When I purchased my new table saw, my old Ryobi BT3100 and the cabinet I built for it needed to go. And go it did. There’s just one problem. That cabinet also contained my router table.
So I needed to build another one. This is based on the Kreg Jig Router Table. I’m about 65% done.
Getting close!
The inner cavity
A couple of months ago, I went to day class to learn how to make a decorative box. It was a great class and learned quite a bit. Of course when I got home I wanted to make more and better boxes. The first thing I did was go to the wood store and purchase some beautiful cherry and mahogany wood. When I got home I tried to resaw the wood with my Ryobi BT3100. I nearly killed the motor and I chewed up a blade. I did some reading and they suggested that I could resaw using my bandsaw. This would have been great except it only had a 4.5 inch resaw capability. The boards I bought were 10″ and 12″. I then tried to cut two inch thick cherry on my table saw. I mostly burned the wood. It occured to me that I was going to have upgrade if I wanted to do anything with real wood (keep in mind that most of my projects to date used MDF, Plywood or soft woods).
The first upgrade was my table saw. I purchased a General International 50-225. This is a great saw but the rip fence was problematic. So I upgraded to a Red Line Rip Fence which I really like and improved my productivity immediately. The stock blade was okay but I had already decided I wanted a really good blade. I was all prepared to purchase a Forrest Woodworker II when I saw a demonstration of the Ridgid Carbide Blade. I have no idea if the Woodworker 2 is better but once again there was no comparision between the stock blade and the Ridgid Carbide. So now I can comfortably and accurately cut the wood that I purchased to make my boxes. But this didn’t help with the resawing.
To be continued…..
Stained
As I always do, I learned a lot from this project. And while I think it turned out well, I think it could have turned out even better with some more work.
The first thing I learned is that small errors never go away. If the box isn't square or a cut isn't square it really does come back to haunt you. And I'm not talking massive amounts. An eighth of inch here. A sixteenth of an inch there. One of the things I use constantly is the Kreg Jig. However, I have a hard time getting everything to stay square. I have since been really working on using different tools in conjunction with the Kreg Jig. It’s still not perfect but it’s getting better.
The other major thing that could have been better is the finish. Finishing takes as long as if not more than building the cabinet. Having done a lot more reading and studying I could have improved the look of the piece.