Dear Tim,
My wife and I make handmade baskets from rattan reed and some of them require a wooden base. These bases are round, square and oval and are made from 1/2" pine. All of these bases have a 1/16" wide groove 1/2" deep cut all around this base to push the reed in to start the weaving. I have tried various methods to cut this groove but have been unsuccessful. Any help would certainly be appreciated. Thank you,
James W. Phillips
Jacksboro, Tennessee
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James,
I would do this using my table saw and a 5.5 inch diameter saw blade. The teeth on these blades are 1/16th inch wide. The only trouble is you may have to drill out the center of the blade so it will fit on a standard table saw arbor. You might avoid this hassle if you can find a portable table saw that has a matching arbor for these smaller blades. A regular table saw arbor is 5/8 inch in diameter. The center holes in these smaller saw blades is only 3/8 inch.
Once you are set up, you simply adjust the blade height and the fence to the right distance from the blade so the blade cuts exactly where you want it. You place the wood bases on their edge and start to slide and rotate them so that the spinning blade produces the desired groove.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB