Combo kits are a good way to go when outfitting with cordless tools. They are more economical than a series of separate purchases and it’s handier to haul around a gear bag or two than a bunch of individual boxes. However, it seems that there is always one item that you might not have chosen if left to your own devices. For me it was the grinder that came with Milwaukee’s M18™ Fuel™ 6-piece kit. As a woodworker, I thought I would have little or no use for it unless I needed to power the rust off of something yet imagined. I was proven wrong under unexpected circumstances.
The job at hand was to replace a large pane (either spelling will work) of ½” insulated glass in an exterior door. I was provided with new glass and faux muntins but no advice on how to remove the old glass which was installed with a very impressive adhesive. The solution involved safety glasses, a hammer, chisel, paint scraper, dust pan and brush, but that’s another story.
The faux muntin grill looked ready to go, but several of the sticks were too long to fit. It was not merely a matter of being able to lop off a bit of the ends, because they were profiled to lap over the molded edges of the stiles and rails. I tried trimming with a hand saw and carving with a chisel, but with no success. There’s a distinct feeling that I get when the wrong tools are in my hands and that was obviously the case here. As small and delicate as the sticks may have been, they seemed to call for power, so I rigged the grinder with a sanding disk and some 120 grit and clamped the piece to the table for my first shot at grinding.
To my considerable satisfaction, the grinder did a great job shaping the end of the mahogany stick. The tool was very smooth and precise, easily controllable in a situation where a slip could have erased the entire profile. It was no problem to carve right to the pencil lines.
Sometimes it’s a pleasure to be wrong. Milwaukee’s M18™ Fuel™ grinder will be a valuable addition to the arsenal for working with wood or metal.
-dvl
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