Tip or Tip of the Day

Kit Carson

Kit Carson

Joined
Oct 6, 1998
Messages
2,300
Been batting this around for awhile. With all the tremendous amounts of knowledge on this forum (that includes everyone of you),what about a "Tip of the Day".

Problem I'm having is trying to figure out how to keep it at just one a day. I know you guys - First day there will be hundreds.
How do we spread them out and keep the thread going?

#1 Tip of the day-One of the most used tools on my workbench is an Exacto knife with a #11 blade (sharp pointed one). Best scribe I've ever found, easy and cheap to replace the point, and works well for deburring parts.

Who's next?
 
Kit: Yes, good idea. The Exacto w/#11. My dad gave me one for my 3rd bitrhday! He was a model maker, and knew the importance of that tool! here's my tip" You can sharpen the #11 blade whenever required by simply buffing with Green Chrome rough on a sewn wheel-I only change blades when I break one. It takes about 5 seconds to do. This is the tool I use for cutting the ends of the dacron/KEVLAR cord I tie my Turk's head knots with-it's devilishly tough to cut, but, the Exacto sharpened as above zips right through.

RJ Martin
 
Great idea Kit! If you could somehow place a message with each "tip" mentioning for any who post a reply, to limit their posts to only that specific item/subject (basically just add to what has already been said) that might keep on the subject, and also avoid any information overload.

http://www.mtn-webtech.com/~caffrey

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Ed Caffrey
"The Montana Bladesmith"




[This message has been edited by Ed Caffrey (edited 28 October 1999).]
 
Great idea Kit! If you could somehow place a message with each "tip" mentioning for any who post a reply, to limit their posts to only that specific item/subject (basically just add to what has already been said) that might keep on the subject, and also avoid any information overload.

http://www.mtn-webtech.com/~caffrey

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Ed Caffrey
"The Montana Bladesmith"


 
I think it's a great idea to post tips out of the blue -- there are so many great ideas that no one ever asks the right question to bring out on this forum.

I can't see any reason to limit it to one a day, though -- if anybody thinks his brain isn't capable of absorbing more than one tip a day he can just read one and log off....
smile.gif


Here's my tip -- X-acto handles suck!!! They're perfectly round -- no indexing -- and they're too skinny. If you use one for long you'll get blisters. Make your own handle -- what kind of knifemakers are you??? The blades aren't necessarily bad, and they're easy enough to epoxy into a handle you make to fit your own hand, but often you can improve on the blade shape, too, design your own to do a particular job better than any of the commercially available blades.

Yeah, I know, you don't want to take the time to make a knife for yourself, but it doesn't have to take a lot of time. You can whip up a better handle in a few minutes. Even a wooden dowel makes a better handle than those skinny aluminum rods, and in just a few minutes you can give it some shape and make a real improvement.

-Cougar Allen :{)
 
I'd be lost without my flex shaft grinder w/foot control (I've got the 1/5 hp Dremel).
Just used it tonite to burnish the edges of a leather sheath...I chuck a short piece of 1/8" dowel into the handpiece, and play it along the rough edges....
 
Ive got a tip for you....couldnt resist saying that....one thing i use a lot of is q-tips...they are great...heres one...for years i used to try to read the number on the drill bits.....too old now....cant read them...but i keep my dial calipers handy and just measure it...fast and easy, especially when youre making folders with 0-80,2-56- &4-40 screws....three bits per screw...tap, clearance..and head size. i guess you could make a little holder and put them in it..but no...that would be too easy...actually i have done that but they all end up laying flat on my workbench anyhow....dont know why.

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http://www.mayoknives.com




[This message has been edited by tom mayo (edited 29 October 1999).]
 
Cougar,
The tip was to use it as a scribe. I agree with you about using it as a knife. I've got one of the models made of aluminum and is hex sided with a rubber coating. Still the best scribe I've ever found.

Tom,
Good tip. I've got one really good digital caliper at the bench and some of the cheaper ones all around the shop.

Harry,
Great tip.

Keep em coming, guys.
 
when i first started making folders on a regular basis i had a hard time getting the stop bar to be the exact right length...i have seen some guys who use 1/8 or 3/16 rod and drill a corresponding hole in the liner and then a bit into the handle material (scales) and that way you really dont have to worry about the exact length...but for years i have screwed my stop bar in place.. screw thru both liners and stop rod..i have done this on the lathe many times...sometimes yes, sometimes no..too short..because i have no mike read on the back and forth travel of my carriage of my vintage south bend...and yes i know i could put a clock on the carriage...i came up with a great solution that works very well.. i have a hardened piece of d2 with about 10 different size holes in it...that is the same width as my knives out of 1/8th stock plus the thickness of both washers...and another piece similar for 3/32nd thick folder blades....with a bunch of holes in it, all different sizes...put it on my disc sander with the stop pin in there..grind one side flat...turn it over with a piece of flat stock pushing on the stop pin and it ends up the same thickness as my d2...takes a little practice...the reason for more than two holes....sometimes i take a little more than i should off the lock and it falls in farther than i want it too...i turn a slightly oversized stop pin and the problem is solved...we are talking .010 to .020 here. you have to have already drilled the hole in hardened d2..however in a pinch i get a piece of 440v (annealed) and mill it to thickness required and drill a hole in it. wear resistance of 440v is great...420v even better.....or talonite....i actually made some of these for the talonite folders i just made cause i had one small cutoff that was the perfect thickness for the blade stop and the two back ti rods....

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
post script...think youre right about the one a day thing....if you dont start a new one every few days...this thing will be pages long and too much trouble to wade thru, at least for the ads types like me.
 
Tom,
That was the problem I was having trouble figuring out. How to keep it from becoming mind boggling. Seems like a great idea, if we can just keep it flowing.

Come on guys, give us a tip. Try to keep it as short as possible.
 
Take a 1\8 brass rod about 3 inches long sharpen 1 end like a flat graver and put a handle on it to clean up solder at the guard blade junction. It won't scratch the steel.If you don"t put scratches in you doooon"t have to take em out!
 
I got one for ya, vinegar, use it to clean up epoxy while it is still wet, a lot less nasty than lacuer thinner or acetone, and it wont drive the toxins into your skin...

Alan...
 
TJ, that's a good one. And it works.

Alan, never tried that. Even us old dogs can learn from these Tips.

Keep em coming, guys.
 
I can't take credit for this one, but slapped my head when I read it (DOUGH!)
All pin stock varies a few thousandths, and has the potential to really screw a job (or pair of scales) up.
Brilliant Wayne Goddard, when he buys pinstock, mike's each piece, and buys a drill bit corresponding to each size rod. He then puts the bit in a zip-lock baggie & tapes it to that rod. No more cracked scales!
 
The easiest way to keep to shorter threads would be to simply CLOSE the thread every couple of days. We could still read past posts, but the length would be controlled and force a new thread. Too simple?

GREAT idea about sharing what works!


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WinDancer@OlyWa.net

Large selection of Buck 110s and other knives for sale/trade www.olywa.net/windancer/webknives.htm
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For the final finish on my flats, I spray glue wet & dry sandpaper to a piece of 9" X 12" granite. Then I use a lot of elbow grease.
 
lathe tip...the easiest way to see if your lathe bit is where you want it is to stick a piece of aluminum in the chuck with a long point on it that youve lathe turned for that purpose and put the points together...for most jobs you want the lathe bit a tad higher than center....checking your drill press table for squarness....put a short piece of aluminum rod....1/8" works fine, that you have bent twice...each one third of the length of the rod...one end up...one end down....chuck it in your drill press chuck.. rotate manually for visual check of how level your table is in relation to the 90 degrees of your drill chuck.

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http://www.mayoknives.com




[This message has been edited by tom mayo (edited 30 October 1999).]
 
Hey, instead of limiting it to one tip a day, lets make it a Tip Marathon. Lets see how many DIFFERENT tips we can get posted in one day, and just limit it to one tip per Forumite!! Wowsers, what a thread!!!!!

God Bless America!!
<img src=http://members.aol.com/l6steel/ebay/flag.jpg>

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"Always think of your fellow knife makers as partners in the search for the perfect blade, not as people trying to compete with you and your work!"
 
Better to spread the tips out, with appropriate titles, like Tip number 3: Making the most out of your belt sander or Tip number 67: Bring enough knives to the show...
biggrin.gif


Spark

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Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here
 
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