I took a good long time to read the entire instruction manual, mostly describing horrible ways you could injure yourself, before I set it up and gave it a try. I watched a lady on YouTube install the blade - Thanks HeyMimi DIY! I took my little countertop piece and traced the pattern onto a piece of scrap wood. Then I fired it up and began to cut... It went terribly wrong!
If you begin to think you are off the line, you probably are. I stopped to ponder this a moment, but forgot to stop cutting. You can see the little "pondering bump". Cutting the corners was also a little tricky. The blade only has teeth in one direction, but you have to cut at a 90 degree angle. How you sposed to turn the thing and keep from getting a gigantic curve! I believe this will be the most troubling to master. But hey, it's me! And I shall not let this saw be the boss of me!
After cutting, sanding, staining and then gluing the butcher block countertop onto the original counter pattern, I had to try my luck again. This time, the saw god (my husband) had tried the thing out and given me some very good advice. Turn up the RPM's and chip little pieces out of the corners, he said. Go slow and if you don't like where it's going, stop and regroup, he said. He's so damn good at being handy, and his advice was perfect! My cut wasn't quite perfect, but it was close enough to sand pretty good.
Spackle, sand, paint and drill I can do, so the rest of the countertop went pretty fast.
Now I have to make a decision about under the sink. Cupboard doors, or curtain. Hmmm... I wish there was more of you reading this so you all could vote!
The sink drain is just a plastic wall anchor painted black. The faucet, door handles (Tim Holtz scrapbooking brads) and hinges (came with the kit as door handles, but not as dramatic as the brads, I think) got a coat of black spray paint and then Rustoleum metallic bronze over the top.
I thinl I'll attach the drawers and outer doors and then decide on the sink cabinet. The answer usually comes exactly on time...
To cut corners the other option is to drill a hole at the corner and use your saw blade to make the right angles since you then have some maneuvering room to turn and get your square cut out. It's rounded at first but then you just use the saw blade to cut the oorners, one cut from each direction.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great tip! I have gotten more comfortable with the saw, thank goodness! I have found that cutting several straight lines into the corner then just chipping away at the material works pretty well, too! I do still wish they made a smaller, lightweight jigsaw. I think Brae's Dremel Trio is close, but still costs around $80.00. I'll keep looking, though!
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