Bending form for the apron

Available shop time has been low lately. I caught one of the early cold bugs going around, and then my wife caught it from me. This last weekend I felt better and had a little bit of time I could spend in the shop. I finished up the bending form I will use to make the apron for the Small Hall table.

I also started to cut some of the laminates I will use to do a test glue up. I had some issues with my band saw while doing this. I was hearing a thumping sound coming from the saw whenever I was cutting. This was unusual, because my band saw always sounded and cut smoothly. After a little investigation I found that a nice little chunk had been taken out of one my tires. I can't even begin to think how this happened. They were petty new tires, but I have ordered some replacements. Replacing the tires will be one of this weekend’s tasks. I’m also going to try a nicer resaw blade to see if I can get a smoother cut. I'd like to cut down on how much time I have to spend cleaning up each laminate. I'll post the results after I have had a chance to use the blade.

Which leads to the question, “How do you clean up the laminates”? Most of the woodworking shows and articles I have seen on resawing laminates, say to use a drum stander to clean up the surfaces. I would say that most amateur woodworkers don’t have a drum sander, and it’s pretty far done on my list of tools if it’s even on my list. I hate sanding dust!

I searched and found two articles, both of which I think I had read in the past. The first was in Fine Woodworking # 164. In this article Lon Schleining, uses a melamine board and double stick tape to attach the laminates to it. He then ran the board through a thickness planer, or drum sander if you have one :). I had thought of this, but the idea just scared me. Even taped down to another board, I have this image of the thin pieces coming apart under the fast spinning knives. It was good to know that it has been done.

Because I was still uncomfortable with the thickness planer idea, I kept digging. I found an even newer article I had read in Popular Woodworking. They say your memory is the 2nd thing go, I can’t remember what the first is. The article was written by David Charlesworth, one the people that really got me interested in hand tools. He attaches his laminates to a piece of MDF, using a couple drops of Super Glue at one end. He then uses a hand plane to clean up the surface. You only need the glue at one end, because as you are hand planing the piece it will be under tension. It also has the advantage of letting you left the piece up, to check on how you are doing. This method really seems to be what I’m looking for. It is safer and uses a hand plane. I may give the thickness planer a try, just to prove myself wrong or right. I'll post results of both methods soon.