Tips and Wrinkles

[DOOGYREV]

If you find that nails and pins are bending and/or are not going in straight when normally they would be. (ie not into hard oak without a pilot hole)
Then it may be as simple as some glue or paint on the hammer head, just give it a rub on some sand paper and you will be hammering happily again.

 

[AndyT]

If you find that a screw has broken off (maybe because you didn't drill a pilot hole) you can sometimes get a good enough grip with a pair of wire cutters.
If that won't work, a neat way to drill out the stub of screw is to use an old fashioned shell bit in a brace. These have a half-cylindrical shape, so you can drill a hole around the broken screw, but close to it. Then you can plug with a piece of wood, to take the replacement screw.

 

[DOOGYREV]

Not Woodwork related other then to help seeing pics of woodwork in the forum.

This is a great really easy way of reducing the memory size of a photo, with out cropping or reducing size

Right click on a photo,
Open with Paint
Click on Save as
then just type .jpg at the end of file name and save

Thats it!

 

[monkeybiter]

I've seen this in a magazine but I was already doing it so.. take that sanding belt that you bought without checking your beltsander's size, put a couple of suitable offcuts and a wedge in the middle and you've got a sanding block that can be rotated when the working face gets worn or blinded.

Clean sanding drums with the end of a bit of hosepipe, instant rejuvenation.

 

[spg]

I love that one Flounder!
How about these 2:
1. If you make a mistake / are having a bad day / have an apparently insoluble problem - then leave the shed for a while go and do something else. Most of the problem solving I come up with happens out of the workshop
2. Keep superglue to hand - it is the best way to treat minor cuts
Mark

I once read a similar quote of 3 mistakes of any kind in one session then give up

 

[wobblycogs]

I think we should add the caveat of...

unless you lose a body part in which case give up straight away

 

[barkwindjammer]

Wanting to shave a tight internal curve-but have no fancy tool to do it ?
A long, new out the wrapper twist drill bit, with the ends wrapped in masking tape to make it comfortable to hold may get you out of a tight spot in a hurry

 

[Anonymous]

To hone a chisel/blade quickly do it free hand.

: lol:

 

[xy mosian]

When you are using a hand held power tool in the 'shop, use one of those bits of elastic with a hook each end to keep the excess cable out of harms way. Hang the free end of the hook from the ceiling somewhere.
xy

 

[Benchwayze]

Want to find the centre of a board’s edge?

Using an Engineers’ 90°/45° square:

Square a pencil-line across the board edge.
Scribe a 45° line from each end of the 90° line.
Where the diagonals cross is dead centre of the board edge.
Set the square or a marking gauge from that mark, to mark the board at other points.

HTH
John

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

A small mirror is always handy to have in your toolbox... just don't break it.

 

[Benchwayze]

A small mirror is always handy to have in your toolbox... just don't break it.

I break a mirror every six years. Just so I know I am going to be around for the next seven! Based on the old saying, then I should live for ever.
As for the bad luck, well, it's better than no luck at all!

John

 

[Phil Sewell]

When screwing 2 pces of wood together to make sure they are exactly in the position you want them cramp them together first, drill through both with the pilot drill then drill the clearance hole afterwards.

To avoid tear out when routing a rebate set the cutter to the plunge depth you want then skim along the edge taking off 0.5 mm to a mill. Then go back and rout out the rebate in several depth passes if necessary. It needs a bit of care (make sure the cutter dosen't grab the wood on deep rebates) but pretty much stops any tear out.

 

[jimmy rivers]

I learnt this one off a boat builder


Hungry? Angry? Lonley? Tired?...

...time for a break

ccasion5:

 

[DTR]

There are some brilliant tips in this thread, thanks everyone

Want to find the centre of a board’s edge?

Using an Engineers’ 90°/45° square:

Square a pencil-line across the board edge.
Scribe a 45° line from each end of the 90° line.
Where the diagonals cross is dead centre of the board edge.
Set the square or a marking gauge from that mark, to mark the board at other points.

HTH
John

On a similar note, to find the centre with a marking gauge:

Set the gauge to the centre distance by eye
Make a mark (a dot) with the gauge from one edge
Make another mark in line with the first from the opposite edge
Hopefully the two marks should be close together. The exact centre of the board will be the halfway point between the two marks.
Adjust the gauge to suit until the marks from either side meet in the middle.

The human eye is apparently very good at judging where the middle is, which makes this method very quick.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Save those large, clear, thin, plastic bags that come wrapped round consumer electronics, etc.

If you have to disassemble things with little springs in (known as "ping-fu**kits" in motorcycling circles), do it sitting at a table, on a tray, with the thing inside one of those bags and your arms in there too, up to the elbows.

It's not foolproof, but it's saved a lot of swearing on several occasions.

Also, if, like me, you have to use your bench for metalwork, you can get rid of steel filings on the bench and floor with a large magnet from an old hard disk. These are _really_ strong, to the extent they can draw blood if you get your fingers between them.

Put the magnet in a clean plastic bag (doubled-up if the filings are very sharp). Make sure it's twisted up fairly tight. The filings collect on the bag rather than the magnet, and you get rid of them just by turning the bag inside-out and pulling it off the magnet.

Those magnets are also really good for holding stuff in place when welding.

E.

 

[Benchwayze]

There are some brilliant tips in this thread, thanks everyone

Want to find the centre of a board’s edge?

Using an Engineers’ 90°/45° square:

Square a pencil-line across the board edge.
Scribe a 45° line from each end of the 90° line.
Where the diagonals cross is dead centre of the board edge.
Set the square or a marking gauge from that mark, to mark the board at other points.

HTH
John

On a similar note, to find the centre with a marking gauge:

Set the gauge to the centre distance by eye
Make a mark (a dot) with the gauge from one edge
Make another mark in line with the first from the opposite edge
Hopefully the two marks should be close together. The exact centre of the board will be the halfway point between the two marks.
Adjust the gauge to suit until the marks from either side meet in the middle.

The human eye is apparently very good at judging where the middle is, which makes this method very quick.

Hi Dave,

Indeed you're right. That's how my woodwork teacher showed me of course. But we didn't have Engineers' squares in the school wood-shop. If we had they would have been mangled anyhow!

I love my Starrett!

Regards
John :lol:

 

[wobblycogs]

Ooooh just thought of another one

If you like take away and they come in plastic pots (most seem to now) keep the pots as they are get for holding just a little bit of finish and it doesn't matter if you throw them away. Microwave meal trays are also quite good but they tend to be a little flimsier. I use both types all the time when glossing skirting boards / door frames etc to save the main tin from drying out.

 

[Benchwayze]

If you find that nails and pins are bending and/or are not going in straight when normally they would be. (ie not into hard oak without a pilot hole)
Then it may be as simple as some glue or paint on the hammer head, just give it a rub on some sand paper and you will be hammering happily again.

If you have fingers like sausages, and have difficulty in positioning fine panel pins, push them through a sliver of thin card first. Then use the card to position them before you start them.
Works a treat!

John. (hammer)

 

[9fingers]

There are some brilliant tips in this thread, thanks everyone

Want to find the centre of a board’s edge?

Using an Engineers’ 90°/45° square:

Square a pencil-line across the board edge.
Scribe a 45° line from each end of the 90° line.
Where the diagonals cross is dead centre of the board edge.
Set the square or a marking gauge from that mark, to mark the board at other points.

HTH
John

On a similar note, to find the centre with a marking gauge:

Set the gauge to the centre distance by eye
Make a mark (a dot) with the gauge from one edge
Make another mark in line with the first from the opposite edge
Hopefully the two marks should be close together. The exact centre of the board will be the halfway point between the two marks.
Adjust the gauge to suit until the marks from either side meet in the middle.

The human eye is apparently very good at judging where the middle is, which makes this method very quick.

Hi Dave,

Indeed you're right. That's how my woodwork teacher showed me of course. But we didn't have Engineers' squares in the school wood-shop. If we had they would have been mangled anyhow!

I love my Starrett!

Regards
John :lol:

I think I favour Dave's method as it does not depend on the board edges being parallel as does John's original suggestion.

Of course measurement works well but now we are blessed with the metric system, it is easier to make a mistake when dividing by two. With fractional measures it was simply a case of doubling the denominator. eg the centre of 7/8" is 7/16".

Bob