Join us as we run down this week’s top five, discuss our new easy-to-build bookcase project, and rant about getting off one’s ass to fix things around the house. Remember, if you’ve got a question or comment you can call us at 866-718-9403. (Podcast Download)
Figuring out how to hold small parts together while gluing can give your imagination a workout, but if you had this magnetic gluing jig from Micro-Mark, you’d no longer have to dream up wacky jigs to connect those small pieces.
Reader Eric forwarded this find from Boing Boing gadgets. For anyone who’s been living in a bomb shelter for the last year, this is Wall-E. Wall-E makes everything he touches better. Be it the Earth or another person’s life, Wall-E can make it better because he tries hard and actually cares. That’s why I think folks are willing to put this much time into making an uber-badass wooden likeness of him — he does save mankind after all.
Story aside, the sculpture is a masterful expression of woodcrafting, even if it was done by a prototyping studio. Take a look at those tracks and gear reliefs — you can plainly see someone put a bunch of effort into it.
Wooden Wall-E [Boing Boing]
As you can see from this mangled piece of trim, I recently had a router mishap. Thankfully I wasn’t injured — the only casualty was the oak trim — but it was exciting for a few minutes there, and the incident brought to mind a few things I thought I’d share.
When I was ‘round about fourteen, our assistant shop teacher –- a very grizzly, annoyed sort of man –- brought us all around the nearest shop station, told us to pay attention, and gave us the most effective demonstration ever.
On the heels of Magswitch introducing the MagFence, Pinnacle — one of Woodcraft’s house brands — is now selling an aluminum version of the MagFence. Pinnacle’s Mag-Jig bracket can be used singly or in pairs to create an easily removable fence for any tool with an iron table.
(TV Tonight, Monday, January 5th, 2009) We’ve got new episodes of Top Gear and How Do They Do It tonight, bringing cheer for the New Year.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
(TV Tonight, Sunday, January 4th, 2009) It’s another night of reruns — have you finished all your projects over the weekend?
All times are central.
Enjoy.
(TV Tonight, Saturday, January 3rd, 2009) We’d really like to see a series developed out of the Punkin Chunkin special.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
It’s not everyday we hear workshop and reloading bench in the same sentence, but this photo of reader Mr. Smashy’s shop shows us just that combo. Mr. Smashy recently posted up a set of pink ear protectors for the young’n, and now I’m starting to understand why.
I was taught safety and respect for firearms at an early age, and it worked out pretty well. We understood what guns actually were, what they could do, and to stay away from them when the parental units weren’t around. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we had to clean them anytime we touched them, so work was involved — which is a fantastic way to make children lose interest.
Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]
The SHOT Show is one of the world’s largest showcases of hunting and outdoor products and firearms — if not the largest. If you want to know what’s going to be on the shelves of gun and sporting goods shops in the coming year, you want to attend this show. Especially exciting to me, Case Knives will be releasing their new lineup.
New Case patterns like the Humpback Stockman and the Case Desk Knife will be on display for everyone to paw at and take home with them, so it should be a good time. This year’s SHOT Show happens January 15-18, 2009 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL. Check the site for details.
Machine Shop Discount Supply is selling this piloted tap wrench for $10. Great for aligning the tap square with the work after drilling the hole, it’ll work on a drill press, lathe, milling machine, and even a cordless drill.
Piloted Tap Wrench [Machine Shop Discount Supply]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
We have fun with woodworking no matter what the project is, but the most rewarding thing for us is making our own furniture. Let’s say you wanted a solid oak bookcase but didn’t have the four to six hundred bucks a retail store would want for one. You can achieve the same effect for less than half the cost, using a bit of solid oak trim and some veneered ply.
It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select:
TM’s 2008 Favorites: Fluke 77 Multimeter
When someone asks to borrow a tool from the Toolmonger shop, we usually don’t say, “Over our dead bodies” — unless the tool in question is our faithful Fluke 77 Multimeter. Though it’s not the latest model out there, it still keeps pace with any meter currently on the market.
Marking Gauge Uses Actual Pencil
Marking gauges traditionally use a hardened point or an easy-to-lose graphite point to scratch a layout line, but this marking gauge from Gladstone tools instead uses a regular hexagon-shaped pencil to draw lines as far as 8″ away from the edge of your work.
Universal Clamp For Small Objects
This 6″-long clamp holds small, irregularly shaped objects with steel pins rather than flat jaws. The pins fit in 60 hexagonally spaced holes on the face of the clamp, allowing you to clamp almost any shape as long as it’s smaller than the clamp head.
Super Stubbies: All The Grip, Half The Size
Everyone should own a few stubby screwdrivers; they fit into the tiny spaces your standard ‘drivers won’t. But what happens when you’re short on space but need to really crank down hard on a screw? Normally you’re screwed — unless you have one of these. Craftsman calls ‘em “Super Stubby” screwdrivers: a standard-sized handle with a stubby shaft and tip.
Rockler’s Low-Buck Veneer Smoothing Blade
I’m not yet an expert on veneer, but I plan on becoming one. Good hardwood veneer can make even a cheap project look great — and provides access to woods I could never afford whole. (Lacewood desk, anyone?) But I’m a little scared of the old-school hammer/animal glue method. I’m thinking of going with more modern adhesives and something like this veneer smoothing blade from Rockler.
Help us choose next week’s Top 5!
We’d appreciate your help in choosing next week’s Top 5, which’ll be featured here, elsewhere, and in the podcast as well. While you’re reading TM this week, look out for the “Interesting Post” button at the bottom of the article:
When you see an article that piques your interest, click the button once. You’ll return to the same page, but TM’s software’ll score your click for future reference. We’ll check in on the totals before selecting next week’s Top 5.
Hardware and Tools.com is selling this battery terminal lifter for $2.79. We keep one of these in each car along with the terminal cleaning brush. With this tool you run much less risk of damaging the battery when removing a corroded terminal, and it takes only a few seconds.
Battery Terminal Lifter [Hardware and Tools.com]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
(TV Tonight, Friday, January 2nd, 2009) We get a new How It’s Made for the New Year — also a lot of logging action.
All times are central.
Enjoy.
Whether you’re grinding, drilling, or milling, sometimes a simple V-block isn’t enough to hold your workpiece steady. That’s where a V-block and clamp set would really come in handy — they’re usually sold in pairs like this Series 278 set from Starrett.
I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions — why wait till the new year when you can start today? Also, making resolutions just for the sake of making resolutions usually means you’ll end up breaking them sooner than later. But if you’re looking for some last-minute resolutions to make this New Year, you could do worse than picking one from this list.
I resolve to:
Have a happy New Year!
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