Would you buy a Woodpecker straight edge?

[LarryG]

TheRic: I've emailed you a new keyboard. Enjoy.

Mac: I put the digital calipers on my Veritas straightedge last night. The bulb at its top is exactly the same overall thickness as the base portion. Laid over on its side, it lays perfectly flat, not tilted at all. So one of these would make an excellent router guide.

(The technique Ken posted looks interesting. A variation of the turn-every-other-board-over-the-other-way trick that is used on a jointer. Could work for you.)

[lcm1947]

Thanks LarryG for taking the time to measure your Veritas for me. I was worried about that but seems it would be fine then. I did put the 24" steel one on my Christmas list and would just outright buy the 50" like you have if I decide to go that way. Thanks Ken for that article.

[crokett]

I got a good laugh out of that TheRic but yeah you might want to start worrying about that mind of yours. This is a woodworking forum you know.

TheRick isn't the only one. I mean look at the thread title? How can you not think like that?

[Tequila]

I'm going to stand up and recommend against clamping this type of straightedge down. Somebody's gone through a lot of effort and expense of machining and stress relieving these things.

As I see it, if you then put a hundred pounds of clamping force in two or three spots, there's a good chance that somethings going to bend or twist a little bit, making your 0.003" tolerance start to creep up. And at that point, what has the extra money bought you?

I think these things are great as a precision setup tool, but I can't see using one as a working surface. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd stick with a piece of angle iron for edge jointing.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Thread I started on the subject at hand :

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...=Straight+Edge

[LarryG]

I'm going to stand up and recommend against clamping this type of straightedge down. Somebody's gone through a lot of effort and expense of machining and stress relieving these things.

You know, that's an excellent point. Never even thought about that. Duh.

But ... angle iron??? Are you talking about mild steel angle? 'cos that stuff is about as straight as the nearest dog's hind leg ...

[lcm1947]

A good point Joe. I hadn't thought about that either. So maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea. Bummer!