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| Posted: Tue Nov 15th, 2011 02:36 pm |
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1st Post |
titus
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Does anyone here cut their own strip wood? I've seen guys do this before and I'm wondering about what all is involved in it. There's a few reasons I'm interested: 1.) economics and 2.) convenience/flexibility.
One challenge, it seems, to scratchbuilding is always having that size of strip wood that you need on hand. Part of what makes that challenging is that strip wood companies price wood based less on the size and more on a standard size per piece. For example, a block of basswood is much cheaper per cubed unit than a single piece of strip wood. Buying and keeping stripwood in stock on your hobby desk gets expensive.
The other challenge is availability. Some local hobby stores only carry sizes down to 1/16 (which means if you need 3/32 or 5/32 sizes you're out-scout). Even still, those who keep a full range of sizes don't always have every size in stock, or you end up with that situation where you need 3 sticks and your LHS has 3 but one is broken and so you're debating if you can still make it work or not.
Anyways, it seems like being able to buy a large piece of basswood (or whatever else) and then to cut it down into the size/shape I need would be much more affordable.
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So how?
What tools are needed? How small of a size can be reasonably made? Does it come out as more hassle than it's worth?
I've been thinking it over and it seems there are 2 pieces: 1.) Cutting a bigger chunk of wood down to smaller sheets. 2.) Taking those smaller sheets and ripping them down to small strips.
Seems like the tools of choice would be a full size bandsaw for #1 and one of those mini table saws for #2.
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Anyone have experience or input with this?
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| Posted: Tue Nov 15th, 2011 03:04 pm |
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2nd Post |
Herb Kephart
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I do this with clear soft pine, and a tabletop mini-circular saw -3" blade, with about 90 teeth--Available from Micro-Mark--but certainly available cheaper elsewhere if you want to spend time on the 'net searching. I made my own. I can cut down to .020" thick with no problems, with the slot in the saw table having minimum clearance for the blade.
For cutting strips from commercial flat stock, try a balsa stripper--go to a hobby shop that caters to the airplane guys--they use them all the time--so does Woodie Greene.
Herb
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Fix it again, Mr Gates--it still works!"
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| Posted: Tue Nov 15th, 2011 03:09 pm |
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3rd Post |
titus
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Herb -- I completely forgot about that wood stripper Woodie advocates. I actually have one around somewhere. I should try digging that guy out and seeing if that suits my needs before I drop the cash on a mini table saw. Last edited on Tue Nov 15th, 2011 03:09 pm by titus
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 01:34 am |
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CarlOn30
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This is what I use, I ripped a block of bass wood
on a table saw 6" x 1/4" strips. I then use the
Proxxon to get 1/4" x .015. It has a vac. attachment for dust control. It works very well.
Carl.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 02:00 am |
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5th Post |
titus
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Carl,
How do the final strips work out, in terms of finish? Are they rough or smooth?
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 11:38 am |
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JohnM
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I've had some success with veneer from the Home Despot, or other lumber yard, cut on a paper guillotine.
John
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 02:02 pm |
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7th Post |
W C Greene
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If you are careful, basswood sheets up to around 1/4" can be accurately cut into strips. I have a MASTER AIRSCREW balsa stripper which costs about 6 bucks at the hobby shop. I use the larger Xacto blades in mine so as to make straighter cuts. Remember that this tool is made for balsa and the #11 blade is kind of wimpy for basswood. I had a miniature table saw once and used once...too much mess for me. I am thankful that the stores here carry great supplies of Midwest basswood in sticks & sheets so I never worry about running out of stock. It also helps (me) that I don't worry about exact scale wood, I use the "close enough" and "eyeball" measuring system.
Woodie
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 02:39 pm |
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8th Post |
| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 02:53 pm |
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9th Post |
titus
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Woodie --
Ok, you answered one of my thoughts about cutting strip wood, is that it seemed to require a lot of force a be a bit cumbersome to cut well with a #11 blade. I was thinking about doing some experiments with blades that had more surface area, like a #10. Your comments seem to re-enforce that I was on the right track. Will do some more messing with that.
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| Posted: Wed Nov 16th, 2011 02:55 pm |
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10th Post |
titus
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Dave --
Pretty neat work for such an inexpensive tool.
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