Another crosscut sled

Another crosscut sled · 10-03-2006, 10:25 PM

In my rare bout of productivity, I finally built a crosscut sled.

Front and rear are 5/4 ipe, as is the runner underneath, and the base is 1/2" baltic birch. I put a coat of Cabot's Australian Timber stuff oil (natural) on it tonight. It's a mixture of linseed, tung, MS and some other stuff - designed for outdoor use. It was super easy to apply. We'll see how it holds up. It sure made the ipe grain pop and took away the yellow hue from the ipe saw dust. I wiped it down really well with methanol yesterday to remove as much of the nasty lapachol as I could.

Monty · 10-03-2006, 10:30 PM

Wow that's big - now I see why you needed all that outfeed support!

DaveO · 10-03-2006, 10:34 PM

Very nice, ain't Ipe fun to work with

Dave

chris99z71 · 10-03-2006, 10:39 PM

It's only 34" wide by 30" deep....not that big...just the perspective

Actually, other that the smell when cutting and the yellow lapachol dust everywhere (which luckily, I didn't have a reaction to), it's actually not bad. Stuff is so hard that it actually holds an edge that will cut you if you don't watch out though...

cskipper · 10-04-2006, 04:41 AM

Great looking sled.

dozer · 10-04-2006, 06:42 AM

Nice job I need to build one of those myself. now if we could just add 8 more hours to the day I could have plenty of time to work on my things to do list, which is now almost as thick as the Raleigh phone book

JohnsonMBrandon · 10-04-2006, 07:21 AM

Looks good Chris. Question for you guys..maybe you know. How do you pronounce IPE? I have heard some pronounce it simlar to e-pay. Anyone have any idea?

Ray Martin · 10-04-2006, 08:00 AM

With wood like Ipe and the finish you used, this looks almost too good to use. Very nice looking sled.

Originally Posted by JohnsonMBrandon

Looks good Chris. Question for you guys..maybe you know. How do you pronounce IPE? I have heard some pronounce it simlar to e-pay. Anyone have any idea?

That's the beauty of being on line instead of in person... we can't mis-pronounce anything

Ray

DaveT · 10-04-2006, 08:08 AM

Nice sled Chris! One of these days I will get around to mine, I bought the 24" INCRA runners from WC almost 3 months ago.

chris99z71 · 10-04-2006, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by JohnsonMBrandon

Question for you guys..maybe you know. How do you pronounce IPE? I have heard some pronounce it simlar to e-pay. Anyone have any idea?

I believe it is pronounced e-pay. If I remember my HS spanish correctly, an "i" in spanish always makes a long-E sound and a "e" always makes a long-A sound. Since it's from South America, I belive that would be the correct pronunciation.

skeeter · 10-04-2006, 08:37 AM

Nice job. The sled really looks good.

John Reeves · 10-04-2006, 10:28 AM

Good looking sled. Doesn't it feel good to make such a tool that is functional and handsome.

eezlock · 10-04-2006, 10:47 AM

Nice looking crooscut sled...actually too good, may want to display it rather than using it! almost nice enough to be used like a large serving tray of some kind. eezlock

sapwood · 10-04-2006, 04:20 PM

That's a beaut Chris and the Ipe should last a lifetime. The wood choice and contrasting colors makes it look like fine furniture

Roger

chris99z71 · 10-04-2006, 04:25 PM

Thanks for the kind words all!
I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting to go home and see how the finish dried. I definitely learned some things about working with ipe:
DC is a must!
Have some alcohol (no DaveO, not that kind

) or acetone handy to clean off the lapachol after cutting or routing it.
Pilot holes for screws in ipe need to be almost the same size as the outer thread diameter of the screw.
A little parafin on the screws saves many screw-driving bits.