Tools & machines
Woodworking Tool and Machine Guides
Setup and choice guides for the machines in a woodworking shop: the table saw, miter saw, router and router table, planer, jointer, lathe, drill press and CNC router, with the bits and blades that go in them. Calculators cover router speed by bit diameter, miter and crown angles, and CNC chip load and feed rate.
Each guide works from the maker's own manual for that machine's limits; a value for a whole class of machines is the median of three or more manuals. Speed charts always defer to the speed marked on the bit or blade when that is lower, and the page says so. Safety notes cite the federal workplace rules and the maker, and sit where you will see them. The guides name no favorite brand.
Calculators
- Miter and crown angle calculatorMiter and bevel settings for picture frames, polygons, any corner, crown molding laid flat or nested, and sloped-sided boxes. Geometry, shown step by step.
- Five-cut sled calculatorEnter the two ends of your five-cut test strip and get the fence error per foot, the angle and how far to move the fence. Inches or millimetres.
- Cuts per inch calculatorCuts per inch for a thickness planer or jointer from cutterhead RPM, knives and feed rate, checked against the figure each planer's maker states.
- Router bit speed calculatorMaximum router speed for a bit's diameter: the median of four makers' charts, never above the speed marked on the bit. Chart from 1/4 in to 3 1/2 in.
- CNC feeds and speeds calculatorFeed rate for a CNC router bit in softwood, hardwood, MDF or plywood from the median of bit makers' chip loads, with the depth-of-cut step. Inches or mm.
- Wood lathe speed calculatorWood lathe speed for roughing, general cutting and finishing by blank diameter, the median of three lathe makers' charts, with rim speed shown.
- Forstner bit speed calculatorDrill press speed for a Forstner bit by diameter, in hardwood or softwood, from a bit maker, a drill press maker and Fine Woodworking, each figure shown.
Reference
- Miter saw guideHow to read a miter saw's miter and bevel scales, the common angles, cutting crown nested or flat, and the safety rules three makers' manuals agree on.
- Woodworking machine safetyWhat OSHA 1910.213 requires of table saws, jointers, planers, radial arm saws and lathes, and what the CPSC counted of table saw injuries, in plain words.
- Table saw guideA table saw guide: which blade for which cut, squaring a crosscut sled, dado stack rules, and kickback and the riving knife, each claim sourced.
- Table saw blade guideHow many teeth a 10 in table saw blade needs to rip, crosscut or cut plywood, from blade makers' own guides, with grind, kerf and the speed on the blade.
- Riving knife and kickbackWhat a riving knife, splitter and anti-kickback pawls do, what causes table saw kickback, and how saw makers and the CPSC say to prevent it.
- Thickness planer guideWhat causes planer snipe and how makers say to reduce it, what cuts per inch means for the surface, and helical vs straight-knife cutterheads.
- Jointer guideHow deep a 6 in jointer cuts per pass, the shortest and thinnest board it takes, from three makers' manuals, and what a jointer does that a planer can't.
- Router bit typesThe main router bit types and edge profiles, what each cuts, bearings and shanks, and the speed rules bit makers agree on, in plain words.
- CNC chip load chartChip load per tooth for solid carbide spiral router bits from 1/8 in to 1/2 in, from Freud, Amana and Onsrud's own charts, with each maker's figure shown.
Other sections
- WoodSpecies and wood types: hardness, weight, movement, color and what each is good for.
- FinishingFinishes, glues and fillers: dry and cure times, which to use, and how they compare.
- JoineryJoints and how to size them: dovetails, mortise and tenon, rabbets, dadoes and more.
- Lumber & plywoodBoard feet, actual and nominal sizes, hardwood quarters, plywood sizes and grades.
- Fasteners & drillingScrew sizes, pilot and clearance holes, countersinks and drill bit sizes.