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"If you want to sharpen a pencil you can collect everything you need for under $1,000... so there's no reason to be intimidated by sharpening a pencil." https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervie...CAA796A667B142Originally Posted by Todd Sebek
My Crazy Horse dolly has become a nearly indispensable tool in my shop. I can easily transport a full pallet of Blackwing pencils from the loading dock to the sharpening station.
Last edited by Kevin Jenness; 09-28-2023 at 9:49 PM.
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The hard part of such surfaces is taking a decent picture of them. Here are a couple of mine.It does not take that long. That type of planed surface is called "bright". A sharp plane iron and a properly fitted cap iron are the skills you need to produce a surface so smooth that you can see a reflection on it.
Reflection in Wood.jpg
This was a piece of fir about 14" long, reflecting the dots on the piece of paper.
Reflections.jpg
This is a plank of Douglas fir from my neighbor. He cut down the tree and then made some planks with a chain saw mill.
It is a little difficult to see the reflection from around the window at the end near the door.
Someone mentioned a mallet. This is the last one I made.
Hickory Mallet With Turned Handle.jpg
It has become my favorite.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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I am pretty loaded up on blackwings I only use the 2 step sharpener at the plan table though. I have a double burr (schoolhouse crank) in the garage. Its 90% as good and its screwed to the wall so I usually know where it is.
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I showed that video to everyone years ago and no one thought it was as funny as I did.
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The Blackwing pencils are better than the average run of the mill pencils, but they are no match for the old Eagle Mikado/Mirago pencils. They changed the name from Mikado, which is Japanese for Emperor, to Mirado after Pearl Harbor was attacked. I never saw a Blackwing in no. 3's or 4's like the Mirado's come in. I used to be able to buy them in family owned Office Supply stores, but after Eagle changed hands a couple of times, the quality went away after the Berol name was on them.
I panicked a bit when those family owned small stores went out of business, but after the internet and ebay came online, I have accumulated more than several llifetime supplies. I mainly use no. 3's and 4's, but my Mom liked no. 1's for doing crossword puzzles in newspapers.
They sharpen to as fine a point possible in Berol crank pencil shapeners. I have them in a number of places, and thanks to ebay even have several replacement cutter inserts.
You do have to learn to not push down on them after using other pencils for so long, but even a sharp no.4 will leave a tiny fine line for a LONG time on one sharpening.
I have decades old printed ads for them. I've tried the Blackwings, but was unimpressed.
Last edited by Tom M King; 09-29-2023 at 8:51 AM.
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I picked up an industrial tape dispenser (one of the old 3m ones) from back when they were made out of solid iron, for cheap. I need more.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
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Over 30 years ago I purchased 2 rolls of packing tape. Someone told me they were "mother rolls," the ones from which the smaller retail size rolls are made. They were about 14" across and the surplus dealer sold them to me for $2 apiece. I sold one to a coworker for cost when we needed packing tape for shipping a lot of parts and equipment back to vendors. My roll is getting down to a few years worth at my current rate of use.
Wish another surplus dealer with such deals could be found.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
[OP]
Member
Thanks for the tip - I’ll check them out
[OP]
Member
Leaf blower=plane shavings and saw dust clean up.
Slow speed grinder=sharp paring chisels.
I’m sure others will share cool hand tools, which was kinda the point. I rest my case.
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I have been working on getting my shop built, but it has been hard to find folks to build it. I had wanted to build it myself, but my wife has convinced me to have it built. Because of the size of the job, it is really too big of a job for me to do alone, although I may do some of it. Also I am going to tear down a rickety shed and use the good trusses to build a new one, so will have to be satisfied with building that, it will be 12' by 16'.
As of right now my very simple old school drafting stuff is used more than ever.
I have had to make mechanical drawings to show the dirt guys, concrete, electrical, plumbers, framers, etc., what I want. Thus I have been using my old drafting stuff a lot, far more than in the past. I have had most of the stuff for years but use it more now than ever for all kinds of projects. The stuff I use is very old school, at couple of T-squares, a couple of drafting triangles, a drafting triangular ruler, a compass, and a pentel mechanical pencil. I have gotten to the place that they are almost vital. When I finally get the shop done and work in it I will probably make mechanical drawing for a lot of my projects, more so than I ever did in the past, as I usually design my own projects rather than build things from plans from woodworking magazines, etc.
I draw on a piece of lumber core plywood for a drawing board, carefully squared up sanded and finished, as my old school school (1940s or 1950s?) drafting board is too hard for me to get too until everything can be unpacked and put in the shop.
The tools I have used more than I ever have before, those for actual woodworking, are my biscuit jointer and 3-way C-clamps, which I used building the shelves for my wife's kitchen pantry. I have had them for years but did not use them a lot until now. (I know, a biscuit jointer isn't Neander, but I am a hybrid woodworker.) I cut the shelves from a very good grade of fir plywood with a handsaw, smoothed the cut edge with a Stanley #4, cut the edging from 1X8s to cover the end grain, used the biscuit jointer and 3-way C-clamps to glue up the edging, and finally planed the edging down to the width of the plywood with some sandpaper touch-ups.
Thus for me the tools are: my old school drafting stuff, my biscuit jointer, and my 3-way C-clamps.
By the way, my vintage Pony 3-way C-clamps are wildly better and stronger than the new Pony 3-way C-clamps I had to buy. I am going to give away my new 3-way clamps to my family members that will not use them for heavy duty work, and try to buy some more vintage ones off that auction site to replace the 4 I give away.
Regards,
Stew
Last edited by Stew Denton; 09-29-2023 at 10:33 PM.
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That's my favorite saw for trimming shims when installing door or window frames.....!
Cheers -
Rob
Member
Odd framing, leaf blowers don't build a lot of furniture but are handy for cleanup. Last I looked slow speed grinders were used in both hand tool shops and machine/jig shops. The question is where is the line? Anything that uses power other than human muscle? or just say forget it and work to build furniture as nice as Mike's using what is at hand.
Grumpy old guy just back from four months in a motorhome to a shop full of rat droppings, ken
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I know the feeling Ken. Welcome back to the pueblo.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
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Ken,
One more welcome back! I think leaf blowers, and shop vacs (that's what I use) probably will work to blow rat droppings out of the shop too.
Stew
Contributor
Makita wheel sander. Also HF "Surface conditioner"- similar machine.
They both are excellent for cleaning up salvaged and rough sawn lumber, both prior to machining to remove grit, etc, and for live edge and sawn texture.
The Makita is expensive, but I got one in a big batch of stuff for $100. Would still balk at the $5-600 price but I use it a lot.
The HF has variable speed and works well at slow rpms, does curves and irregular shapes, and metal with a different wheel.
Not new, but the Makita V.S. 120v blower is an essential tool that I have used for years. Would not be without it (them).
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