Installing a curved piece of metal in a curved piece of wood can be a challenge. Pull out the candle, get some black candle soot on the metal and tap it down. Use the black marks to remove a little wood at a time.
Tip 2: Before you get started, take the piece you are inletting and file the edges to a slight bevel. This will give you something to work with as it goes down. The end result will be nice and tight.
Edited 11/15/2007 9:07 pm ET by danmart
Replies
You can do the same thing with a black Sharpie pen, which has the advantage that you get to smell the fumes....
-Steve
I've heard lipstick works as well ....smooch xoxo
Oooh. Are you coming on to me? I don't swing that way, fella.
-Steve ;)
Obviously you have not read the OSHA warning about that. That is why I talk with a lisp now.
Heard the latest on lipstick? Most of them contain a high level of lead. Used mostly by blondes?Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
I like the pen and I use it. The pen is the way to go on windy days. When I am inletting a large piece like a barrel, the pen is too slow and messy. I guess I like the candle because I can just pull the part out hold over the flame and right back in. Taking the cap off with my teeth get old. Ha.
The soot is pretty messy too. Either way, you can find that rubbing lock part that is hanging up very quickly and that's the message I hoped to convey.
But Steve, they didn't have Sharpies back in the 18th century... (in the time of the giants). Best to use a candle, and make sure its either beeswax or tallow (you can save the fat from your hamburgers and roll your own).Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
"But Steve, they didn't have Sharpies back in the 18th century..."
No? Then what did they do for a cheap high?
-Steve
Absinthe?Glaucon
If you don't think too good, then don't think too much...
But as the Bard said,"absinthe makes the heart grow fonder."
Then what did they do for a cheap high?I drink Rum and smoke cigarettes...
Steve
Feedback on the sharpie: not too good for rifle brass. I used it on the lockplate to let it in. Just curious and it was easy. On the butt plate it was a disaster. The ink wicked into the end grain and I had... lots of file work to redo to get rid of the black ink in the white maple.
Back to the dry candle soot for the butt plate.
photo: lockplate installed. lock area shaped and carved a bit.
"The ink wicked into the end grain..."
You need to let it dry.
-Steve
Nope that ain't it I tried it. still left faint marks in the end grain only. The candle is FASTER and cleaner. My pen is going to last a bit longer. Commercial vendors sell "inletting black" this is notorius for doing the same things. I just thought the sharpee dried faster and cleaner. I use the pen to mark metal all the time and then cut a scribe line in the black ink. It works great.
Live and learn no biggie.
Dan
Glad my dentist doesn't use a candle when adjusting a filling, LOL! Good tip, though.
Danmart; Another way to accomplish that, is an old patternmakers trick; rub one part with a lumber crayon or chalk and tap them together
Attached you will see a trigger plate being "let in" to the stock. Most of the contact points are not visible like a lock on a cupboard. Anything like a crayon or another suggested a sharpie will work. Where the problem comes in with crayons and sharpies is where the metal edge meets the wood in the visible areas. They both leave oils and color. You don't know how bad you can feel till you apply nitric acid to the stock and see black and white color distortions on the edge of the metal to wood edge that you worked so hard to impress your friends with. Been there my friend. Straight to the cabinet for some #8 George Dickel. Step 2 wait till tomorrow and don't kick the dog.
tried to attach a photo to this one???? problem. See next reply amigo.
later.
Edited 10/21/2007 4:55 pm ET by danmart
Edited 10/21/2007 4:57 pm ET by danmart
Hey Boater
Message 2 from danmart(Dan) the knucklehead form NC. Sometimes I'm right on with the photo thing and then I feel like a one legged man in a butt kickin' contest.
Here is a photo or 2 of what I tried to do in the last message.
Just something to look at. If I seem to post too many photos, forgive me I work with teenage students all day and sometimes I think a photo or an example helps them bridge the generation gap with me. Last week we were working on an aircraft prop for a Stearman Kadet. I asked the guy on the other end of the balancing jig to turn the widget "counter clockwise not clockwise" and he looked at me and said "I'm from North Carolina we don't use that expression Sir" ..... back to the photos.j
later
I'd hammer it in and make a wooden wedge to fit the split in the wood!
Sounds like a great way to speed things up but.. at this point you've waited 4 years for the wood to air dry and you have 30 hours of labor in the thing when you think!@#$ how about a couple good licks here or there?? Surprise
Some of the guys have suggested pens and other marking methods but I have seen what blue ink looks like the next day after it wicks into your curly maple .. Oh sh//33 I can't believe it.
later
Another use for candles... I rub one on the surface of boards I'm going to edge-glue next to where the glue joint will be. Makes the squeeze-out easier to remove. Subsequent scraping and sanding will remove the wax long before it can interfere with finishing.
There is a product that works a bit better
than rubbing a candle where you don't
want glue to stick. It's called Waxalit,
available from Lee Valley (and perhaps
others). Orignally developed for cast
iron tables of wood processing machines
to a) reduce friction b) keep sap and pitch
from sticking to the cast iron, it has the
consistency of thick vasoline. The real
beauty of this stuff is that it dries WHITE
so you can see it - and - it can be removed
with mineral spirits or alcohol which sure
beats a) scraping and sanding and
b) guessing if you got it all before applying
a finish. The LAST thing you want to do
is find residual glue - or wax - as you're
applying your first coat of finish. (ok so
cutting off a digit or two is probably THE
last thing you want to do. On second
thought "last thing" was a poor choice of
words - so make that NEVER)
Charlie, thanks for the tip! I usually do enough scraping/sanding after glue-up that the candle wax has not been a problem for finishing. I mostly use that trick for edge-glueing boards for width. But a product that I can just "wash off" with alcohol is worth checking out!
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