Dan's Hobbies » router sled

Inserts wrap-up

Dan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 01:33:07 +0000

Last night I finished up the inserts, by boring the through holes to the proper diameter. Since I had 3 blanks, I chose 1-1/2″, 2-1/4″, & 3″. After a few days of needing a jig to do everything, it was really nice to just throw the work piece in the 3 jaw, and start boring. It took about an hour to bore out the inserts, and chamfer all the edges. It was pleasurable, as nothing had to be precise.

This afternoon, I installed and leveled the 1-1/2″ insert, as it’s the one that I will probably use 95% of the time. and then as a test I cut a short sliding dovetail. It’s shoulder was perfect aside from some tear out. The plastic insert produced a wavy shoulder, because it would flex as the board passed over it.

An end grain cutting board

Dan — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:20:51 +0000

This is my 4th cutting board, and I knocked it out in 5 days, 7 if you count the 2 days I let the wood rest. This was a quick project by my standards, but it’s possible to finish even faster. The most time consuming part of making an end grain cutting board is the final flattening. Since it’s end grain, you Cannot (I can’t stress this enough) run it through a typical planer. Thus it pays dividends to make sure the final glue up is as perfect as possible.

In my opinion, there are two ways to safely flatten the board. The first is with a drum sander, and the second is with a router sled. The drum sander yields a finished board right off the machine, but it can’t take off much material per pass. Additionally it’s not a tool found in most home shops, but if you have one it’s the best option. A router sled can remove more material per pass, but it yields a finish that requires additional refinement with abrasives. It also make a huge mess, unless you have some extreme dust collection in your shop.

To watch this video, you must have Adobe Flash Player 10.0 or higher installed and JavaScript enabled. You can download the latest version of Adobe Flash Player here.

Links of interest:

Marc Spagnuolo’s podcast about making an end grain cutting board.
Marc’s podcast about finishing an end grain board.
CBdesigner is a free (love that word) program I use to design boards.

Examples from the video (CBdesigner files):

Simple Router Sled

Dan — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:08:51 +0000

Eventually I plan to build a workbench with a hard maple top. I only have a 13″ planer, so I thought I would have to wait till i got a bigger planer, or pay someone else to plane the top. One night while surfing SawmillCreek, I stumbled across a post that referenced a simple shop made tool called a router sled that wold let me flatten a bench top or any other large wood surface with tools I already have. Since I have never used a router sled before, I decided to make a small one and use it to make some tops for my role-away tool chests.

The base is made out of 3/4″ MDF. The bottom is a single layer and the sides are two layers screwed together, & to the base with drywall screws. The slides are dual purpose, they insure the base is flat and they provide an elevated surface for the bridge to rest on.

The bridge is constructed the same was as the base, except is has a slot in the center for the router bit to pass through. Using the sled is very simple, just set the router to the desired depth and push it across the bridge.

I Finished this top with BLO and spar Urethane.