What color was the light? Sodium is sort of yellow-ish-green, and color rendering made everything look brown-ish. Mercury has a lot of blue, and appears blue-white with not-too-bad color rendering, at least compared to sodium.

I've used it for woodturning and love it. The dust just falls through and it lasts a very long time. I have some disks for my ROS but have not tired them yet.

Doug

For a long time I'd start with coarse sandpaper and work up through the grits. Then I got a grinder (Norton 3X 60 grit) and cut my sharpening time dramatically. I'm still not using an electrons (hand crank grinder), but I can get the bevel shaped and near sharp in seconds now rather than minutes. Then to a glass plate and sandpaper to 2000 grit. Still flatten the back by hand starting with a 140X Atoma diamond plate. Wet/dry silicon carbide paper is my choice. Easy to find to fine grits at auto supply stores - Napa here.

The critical thing is to retain control of the work as it passes the bit. In order to do this, think about the direction of the cut. In the usual setup of work going from right to left along the fence, the front part of the bit is moving toward the fence as it cuts. That holds the work to the fence, making it easier to control. If you go the opposite direction, the cut pulls the work from the fence, leading to loss of control. In either case, one edge of the bit is making a normal, and the other edge a climb cut, so that's not a helpful way to think about it. Note that in the trapped situation where you are only trimming an edge, you might have thought this safer than cutting a dado, but it's not because in one direction you lose the force that helps you by pushing toward the fence, and in the other you are stuck with only the climb edge of the cut.

So yes, when you cut a groove or dado on a router table, move the stock in the same direction as when you profile an edge.

I am thinking about purchasing harbor freights 2hp dust collector. Can anyone tell me if this filter will fit it?

Thank you,
Don

I've had a DW 12" CMS for years and it's been great. There is an issue with the electronic brake, but that may have just been on the older models. Otherwise, it holds alignment beautifully, and was aligned right out of the box---and at least the one I bought came with a premium DW blade--so no cheapo blade you had to later replace.

DW offers great support for parts, etc.

Arlin Eastman said:

---

Also what is the difference between them.

---

Howdy All,
Back in July I posted a question found here: Woodnet Post

Well, the project is now done. I thought a finished picture would help clarify the earlier post and show off the design a bit. I put more pictures over at Sawmill Creek - I find the picture upload process easier.

R/
William

I'm guessing that you have very poor adhesion with the burned surface, so any paint that gets in their will tend to get drawn out of the cuts by surface tension. Would shellac adhere any better as a primer?

Seems like it would be useful to make some samples to experiment with.

Maybe try something with gluing in a fine gold wire? or CA glue with gold dust (or gold glitter from a craft store). (but may have the same adhesion issues).

or if the engraving is deep enough, maybe look for a filler wax, and plan to restore periodically

Matt

I am making plaques for Christmas gifts using resawn walnut burl. I have finsihed them with birchwood casey gun stock finish and then took them to be laser engraved with my children's baptismal certificates. Tape was placed over the surface and then lasered through the tape, leaving the tape and black laser marks where engraved. After engraving, I plan on leaving the tape on and spraying gold paint on the surface, filling in the engraves areas.

Question#1. Can I then spray lacquer over the entire surface to preserve the gold, or will there be a reaction between the Birchwood Casey finish and the lacquer? Does it matter if the lacquer is water based or not??