Travis Johnson
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- 2,369
Yeah today I went back to woodworking's deepest roots. Yeah I cut shingles all day...
I know what you are thinking, Travis has really lost it this time...cutting shingles and woodworking are two separate things altogether. But the truth is I haven't.
A lot of people do not know that despite all the tools we now have that can cut wooden shingles, the first circular saw blade ever made cut through a cedar shingle first. Here is another surprising fact, it was not a man that invented it either.
Apparently a shaker woman came to the conclusion that if a saw had teeth that cut wood going back and forth, a rotating disc with teeth would do the same thing. She put it on her spinning wheel and cut through a cedar shingle just to test her theory.
I guess things have changed over the years. I have found bringing my scrollsaw out to the job and cutting shingles around all the protrusions is the best way to cut shingles. The scroll saw blade can cut all sorts of odd shapes, and with the thinness of the shingles, does so pretty quickly.
I didn't get much shingled today however, perhaps two square. My trim job did not make the shingling go very fast. I used a lot of angles and curves around my doors and windows to give the house a custom look. I also tackled the worst wall with a lot of protrusions coming out of the laundry room, plus a window tucked into a corner.
Somehow I don't think Sarah Babitt would be disappointed that her invention was not used today to cut my shingles however. Maybe she looks down from those pearly gates and realizes her great invention can do so much more than cut simple wedges of cedar...
I know what you are thinking, Travis has really lost it this time...cutting shingles and woodworking are two separate things altogether. But the truth is I haven't.
A lot of people do not know that despite all the tools we now have that can cut wooden shingles, the first circular saw blade ever made cut through a cedar shingle first. Here is another surprising fact, it was not a man that invented it either.
Apparently a shaker woman came to the conclusion that if a saw had teeth that cut wood going back and forth, a rotating disc with teeth would do the same thing. She put it on her spinning wheel and cut through a cedar shingle just to test her theory.
I guess things have changed over the years. I have found bringing my scrollsaw out to the job and cutting shingles around all the protrusions is the best way to cut shingles. The scroll saw blade can cut all sorts of odd shapes, and with the thinness of the shingles, does so pretty quickly.
I didn't get much shingled today however, perhaps two square. My trim job did not make the shingling go very fast. I used a lot of angles and curves around my doors and windows to give the house a custom look. I also tackled the worst wall with a lot of protrusions coming out of the laundry room, plus a window tucked into a corner.
Somehow I don't think Sarah Babitt would be disappointed that her invention was not used today to cut my shingles however. Maybe she looks down from those pearly gates and realizes her great invention can do so much more than cut simple wedges of cedar...
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