G’day all,
I’ve got some landscaping projects coming up and was wondering what the most efficient way was to “notch” posts for half lap joints etc.? Dado blade on the table saw, gang cuts with the circular saw and chisel for clean up, etc.? I’ve done multiple cuts, and cleaned up the joint with a chisel and belt sander in the past, but was wondering what techniques the “pro deck builders/landscapers” use to get the job done….?
Best regards to all,
Rob
Replies
Mini grinder with sanding disks works well for cleanup too.
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”
I find using the wood's weakness to my advantage saves time and tooling up. I make a "stopping cut" or a few kerfs and split out the waste in largeish chunks, rather than make a boat load of sawdust to clean up.
Pare with a slick or largest chisel I can get my hands on.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
wanna bet a lotta guys don't know what a slick is?
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Its the same as your spelling of a "chisle" or is it a "chisel"? LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
Some thing are to simple I guess.
Waste it with the saw and clean it with a chisel. I think people are afraid of hand work sometimes.
Ok, mr poopy pants, I'll bite:) For others, its a fancy way to say Big Chisel, oops, I should say gigantic chisel (2ft long).
A slick is a large chisel, characterized by a wide (2-4 inches, 5-10 cm), heavy blade, and a long, frequently slender, socketed handle. The combined blade and handle can reach two feet (60 cm) in length. The blade of a slick is slightly curved lengthwise, and/or the handle socket is cranked upward, such that the handle and socket clear the surface of the work when the edge is touching. This distinguishes the slick from the similarly-sized, short-handled millwright's chisel.
In use, a slick is always pushed; never struck (thus the slender handle). Using a combination of the tool's weight and bracing the handle against the shoulder or upper arm, fine paring cuts are made. Slicks are used mostly by shipwrights and timber framers.
Thanks Brad, now I don't have to ask.ML
My point in bringing it up was to stimulate curiosity and learning.That link said up to a couple feet, but some slicks are closer to three feet long with the wood handle and knob on the end
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PoopypantsJust where do you think you get off using big words like that? huh?Trying to sound like an engineer or something?;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
He got the honorific wrong. It's not 'Mister' Poopypants, it's 'Professor' Poopypants.
Professor Pippy P. Poopypants, to be exact.
I know this thanks to Jet's Number-Two-Son Ian (altho I'm not sure 'thanks' is the right word), who gave Ryan the collector's edition of the works of Captain Underpants for his birthday.
In the 'Fourth Epic Novel', the Professor and a few colleagues are named. Among them: 'Tipper Q. Zipperdripper,' 'Ivana Goda deBafroom,' and 'Jiggles T. Chunkyskunks.'
All I gotta say is the guy who writes those books clearly has some serious issues with bodily functions....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Thank you for another chapter in my edification!Please pass the Charmin'...;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Caley has the whole collection.
I use to read them to him. Now he reads the choices (?) parts to me.
It'gotta be a guy thing. Our granddaughter doesn't care for "Captin UnderPants".
We have special books and boy I had to look hard for that one:) You must know engineers like numbers and equations. Thanks for pointing out the reference. I had no idea chisels came that large. I found a nice one for around $300. As I looked at a few it seemed many would refer to a chisel as a slick based solely upon the blade width.
Ciao for now.
Thanks. I needed one of those today!
This one on eBay, described as a Japanese boatbuilder's slick, is making me drool.
View Image
View Image
"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Me too!
The Japanese style are a lot easier to get and keep the back in tune. Better steel than most as well. I really like the beveled sides, more better for cleaning out corners.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
beautiful steel!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I make a cut with a circ saw every 1/4" or so. This leaves 1/8" "cards". After that, I whack the card with my hammer, clean it up with my claw and any little bits left, I clean up w/ a chisel. It's all pretty quick.
"It is what it is."
Most guys around my neck of the woods use electric chainsaws to kerf then clean up with chisel if needed.
Kerf with circular saw works too and this method gives better control of depth if one is not as "skilled" with a chainsaw.
I used to use the dado on the table saw, but it got too hard for this old man to hold that cast iron table up against the post and slide it along safely.
;)
But then presuming the post is laying on benches instead of already planted verticle....
For a notch near the end of the post, I mark all the lines, and have at it with the circ saw as far as I can, then finish off with a handsaw.
For notching in the middle of a post length or when it is already plumb, I make multiple cuts with blade depth set right, then knock out the debris with the claw hammer and clean up with the chisle.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
The exact reason I bought the bosch saw with the grav stand.....the stand folds up nice and flat and the table is fairly light weight for those diffucult cuts.......LOL!!
Thanks for the replies......I should have known there wasn't a faster way......I figure I'll gang cut my 4x4's with the circ saw than have at it with the chisel........I like the chain saw though....I've spent some time in the bush cutting pulp but don't think I have the guts to give it a go on the 4x4's!
You think that takes guts?What about the guy you ask to hold the 4x4 for ya?;)
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I put em on the bridgeport.
Just to be the odd man out . If I have a number of dadoes for half laps to cut and finish in exposed work I clean the rough cut using a large router and a jig.
Once the jig is made and the router is set to depth it is off to the races.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I've used router for finer stuff like pergolas, but was under the impression this was for framing.I make the first edge cut with the circ saw still when using the router. You go right into virgin wood with yours?
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Nope. "...I clean the rough cut.. " To start I do the same as many mentioned, circular saw kerfs, knock out the debris to make the rough , but then I use the router for clean up. I have used the router for everything but it is hard on the router and on me, easier to saw out the bulk of the material and clean up with the router.
I also use a slick or chisels like everybody else when I have only a dadoes to do. All depends on the job and number of cuts to be made.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Use the DeWalt portable with a dado blade attached. You have to be a big guy for that, though!
I ain't no pro, fer sure, but recently had to do a bunch in PT & white oak. I found that cutting the cutting the entire "perimeter" with the circular saw, then finishing the cuts with a sawzall was much faster than anything else I had tried previously.
I use a sliding mitre saw. Cut a bunch of kerfs, then whack with hammer, and clean with chisel.
Yeah, lots of Amish types around here but the guys I was thinking of are pile drivers who install sea walls, piers, retaining walls and steps down to the shorelines.
They usually work with 6x6 and bigger stuff for landscape.
I was quite surprised how clean they could cut with the chainsaws,,, gas or electric. They're also big on gas powered augers to bore holes for pegging the ties together.
the absolutely cleanest way to do this is a stop cut at the top and bottom with the skill saw and route out the rest with a 3/4" straight bit .. done!