Roughing up wood - with a dado set?
 

I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

Toller wrote:

I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

I'd suggest starting w/ rough sawn material...

I've seen suggestions in WW magazines suggesting that to cut the groove for
an interlocking joint, it's appropriate to use a dado blade, then a spacer,
then a regular blade. Raise the dado blade up high enough to make the
groove as deep as you want it, have the spacer set for the distance you want
the dado cut from the edge of the board, and you can groove and cut with one
operation. I don't see that what you're proposing is any more difficult
than that. And I'm imagining that most of these magazines are litigation
sensitive enough that they're cautious about suggesting stupid things, but
I'm sure it happens on occasion.

But for something that's only 1/32 of an inch deep, can you almost scratch
that in with something sharp? I'm thinking even laying the board down on
the ground, sharpen up a metal lawn rake, and have at it. May not be
pretty, but you'll rough it up nicely!

BTW, what does a bat house look like? I've heard of them, and thought
they'd be kind of cool to have around (got lots of skeeters up here, and the
kids would be impressed), but never dug into it any further. I know, I
could DAGS, but since I threw in my $0.02, I thought I'd try to get some
value from it! :)

Clint


"Toller" wrote in message
...
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can
hold on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a
saw, going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a
1/4" spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at
once. It will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

Howdy.......I'd try a rasp rough it up a little bit......What type of
wood were you planning on using......dig the rasp in a bit but don't
push it the whole way across and it should give the little critter
plenty of stuff to grab onto...

Here's a link for some bat house plans........

http://www.batcon.org/bhra/economyhouse.html

Sorry I'm not fluent enought to make it a link.............



Anybody have suggestions for getting bats to move out of my house and
into a bat house? I have an older (circa 1890) home and the bats just
love it in the awnings.......

BTW, what does a bat house look like?

The one I will make is at:
http://www.dccl.org/information/hous...uses_small.htm

I would love to start with rough wood, but the only cedar I can find around
here is S2S.

You don't need to have the grooves every 1/4". Just run it throught the saw
blade every 1" or so. Bats aren't particular and will surely find any
groove to get a toe-hold on. Heck, I've build them using luan in the back
and made utility knive cuts across the grain with firm pressure. They pay
their rent on time and eat a lot!!

"Toller" wrote in message
...
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can
hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a
1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once.
It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

Thanks for the link. Around here, some of the most readily available cedar
is 1x6 fence boards. Not sure if that plan could be scaled down by 2" less
width, because otherwise, those boards would be perfect. Nice and smooth on
one side, and rough (furry rough) on the other. I think the bats around
here are pretty small as well, at least, the ones I've seen, so maybe that
would work. Ah, well, might have to try it someday. Got some extra boards
kicking around the shop even as we speak.

Clint

"Toller" wrote in message
...


BTW, what does a bat house look like?

The one I will make is at:
http://www.dccl.org/information/hous...uses_small.htm

I would love to start with rough wood, but the only cedar I can find
around here is S2S.

A four year old with a fork.

Toller wrote:
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it.

snip

16 grit on a right angle sander.

4-1/2" or 9".

Your choice.

Lew

In article , says...
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

Just buy rough-sawn lumber.

Toller wrote:
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

ISTR hearing about someone who made finger joints using four
ordinary blades separated by 1/8" spacers. I don't see why you
couldn't use three ordinry baldes separated by two quarter inch
spacers.

You could also use a very coarse toothing plane, which you'd
probably have to make yourself but would be easy to do.

--

FF

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
ink.net...
Toller wrote:
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can
hold on to it.

snip

16 grit on a right angle sander.

That sound like a good idea, and faster than setting up the dado set;
thanks.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:08:21 GMT, "Toller" wrote:

I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it.

I just resawed my timber on a Woodmizer with a damaged blade on it
(around 100 bat boxes)

For making one-offs, I'd use the corner of a rebate plane held at an
angle, or a wooden beading plane I hadn't yet got round to tuning up.
Bats aren't fussy and I could do this quicker than changing blades. A
couple of strokes will put a bat-claw sized groove into soft larch or
cedar.

I previously wrote:

16 grit on a right angle sander.

Toller writes:

That sound like a good idea, and faster than setting up the dado set;
thanks.

Case you don't recognize it, right angle sander is the basic tool of the
fiberglass boat builder.

With some practice, you can almost become a sculpter, like the guys with
chain saws working in iceG.

BTW, 24 grit works better on a 4-1/2" sander.

Keep the 16 for the 9" unit.

Lew

Rather than roughing up he wood, couldn't one staple some screen or
hardware cloth on the inside instead?

Toller wrote:

Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

Drill and a wire brush cup. Or let the cat use the board for scratching
for a month or two.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

In article , Toller wrote:
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?






Worth trying dampening the wood and hitting it with a power driven
rotary wire wheel, perhaps mounted on a drill or angle grinder.


--

Larry Wasserman Baltimore, Maryland

Toller wrote:
I am building some bat houses, and they need rough wood so the bats can hold
on to it. It is suggested to run a series of 1/32" deep cuts with a saw,
going both ways, but that will take forever.

I was thinking of having the outside blade, a 1/4" spacer, a chipper, a 1/4"
spacer, and the other outside blade; so I am cutting three cuts at once. It
will still be work, but only one third as much.

Any reason this will make the dado set explode, or anything else
undesirable.
Any better suggestions for roughing up wood?

a 3" wide board, with a half dozen screws/nails in it. Drag it across
the grain with a bit of pressure. It'll gouge and create splinters galore.

(DAHIKT)

I did exactly what you're proposing: the two outer dado blades, and 1
chipper, w/ 1/4" spacer made of balt.birch scrap (OK, 7/32"). Pics
he

http://www.compassimages.com/pub/Woo...hang_1487.html

-Chris

This is actually what's suggested in the book I have on bats.