Australian Wood Review September 2020
Australian Wood Review is Australia’s premier woodworking and woodcraft magazine. Step-by-step projects and articles on technique for all skill levels offer up to date knowledge on designing, joining, carving, turning, decorating and finishing wood. Our stories are authored by Australian master craftspeople and wood artists. Each issue includes reviews of all the essential hand and power tools and machinery, specialist fittings and products that woodworkers need to successfully complete projects. Australian Wood Review also profiles local and international makers, giving an insight into their working methods. Australian Wood Review is a magazine for all woodworkers and people who love wood.
in this issue
editor’s letter
Simple is not simple When I read that Rolf Barfoed, the maker featured on this issue’s cover, describes his aesthetic as ‘visually simple, technically complex’, I was intrigued. Furniture of every age has had its own definition of simplicity. In its day, a 17th century Louis armoire might have sat at the lower end of the ornate spectrum, but that place would be lost today. In the 1800s, the exposed joinery of Arts & Crafts style furniture was used as a design element that spoke of honesty and a rejection of ornament. Nowadays, simplicity of form in contemporary furniture may have a pared back look which relies on engineered joinery that is anything but simple. Making well crafted furniture on a commercial scale adds another level of complexity. Rolf is a career furniture…
woodriver dado set
New to the Australian market from WoodRiver is a stacked dado set for cutting grooves and dados on a tablesaw. At 200mm (8”) in diameter and with a standard ⅝” arbor size, this set will be compatible with most 250mm tablesaws on the market. The large 200mm diameter will give a higher circumferential tooth velocity and shallower tooth entry/exit in the cut, both of which will assist with yielding cleaner cuts than smaller 150mm (6”) sets. Made in Israel from quality components – German steel and premium Ceratizit carbide teeth, the set includes the two primary sawblades as well as a set of five robust chipper blades. The tooth count and size on the primary blades is good, with each blade having 24 teeth and generous gullets for waste removal. Tooth geometry has been…
pantorouter
There are many choices available for creating a mortise and tenon joint. For years I have used a shop-made jig which was functional and flexible but a bit fussy to use. This recent acquisition of a PantoRouter has been a welcome shop upgrade. It not only allows me to quickly make perfectly fitting mortise and tenon joints but also cuts a host of other joints including dovetails, box joints and dowel joints. The PantoRouter has a horizontally-mounted router motor in a carriage on an articulating arm. This whole assembly runs on rails allowing for smooth, accurate control of the router in the X, Y and Z directions, while a guide bearing follows the inside or outside surface of a template. The strength of the PantoRouter lies in its templates which allow you…
hafco bp310 bandsaw
The middle size of a range of three saws, this machine has been designed and appointed to suit the home user, and considering the price range, it has some handy features. Supplied for testing with a Starrett ½”, 6tpi blade, this machine required very little tuning to perform some clean and effortless cuts in hard and softwoods up to 75mm thick. The machine can accept a cut height of 165mm, but very careful blade selection would be advised in this case. Top and bottom guide sets were European wheel-style ball bearing lateral guides and roller thrust bearings. Adjustment on the guides was not quite tool-less, with an allen key required for the lateral adjustment of the wheels. All adjustments are easy to make, with a quick-release tension lever, hi-low rip fence on…
walrus oil
I’ve used oil based finishes since the start of my career as a studio woodworker because I liked the appearance and because they are far easier to refurbish than polyurethane and lacquer finishes. There were very few to choose between 40 years ago but the range has steadily increased, and many products now tout their green credentials. Another has come to the Australian market from environmentally conscientious American manufacturer Walrus and they are emphatic that their products are made from totally safe natural ingredients. One drawback with fully plant based ingredients is that they can take up to four weeks to fully polymerise. That’s quite a wait before you can risk getting it wet. It is possible to speed up the curing process by adding a small amount of a natural…
product news
Slab and Save Slabbing and milling your own wood is one way to save money while making the most of a resource that should never be wasted. Priced at $3,495, Woodfast’s resaw sawmill HB350A is a cost effective means to this end. It can handle logs up to 400mm diameter and 1.5 metres in length and comes standard with its own assemblies for fast dogging and positive locking. The log stays stationary while the saw head passes its length, slicing boards at the chosen height. www.woodfast-group.com For Square Holes Available from Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse, Scheppach’s Chisa 7.0 mortising machine can drill square holes and is a compact unit requiring only 1200 x 770mm floor space. Built for serious use it has 25mm capacity in softwood and 20mm in hardwood, along with a generous…
