Bill WIlson

Very nice. I have a t-short with that scripture verse on it. It was the theme one summer, at the church camp my daughters attended, in their youth.

That's a beauty! Well done. And a round of applause to Dick for the assist.

Nicely done.

Got one with my EX-21 also. Which reminds me, I wonder where I put that thing?

Uuuuhh, Kevin. I hope you haven't permanently attached those sections to the strips yet. Something looks a little out of sequence.

I've never noticed red oak being inherently prone to warping or cupping. I use a fair amount of it, sometimes planed down to as thin as 3/16" thick. I have a bunch of shorts in my shop right now, planed to various thicknesses 3/8" & under. It's a mixture of QS and flat sawn and has been leaning in a corner of my shop for many months. It's all still flat. I know, because I had to move it all the other day to get at something behind it. Wood will warp or cup for a number of different reasons, from the way it's sawn, to the way it's dried, milled and finished. On top of that, some trees are just more prone to internal stresses due to how and where they grew, regardless of species.

In addition to being much denser, hard maple is generally considerably more expensive than soft maple. Often the coveted figure that maple is known for (bird's eye, curly, waterfall, etc) comes from hard maple trees. Not sure there is much benefit in using hard maple for your baskets, when factoring in higher material costs. Even if you got a piece of figured maple, I wouldn't necessarily want to use it for a project where you were cutting away most of the grain profile anyway. As far as color, I don't think you would notice much difference between soft and hard maple. Ash provides a nice contrast to walnut. I've used African mahogany with walnut as well. The colors aren't as starkly different, but they compliment each other well, IMHO.

I'm not Kevin, so can I give you a smarta$$ answer? Soft maple and hard maple are different varieties of maple. Soft maple would be red maple or silver maple. Sugar maple is hard maple. The practical difference, as the name implies, soft maple has a Janka scale rating of between 700 and 950, similar to mahogany. Hard maple has a Janka scale rating of 1450, similar to white oak. So hard maple is about 1.5X to 2X harder than soft maple.

Yea, I like to hit the flea markets myself. Trouble is, I don't re-sell anything. But then, doesn't everyone need 18 bench planes?

Outstanding! I just finished building a wren house with my 5 year old grandson. The memories created during events like this are priceless!

It looks to me like the pattern has several peninsulas that aren't supported by much. This is where BB ply shines. You could get away with thinner BB ply than you could using solid hard wood. Those kinds of places, especially if they are cross grain, are much more prone to breakage in hardwood. You would need to compensate by going thicker, which to me, detracts from the piece. I think this kind of scrolling benefits from using thin stock. 1/4" would the thickest I would go, but that's my personal preference. As for jagged edges, that is as much or more a function of blade choice as it is the material being cut. Since this pattern employs a lot of straight lines, sharp corners and geometric shapes, it doesn't lend itself as readily to using a spiral blade. But, that said, a combination of the right spirals and straight blades should make this turn out nicely.

I had never heard that trick. That's pretty intriguing. I may have to give that a try.

I never had this problem with my EX either. The knob is tight and has never moved in the 3-4 years I've owned the saw. I checked after reading the other thread about this problem. Mine looks like the same as the one in Wayne's picture. Bought mine from Seyco.

Congrats! Looking forward to hearing your impressions after you put a few miles on it.

There is a sheet material called MDO (medium density overlay), not to be confused with MDF. This is specifically made for outside sign applications. I've never used it, but I think it's sort of expensive and not something you will find at the local Big Box. If you know of any commercial sign making businesses in your area, you might check with them. Otherwise Google is your guide. For a piece that small, probably not cost effective to buy a whole sheet of MDO. If MDO isn't practical, then a good quality, exterior grade plywood would work fine. This is not the same as treated or "Wolmanized" plywood. Again, you won't find it at most Big Box stores. You will likely have to get it from a full service lumber supplier. As long as it's well painted, it should hold up well. I made a sign for a friends daycare business about 8 or 9 years ago. Last I was by, it still looked like it was holding up. I just used exterior grade plywood and several coats of exterior paint. Personally, I would recommend just using a really good exterior paint and skip the Marine Spar Varnish. Make sure you cover all the edges with at least 1 or 2 extra coats.

Staining cherry is considered a criminal offense in most states.

Well, in all fairness Dave, you aren't giving us much to go on, besides the picture of an already stained piece of wood. Nice cutting BTW. I'm going to make a few presumptions. The wood is naturally light colored. It's a domestic hardwood. If those assumptions are correct, the fine, straight grain is the only other clue we can gather from the picture. You already ruled out poplar and maple, which would be the most obvious choices. I'm going to take a guess and say beech or birch. If neither of those, then I think some hints are in order.

Love those classic fretwork clocks. Nice work. It's doubly cool that it was a request. That will be cherished for generations.

Excellent! That's a lot of tabs & slots. How many times did you test fit that before final assembly?

Very nicely done! I'm curious how many #3/0 spirals you went through in that purpleheart. I seem to break them fairly easily in 1/4" BB ply. I can't imagine how many I'd go through cutting 1/2" PH. That is a beautiful piece and well worth the effort you put into it. Well done!

Checked my saw yesterday. The knob is solid and doesn't move. It looks like there is a nut under the knob. Just looking at the manual, it appears to be standard equipment. I bought mine from Seyco, before they changed manufacturers, if that makes any difference.

Maybe I'll take you up on the offer and use the $$ to buy a Hawk.

Well, I went the opposite direction. I had a DeWalt and switched to the EX-21. One of the reason's was the tilting head feature of the EX. I've made a few of Carole Rothman's stacked ring bowls, but I didn't really enjoy cutting them on the DeWalt. The EX is soooo much easier for these kind of projects and consequently, my cuts seem to be much more consistent and accurate. I would be loathe to go back to a tilting table saw. Now if one is only tilting the saw a degree or 2, such as for beveled inlay, then I think adapting to a tilting table saw would be relatively easy. However, with stacked ring projects, like Carole Rothman's designs, where the angles can be up to 35 or 40 degrees, cutting on a flat table is a distinct advantage. I would think that if one was accustomed to cutting those kinds of angles on a flat table, it would be very frustrating to cut them on a tilting table.

Good to hear from you John. How are things in the land down under?

I too want to give Kevin credit for being patient. While I agree that it appears Bushton has some work to do on their business model and practices, Kevin has not complained about the delay. To the contrary, he has repeatedly stated that he is not in a hurry for his saw. He's simply relating his experiences with BM for the benefit of the rest of us. Certainly, not everyone would tolerate the delays Kevin is experiencing. As Hotshot accurately stated, that is each person's right. I for one have followed this saga, just out of the interests of a casual bystander. Frankly, if I were in the market for a new saw today, I'm not sure if any of this information would impact a decision on whether to buy an RBI or not. I suspect that if I felt they were the best saw for me and I really wanted one, I would be like Kevin and wait patiently. On the other hand, we each have expectations of the companies we do business with. Things that one person will readily tolerate may be completely unacceptable to another. That is apparent in this thread. Hopefully we can keep the conversation friendly, as we all have something to learn from this. Just my $.02.....and worth every penny you paid for it.