- Joined
- May 2, 2013
- Messages
- 1,711
I know these come and go, and have had several before but I didn't think it would hurt since we all seem to discover things daily that speed up life in the shop.
Here is one trick I use when finishing a blade out. I use the stuff they sell as door edge guard at the auto parts store to protect the edge and me from it. I use clear, but it comes in chrome, black, colored... I will typically ship a finished blade with it on there too if not in a sheath. It has a gummy core and stays on fairly well by itself. A little piece of tape will hold it on othrrwise without having to cover the blade with tape... It also follows the curve of the blade fairly well and won't cut through very easily.
Yard sticks and play-doh... I use yardsticks for eveything from mocking up a blade to staking up the tomataoes. They run about $.60-.75 at the box stores (generally near the paints) and are soft and easily workable wood. The Lowe's ones I generally grab are 1/4" thick by about 1 1/2". They can be glued edge to edge if you need more width to play with. Play-doh is great for mocking up grips or even making impressions of some things.
Rare earth magnet on a string... A rather small magnet with a hole in the center is great for retrieving steel from a liquid, of from behind a cramped area... The neodymium type are very strong despite their size and can be had very cheap. Be advised though they will quickly gather steel shavings and will never be clean again. That said, I use them for clean-up in crevices and such all the time as well because of this.
Etching is a pain, and hard to do without spilling a little here and there. For my etchant tank I use a milk jug with one side cut out. 1/2 gallon works fine for me... It will lay on its flat sides without rolling away and the lid can be kept on during the etch. Then just take off the lid and pour the etchant back into a container for storage...
WD-40... If someone hasn't enlightened you yet, WD-40 is the best stuff on earth. I use it for nearly everything. A lubricant during filing and sanding, as wellnas a quick wipe down of my steel and iron work surfaces. Dont bother with spray cans, they waste money and unless you need to squirt it in a tight spot with the little tube, are worthless for a light coat on other surfaces. Buy a gallon for <$20 most places and use one of those universal spray bottles they have at the grocery store in the cleaning aisle...
Keep an old aluminum soda or brew can around. Discard used sharps like razor and exacto blades in it. Then turn the pop top around and tuck it in the mouth for disposal.
I bought two four packs of flexible cutting boards at the local grocery store for under $5. They can be cut into good sturdy templates, or as a nice clean work surface that will resist light cutting (though will cut through with decent pressure, as in making a template with one) for your clean work...
Playground/sidewalk chalk. A few rakes of the file over a piece will help keep the teeth clean of cuttings.
Small bathroom type plastic cups can be purchased cheap at the grocery store as well. I use them for a disposable mixing cup for epoxy. Dont out acetone or laquer thinner in them as it will eat through in about a second.... oops.
If your workbench or work surface permits it, lay out a grid of one inch squares. It helps to quickly see if everything is in check and is great for quick measurements that need to be precise.
Post up a dry erase board someplace in your shop. It is great for a quick sketch, fast math, and keeping track of projects.
Last, buy and use nitrile gloves. Use them at all times, even under heavy gloves for forging or your grinding gloves (if you use them, which I recommend because it only takes a nanosecond to lose a couple of layers of skin) and you will avoid fingerprints, having black and cracked skin on yoyr fingers and will keep you from gluing yoursef to yourself. When sanding lighter materials like bright woods, skin oils from your fingers is what causes the grey residue on the work. A simple pencil eraser will remove this however if it does happen...
I know a lot of this is covered in the stickies or previous posts... but nobody seems to read either... There are about 100 more that I have picked up from shop life over the past couple of decades, but these are my best ones. Please add anything you have discovered to be really useful. I love finding a new trick to save me time and effort...
Here is one trick I use when finishing a blade out. I use the stuff they sell as door edge guard at the auto parts store to protect the edge and me from it. I use clear, but it comes in chrome, black, colored... I will typically ship a finished blade with it on there too if not in a sheath. It has a gummy core and stays on fairly well by itself. A little piece of tape will hold it on othrrwise without having to cover the blade with tape... It also follows the curve of the blade fairly well and won't cut through very easily.
Yard sticks and play-doh... I use yardsticks for eveything from mocking up a blade to staking up the tomataoes. They run about $.60-.75 at the box stores (generally near the paints) and are soft and easily workable wood. The Lowe's ones I generally grab are 1/4" thick by about 1 1/2". They can be glued edge to edge if you need more width to play with. Play-doh is great for mocking up grips or even making impressions of some things.
Rare earth magnet on a string... A rather small magnet with a hole in the center is great for retrieving steel from a liquid, of from behind a cramped area... The neodymium type are very strong despite their size and can be had very cheap. Be advised though they will quickly gather steel shavings and will never be clean again. That said, I use them for clean-up in crevices and such all the time as well because of this.
Etching is a pain, and hard to do without spilling a little here and there. For my etchant tank I use a milk jug with one side cut out. 1/2 gallon works fine for me... It will lay on its flat sides without rolling away and the lid can be kept on during the etch. Then just take off the lid and pour the etchant back into a container for storage...
WD-40... If someone hasn't enlightened you yet, WD-40 is the best stuff on earth. I use it for nearly everything. A lubricant during filing and sanding, as wellnas a quick wipe down of my steel and iron work surfaces. Dont bother with spray cans, they waste money and unless you need to squirt it in a tight spot with the little tube, are worthless for a light coat on other surfaces. Buy a gallon for <$20 most places and use one of those universal spray bottles they have at the grocery store in the cleaning aisle...
Keep an old aluminum soda or brew can around. Discard used sharps like razor and exacto blades in it. Then turn the pop top around and tuck it in the mouth for disposal.
I bought two four packs of flexible cutting boards at the local grocery store for under $5. They can be cut into good sturdy templates, or as a nice clean work surface that will resist light cutting (though will cut through with decent pressure, as in making a template with one) for your clean work...
Playground/sidewalk chalk. A few rakes of the file over a piece will help keep the teeth clean of cuttings.
Small bathroom type plastic cups can be purchased cheap at the grocery store as well. I use them for a disposable mixing cup for epoxy. Dont out acetone or laquer thinner in them as it will eat through in about a second.... oops.
If your workbench or work surface permits it, lay out a grid of one inch squares. It helps to quickly see if everything is in check and is great for quick measurements that need to be precise.
Post up a dry erase board someplace in your shop. It is great for a quick sketch, fast math, and keeping track of projects.
Last, buy and use nitrile gloves. Use them at all times, even under heavy gloves for forging or your grinding gloves (if you use them, which I recommend because it only takes a nanosecond to lose a couple of layers of skin) and you will avoid fingerprints, having black and cracked skin on yoyr fingers and will keep you from gluing yoursef to yourself. When sanding lighter materials like bright woods, skin oils from your fingers is what causes the grey residue on the work. A simple pencil eraser will remove this however if it does happen...
I know a lot of this is covered in the stickies or previous posts... but nobody seems to read either... There are about 100 more that I have picked up from shop life over the past couple of decades, but these are my best ones. Please add anything you have discovered to be really useful. I love finding a new trick to save me time and effort...
) with small holes drilled every 1/4" on the EE side and 5 mm on the metric side. This way, I can quickly mark the spine of the blade or tang for file patterns spacing.
) They are great for literally everything. 
