Draconias
Member
I was wondering if any one else has use a Feeler Gauge to cut the exact width of their Kerfs? I have been making Celtic Knots and having mixed results. Being a guy, I instinctually knew that the width didn't matter, even though I had read that it did. Needless to say, I have discovered that the width is important. This brought up the issue of how to cut the kerf to the width of the inlay you want to glue in.
I measured the width of my saw blade and it is .100 (1/10"). Ok, I can clamp both pieces down using my table saw sled and make the cut. If I unclamp the right side and close the gap and cut again, the kerf is now .200 (2/10"). So I have it down as far as cutting the Kerf by tenths of an inch, but how do I adjust for smaller fractions?
After some thought, I thought back to when I was a teenager rebuilding my car engine with my Dad. We used a Feeler gauge to adjust the rocker arms for the lifters. I then went out to my garage and found my feeler gauge. I cleaned off the grease and rust off of the guage and set it aside.
I then measured the inlay I wanted to glue into my blank. It consists of three pieces of veneer stacked together and measured .176. Ok, so .176 subtracted from .200 equals .024.
So I make the first cut and the Kerf is .100. Now I need to remove another .076 so that the kerf will be the same thickness as the inlay. So what I do now is take the Feeler Gauge and find a couple of the blades that will give me the thickness of .024 (I use .010 and .014). I keep those two blades out and fold all the other blades back into the handle. The two blades that make up the .24 are stacked on top of each other and I then place them into the Kerf gap, slide the right hand half of the block against the feeler gauge and tighten the clamp and remove the feeler gauge. I make another pass on the table saw and the kerf is now exactly .176 and the previous inlay lines up perfectly. I can't wait to proceed with the next two inlays and make the Celtic knot.
I will let you know how it turns out.
Thanks for listening,
Ron
I measured the width of my saw blade and it is .100 (1/10"). Ok, I can clamp both pieces down using my table saw sled and make the cut. If I unclamp the right side and close the gap and cut again, the kerf is now .200 (2/10"). So I have it down as far as cutting the Kerf by tenths of an inch, but how do I adjust for smaller fractions?
After some thought, I thought back to when I was a teenager rebuilding my car engine with my Dad. We used a Feeler gauge to adjust the rocker arms for the lifters. I then went out to my garage and found my feeler gauge. I cleaned off the grease and rust off of the guage and set it aside.
I then measured the inlay I wanted to glue into my blank. It consists of three pieces of veneer stacked together and measured .176. Ok, so .176 subtracted from .200 equals .024.
So I make the first cut and the Kerf is .100. Now I need to remove another .076 so that the kerf will be the same thickness as the inlay. So what I do now is take the Feeler Gauge and find a couple of the blades that will give me the thickness of .024 (I use .010 and .014). I keep those two blades out and fold all the other blades back into the handle. The two blades that make up the .24 are stacked on top of each other and I then place them into the Kerf gap, slide the right hand half of the block against the feeler gauge and tighten the clamp and remove the feeler gauge. I make another pass on the table saw and the kerf is now exactly .176 and the previous inlay lines up perfectly. I can't wait to proceed with the next two inlays and make the Celtic knot.
I will let you know how it turns out.
Thanks for listening,
Ron
