Timber Framing

[Dave Shepard]

You want to back the bit up a few turns to disengage the lead screw. Then you need to engage the rack and pinion gear. I'll look back to the last page and see how it works on your machine. Some you swing the rack into place, and some you move a small gear.

 

[Dave Shepard]

It looks like you just slide that straight cut gear on the left further to the left to engage the rack. As long as the lead screw has been backed out, it should lift the carriage back up until it latches. Then you slide the gear back for the next hole.

 

[brendonv]

I understand that. It's just like I'd have to wrench it hard as hell if I wanted the bit to back out.

Should you clean the hole every once in a while or just hammer all the way through?

 

[Dave Shepard]

You need to bore to the full depth, otherwise you'll never get the lead screw started again. I'm surprised that it won't retract. How hard is it to crank when boring? If it's hard going both ways, the bit may be dull, or improperly sharpened, i.e. the lips are too narrow, and you are boring a smaller hole than the diameter of the bit. You are using the 1.5" right? I don't think you'd have much fun with the 2" in oak. Try a piece of pine or hemlock if you can find one just for comparison, oak is just tougher. Even my Milwaukee Hole Hawg doesn't like it on slow.

 

[brendonv]

The bit's are from Jim, figured they would be done right. I dunno though.

It cuts nicely, that's for sure. I bored Pine yesterday to try it out, it sure came out easier than the Oak, but def. not "easy".

 

[Dave Shepard]

If it is cutting good, then the bit is probably good. I will sometimes work over bits from Jim a little with a little fine Swiss file, but only because I'm mildly insane when it comes to sharpness. I've never seen a messed up bit for sale from Jim. Can you freely move the handles in reverse when the bit is in the bottom of the hole? You may just have to spin it out a ways further before you engage the gear. As long as you aren't going to break a handle, or anything else on the machine, you may just have to work with it the way it is. When you are done with these horses, anything you do in pine will be easy.

 

[brendonv]

Pine will be the next wood of choice . 8x8 is big though, anything done in 5x5's with pine?

I'm thinking, small garden/tractor shed.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I'd stick with 7x7 or larger. I almost made the mistake of using 6x6 on a project a couple months ago, and would have had some serious joinery conflicts. Pine is much lighter, about half when green and it dries quicker. I'm working some 11"x13"x23' pine timbers now. Manageable by myself, with planning.

 

[brendonv]

7x7 outer size, or the joinery size. (I don't know the pro term, sorry)

 

[brendonv]

Oh, and when boring down with the machine and you don't want to go all the way through, does one just mark the boring machine at your depth..orrr???

 

[woodworkingboy]

Most boring machines of one sort or another have a depth stop. If yours doesn't, maybe you can improvise. Marking the bit is one simple less precise way, or making a stop collar to go around it. An adjustable arm that contacts the wood as you lower the bit is the way a stop can work, if one isn't built into the gearing.

 

[Dave Shepard]

7x7 rough timber framed to an "ideal" 6.5" timber. Housings would be +/- 1/2" depending on sawmill consistency. To set a depth mark, place the bit on the edge of the timber so the lead screw is just hanging off the side, but the bit is supported by the cutting edge. If you are boring a 4" hole, find something on the carriage as a reference, then measure down 4" and put a chalk or soapstone mark on either the wooden frame or the metal rail. You can also clamp something to the rail, just measure the 4" (or whatever) down from the bottom of the carriage. My swan has an actual ruler stamped into the 1/8" metal rails. When your reference on the carriage meets the mark, you are done. If you are boring from a non-reference side, don't forget to add the housing depth to the mortise depth. Having to scrape an extra 1/2" out of the bottom is a pain. On a big through mortise, like on 8" posts, you would only bore halfway from each side.

Did you buy either of the Sobon books? (I seem to recall you did) I can reference page numbers in those for later questions.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Dave, you chop all your mostises by hand? Isn't that a pain once you have proven to yourself that you can do it?

 

[Dave Shepard]

Not really. Most of my work is huge scarf joints. I've got a little slide show of cutting one I'll try to link to.

Here is a slide show of cutting one half of a scarf.

 

[brendonv]

Thanks for the help guys.

Dave, I do have the Sobon book.

 

[Burnham]

Material is secondary to design.
Fir and pine can be plenty 'strong' enough, if the design allows for rigidity and weight-bearing capacity.
I'd vote for easier-to-move and rock-steady-by-design.

I agree that strength through design will give you very strong horses, but nothing without significant mass will hold still when the workpiece is substantial and is being moved about on the horse...well designed, lighter weight horses will not deform or break, but they will skid around.

There's a place for both ends of the spectrum in any shop.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Designing horses that can stack is good too, they do take up some room in the shop when not in use. The only way I can think to do that and have the required strength, is to have one longer than the other, and the longer one can sit on top without the leg braces in the way...for a conventional styled horse.

 

[brendonv]

Just a heads up. Once again my project stops in it's tracks.

I bored one test hole with the machine, and two holes to make one mortice. That's all the "ready to bore holes" machine lasted from the guy I purchased it from. Couple things were wrong.

The drive gear was missing a big chunk where the pin went through the shaft. I thought it wasn't that big a deal (and he never mentioned it prior to purchase), but it caused all the stress to be put on one part of the pin, so much so that it sheered the pin during drilling.

The energy from the pin sheering, in turn cracked the base plate of the machine, sending up a large splinter. (he said he knew about the crack, and happened not to mention that either)

Thirdly the base of the machine wasn't the original base, and when they drilled the holes to install the two uprights of the sliding portion, they drilled them to skinny. This in turn constantly threw the machine off track, and stopped the drilling process until you put the guides back in the track. This what also made reverse the machine almost impossible, so much so I had to take the machine off the bit at one point, and remove it manually with a channel lock as a lever.

Disappointed to say the least. It came from a forestry forum member, who sold ready to use timer framing tools. It seemed he had a good rep., as he sold a lot of stuff from what I noticed, so I bought it with trust from two blurry as pictures. He hadn't mentioned the crack forming in the base, or the severely chipped gear, which he later confirmed he knew about.

I was going to keep it if he could located me a new gear, and I'd deal with the base myself as he'd give me a "credit" for more tools. But he couldn't find a gear so I opted for a refund.

I might try fabbing up something to mount my Stihl gas drill vertically and square, and sliding just like a boring machine, maybe another winter project.

 

[Dave Shepard]

That sucks! I've used my boring machine bits with my HoleHawg which is I think 300 rpm on low speed. You can probably get away with eye-balling the bit in your Stihl drill. The most important part is maintaining the edges of the mortise, that is what is going to locate the tenon. If it's a little off down the sides, it isn't the end of the world. I've got an extra wooden machine, but I don't know if it would do any better than the one you've got in oak. If I remember, I'll try it in some white oak tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[brendonv]

I was pretty disappointed that it didn't last. Not to mention the shipping cost back and forth. Might buy the New Tribe Nikosi with the returning funds.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I checked out my Swan machine today. I had to beef it up a little, but I was able to bore a big through mortise in some 9 million year old black ash with it with no problems. Runs pretty smoothly, actually. You are more than welcome to borrow it with no obligations or expectations that it will survive. You around this weekend? I can bring it down and answer some questions if you want. I've got a travelling kit of tools with me as well. We could cut a few joints too.

 

[brendonv]

Dave, that's a generous offer.

This weekend I'm booked, tomorrow I have to replay thanksgiving at my girlfriends sisters house, and Sunday I've got estimates and a meeting with a mortgage/Realtor lady.

I'd hate to have you drive down here too, maybe sometime in winter if your free I can zip up with a 5x5 or two.

 

[Dave Shepard]

It better be a warm winter, no where inside to work around here. You really aren't that far from my friends place on Rt. 183. We'll figure something out. Have you gotten anything cut yet, or did the machine break straight away?

 

[brendonv]

Ah, I thought you had a shop.

Nothing really, I cut a mortise for fun, few mistakes along the way. Then it broke.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I've got an awesome shop at work, but that's not mine. Mistakes are ok, broken stuff isn't.