"No such thing as a stupid question" woodcraft thread

cletus

So, taking inspiration from the cycling forum, I thought I'd start a thread to let people ask any questions they might have about any aspect of woodworking.

I'll kick the thing off. I have two tins of Meguiars no.8 Mold Release Wax left over from a previous project.

It's a combination of carnauba wax and 11 secret herbs and spices.

My question is, can this be used in place of regular paste wax (as I'm unlikely to be releasing anything from a mould again)?

magicbastarder

has anyone any tips on freeing up a cap stuck on a tin of sanding sealer? it's one of those 'press down and twist' plastic caps; to be fair, i haven't had much of a go at it, cos it's fiddly to press down and twist hard. but if there's any simple tricks...

cletus

magicbastarder wrote: »

has anyone any tips on freeing up a cap stuck on a tin of sanding sealer? it's one of those 'press down and twist' plastic caps; to be fair, i haven't had much of a go at it, cos it's fiddly to press down and twist hard. but if there's any simple tricks...

Have you got a bench vice? Clamp the lid in the vice, press the lid in and turn the tin.

If you don't have a vice, sometimes you can wedge the lid between a door and frame, and do the same thing

Make sure you clamp in the side or bottom of the vice, don't turn the tin upside down

brane.nikic87

cletus wrote: »

So, taking inspiration from the cycling forum, I thought I'd start a thread to let people ask any questions they might have about any aspect of woodworking.

I'll kick the thing off. I have two tins of Meguiars no.8 Mold Release Wax left over from a previous project.

It's a combination of carnauba wax and 11 secret herbs and spices.

My question is, can this be used in place of regular paste wax (as I'm unlikely to be releasing anything from a mould again)?

Most of those car waxes have silicone in them and that can cause problems with finishes. That's why I am not using them.

brane.nikic87

cletus wrote: »

Have you got a bench vice? Clamp the lid in the vice, press the lid in and turn the tin.

If you don't have a vice, sometimes you can wedge the lid between a door and frame, and do the same thing

Make sure you clamp in the side or bottom of the vice, don't turn the tin upside down

I always use plumbers plyers to open those stuck bottles. Sometimes even on clamps when I can't release them

cletus

brane.nikic87 wrote: »

Most of those car waxes have silicone in them and that can cause problems with finishes. That's why I am not using them.

It's not a car wax, although it might contain silicone, I'll check.

Cheers

Sparks

magicbastarder wrote: »

has anyone any tips on freeing up a cap stuck on a tin of sanding sealer? it's one of those 'press down and twist' plastic caps; to be fair, i haven't had much of a go at it, cos it's fiddly to press down and twist hard. but if there's any simple tricks...

Turn it upside down in a small cup of a solvent like meths or isoproanol. Sanding sealer is just shellac and shellac will redissolve in the solvent. Just leave it for a while and then take it out, turn it right side up and open it.


Assuming you don't mean _cellulose_ sanding sealer though, now that I think about it since you do a lot of turning!

Sparks

For my dumb-ass question, can you trim down a 50mm brad nail and then safely fire it through a brad nailer?
I've sent off for a few lengths, but you know if you had ten lengths to choose from, your next project will need the eleventh one you don't have...

cletus

Sparks wrote: »

For my dumb-ass question, can you trim down a 50mm brad nail and then safely fire it through a brad nailer?
I've sent off for a few lengths, but you know if you had ten lengths to choose from, your next project will need the eleventh one you don't have...

How much do you need to trim? Actually scratch that. I don't think you could trim them neatly enough to not foul the mechanism as you fire the brads

Sparks

Probably safest. Was just irked staring at a job that needed 30mm brads but only having 20mm and 50mm ones on hand.
Went off and asked amazon to send me some. Might take a while but such is life.

magicbastarder

magicbastarder wrote: »

has anyone any tips on freeing up a cap stuck on a tin of sanding sealer? it's one of those 'press down and twist' plastic caps; to be fair, i haven't had much of a go at it, cos it's fiddly to press down and twist hard. but if there's any simple tricks...

Use a swiss army knife style can opener or a screwdriver and punch a pair of holes in the top, on either end. That'll let it pour easily into a jam jar. Job done.

chillyspoon

magicbastarder wrote: »

has anyone any tips on freeing up a cap stuck on a tin of sanding sealer? it's one of those 'press down and twist' plastic caps; to be fair, i haven't had much of a go at it, cos it's fiddly to press down and twist hard. but if there's any simple tricks...

Weird, weird timing - did this literally 2 days ago with a yellow bottle of Douglas Sanding Sealer. I grabbed the lid in a vice grips and held the bottle under my arm - worked first go!

magicbastarder

got it sorted, anyway. similar to your method - i wedged the bottom of the can to stop the can itself moving so i could push down on the lid with one hand and twist the vice grips with the other.

it's mylands cellulose sanding sealer, FWIW.