Australian Wood Review Issue 95

Following your dreams It’s a fact that personal hardship can crystallise one’s goals in life and that was the case for Melbourne woodworker Shinobu Kobayashi, the man featured on this issue’s cover. More than anyone I know of, Shin typifies a modern journeyman who has literally travelled the world to engage with different cultures and traditions of woodworking. And on top of that he has taken it upon himself to share his knowledge with others. Read about him on p.44. Impossible Dovetails We’ve all seen them, those wicked looking joints with angles going every which way. Sunrise joints, Japanese or twisted dovetails, whatever you call them it’s all about laying out and cutting accuracy. A video showing Theo Cook’s superb joint going together went viral on our social media last year so I…

With its digitally controlled variable speed motor system, this New Zealand designed and Chinese made press takes drilling options to a whole new level. Being a direct drive system there are no archaic belts to move and fiddle with when changing speeds. In fact speed is from 50rpm to a sports car 5500rpm, outstanding for a drill press. And it runs smoothly with minimal noise and virtually no vibration to speak of. It’s a big machine at about 1800mm overall height and 136kg. The quill travel is an excellent 150mm (6”) operated with large handles. The table is a generous 420 x 420mm and all the castings are thick, cleanly milled and finished. In fact the build quality is excellent. It does follow the basic drill press design of a column holding the…

This could be power tool of the year. The DeWalt designer/engineers have come up with a great small 1/4” router/ trimmer. I reviewed the fixed base version of this a couple of years ago and liked it a lot. That model now costs around $270. However hunt around for pricing and you’ll find the premium kit, which is what you want, for not much more in real terms. The heart of the tool is the 620 watt variable speed 16000–27000 rpm motor fitted in an aluminium body. The body slips into the basic base for hand-held use like freehanding edges and hogging out waste. However, slip it into the plunge base and it becomes a super versatile small router. The plunge base has depth stop and height markings and simple to use…

Lake Erie Toolworks of Pennsylvania, USA have recently released their ClampGAUGE system, which is designed to deliver the precise amount of clamping pressure at the correct locations to ensure the strongest, longest-lasting glue bonds. The staff there liaised with glue manufacturers to determine the best clamping pressures for various wood densities and subsequently undertook an extensive research and development program, resulting in this new product. The gauges are basically engineered cauls that are CNC-machined from high grade aluminium bar stock, then anodised and laser etched. As pressure is applied from the clamps, the concave profile on the inside face flattens out until it physically touches the edge of the panel. At this point the correct clamping pressure has been reached according to their formula. Three sizes of gauge are available. Included in the kit…

Pyrography is the art of drawing with a heated tool. You can burn patterns, textures and even intricate pictures into the surface of wood and other materials. The basic Peter Child Artist Pyrography Machine kit comes with a power unit and a ‘pen’ into which nibs are fitted (six spares are included). At times an extra pen ($89) would be handy to save swapping nibs. The machine can be used on wood, leather, cork, certain plastics and fabric but I focused on its use on wood. Best results are achieved on hard white wood, in fact the harder the surface the better the result. Dark woods can be used but won’t give such a good contrast. Soft woods such as pine are difficult to work with, as resin will gum up the…

Many woodworkers use water for wet grinding and for water stones so rust is a potential risk. Here is a product that makes water rustless. You add 40ml to a litre of water and use that mix for both grinding and honing. To test its efficacy I got out a couple of my KD chisels (Kitchen Drawer chisels that are dedicated to rough work such as chopping off hardened glue) and did the comparison between plain and the green coloured water. Each was honed up to a good edge and then left without wiping dry for 24 hours. Sure enough rust appeared on one but not the other with treated water. Next I ground them on a dry wheel to get them hot, but not blue and then dunked them in the two…