Notes to Self

I've started this list of notes to myself to keep track of things that I've learned the hard way. Fortunately all of them weren't learned the really hard way, but rather were sudden realizations that I had about a better way to do something.

• Do coarse-grit sanding of panels and boards before performing thickness or depth sensitive joinery on those same parts. For example, sand the face of a face-biscuit-joined panel before making the face-biscuit cuts. The face cut depth can be reduced by sanding, so get the coarse work out of the way before doing the biscuit joinery. This doesn't matter with non-face biscuits. Similarily, sand pieces that will fit in housed dados before cutting the dado, so that later sanding of the panel will not create a sloppy fit.

Other Notes

• Drill Rod is known as Silver Steel to the British. It is a high-carbon steel that can be heat-treated (through Water, Oil, or Air hardening) to make into a cutting tool. They are typically ground to size, though some may not be ground as well as others and may be lobed.
• CRS 1018, 1020 is difficult to get a good finish on. You need a very sharp tool, and may need to use abrasives of some form.
• If you decrease feed rate you can use a larger radius on a tool and get a better finish.
• For roughing you use a deep cut and a slow feed. For finishing you use a light cut with a wider tool and a faster feed. Which contradicts the point above. Hmmm.
• A good reference for metals and what they are good for is is ASM (American Society of Metals) Heat treater's Guide Standard Practices and Procedures for Steel, 1982 Edition.
• Another good reference is the Jorgensen Catalog or book. Many people alude to this but I haven't found one of my own or determined what it is. On the other hand, many good posts on rec.crafts.metalworking have refered to this as a ultimate source book.