This episode is a whole new crop of new ideas and a couple of reminders for some on woodworking tips and tricks to help make our woodworking easier and more fun and allows us to do even more than we expect. I love that people keep coming up with new ideas and ways of improving old ideas ... what a great way to learn and become even more productive.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/NgkWSAPAErk
For those of you who have ideas, you can email them to me using the contact info on this website in the left-hand column for most of you, and if I need pictures I will ask you for them because sometimes I have a hard time understanding some of your more advanced ideas and tips ...
This tip was sent in from Terry, who is showing us a simple and pretty inexpensive way of making a table saw fence adjusting jig by using a block of hardwood, a T-nut and some readi-rod available from most hardware stores. I added a washer and a wingnut to lock it in place as well. For anyone who has a table saw with a less than adequate fence, or a fence that is worn out and hard to adjust, this is a perfect way of having a fully adjustable jig to make sure you can align your fence perfectly every time ... yes, it takes a wee bit longer, but it's adjustable so it's a great idea for some.
I always use PLASTIC miter slot blank material for making all my jigs for ANY miter slot because I never have to worry about wooden miter slot blanks that expand and contract according to the amount of humidity in the air, and they are easy to re-use as you can see in this clip.
For those of you who are looking for a source for this material, your local plastic shop will have a product that you can cut down yourself, of you can purchase these direct from Amazon through the woodworkweb affiliate link here ... Purchase through Amazon
This tip is from Don, who is having some challenges undoing some of the locking nuts on his various combination squares. This is a fairly common problem, sometimes people will try to tighten these locking nuts to try and make these "square" and sometimes they will tighten them too hard because they keep coming loose. In either case when the nut is left on tightly they can be very difficult to release, sometimes requiring pliers to get off .. Don has found that WD40 sprayed on the nut threads helps to relieve this issue, I also use a product called Jig a Loo, that may not be available where you live, but it's basically a silicon-based lubricant, available by a few different brand names, and I like the silicone-based because they last longer, but I use either.
Michael from the UK sent in this tip on how to make a temporary holding situation that does not leave a tape residue on your wood, holds extremely well and only uses masking tape and CA glue. The way it works you lay down some masking tape on both sides of where you want the temporary hold done to be, the but a few drops of CA glue on one side and some accelerator on the other, and bond the 2 sides together.
This is a great way of securing 2 parts that can then be taken apart later (often with a bit of effort) but a great way of setting up a project for some temporary work that needs to be done on it.
As a reminder ... anyone looking for FRESH ca glue, I use and recommend Starbond, and you can order it direct from Starbond Here
This tip was sent to me by Al, from Al's Tinkering. In the email, he explained that if you want to clean brushes that have water bourne varnishes, paints or glues, that rubbing the brush around a piece os 6' x 6" or so cloth, under running water will quickly and effectively clean the brush.
Al went on to say he had created a YouTube video on this but only 12 people had viewed and at 87 years of age and that I could use the video if I wanted.
I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to all go and have a look at Al's short video, it's quite well done and it works ... and maybe together we can get his views up to maybe something like a 100 or even more ... so here is the link ... https://youtu.be/D7ThWI-_V9Q
Or you can click this picture to watch the video
This tip was sent inf by Bruce, and it's a great reminder that using a block of wood with some groves in it, or even just some anti-skid material on it, then and using some rope and a pull-down to firmly hold your workpiece ... is a very good way of holding it in place while you work on it, and it even allows you to use 2 hands. With a little bit of creativity, you can make it so that you can easily move your workpiece around by releasing the tension on the rope and re-positioning your workpiece. Thanks, Bruce, this was a great reminder for carving and other hand work we often need 2 hands to accomplish more easily.
The last tip is also a reminder, this time from Terry who reminds us there are many, many places we can get powerful magnets (often for free) and they come in many different shapes and sizes, like old microwave ovens, old speakers, car speakers, home speakers, old hard drives and probably many others too ... Thanks, Terry.
Copyright Colin Knecht
woodworkweb.com
