For some of our DIY projects with wood we may need to make a hoop, something that can be quite tricky if we try to cut it by hand with a scroll saw or with a jigsaw. But making a wooden hoop using the jigsaw table and a circle cutting jig is quite simple. The only part that is a bit tricky is the beginning of the cut inside the wood circle. Although it is not so difficult to do if we have a drill (better a drill press) and a narrow chisel. So, let’s see how to make a wooden hoop taking into account what I have just mentioned.
I will begin from a wooden circle that I cut previously when I showed how I made the jig for cutting wood circles on the jigsaw table.
In this circle I have to draw a radius. And I mark on that radius the measure of the radius of the inner circle that I want to eliminate to get a hoop. I need a drill bit with a diameter the same as the width of the jigsaw blade I am going to use to cut the inner circle. Now on the drill press, I put the wooden circle under the drill bit in a way that the outer edge of the drill bit is tangent to the mark. And I have to drill a first hole.
The problem is that this hole does not allow me to pass the cutting blade in a way that the side of the blade is against the mark that tells the measure of the radius, therefore I have to draw a second radius close to the first one. I have to mark on the new radius the measure of the inner radius of the hoop I want to make and, also with the drill tangent to the mark, I will drill a second hole. Now I just have use a chisel to cut the small wooden protrusion that remains between the two holes, thus joining the tangency points.
On the circle cutting jig, I have to place the pivot point at a distance from the slot equal to the diameter of the inner circle I want to cut. And I put the wooden circle on the jig. If all is working okay I then can see the slot of the circle cutting jig through the hole I made,
and that should allow me to install the blade on the jigsaw table. I only have to pass the cutting blade both through the inside of the hole I made and through the slot of the cutting jig.
Now all I have to do is turn on the jigsaw tool and rotate the wooden circle until I have finished making the wooden hoop.
This way, when I remove the inner circle, I have left a fairly well cut outer wooden hoop. I just have to sand a little the wood burr left by the cut and some small imperfections that remain in the area of the beginning and end of the cut. And I already have my wooden hoop.
