Useful workshop tips/ techniques?

jack of all

Any useful tips or techniques for the workshop? I'll start the ball rolling- I picked up a vintage socket chisel, minus the handle, some weeks ago. Made up a nice beech handle for it but I wasn't happy with socket fit- how would it hold up in use, would it work loose?. That's when I saw a video online (think it was Lie Nielsen) where it was suggested to spray the tapered end of the handle with hairspray before hammering it into the socket. Well it works a treat, and I've since used the same trick on the tangs of all my files, rasps and floats which are fitted with wooden handles. Another basic one- when I'm finished with a particular tin of paint, varnish or coating I write the date of last use on the tin and approx. how much is left in the tin- next time I'll know in an instant how much I've got on hand or if I'll need to purchase some more for a particular job.

recipio

Take out your plastic mitre saw insert and put in you own mdf blank - then cut a slot with the mitre saw blade. This gives you a zero clearance baseplate which aligns up the cut exactly and safer when holding small bits of wood. OK, when you want to cut a bevelled cut you will have to insert the plastic baseplate again but how often do you do that. ?
I could go on ...........

woodturner

If you're building a proper woodworking bench and using round holes for holdfasts and bench dogs, don't waste money on the metal dogs. Instead turn your own from a hardwood, mine are bog oak, and use small 1/4" featherboards to stop the dog from falling through the top . They can then be pushed down level with the top in the same way as a square one.

jack of all

Here's a couple more tips, which I put into practice today. These are both my own ideas, I can't recall seeing these elsewhere before.

First one- to tighten up a loose hammer head (presuming the handle is sound and not rotten) I use a sash cramp to press the steel wedge in and tighten the assembly. I cut a small piece of mild steel and shaped it quickly on the grinder to roughly match the wedge profile and tape it in place over the wedge to act as a die. Put it in a sash cramp with wood or board pieces to prevent marring of the hammer or cramp. Torque it up and the die should drive the steel wedge in a fraction, which with any luck should give a nice tight fit. Worked very well for me on a claw hammer and a small soft face hammer.

Similar principle was applied to old tenon and handsaws (Spear & Jackson) which have those awful "rivets". The blade in each saw was a little loose and no amount of hammer taps (as suggested by some sources) would tighten up those rivets. I tried out my mechanics vice as a press and it worked brilliantly. Best part is there's no risk of damage to the handle or the rivets from a misplaced hammer blow and you can control the clamping force with accuracy.

woodturner

Don't know what I was doing the other day but I was trying to divide an awkward measurement in my head in half. I rolled out my measuring tape and placed the start of the tape on the full measurement. The curve on the end is a perfect arc and shows exactly half the measurement where the centre of the arc is.

recipio

Test your measuring tape on a steel ruler for accuracy - you will be surprised. Most are spot on, some are out by 2mm.

endacl

jack of all wrote: »

Any useful tips or techniques for the workshop? I'll start the ball rolling- I picked up a vintage socket chisel, minus the handle, some weeks ago. Made up a nice beech handle for it but I wasn't happy with socket fit- how would it hold up in use, would it work loose?. That's when I saw a video online (think it was Lie Nielsen) where it was suggested to spray the tapered end of the handle with hairspray before hammering it into the socket. Well it works a treat, and I've since used the same trick on the tangs of all my files, rasps and floats which are fitted with wooden handles. Another basic one- when I'm finished with a particular tin of paint, varnish or coating I write the date of last use on the tin and approx. how much is left in the tin- next time I'll know in an instant how much I've got on hand or if I'll need to purchase some more for a particular job.

Kelp (seaweed) stem makes brilliant knife handles. Not sure how it might function with chisels etc. Simply push the tang into the stem, cut to length, and wait for it to dry naturally. This may take some time! As it loses moisture, it tightens, and I mean seriously tightens. No loose fit possible! when completely dry it works like wood and can be shaped to fit your grip. Extra bonus benefit. It's free.