Foredom Inlay Router Guide Ring Base Adapter

I've been playing with wire inlay recently as there's 35 feet of it for the Angle Madness project. Along the way, I had to make some new base adapters for the Foredom inlay router base.  Mine is the William Ng version; it is based on an earlier version of the Stewart-MacDonald base that has since had some nice improvements (link is to the new one).  Both are fantastic.  William also sells the Foredom kit.

Also, the small router bits mentioned in the video are also from William's store; I prefer these to others because of collar on them is precisely placed the same distance from the tip. Once you set a routing depth, you can swap bits by dropping them to the collar and you don't need to adjust the routing depth with the different bit... saves a lot of hassle with inlay routing.

In this video, I just walk you through how I made a simple base adapter to act like a router guide ring (or bushing or copy ring or likely a dozen other names :)

This adapter will get used to route a nice curved opening in the back of each drawer tier for getting all the equipment wires into the back column, but also look good when there's no equipment on the surface as would be the case if it weren't used as an entertainment center.

There are some unique problems to solve for the Angle Madness wire inlay as there are for a table I made in a class with Michael Fortune. I'll be gathering up what I learned about it in a special episode outside the Angle Madness series since it'll cover more than I need for that project.

Gryphon C-40 Wet Bandsaw - Demo

Awhile ago, I posted a video review of the Gryphon C-40 wet bandsaw, but didn't really cut glass or curves.  I didn't have the right stock on hand to cut up for curves then posted it too quickly.  Mea culpa.

This video is the missing demos; we'll cut 8mm thick glass, porcelain tile, and natural travertine tile.  All stock will get a straight cut, soft curves, then more aggressive curves.  For the glass and porcelain tile, each cut is separate. On the large travertine tile, I made one long cut composed of the three segments.

Remember that I'm pretty new to this bandsaw and I could see how practice especially with a particular material would make for better tracking.

Random Tidbits

A couple random things before going into the shop to record a review of a lot of great things from SenecaWoodworking.com (yes I had to wait for the A/C to bring it down a few degrees... 108º+F today!)

First, Mark Harrell of Bad Axe Tool Works let me preview an article he wrote for a magazine on how to tune your saw.  Loved the article since it explained everything you need to do for 99% of the fixes he does as a Saw Doc.  The article assumes you're not into posturing by chatting about saw fleam angles over coffee, which is great because I could never learn the secret handshake of that social group.

The article isn't published yet and I can't tell you where or when it will be (I was sworn to secrecy over a table of fleam angles), but he followed up with a great article about re-tensioning a backsaw's spine posted to his site.  This may or may not be similar to part of the secret article <wink>

If you score a nice backsaw at a fleam-arket (ah I get it now...), this article will walk you through re-tensioning and straightening out the plate.  The right margin on his site lists other DIY articles including one on unlocking a frozen nut; handy for our Canadian readers.

Next up, a magazine article I was behind on!  My friend Rutager West wrote an article for Popular Woodworking's December 2012 issue (this is for the print issue, which may no longer be available when you read this).  In the article, Rutager shows you how to inlay a checkerboard pattern on a curved radius.  The plane in the lower-right photo is the HP-6v2 mini multi-plane I love; that profile is the corner bead although the corner cove (or any of the corner profile!) would look equally exciting on a box.

The article is a "corner bead" version of a well-documented thread Rutager did on the Bridge City forum where he put the inlay on a face bead (this is the profile I used for the Onyx frame in No Comment #2).

Other good threads on using the HP-6v2 profiles for inlays include revealing a wood under the multi-bead; I've used this many times after reading this; an excellent effect.

Last of the OPT ("other people's tidbits"), Scott Meek makes nice wood-bodied planes. He's decided to auction off this smoother with at least 50% of the proceeds going to the Moore, Oklahoma relief fund.  Might be a great way to get one of these for less than retail!  I have a watch on this.  Hopefully the bids will be out of my range so I don't have to do that nervous last-minute-of-auction sniping.

EDIT: Here is the updated eBay link; eBay had erroneously deleted Scott's auction since they are being cautious of any auction for "Moore charity" since so many were false.

For me, my list of videos to roll has grown almost too fast this past week.  That said, over the next two months, I should have 4 new Festool reviews along with the very interesting Seneca Woodworking reviews I'll be rolling after hitting publish.  This without forgetting to finish the No Comment #2 build videos and get the drawer assemblies in place on Angle Madness.  I need to quit my day job!

Speaking of videos, thanks for letting me hit 3,000+ subscribers on YouTube!

Gryphon C-40 Wet Bandsaw - Review

In the "No Comment #2" build video around timecode 39:40, I processed a large piece of Onyx I scored from a local granite shop's dumpster, I mean, showroom.  The first email I received after releasing the build video was "what's that wet bandsaw all about?"

The next build video in the "No Comment #2" series (Tim Burton Table) will cover all the Onyx work for the top cap.  Since that relies on this Gryphon wet bandsaw, I thought to review it first so I don't have to do that part in the build video.

This saw is popular among artisans since it is so well designed and fits well in a studio.  Cutting tile, stone slabs, rough stone, and glass is all very easy to do.  Its glass-cutting ability would make it a fantastic tool for stained glass work.  In my case, my interests were in being able to add stone accents to projects and possibly moving into some Pietra Dura, which is marquetry with stone.

The version I have is from Paul Schürch, who modifies them to have a beveling table on the deck for the bevel cuts needed to inlay stone or do Pietra Dura; he uses one for his work as well as for teaching Pietra Dura classes.  First chance I get, I'll take that class!  They are special order from his store; if you get the saw from another distributor, it won't come with that addition, which may or may not interest you.

Part 2 includes demos with thick glass, porcelain tile, and natural travertine tile.

Shell Inlay: A presentation by Marco Cecala

Marco Cecala, a local woodworking friend, recently did a presentation for the Arizona Association of Fine Woodworking on shell inlay.  I got the presentation on video knowing it will be interesting to a lot of you!

Marco's a great presenter, which is why this video won't seem like it's 45 minutes long!  So get a big bucket of popcorn and a sheet for some notes.  You're going to love it.  Personally, it was difficult to edit because I would get wrapped up in the presentation and forget I was supposed to be scrutinizing the video cuts!  Oh, and speaking of video, I'm getting a better tripod... sorry for some jerky motion... and also, next time I'll get there early enough to secure a third-row spot for better recording!

As for taking notes, I'll save you the trouble of making a list of tools you'd need to try this out.  Look below the video for a list along with some suggested places to get them.



Tools and Supplies
Here's a list of the tools and supplies mentioned in the presentation:

• Mother of Pearl and Abalone from LuthierSupply.com
• Low-viscosity cyanoacrylate glue for sticking patterns to shell and gluing down inlays.
• Fretsaw from KnewConcepts.com. Shown was the Titanium model, but the Aluminum model is just as nice.
• 2/0 scroll saw blades from Paul Schurch.
• Scratch awl; I got mine from lathemade; is fully hardened and tempered
• Barrette needle file from Rio Grande.
• Parallel soft-jaw pliers from Rio Grande.
• Foredom 5240 wood carving kit from William Ng School of Woodworking
• Router base for Foredom from William Ng School of Woodworking
• Inlay router bits with collar from William Ng School of Woodworking
• Aquarium pump or compressed air connection for router base
• Duco cement available at hardware stores; used to transfer shell shape to wood
• Optivisor - I think you should find it locally and buy the one you try on and like. I tried Marco's and found that for me to focus, I needed to get too close with the standard 2x Optivisor. Other magnifications may work better.  In my case, I'd drift closer to the fretsaw and bang my head on it :) Yes, everybody else found that funny.

Marco uses a gravers' handle on the barrette file; it's basically a bulb handle with a flat that is aligned with the flat blade of the file.  I sent some handle-less files to Jim Coons who I met at WIA'11 and who makes the awls at lathemade.  He's assembling the file on a gravers' handle for me turned out of some nice red palm.  If his handles on a barrette file interest you, just contact him since he'll know what you're talking about.