13 Comments
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Gav's avatar

It's all about the ride.

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Mark Elmore's avatar

You've actually saved my life with this Ed. Day one of 5/8 cutter, I was looking for a brick wall at about head height before I saw this. I ended up putting mine in a brace, the extra control is welcome and it's no slower than the starty-stoppy, flip-I'm-off-where's-undo power drill business. Wholehearted thanks, am now looking for a rod that'll attach to a brace through just air.

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Jon Hall's avatar

this is gold

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Ed Sutton's avatar

Thank you

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Perry Clark's avatar

My wife happened to look over my shoulder as I was reading this. (Of course.)

She reminded me of how I sometimes describe preparing mortises (which, as I understand it, are very similar to mortices, just with a bit less colour). And to what comment/description was she referring? That I will sometimes say that the next step in a project is to bang out the mortises, the last phrase now being enough to cause both of us to raise an eyebrow at least. She did agree, though, that proper pushing with the hips is very often the key to success with many things, and that lubrication, particularly for the older sorts not inclined to put up with squeaks and the like, is terrifically undervalued.

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John R Brauer's avatar

The rod. Excellent.

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Michael O’Brien's avatar

Very helpful new tips. Thanks.

Cheers.

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David Klinke's avatar

Nice! The green laser can also help with lateral alignment.

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Ed Sutton's avatar

I didn’t find the laser helpful, as lining up to a consistent centre line on the drill was tricky. With the rod the deviation is amplified, making it easier to spot.

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Rob's avatar

A funny analogy!

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Ricardo Druillet's avatar

I was thinking about this post for a few days, if you put a level on the leg, and the leg is tapered, it won’t be horizontal, if you put the tenon cure horizontal you will end with a crooked tenon.

I’ll do a little jig to compensate for the tapering when putting the level. That may help.

Pls let me know what you think.

BTW I love your blog, all your posts are so full of useful information.

Thank You Very Much for your blog.

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Ed Sutton's avatar

I wasn’t using this method on legs, only on sticks and stretchers, which are straight sided. On tapered legs I’m cutting a tapered tenon using a different tool. In that scenario most of the waste is removed with a block plane, then the tenon taper is refined with a Veritas tapered tenon cutter. This tool is held in the vice and the leg is rotated by hand, which is an all together easier process.

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Ed Sutton's avatar

And thanks for your kind words about the blog - I appreciate it.

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