Davids for Tom

[publicIdaho]

Another important tip: when you are on a side where you are drawing the router to the top, it is good to back cut the end first so you don't get tear out when you get to the edge.

[publicIdaho]

The inside corner where the router bit does not reach is taken out with a sharp chisel. SHARP! Not as sharp as the day you bought the chisel - I mean SHARP!!! If you get into the woodworking, a sharp chisel is an absolute must. The way to get a sharp chisel is with a water wheel sharpener.

When we sharpen chisels, they are run up the back of the hand or arm and it is declared sharp when it shaves hair.

Christmas is coming - put one of these on your list.

[publicIdaho]

When taking out the last bit, take about 1/16" at a time. You will be surprised how easy this is with sharp tools.

[publicIdaho]

Touch it up with a sanding block. We use a block of 3/4" plywood with a belt sander belt around it.

[publicIdaho]

Next was to put the edge on the top of the cut outs. These were cut down to 1/2" wide, because they are not going to be re-trimmed. They are still 5/8" thick and will be sanded flush with plywood.

[publicIdaho]

And another early day with pieces all in clamps.

[Fenderfan]

+1 for sharp tools! Chisels and planes are a dream to use when sharpened properly - the tool does the work not you!

[Grant Bunter]

+1 for sharp tools! Chisels and planes are a dream to use when sharpened properly - the tool does the work not you!

Not trying to shoot down the basic premise in flames.
If you can't afford a water wheel,
Dress with a stone, finish with 600, then 800, then 1500 grit (wet and dry), moving in a figure of 8 pattern, and you'll get sharp tools...

[AntonZ]

Shop envy to the max on this one I either work in the backyard or in a spare upstairs bedroom when the weather is not good enough for working outside the house.

Thanks for sharing all the details though, I'm trying to take it all in and learn from every detail you point out, even though I don't have most of the tools that you speak of. Much much appreciated

[67baja]

My chisels always have PL dried on them. So I 'sharpen' them with my 1/4 sheet sander. lol. My guess is they aren't "sharp".

[DJ Higgumz]

what is this sharp thing you talk about? here we make things cut by hitting a hammer to the back of the handle

[publicIdaho]

All of our chisels have dings in the backs of them too. But you should see the mayhem you can achieve hitting a sharp chisel with a hammer. We actually have the hammerin' set of chisels and the set we save for when we really do need a sharp chisel.

However you get them sharp - it is work to get them sharp on regular wet stones, but that water wheel takes the pain out of sharpening 14 or 15 chisels and 4 or 5 hand planer blades. By the way, a sharp hand plane can really be a useful tool. A few minutes with a sharp plane could put a nice angled edge on the 1/2" plywood. Not sharp - forget about planing the edges of this quality birch plywood.

Started the day by sanding the wood edge strips flush where we left thing last time. Actually, a sharp plane would be a good way to take the proud wood edge close enough to where it would not be too hard to get it flush with an orbital sander.

I decided I would put the 22.5° edge on the upper corner pieces while I had the bit in the router.

[publicIdaho]

Next, I started in on the inside panels. Panel 1 needs a 58° angle on it. Not easy to do on a table saw. Not very hard to do on the edge sander though. The first one probably took me 3 minutes to grind all the way off, the second one I did in 2 - more confident in what was going on, this is not how we usually use this tool.

Don't have an edge sander? Clamp that piece down on the worktop, make sure you have a line drawn across the piece where the inside of the angle should come to, and get the belt sander out and get it close and finish truing up the angle with a hand plane. You can also use a table saw to get a start on the angle - 45°, then finish up the angle with that sharp hand plane.

[publicIdaho]

Now to cut out the woofer hole. The box the woofer came in has a 7" diameter hole to hold the speaker snug during shipping, so that is what size I was going to cut. Drew a circle with a compass, drilled a couple holes by the edge and wiggled the bit back and forth to join the holes, and cut right through the middle of the line so that my hole was a tiny bit bigger than 7".

We have used the Bosch jigsaw for years and years - love the Bosch jigsaw!

[publicIdaho]

A tip on jigsaws - don't use dull blades! We found a deal on ebay for 100 blades - a lifetime supply. First, the cost for 100 blades was a few times more than a 6 or 8 pack. Second, the mindset - you have an endless supply, when that blade gets even a little dull, throw it out and put a new one in. It does not take many screwed up panels, etc. due to a dull blade to pay for 100's of blades. We are tightwads - used to wait for the jigsaw blade to start making as much smoke as sawdust before changing the blade. So much extra sanding, so much chip out, so stupid. Hit a nail with the jigsaw - change the blade.

Now if I can start changing my sandpaper sooner...