Which tool for the job?

LiE

LiE

LiE

Caporegime
Joined
2 Aug 2005
Posts
26,107
Location
Milton Keynes
Recently acquired a large cable reel. We are going to turn it into a garden table, but to do this we need to cut one of the large circles into a smaller one. Does anyone know what would be the best way of tackling it? I thought a jigsaw but the wood looks tough.

Some pics

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Urrr, the best I can think of is circular saw but even that will struggle to cut through something of that depth, my first thought would be like a band saw but there is no way that is going to happen
 
Reciprocating Saw with a coarse blade should make short work of that.

Even a good jigsaw with coarse blade should be ok, just take it slow & steady.
 
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Honestly, it's a little deep, a Jigsaw would tickle that. It would be easy to cut however it's just the shape which would make it so you can't get it to bigger piece of equipment.

Edit: I tell you what the Reciprocating Saw is the best shout, sort of like a handheld small band saw.
 
Wouldn't even consider a jigsaw or reciprocating saw if you want a good job.

Use a 1/2 plunge router and a decent bit, probably would need to do it in 2 stages. Don't forget to soak the exposed ends in wood preserver after cutting.
 
Hire a saw, cheaper.

Around £20 -£25 for a weekend, will be a better trade saw.

They will recommend a blade, but I reckon you'll be able to cut it with a fine blade, something like the Bosch S922HF blade, will take a little longer, then clean up edges with a sander.

I reckon a router or you would struggle on such a uneven surface.
 
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Cheers Benny. The reel has 1" metal rods through the middle which I'd also need to cut, I guess the saw will do the job too.
 
Might I ask where you acquired the reel from, I've been looking since they were mentioned in a thread here a while back but not found anything that wasn't prhobitively expensive! :(
 
valve90210 said:
Might I ask where you acquired the reel from, I've been looking since they were mentioned in a thread here a while back but not found anything that wasn't prhobitively expensive! :(
Click to expand...

It was left across the road in some unused space for several months, so one night I acquired it. I have to say though, the thing is bloody heavy!
 
I'd cut multiple straight lines up to your pre-marked area - easier to cut chunks out rather than do the whole lot.

Sounds obvious but seen a mate try this on a similar project and he couldn't work out why it was so difficult after half way around!

Great idea for a project - keep meaning to ask my mate that works for a local telco provider to keep an eye out for one of these for me!

Pictures when you're done!!
 
It's quite an old one as in the type of construction, which will be nice once cleaned up and treated.

Why do you ant to cut the base down? I assume so you can say get a chair under however I think it will fall apart if you cut it all down without adding say a ply base screwed 150mm ctrs to the underside, the whole thing is a clamp we found when we did one at a mates the whole thing became wobbly and loose, the next one all we did was lay it where we wanted it marked round it then removed 5" of turf so the table sat in the grass, worked quite well and you could mow over it as it was flush.
 
Yea we want to get chairs under it ideally. We have a plan for shortening it. A tricky thing as you say it's a clamp and as soon as you cut the metal rods it will essentially collapse. So the plan is to turn it on it's side, shorten it, and use the existing wood to fix the 2 side together. We will probably add in some additional wood for strengthening.
 
I'd seriously consider digging it in. the grass will die anyway and as you well know are pretty heavy so you won't really be moving it about anyway.

A jetwash will clean that right up, make sure you put up some completed pics.
 
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