Using up some gift cards....

[rainjer]

I had several Rockler and Visa gift card given to me last year that I had not used. I decided recently to us them to upgrade some of my shop made jigs and get a couple new jig I did not have.

A couple weeks ago my wife an I made a trip to Portland OR. and we made a stop a the Portland Rockler. During that visit I purchased the Rockler cross cut sled (not on sale) to replace the one I made, 6 edge band spring clamps and the Rockler router box joint jig that were on sale. Because Portland has no sales tax I save almost 10% over buy in them at my local store.

I have to say I really like the cross cut sled. Getting the fence dialed in using the 5 cut method was a breeze. I got it to .002” over 60”. That will work for anything I will ever build.

The box joint sled is a new tool for me. I have a project I am going to make with it but I have not played with it yet. I also need to but a set of up cut router bits to use with it.

So last week I get the Rockler ad and see the cross cut sled is on sale. So off to my local Rockler to get a $50 refund. While there I used up the rest of my gift card. I picked the Rockler straight edge/taper jig to replace the one I made, the Rockler router coping sled and a bead lock starter kit. 

I was able to get all of these items for about $45 out of pocket

Today I spent some time I the garage playing with the taper jig and the bead lock jig. Both worked really well. I had to modify the taper sled by adding some new hole an countersinks or move the miter bar over so I could trim blade edge to make it zero clearance. After that I cut a 1-1/2” to 3/4” 2 side tapered leg. I then use the bead lock jig to make a joint to attach the skirt. It worked good but some how the mortise on the skirt was not parallel to the face. Pretty sure it was human error.

Tomorrow I am going n to play with play with the coping sled.

Jeremy

[Coop]

Gift cards are neat gifts. I usually make a note as to who gave them to me and as I use them, I will send the person I received it from a thank you note and tell them what I bought with it. The Rockler box joint router sled is an item that I have enjoyed using for several years and have done so with just a straight cutting bit, although I really need to break with the cash and get the spiral bit. Rockler’s  brass setup bars are great for getting the closest tolerance on your cuts. A little pricey but can be used for other things around the shop such as blade heights on the ts, etc.