Worst Tricks of the Trade

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Rob Brophy

>Let's see....how about:

...screwing jar lids to the ceiling for hardware storage

...outlining every tool on the pegboard

...attaching a broken tape measure tape to the radial arm saw fence for quick measuring

...drilling holes in planes for pegboard storage!!!

and the worst:

...placing a plane blade on a ruler for a fast back bevel ;-)

Rob

Using duct tape...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>For holding sandpaper for SS (makes a good temporary band-aids too).

Old yogurt containers and similar trash as storage devices (good containers for finishing oils etc just do leave it in them overnight;).

Using a chisel to open cans.

Also using those veggie rubber bands for clamps and for the cases that hold the blades for my combo planes tops on.

Let us not forget sawdust and glue to give those dovetails and other gapie projects looking good.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

L. Hanson - N. Idaho

>Using coffee cans for storing - well, just about everything.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Patrick Gibbons, Houston, TX

>Using magnets for holding tools on the wall.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Dennis in Atlanta

>Using your table saw as a workbench, assemply table, sanding center, storage shelf, drawing board, etc. The white melamine extension table also is great for doing quick calculation in pencil.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Dennis in Atlanta

>I'm also pretty sure I used it as a step ladder when I installed the air cleaner in the ceiling above it.

good one

David Miller from Iowa

>..and I should stop using my table saw top as then only "flat" thing in the shop for scary sharpening.

Trying to cheat the scary sharp method by just holding the sandpaper down with your other hand instead of glueing it down and inevitably making a wrinkle, cutting the paper and ruining the edge.

Making up a PVC tube you can fill with BLO to soak transitional plane bodies. It always falls over and makes a mess.

Using masking tape as a drill bit depth gauge only to discover that it slid up and you drilled through a finished surface.

Unable to resist the urge to tighten glue-up clamps as tight as they will go.

Taking care to set your new, very expensive handplane on its side, only to come back the next day and see you set it on a ring of still wet condensation from your beer can.

Drinking out of the plastic cup that you were using to soak the whetstone because it is the same ballpark cup you just brought out with ice water in it.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>Putting mixed finishes in Glass jars. What's worse than a mess with broken glass in it.

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

joel

>Measure once, cut twice

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Michael Suwczinsky

>Old mustard bottles for glue containers....

split plastic tubing to cover saw blade teeth...

stacking sandpaper on the sander in increasingly fine grits.....

Hotmelt gluing pegboard hooks in place....

MS

It all has to do with snuff

Roy from Cincy

>Using empty snuff tins to hold screws.

Using snuf effluvia to lubricate screws.

Using empty snuff tins to mix garnet shelac because the remains add an interesting hue.

Using snuff as a stain.

Using snuff to get a burnished finish.

Rougeing your strop with snuff.

By the way, I don't use snuff and never have, I was just trying to think of something wacko to suggest.

Another really bad shop trick is using Coke for a rust remover. It has phosphoric acid in it. It also has a lot of sugar in it which makes a real mess. I've never tried this, and I don't think I will.

I heard, when I toured Egypt several years ago, that the local workers making fake alabaster antique scarabs for the tourist trade would feed the scarabs to their turkeys and after the scarabs had been "processed", they had a patina and looked antique. I've always wanted to figure a way to apply that shop trick.

using pliers as a wrench

Bruce, a MN galoot

>

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Bob Hackett

>Using a caulking gun as a clamp for thin glue-ups.

Using a mallet or hammer as an adjustment tool for anything other than a plane iron.I had a friend who would reach for a hammer to fine tune the radio when the station drifted.

Using the DC to vac up the chips so you can find that special screw you just lost,the left handed metric one the guys who made the thing you`ve got taken apart are out of stock on.

Mainely,Bob

Cutting only twice? You must cheat!

Victor Parisian - Houston

>

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Jonathan Peck - N.Y.

>Using rubber bands to clamp up irregularly shaped objects instead of making a jig......using a pencil to twist and tension the rubber band when its not tight enough....breaking the rubber band and catapulting your repaired workpiece across the shop.

Wait a miniute..

Scott Burr Ben Lomond,CA

>"Using a mallet or hammer as an adjustment tool for anything other than a plane iron.I had a friend who would reach for a hammer to fine tune the radio when the station drifted."

Is this why I needed a new shop radio? Or was it because all the times it rolled around the back of my RX-7?

Scott misses KOME radio...

Gluing in the heads of brass screws that...

CONGER - The Irish diaspora in Munich

>... have sheard off.

My granschildren will forgive me... and maybe have a laugh when they are repairing the table.

-g-

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Raymond Overman

>Using channel lock pliers as a hammer. Using a hammer as a rubber mallet (just don't give it as hard a lick).

The Coke myth - experience to relate

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I heard that one, too, as a useful way to free up piston rings. It's actually a useful way to gum up piston rings with sugar glop. Took me longer to clean the Coke off than if I'd started from scratch.

Don't know if this counts

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>My Dad was a great craftsman. A lefty, he could hammer with either hand. Like other boat builders I know, Dad did some pretty strange stuff. I saw him once cut a curve on a piece of plywood by holding a running jig saw upside down between his knees so he'd have both hands to hold the wood.

Anyway, whenever he was doing something, shall we say, unconventional, he would say "Everything's a hammer except a screwdriver, and that's a chisel".

This is advice I've never taken.

Adam Cherubini

Boatbuilders

Bob Hackett

>Well heck,I didn`t know we were allowing boatbuilding techniques.In that case...

Cutting aluminum and brass plate on the Unisaw.

Soaking wood in salt water to make it more workable/pliable,or to prep for steambending.

Bending the tang on your cabinet rasp for use as a reefing iron.

Attempting to haulout with anyone named "Plumb Bob".

Packing rocksalt into all available spaces to act as a rot preventative.(Cuprinall tastes much better,ask anyone who has replanked a large vessel)

Any repair where the previous guy used "5200".

Need I go on?

Mainely,Bob

Re: Gluing in the heads of brass screws that...

paul womack

>I did that on a split nut saw. Did ya' know those

tiny bolt shanks are really fragile ?

BugBear

Re: Worst Tricks of the Trade

Rob Lee

>Ok Chris -

How about mounting a sanding disk/plate on the arbor of your table saw? Works great until you realize that the loose abraive grit ends up inside the cabinet....

Cheers -

Rob