Dewalt DW756 6 inch Heavy Duty Bench Grinder
SUMMARY: Loads of power! Wish it had a light though.
This grinder is great! I just love Dewalt tools! I was very suprised how heavy it was when it came. I got a Dewalt compound miter saw the same day, and this was heavier! I have been grinding steel bolts, and it does a great job. The sparks are flying, and the little shields work great. Makes quick work of the grinding. I was considering a Delta unit but decided I would pay just a little more get a much better quality tool, with more power! Well worth it. I wish it had a work light though. And steel tool rests might have been nice too.
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DeWalt DW680K 3-1/4 inch Heavy-Duty Planer
SUMMARY: This thing really sends the shavings flying!
I bought this planer with a couple projects in mind. The first was build a stand for my lathe. The second was for remove the stain from the beams in my house. It worked great for flatening the edges in the 2×6s and 2×10s that I had laminated. I haven’t yet tried it on the beams. It removes wood so quickly that I am almost hesitant to try it. I have been using belt sanders with 50 grit sandpaper belts. If I do try this planer on the beams, it will be on the lowest setting to start with. I still can’t believe how fast it can shave wood. It didn’t even slow down. Within minutes it created a mound of shavings that filled my Shop Vac. DeWalt makes a dust catcher for it, but I can’t imagine it would be very useful as it seems it would get filled in no time. And like all the DeWalt tools I have bought, it is very solid. If you are looking for a power planer, this is a good one.
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We used 3 full cords of firewood last year in our wood burning stove. The stove was new to us, so we had a learning curve on the best way to use it. For the first month, we had the stove burning almost continuously. We saved over $100 on our electric bill, but burned almost $200 worth wood doing it. After that, we began only loading the stove up in the morning to warm the house up, and when we got home from work. We stopped loading it up before going to bed, and before leaving for work. I have also since installed programmable thermostats for the electric baseboard heaters. So this has also helped reduced our electric bills. Burning the wood more conservatively this year, I think we will burn less than the 3 full cords. But then, we will likely begin burning wood earlier this year as we didn’t get the wood stove until after Thanksgiving.
I spent time over the weekend making a lathe duplicator. It will copy stuff approx 35-38 inches long. I designed it to copy the martial arts weapons I am making. I can also use it to make posts for a headboard footboard set that I want to make down the road. I could always make a shorter version for shorter stuff. I made a cutting tool from an old screwdriver shaft by grinding it down. My first attempt was horrible and just shreaded the surface of the wood. My second attempt was better, but still not useable. I believe the problem is the tool, but it is possible the problem is the wood. For testing purposes I am starting with a cheap 1 1/4 inch dowel. The HSS cutting tool blanks I ordered should show up this week. But I also ordered a replacement cutting tool for a Delta duplicator. This way I will know the tool should work, and any problems I am having are elsewhere in the design. My duplicator design is based on one that some guys were using to make fishing plugs. The thread is located here with pictures: http://www.stripersonline.com/cgi-bin/ubb_547C/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001928;p=0
What I am doing is pretty much the same thing, except I need to turn longer pieces. When I get this stuff set up, I should be able to produce these things in quantities.