You might as well have a ripping good time of it. This is what we’ve lived for, right?



Lifting back wrenching objects isn’t my idea of what I want to do on a roasting afternoon.



Due to a variety of circumstances, my job today was to pick up from the wholesaler two 4′ x 8′ sheets of 3/4″ EuroPly (each weighing 85 lbs) and begin processing them. My regular modus operandi is to have a millwork shop cut the stuff up for me on their forty foot long digital saw, but, today I was going to do it the old way, i.e. with trusty old Black and Decker circular saw and shop made guide.

I’m not a pick up truck kind of guy. Give me a station wagon any day. My old Taurus has fantastic cargo room inside and great roof rack capacity for lumber on top. The only thing about the racks is that they curve to follow the roof line and aren’t really suitable for sheet goods. So, recently I made a frame to bolt on them just for that situation.



As it turns out, the heavy sheet goods (loaded with the help of the warehouse worker) lay perfectly flat on the roof and just waiting for an eager climber to cut them up in situ.



First I transferred my layout lines (over size) to the sheets with the help of a story stick, ripped them full length, and then lifted them off.





Both the sheets and I were considerably lighter coming off the roof racks. One step has already been accomplished on the wood surfaces: the grain has been raised!

Half the weight


When the splendid saw at the millwork company rips the plywood, each rip is a finished edge. Not so the old way. What needs to happen is to process parts close to their final size and then establish a finished reference edge. How to do that? Here’s my set-up:

The thin strip is held tight to table with magnets.

The new Forrest Ply Veneer Worker does a superb job. The rip fence is set so the blade just kisses the edge and the result is equal to the finished edge from the zillion dollar millwork panel saw. It just takes twice as long.

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C'mon Tico, where's your sense of adventure? Put that Taurus to a real test.

Personally, I like my F250, but I do realize that not every woodworker has to have a pickup to get the job done:





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John

When you got to the "and cut them in situ" part, I thought I was going to scroll down to a "but I forgot to reset the depth" and show a photo of your new moon roof.

I'm not a pick-up guy either and have a similar rack for my Passport. If you lived closer, John, you could help a brutha out with that F-250 (not so much with the Prius

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Shirt size: L Twitter: @HalfInchShy

I did think about the depth of cut and at least sawing through the 2" x 4"s. Stupider moves have been made by me.

John, my sense of adventure came into play a few weeks ago when I drove across to Seneca Falls to haul an aluminum dock frame home. That's really the purpose for the new wood frame. What was cool was how the wind sounded blowing through the channels of the frame and the hollow leg posts, random tones like meandering Native American flutists in a dadaist film.

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Tico, it sounds like you really need a TS55 and Parallel Guides. Dead straight, finished cuts on the first pass.

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Water separates the people of the world; wine unites them.

"If you have good manners and are well spoken, you can be welcome anywhere." -Mom, 1959

I was thinking the same thing, Alex.

Less time spent on the hot tin roof...

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I don't have as many Festools as Fred. Or Marcou's, or Brese's, or Lie-Nielsen's, or Lee Valley's, or Blue Spruce's, or Harold and Saxon's, or...

I "saw" that coming. Of course, it's on my list!

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