Precision Tools in Woodworking

[Chris Griggs]

Speaking of cool. What are you making these days George? If anything on this forum is cool its the things you've made. I'd love to see some pics of the latest G. Wilson masterpiece.

[george wilson]

I made a small cannon barrel lately,and am finishing up some other jobs,like making some aluminum discs that are tooling for a local manufacturer. Not sure what they do. I have to cut slices off a 4 1/8" round bar of aluminum,slice pieces off with a bandsaw and turn them down to smooth 1/2" thick discs. Not masterpieces by any means,but make money.

My back ins really painful today. When I feel better I'll post a bunch of pictures of making the wooden treadle lathe I posted here many months ago.

[Mark Roderick]

If your daughter's house was built in 1880 I doubt you had much use for a square. Mine was built in 1886 and every angle is custom, sometimes complex. Everything is cut to fit.

[daniel lane]

I've been enjoying this thread (massively hijacked as it has become) and wanted to make a couple of comments:
1. I wasn't disparaging David for being a hipster, I was just surprised to see a hipster woodworker. Hope nobody took my comment as negative.
2. George is definitely cooler, wiglet and all. Although I respect David and his work, I find George's stuff way more inspiring.
3. Chris, do I need permission to use that image as my avatar?


daniel

[Jack Curtis]

...By the way,my wife,who is much younger,says that only OLD people wear wrist watches. Youngunns use their cell phones(or whatever).

Hmmm, I haven't worn a watch for more than 40 years, so go figure. Of course, I was running a software development firm, so it didn't matter what time it was, I was working. BTW, airports could use a lot more clocks in public places.

[Mel Fulks]

Well, maybe that explains all those really cheap street Rolex offers.

[Chris Griggs]

1. I wasn't disparaging David for being a hipster, I was just surprised to see a hipster woodworker. Hope nobody took my comment as negative.

There is nothing wrong with disparaging hipsters. Everything hipsters do is done out of irony. They want to be disparaged. Of course, before you disparage be sure that they are actually hipsters, not just someone in skinny jeans riding a fixie, there is a subtle difference.

I2. George is definitely cooler, wiglet and all. Although I respect David and his work, I find George's stuff way more inspiring.

George is definitely one of the coolest people I will ever have the pleasure of knowing.

3. Chris, do I need permission to use that image as my avatar?

Of course not. I would love to see that image as your avatar. Might wanna ask George's permission though.

[george wilson]

Do you mean the picture of ME? I don't care. Could do without the pony tail,though.

[Ryan Baker]

George, please DO post some pics of that small cannon barrel. Iremember you talking about that but don't remember any pics of the finished thing.

I must have missed the treadle lathe too.

[george wilson]

I will try to remember to post pictures when I get to feeling better. I haven't finished the cannon yet. Got my name,date,etc. stamped around the breech is all.

Speaking of cheap watches,my journeymen,Jon was in the Navy in 'nam. When he was in Hong Kong,he bought a cheap watch. Found out it had a bamboo mainspring!! Ran for a while,too.

[Chris Griggs]

I'm especially looking forward to those treadle lathe pics George. Sorry to hear about our back, hope it feels better today.

[John Keeton]

Hey guys, this thread is drifting pretty far off topic - let's try to keep it on topic. If "all are in and spoken for" then it may be time to move on.

Thanks for an excellent exchange - some good stuff in here!

[george wilson]

I think,as in my case,when you work only in wood,it's one thing,but when you also get into machining metal,there is just a natural tendency to sort of combine the two. The machining tools are available,one has become accustomed to thinking about thousandths of inches(or less) in machining metal,and it starts being applied to woodworking.

In woodworking,joints that look tight to the eye are the accepted standard of accuracy. Lengths are as measured with a good rule. When metalwork is added,and tools are acquired for higher precision,they may become incorporated into woodwork.

Most of my years,until I got better rules,I used Lufkin metal rules with big,fat graduations. Those wide grads are well over 1/64" wide. Starrett offered those same rules,too,exactly,with their name etched onto them. I still have mine,but have moved to steel rules with hair fine grads made by PEC. Never the less,I did perfectly well fitted work using the old lufkin rules. Joints were fitted unto their mates accurately by eye. I often measure thicknesses with a dial caliper rather than with just a rule,especially if those thicknesses must fit up with other pieces that are supposed to be the same thickness.

Perhaps it's just human nature to take advantage of what you have on hand.

[Jim Koepke]

Perhaps it's just human nature to take advantage of what you have on hand.

If you have it, use it. If you don't, make do. Neanderthal 101...

jtk

[Roy Lindberry]

Precision tools certainly have their place, and you've nailed down a few of them. I actually love precision tools.

One thing people often forget, though, is that every tool wears and every tool can be inaccurate. I work in a calibration lab for a living (specifically in dimensional calibration) and most of our tools get recalibrated around every one to three years (depending on the make, model, and specific tool.) I've seen many micrometers go out of tolerance in a three year cycle. Dial calipers are especially prone to losing accuracy and repeatability. So simply having precision tools doesn't necessarily mean that you have an accurate or even repeatable tool. Even doing a single point check against a reference standard gives no guarantee, since a lead screw or rack/pinion may have wear in specific areas. Debris and foreign materials that are common to a wood shop must be diligently guarded against.

It is also not uncommon to get brand new tools that fail to meet the manufacturers specs (I've seen this as a particular problem with dial indicators). When this happens, the manufacturers are generally very happy to replace the tool, but how is the average woodworker to know if it is out of tolerance to begin with? The best most of us could do is to trust the certification that the tool comes with.

But that brings me to another point that again, is just not realized by many people. These tools are calibrated to spec within a certain environment. For dimensional measurement, the critical parameter is temperature - generally referenced at 68 degrees. Most woodworkers I know (myself included) don't have a tightly controlled shop environment (for most applications, our lab must be 68 +/- 8 degrees F at any given time, though we keep it +/- 1 degree F for the sake of our more accurate measurements. When you start getting out of that range, that can throw your measurements off due to thermal expansion and contraction. It may seem miniscule, but when you are talking about the necessity of precision tools, then the accuracy of those tools must not be in question. So, if you use the micrometer at the start of the project and at the end of the project two weeks later, your precision tool could be giving you quite different readings, depending on the accuracy to which you are measuring.

Just some food for thought when the average woodworker is contemplating spending hard earned money on these tools, which are not inexpensive.