powermatic 66 is standing in the garage with the top on, the motor in, and the magnetic starter nearly hooked up. All I have to do is screw in two more wires.

The plug on this thing is not compatible with the socket I want to plug it into. So I have to order a new plug. I think. I have to go out there and stare at it some more.

I got the saw cabinet out of the Explorer by putting a piece of plywood covered with an old towel under it. I scooted the plywood out of the back of the vehicle, and the wood and saw slid out more or less simultaneously. No problems at all.

The most fun I’ve had so far was installing the motor. Don’t let anyone kid you with 50 or 75 pounds. This thing has to weigh over a hundred, with the mounting thing attached. You have to slide it onto the upper bolt and hold it on with your left hand while you screw the bolt in with your right.

I vacuumed the cabinet out but I am not sure dust will ever stop pouring out of it. It’s as if it manufactures dust from nothingness.

It may be a couple of weeks before I can do anything with the saw. But I’ll get it as close to ready as possible.