Turning a Wooden Mallet on the Lathe
Ben Light may love his lathe just a little too much, and in this video he shows us how to use it to turn a piece of firewood into the handle for a mallet, and a block of scrap wood into the head.
Tools
How-To: ShapeLock Sanding Blocks
Inspired by the Sandables concept that recently made the rounds, we’ve been experimenting with adding abrasive grit to polycaprolactone (aka ShapeLock) thermoplastic to make rigid sanding blocks that can be reformed, with mild heating, to fit into hard-to-reach nooks and crannies on your work.
CNCed Tool Drawer Organizer
Minneapolis maker Greg Flanagan made an organizer for his tools using a slab of CNCed wood. First he arranged the tools how he wanted them. Next, he took a photo of the arrangement and pulled it into his vector art program where he traced the tools. Finally, he imported his drawing into CAM software and […]
Workshop: Craig Cochrane
Take a photo tour through the 35-year-old hand-built workshop of general building contractor Craig Cochrane, and check some of his projects: a redwood cone carved newel post and a rampant lion stained glass window.
Tool Tales: The Pump Drill
A pump drill is an ancient tool traditionally been used to generate friction heat for starting fires, as well as for boring holes. The principle of a pump drill’s operation is similar to the button spinner or whirligig, in which rotational momentum is built and maintained by repeated twisting and untwisting of a cord. After reading about them in a book about primitive technology, I got interested in the idea of a “modern” pump drill, operating on the same principle as the ancient tool but manufactured from industrial-age materials instead of wood, stone, and bone.
Power Tools Retrofitted for the Amish
There was an interesting piece on NPR this morning about power tools for the Amish. The Amish have traditionally been farmers, but land has become prohibitively expensive to purchase, so many are turning to woodworking to earn a living. Since their homes are not wired with electricity, their table saws, drills and sanders are retrofitted with gas engines and compressed air tanks.
Tool Tales: A Pivotal Piece of History
Recently, I’ve been learning how to repair antique clocks under the guidance of clock expert Bob Frishman. When assembling a clock, there are many axles with pivots on the end that must be fitted within the holes in the clock’s plates. It is one of those jobs that seems to require ten hands. A pivot locator is a long, thin tool used to gently nudge the pivots into place. You can buy them, but I’ve come to love the one shown here. It’s handmade, but not by me.