Your Best Nifty Shop Tip?

[Steve Vaughan]

In a recently posted (here) video of Cindy Drozda (I think), I noticed something really helpful to me. She was hollowing out a small form and then reached and put the end of a clear plastic tube in her mouth, took the other end and stuck it in the hollow form and blew all the chips out. The tube was on a string around her neck. Very simple idea! Keeps you from bending over and blowing into the hollow form only to eat a mouthful and it keeps your compressor from blowing them all over the place if you use that. Remember - EXHALE through the tube!

[Rick Markham]

This thread is fantastic!

Double D, that little trick is pure gold! I will be using that one. Everyone's tips are fantastic, I will echo one of Scott's, only mine is a different twist.... Paint the wall behind (or background) battleship grey, it reveals the line VERY clearly.

Ride the bevel... Let the tool do the work.

Use sandpaper like a 3 year old uses toilet paper. Cheating doesn't work, DON'T Skip grits!

Take as much care on the finish as the piece, even a fantastic piece can be ruined by a rushed/ improper finish. (The higher the gloss the finish, the more it will reveal sanding flaws or toolmarks, DON'T skip grits!)

Be patient

DON'T skip grits!

[Jack Mincey]

Some great tips on this thread.
I will add this one. When you need to find a small metal screw or tool in a large pile of shavings use the magnet on the bottom of your shop light. It is strong enough to pull any small metal out of this no mans land. Has saved the day for me more than once for sure.
Jack

[Russell Neyman]

My friend George passed on this suggestion via email, asking me to post it for him:

"When turning rather rustic wood (lots of bark, cracks and knotholes) I often will encounter a major void, especially when the heartwoods begin to dry and shrink. The quickest way to fill these is actually with a piece of natural cork, like the ones that come from a wine bottle. It's flexible, fits snugly, and will accept both a stain and a finish. Last week I had a knothole fly out, and in two minutes I had it patched and ready to continue without waiting for glue to dry. Truth is, it looks like the original knot."

[Russell Neyman]

I use those very thin coffee-stirring straws to apply CA glue into specific places. Works much better than the pointy applicator that comes on the top of the bottles, they're disposable, and cheap. Heck, the truth is most coffee shops will give you a couple of dozen if you're a regular customer.

[Brian Ashton]

Best tip I can suggest is adding a D pull to the control panel of your lathe that sits over the variable speed dial. This will help in stopping you from accidentally brushing the dial and having a bowl go from a few hundred RPMs to a couple thousand in a few seconds. At those speeds you don't even see the pieces fly off in all directions - been there done it so I know.

Other tip is with VFD's at such a low price build your own truly slow speed grinder; mine goes down to 1 RPM if I wanted it to. I usually grind at around 10hz and it is nearly impossible to burn a tool or over grind. At such slow speeds you really have the time to grind very complex finger nail or other shapes without much if any practice because everything happens at such a leisurely pace. And! it's the opposite of what many may be thinking - you actually get results much faster than on a normal speed grinder - about 40% faster in fact YMMV. Or if that's not your cup a tea then buy a mandrel to sit on the outboard side and use that as your slow speed grinder.

[Russell Neyman]

From all of these, I'm nominating the following three as top tips.

1. “[To keep from moving] under clamping pressure… a couple of grains of fine sand dropped here and there in the glue and no more frustrating slipping and sliding and creeping.” -- David DeCristoforo, Davis, California
2. “v-block on Wolverine… sharpen initial bevel then lay those 2 or 3 magnets INSIDE the v-block, which pushes the gouge closer to the wheel to establish a second bevel.” – Tim Rinehart, Charlotte, North Carolina
3. “Cindy Drozda … was hollowing …[and took a] clear plastic tube in her mouth…and blew all the chips out. The tube was on a string around her neck.” – Steve Vaughan, Chesterfield, Virginia

I picked these because (a) I had not heard/seen it before, (b) they're useful to just about everyone, and (c) just darn clever. Truth is, this could easily be a Top Ten List.

Your nominees? Is there one here that really stands out?