I ran across this and just had to post it
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tork-grip.html
be sure to check out the handy Real World ¯ calibration system! tork scale.
OK back to wood working !
roc
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
Edited 5/30/2009 2:55 am by roc
Replies
Roc,
I only recently discovered the Sheldon Brown loon meself. I believe he may have now popped his cycling shoes and gone orf for his final ride. I wish we had him in our cycling club (The Lune) where he woulda been right at home.
And there is no doubt that the installation of, for instance, brass screws into Adirondacks or Campaign Furniture requires a one o' them torkies. However, the business end would require the addition of a large wooden-handled slot screwdriver rather than that molegripper. Incidentally, how did it get its name, that gripper; did cruel men used to hold poor earth-digging, worm-eating mammals with them, for unpleasant procedures!? One hopes not. But I digress.
An order for a brass-screw torque-slot wrench is being composed and will be sent to New Zealand, where a certain Exile might produce the item, via his engineering expertise and Compleat Familiarity with Campaign Furniture brass screw installation tekneeks. I expect it will have an automatic variable width blade and screw slot-alignment facility as well as an appropriate tightnes scale, ending with "Oh ff...lip, I'll have to dig that bugger out".
Lataxe
My Dear Chap,
The stress- free installation of brass screws of any gauge is straight forward and requires no special Tekneek or tool whatsoever, in any wood. The uniform alignment of slots is also quite easy although to achieve this in applications where the screws are to do much work (such as hinges) requires a bit more attention.
First of all one must obtain screws of good quality with well made slots and uniform head size-this is critical. Then one drills a suitable pilot hole and if the screws are longer than around 3/4 inch the hole needs to be tapered-easily done with a tapered drill which one can make from a twist drill bit or one can just use a tapered awl.
The next most critical item is the candle stick, so that that the Well Fitting Screw Driver is not fighting unnecessary friction, which kills screws.
The often repeated advice to first drive in a steel screw is only of use to the ham fisted, and takes too long, cordless driver or not, and encourages early onset of CTS or even Arthuritees such as Goblins get.
Making Campaign furniture did induce me to make a few drill centering guides-which could not be bought at the time and these save time as well as ensure that screws are not distorted and fit the counter sink properly.See pikture.
When are we to construct a nice Military chest from English Oak? (It would go well with the Hay Rake table, I would say, and you will be able to indulge in approximately 64 h/b dovetails for the carcase and something like 48 h/b for the drawers , not counting the through doves at back. And a chance to drive numerous brass screws with no stress at all, as described.Philip Marcou
Philip,
Well, I confess that I was just winding a bit at Roc - hoping he would rush over to his lathe and start on with some mad-prof gubbins for screws liken unto Sheldon's torque-mole creature. Now you have spoiled my wicked plot by talking sense and so forth!
I have discovered the tapered drill bits, along with good quality brass screws that are also without the £3.99 each price tag. (No such luck with finding quality brass brackets and such without the £12.99 each price tag - are they 10% gold or summick)!
Also, although I did put a steel screw in first, when I were young and innocent, I now dip the brass-jobs into a tin of Liberon paste wax - the "neutral" stuff that is no good for much furniture waxing as it shows up as white flecks in the grain. As you mention, the brassers then go in with nary a squeak nor a snap.
I once gave a mahogany bookshelf around 407 coats of this uncoloured wax, hoping somehow the flecks would go away with more polishin'. However, being quite bright (!) I twigged on coat 408 that some colour in the wax might help. Then I looked in the Liberon catalogue. Doh!
But I digress.
Well-fitting slot screwdrivers are hard to come by. I have a box of many bits, including 6 sizes of slot bits. There is always a place between the "just-to-tight" one and the "slops-about-a-bit" one, with no ideal bit sized at "fits-like-a-chicken's-top-lip". However, I find that new Makita 10.8V black&white impact driver overcomes all of these minor matters and puts the brassers in just right time after time. Not one snapped screw in hundreds of screws gone into 4 recent Adirondack chairs and that bench, for instance. Huzzah!
*****
A campaign something-or-other has long been hovering just off the bottom of the to-do list. But I have a yen to make it of teak or mahogany, in classic style. Would oak work? Perhaps the only way to find out is to make summick - perhaps a small brass-bound box in which to keep knives, forks, spoons and goblin-beaters, which keeps them from snatching grub from one's plate or otherwise becoming a nuisance at mealtimes or even during the rest of the day (or night).
***
Meanwhile them pikshers you posted of those hinge centre-finders are getting my tool lust all steamy. I have some of those items of the mundane sort but find the slim drill bits snap as they are mde of pot metal or perhaps slag. Then one finds that no one sells replacement bits quite long enough to fit these centre-finders. Tut!
Lataxe
Trend, the blokes wot make router bits, have a range of the self-centering bits which seem tough enough to stand up to even my tender ministrations. I have recently bought and used a 2mm one.Note: I think you need an imperial allen key to dismantle them. My metric ones don't fit.
Dave,
"I think you need an imperial allen key ......."
That Queenie gets everywhere, even into the toolshops! Time for the Great Republic of Brittania!! However, let there be no beheading (although it is traditional) as we are civilised now. Mind, we could probably find a certain orc sat at the bottom of the head-lopper apparatus doing knitting or perhaps whittling a ball & claw. Up, sir! Put that inept carving to the side and make yourself useful testing this head-lopper with your scrawny neck!!
But I yam phantasizing now. :-)
Of course we probably need to sweep away the whole political establishment and start again, as the rascals have been sucking the treasury dry with their "expenses" for this, that and the other. (Twist for tat get bother). What shall we have instead? Some libertarians will now recommend "nuthin!" but they never met Eviscerator the Viking in one of his bad moods. There is a lot to be said for a royal dragoon or even a jolly tar when you need one (or even several).
****
As to screws in hinges: I have reverted to primitivism and start them by eye with a sharp awl. So far no skewlid or droopdoor.
Lataxe, not that rebellious.
Sire,
"But I have a yen to make it of teak or mahogany". Mahogany would be excellent- but what does Tectona Grandis cost in Pomland now?? I suggested Oak because one assumes that there is a shed load of it there. It would be authentic enough, as many chests were made from Oak
"Then one finds that no one sells replacement bits quite long enough to fit these centre-finders." Actually they do-engineering supply stores will have drill bits in standard length or long ...You must stop frequenting mundane woodworm tool shops where they have lots of Blacg&Decker things.
Re screw drivers: you merely grinds the ends to suit - that is one thing a bench grinder is quite good for.
"(No such luck with finding quality brass brackets and such without the £12.99 each price tag - are they 10% gold or summick)! " Aye, the corner brasses are dear, so are the flush drawer handles and side carrying handles, so that is one reason for making a good job of the wood. The angle brackets are easy- I can make these for you once you have constructed the chest.Philip Marcou
Philip,
How much is mahogany here in Blighty, you ask? I have no intention of finding out as any wood that enters my hording-room must be free and gratis, although I often reciprocate with a cabinet or summick to the donator. A handy rule is: 1/3 to 1/4 of yer free timber back as a piece of furniture and I keeps the rest.
Notice that there is no accountant or other wallet-sucker involved in these matters.
As to going to engineering shops (real or virtual)..... well, this may well be even more dangerous to the wallet than calling at a timber merchant as I will be seduced by the precision whirring of a large lathe or even a mill. Those drillbits would come dear.
****
Reading about that Gimson bloke and the Barnsley fellows, I note that they all set up or partnered with a local blacksmith, who made their handles, knobs, hinges and so forth to order and to their design. I wonder if I could find a smith around here willing to swap metal stuff for a cabinet? I think I have found a stained glass chap willing to swap, concerning Greene & Greene lanterns and light fittings.......
Lataxe, who has never found a commodity he can make in return for nice brass planes of a certain marque.
Wax toilet bowl seals are cheaper than Liberon and seem to last forever! I've been using the same one to lubricate screws for the past 35 years. When the kids inventory the shop after my funeral I suspect it will still have many good years left in it! Regards,Ron
Phillip,
Vix bits are for sissies, a real man uses a hammer & nail to start screw holes, leaving the piece properly distressed for the "antique look" :-)
Edited 5/31/2009 11:38 am ET by Ray
Ray,
"Vix bits are for sissies, a real man uses a hammer & nail to start screw holes, leaving the piece properly distressed for the "antique look" :-)You tell 'em. Last year I bought a Granfors Bruks carving axe. Now my woodwork is really taking off. We need more manly tools. :-)We also need more humor. I like your style.
Enjoy.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Hammers are for driving screws. Screwdrivers are for taking them out.
Ray
Ray,
"Hammers are for driving screws. Screwdrivers are for taking them out."You know, I do calligraphy, so I am always looking for sayings to put down on paper in a beautiful Italic script. Now you have given me a good one. If fact, I may carve that one instead of merely doing it in ink. MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
My grandfather (mother's side) turned into a car mechanic after retiring from the coal mines (early 1950s). Anyhow, he really wasn't much of a mechanic, but he tried for a while. I remember going to his garage to borrow a torque wrench for my father. Brought the wrench home, and remember to this day my dad griping what good is this wrench and looking, saw that the scale had ben damn near all melted away by a cutting torch that got a bit to close.
>scale l melted away by a cutting torch that got a bit to close.Oooh that's bad. Leaves something for the imagination of the user though. I guess a guy could write on it 1/4" bolt breaks off here, 3/8 breaks off here etc. and then just stop short of which ever applies . . .: )rocGive me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. Abraham Lincoln ( 54° shaves )
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled