At that point in his life, Tom said, “I didn’t think I was good with my hands, but I couldn’t find a job that was reading and thinking and be able to pay the rent.” At the cabinet shop, to which he commuted 14 miles by bicycle, he learned “how to work hard and do millwork,” specifically pressing lumber into S4S material.

That was the start of Tom’s 30-some-odd year career of “making things.” What kinds of things? Well, a variety.

“I did lots of doors in Santa Barbara, and worked out of my garage for a while,” Tom said, as well as a lot of other things, “I guess I get bored easily,” he said.

For instance, one of Tom’s projects was the restoration of a 60-foot schooner yacht, originally launched in 1925, which had experienced a fire. “I was the only one dumb enough to take on the job,” Tom said. “Everything you see in the pictures was charcoal, and she was on water so she was rocking all the time.”  In order to find the center point for his work, Tom spent time sitting on the dock watching the boat swing back and forth in the waves, and marking the outside point of the pendulum.

At the end of the six-month restoration, though, he said he was sitting in the salon with the owner, who told him he couldn’t really tell the difference between Tom’s work and the original boat. “That was a big compliment for me.”

He also did some work on jet aircraft, specifically private 737s, and he spent about 10 years working on various improvisations with a group at the Pacific Science Center.  “We made objects that taught ideas,” Tom said. “I enjoyed working with other people; I’ve done a lot of teamwork kind of things.”

Among those things at the Pacific Science Center were building a giant tic-tac-toe playing robot, as well as a “viscosity race.” A rack held four tubes of different viscosities of silicone oil; when you flipped the rack upside down, you watched four pool balls (numbered 1 through 4) descend through the various viscosities at different rates of speed.

Also at the Science Center, Tom worked on the Chair of Illusion for a Halloween exhibit. A mirror at a 45 degree angle is placed in front of the chair, whose upholstery has straight vertical lines to create the illusion of continuity. Placing your head on a scimitar-shaped plywood platform mounted on the arms of the chair creates the illusion that the head is floating in space.  “That chair mostly came out of conversations,” Tom said. “I think I made it in a day.”

Among all the other things, Tom said, “I used to say I couldn’t call myself a furniture maker unless I cranked out some furniture every so often.” He built a cradle and hope chest for his stepdaughter and is currently working on a raised garden for his own deck.

While Tom admits to a fondness for Honduran mahogany because it carves nicely and responds well to tools, he also says that, when he was doing art and sculpture – much of it temporary – in between other projects, “People used to ask me what material I used. I said ‘Anything that would hold still.’”

Eventually, though, with all of these activities, Tom said that as he used his body as a tool set, it began to wear out. He went back to school in his 50s and studied AutoCAD, bringing an understanding of different materials into the process. “Bringing aesthetics into drafting, that’s what I enjoy,” he said.

As an example of using his body as a toolset, Tom noted that he happens to have a hand span of 8 inches, and has used that to his advantage in layout techniques. “One hand span is 8 inches; two hand spans is 16 inches.” Despite his interest in computers and drafting, he also appreciates more ancient techniques, citing plumb bobs and water levels as a couple of his favorite tools. “The only things I really trust are water and gravity,” he said.

Now semi-retired, Tom said that although he’s not actively looking for work, it still comes to him, with his most recent project being a Craftsman style remodel. He’s also making a walking stick for his cousin out of an old Christmas tree. “I currently do a lot of upcycling of materials; they’re basically art objects,” Tom said.

With an interest over the past few years in 3D printing – his cat litter scoop “was born out of necessity,” Tom says – he sees a relationship between these types of art objects and increasing computerization. Currently, with 3D printers, “Sometimes to get something printed is ridiculously expensive, but I expect that’ll change as we go forward. There’s going to be very few opportunities for humans to do much work at all other than ‘making walking sticks out of Christmas trees’ as the robot overlords take over.”

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After you’ve applied finish to one part face and the finish cures, the suction cup will stick to that surface. Now you can finish the rest of the surfaces of the workpiece without getting finish on your fingers — or fingerprints in the finish! Works great.

– Jim Moorehead
Barrigada, Guam

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– A.J. Hamler
Williamstown, West Virginia

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Aside from impressive resawing capacity, three patent-pending features also stand out. First, the saw’s ball-bearing blade guides and thrust bearings are spring loaded, and you can adjust them without tools quickly and easily. RIKON also has increased the height of the rip fence and resaw bar to 6-in. You can adjust it left or right for drift by turning a few knobs instead of loosening and tightening bolts, making this feature also tool-free. Third, the saw’s 21-1/2- x 15-3/4-in. cast iron table can be tipped for bevel cutting using a Quick-Lock lever and gear system — no wrenches are necessary.

Another beneficial detail not found on most other band saws is a 115-volt power outlet on the machine. You can use it to plug in a task light, phone charger, radio or whatever you need.

Other standard features include two 3/4-wide x 3/8-in.-deep miter slots in the saw table, for use with miter gauges, sleds or other jigs. The slots are T-style. The upper blade guides move up and down on a rack and pinion guide post with a knob to adjust cutting height. An inch scale on the post helps dial in your height setting. RIKON powers the 10-326 with a 1-3/4hp induction motor that runs off of standard 115-volt household current. Balanced, cast-iron flywheels help power the blade through thick or dense material easily. And a 4-in. dust port in the lower wheel compartment will channel dust away from the blade and into your dust collector. Finally, RIKON provides an enclosed base cabinet with a front door, so you can store spare blades, push sticks or other band saw supplies and jigs.

Optional accessories for the 10-326 include a mobility kit (item 13-325; $79.99), T-slot miter gauge (item 13-912; $34.99) and a pack of four zero-clearance inserts (item C10-392; $27.99).

RIKON’s 10-326 14-in. Deluxe Bandsaw is covered with a full 5-year warranty. It’s available now through RIKON dealers and sells for $999.99. To see a video overviewing the machine’s features, click here. Or visit rikontools.com.

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Tim Inman: The lower the angle, the easier it is to make the cut. A low-angle block plane is the one I grew up with — and the one I use most often to this day. The block plane is really an obsolete tool in today’s world of fine carbide saws. This will date me! My father required that all end grain joints be planed before assembly. In every cabinet and staircase we made, the end grain cuts had to be planed to fit. We forget that, in the good old days, the saws left ragged and torn cuts under the best of circumstances. Today, our saws leave an edge that resembles a knife cut more than an old-time saw kerf. Hence the block plane. My best handmade low angle block plane also has a razor-sharp plane iron with the bevel turned upside down relative to other planes. Razor-sharp! Me? I’d never go with anything in a block plane but a low angle model.

Chris Marshall: I use a low-angle block plane too, and it works so wonderfully on end and edge grain that I can’t imagine even needing a standard block plane. The bed angle of my block plane is 12 degrees. In other words, the plane bed tips the blade 12 degrees up from horizontal, as opposed to a standard block plane that typically beds a blade at about 20 degrees. The primary angle of the blade in my block plane is 25 degrees. The combination of those two form a 37-degree “attack angle”, which cuts across or along the grain easily. And, the lower position of the round lever cap on top fits the base of my palm well, so it’s comfortable to push along. I agree with Tim: go straight to a low-angle block plane, and that may be the only one you need.

If you’re a paid subscriber to our magazine, Ernie Conover has a good introductory video that covers low-angle planes. It’s a Premium Content video that you can watch free of charge, by just entering your subscriber number (it’s the 10-digit number on the mailing label of your print magazine right above your name). Here’s a link to the video, and other options in Ernie’s hand plane series. Enjoy!

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– Kevin Sargent
Overland Park, KS

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“Don’t know how many times that I finally tossed a piece of something into the trash barrel,  then five minutes or three weeks later retrieve it for…! Or burn it only to discover how badly I needed that particular scrap.” – Jack Stanford

“My very small scraps help start the charcoal grill. I just cut all the dead growth out of our pear tree today. I’m thinking of the lathe and grill with this wood. I try not to waste any cut or free wood. We bought one of Rockler’s metal detectors for this. Hidden nails will become grill starters.” – Jess

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