Borrowing from another discipline

[Bruce Mack]

I just completed and mailed a gift box with a coopered walnut top finished with Tru Oil, a product for gunstocks, well known too in luthiery circles. It's a good finish, easy to apply and going from a shine to a sheen with steel wool and wax. Beginning another project with more complex curves I decided to model it in pine before committing to hardwoods. On a shelf sits a Mercury hoof rasp, 14 inches long and 1 3/4 wide, a gift from my wife's farrier. This is the Crocodile Dundee of rasps. It cuts nicely, not splintering, and should be good for the shaped sides.
There must be scores of examples of woodworking tools adapted from other trades. Anything you'd like to pass along?

[george wilson]

I like the looks of Tru Oil,and tried it once on a violin. The violin hung up for months before I got around to rubbing it and stringing the instrument. Some months later,I saw that the feet of the bridge had sunk all the way down to the BARE WOOD. There was NO finish left under the bridge's feet.So,I can't trust it on instruments. I have it on a flintlock pistol I made,but a much thinner finish. I'd be afraid of leaving an instrument with Tru Oil on it in a case. The velvet lining might print it. It apparently never gets real hard.

[Brian Holcombe]

I met a canoe paddle builder who used Tru-Oil on his paddles and it was a really gorgeous finish. Had me wondering how practical it would be to use on furniture.

Edit;

George, is Tru-Oil a finish that requires regular reapplication?

[george wilson]

I don't know. I haven't had to re apply it to my flintlock pistol. I'm not sure how good a finish it is for canoe paddles. I'd be more inclined to use somrthing known to be water resistant and tough,like a spar varnish,or polyurethane spar varnish(Which I don't like because you can't rub poly finishes. You'll see the different layers due to the gassing between coats.

[Stanley Covington]

Dental picks. Change angles and grinds for detailing carvings. Pakistani ones cheap but are too soft.

[Shawn Pixley]

Microplanes. Used in cooking for zesting oranges and the like. I use it for fine forming.

[Shawn Pixley]

Dental picks. Change angles and grinds for detailing carvings. Pakistani ones cheap but are too soft.

I agree. I picked up a box on 150 or so off the site that must not be named for about 30$ all in. I modify some for doing inlay. They are great to cleaning the ends of stringing. I don't mind modifying them either.

[Winton Applegate]

I will say that I borrow woodworking tecniques (measuring / layout / story stick like ideas) (not measuring but just transfering actuall fits) for my metal working and learning real woodworking HAS MADE ME A BETTER / FASTER metal worker.

PS: come to think of it I turn and thread wood on my metal lathe from time to time. Beleive it or not ebony takes threads nice on the metal lathe.

Sorry for the poor photo of the threads. An old photo taken for general demonstration.

[george wilson]

Winton,I LIKE your lathe because it is belt drive. My first DECENT lathe was a 1024 Jet belt drive. I could make finishes with it that looked nickel plated due to the belt drive.(Still can with my Hardinge HLVH belt driven lathe). However,I sold that lathe,still like new,to help raise money for my present 16 x 40" gear head lathe. I wish I hadn't sold it. The gear head lathes are the only ones you can get these days in decent sizes. Everyone is gear head crazy. They are easier to change the speeds on,and you don't have to touch dirty black belts,but they just don't deliver finishes as smooth as a belt drive. At least,the gear head lathes I can AFFORD do not. Some very expensive manual lathes do,which are no longer made,like DSG's. Others leave faint "echoes" of gear meshings on their surfaces,which I don't like.

My HLVH is a very great lathe,which I'd never sell,but the 1024 Jet had a larger selection of threads. The HLVH goes from 11 to 56 threads. The Jet went from 8 to 112,I think. Anyway,a much larger range. Now,I can't find one to buy(though I don't REALLY need it). I mean,I have 2 lathes and 3 milling machines. But,the Jet would be a nice lathe to find again.

So,hang onto your belt lathe if you decide to get a larger one,if you can afford to do so. You will not be able to replace it,except with a much too light model with a flimsy tailstock,and a difficult to manage QC box(where you have to re arrange the gear train to get the QC to cut the full range of the threads it is capable of(I don't know WHY some of them are so poorly engineered). Plus,the new lathe will likely be Chinese,and yours may be Taiwan if it is older. My Jet was bought in 1974,and was Taiwan. A very satisfactory little lathe.

BTW,I use all kinds of metal working tools for wood working. Too many to list,and I keep inventing them anyway.

[Brian Holcombe]

Thanks George!

[John T Barker]

Microplanes. Used in cooking for zesting oranges and the like. I use it for fine forming.

I thought that was a woodworking tool first. Good for garlic too I believe.

[Winton Applegate]

yours may be Taiwan

Yep, you are correct sir , Taiwan.
Good stuff.
Interesting about how the belt is a sooth power transfer but the gear pitch shows up telegraphed on to the work.

PS: I realize how important your time is but if you have any particularly favorite metal working practices that translate to wood I am sure there isn't a person here who isn't waiting with abated breath to read about it.
It would really make this thread shine.

[george wilson]

Well,i have posted before how I use a metal lathe with a router fixed to the tool post for cutting threads. I have done this on all sizes of threads,from the giant apple press to 3/8" diameter wooden thumb screws for marking gauges we made for the Historic Area. I have had to make the special taps for these threads,though. At least for the normal,smaller sizes.

The correct angle for wood threads is 90º,not 60º,like all the present day wood threading kits make. The 90º angle makes a stronger thread for wood,which is not so easily chipped off at the peaks.

Using a milling machine works quite well too. Although my vertical mill only reaches about 4000 RPM,the mill is so rigid,it works great on wood for routing. It cuts quite cleanly,without going 22,000 RPM,like a normal wood router. I like the fact that with the slower speed,it does not throw chips and dust all over the place. I just keep a vacuum hose on the work,and get away pretty cleanly. This use of mills for woodworking has become so common that Grizzly started offering a special mill for wood working. It runs faster than usual. Not sure if they still offer it or not.

Since my Hardinge HLVH will go 3000 RPM,the same as my Oliver wood lathe,it is great for generating accurate straight columns of wood for threading,or odd size dowels. I have used it for making handles and other smaller work. I have a half baked tool rest for using wood lathe tools freehand,not only on wood,but even for steel projects which are contoured,such as small hammer heads. In the very old days,metal lathes were often just like wood lathes,with no cross slides or compounds. They were of necessity free hand turning lathes. Watch makers sometimes use freehand turning tools in miniature.

[Winton Applegate]

Oh, cool ! Thanks.

90° thread

Like this ?

PS: I didn't do these on mine because my Grangers brass "Control Knobs" were already threaded when I got them. All I did was counter bore them to make shallow "mortise" sockets for the ebony vise handles to seat into and duplicate the male version of the thread on my handles. Not ideal but in this application so far so good.

[george wilson]

NO!!! Winton,NOT a square thread,a 90º VEE thread!! They had a big press in the book binder's shop that some misguided person had made such a wooden square thread on years ago. The threads broke off in chunks. We made a proper 90º vee thread and a new nut for their big book press.

I can't find the picture of the bookbinder's screw. This is the cider press screw. You might be able to see the 90º Vee threads on it. Also,I mentioned I have to make the taps for special screws I have had to make for various projects. These have ranged from 3/8" to 1" in diameter. Here are a few of my taps. They are sort of rough and ready,with the hardening and tempering colors left on them. Just made as needed,not made as ends in themselves. They are accurate,though,which is all I wanted. You may be able to see the 90 deg. threads on them. One is a double ended tap with right hand threads on one end,and left hand on the other. I made it to make those wooden cooper's compasses with,which have a central screw in them that is threaded both ways. I have no pictures of the compasses,though. They only have to be adjustable for a relatively short range,as they are used to step off distances,not scribe circles.

Note the large size of the threads in relation to their diameter,as is proper for wood threads. Modern threading sets are not correct: They make the threads smaller,like metal threads. Look how large the threads on the smallest tap are. I was making a direct copy of an 18th. C. embroidery frame,and copied its threads accurately. It was made of Violet wood.