In this study a conventional shaper machine has been converted into a controlled cutting test rig. A specially designed tool holder was attached to the actuating arm of the shaper machine. This tool holder constrained a small group of handsaw teeth designed to machine a groove followed by an adjustable single tooth that machined a specified depth of cut. A work-piece dynamometer was attached to the platform of the shaper machine. The three force transducers that compose the dynamometer were used to measure resultant cutting, thrust and side forces in the relative X, Y and Z axes. These are measured as the single tooth passes through the work-piece. In addition to force measurement, a high speed video camera was utilised to capture footage of the chip/surface formation where the tooth interacts with the wood work-piece. The recorded forces and captured footage of chip formation validate published findings that machining along the wood grain is a shearing process and machining across wood the grain is a bending process
