Lately I’ve noticed that no matter how careful I am when chopping dovetails that the ends of the tools’ hornbeam handles will become slightly dimpled and dented after striking them with my mallet.
Even more disturbing is that the face of my mallet also becomes slightly dinged when I strike my tools with it.
To remedy this problem, I considered wrapping the handles and the mallet in electrical tape, but I was worried that the adhesive on the backside of the tape would damage the finish on both tools. I experimented with using rubber bands to affix small dollhouse pillows to the mallet, but the rubber bands kept snapping after a few joints.
And so I’ve asked my former shop assistant, Ty Black, to sew up some leather sleeves – condoms, actually – with some elastic openings to keep the leather in place on the tools during use.
I’ve asked him to use veg-tan leather – not chromium tanned – so as to ensure the leather covers will not tarnish my tools.
My hope is that this solution will work well enough that I can also implement it on all my wooden-bodied planes – I have noticed some dents on their wedges lately.
Another disturbing shop problem has been the fact that oil (and perhaps perspiration) from my hands appears to be working its way into the totes of my handplanes, discoloring them in an uneven and unsightly pattern.
I considered wrapping friction tape around them to protect them, but again, I am unsure about how the chemicals in the adhesive will interact with the alkyd varnish on the totes. And so I’ve purchased a pair of ventilated nitrile gloves – nitrile on the palm with a cotton weave on the back – to wear when I am planing.
I know that gloves in the workshop are a safety concern, so I will continue to look for a better solution.
— Christopher Schwarz
I love your sense of humor, Chris.
I second that!
I believe that several people have found the solution to this problem already. Purchase and watch all the woodworking videos you can locate, buy the most expensive tools on the market, join forums and brag about the videos you’ve watched and the tools that you’ve purchased. After completing all the above….never build anything….justify all by convincing yourself that you are preserving the craft.
Any suggestion as to which piece of the cow the leather should originate?
In fact, is cow leather even the best choice? I’m fond of kangaroo for most things, but I think that ostrich would add a certain flair.
My first choice would be church mouse foreskin, but PETA’s campaign against church mouse exploitation is making it increasingly more difficult to acquire suitable examples. I guess I shouldn’t grouse, as it’s heartwarming to see them actually accomplish something.
I can only say one thing. Really?!
You know you’ll have to go to the farm where your cow Chester was raised and make sure he had a nice life before you can use your leather. – Portlandia Fan
Nicks, checks, cracks (minor ones) and the like on our tools are like wrinkles, grey hair, and age spots on us — just shows we’ve been around and useful.
Ikea sells silicone oven mitts that should do pretty well. Use a hole punch to ventilate them.
:o)
I suspect that IKEA is the problem rather than the solution. Chris is exhibiting symptoms of Phenylbutazone (“bute” – a veterinary pain killer) intoxication which almost certainly entered his system through the dutch* meat balls from the IKEA canteen. When bute tainted horse meat was discovered in the European ground “beef” supply, IKEA followed the big pharma model and shipped their stock to countries with little or no oversight of food quality and safety.
He must have eaten a lot of those little suckers!
* IKEA is a Dutch owned company.
Swedish! IKEA is Swedish, not Dutch! Our balls (“gehaktballen”) are bigger than the tiny Swedish ones (“gehaktballetjes”) so you could have easily spotted the difference.
How about the high-friction silicone tape that Lee Valley has? There’s no adhesive; the tape sticks to itself: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=67792&cat=1,110,43466
Thanks for sharing the highs and lows of your woodworking life. Often makes my day.
I think the only solution is to go entirely virtual. Virtual tools and furniture are much easier to protect and restoration, as long as you have a good backup, is close to perfect. As long as your objects are in vector formats, you can also have perfect edges on your tools, that will not degrade with time or use.
Aha..Viva la Revolution..to the SketchUp we go
Perhaps a black beret (http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Black-Wool-Beret-Cap/dp/B001SUV6MC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378678449&sr=8-1&keywords=Beret) and some white cotton gloves would help. (Oh, and don’t forget to add a red silk ascot.)
Plasti-dip everything wooden to at least 1/6″ thick. You can use a vibrant color like hunter orange so you’ll never lose your tools in the shavings. You can also Rhino-Line your tool chest to keep it from getting any tool dings, scratches, or stains. And there are helmets you can wear to protect your forhead when you run into walls.
There won’t be a face-palm great enough for the first person to take this post seriously.
Wait…you have wooden planes, too? Those weren’t in the ATC video? Now I have to go out and buy all new stuff!!!!
Of course I did — moulding planes.
I forgot about those. I’m still at the stage where a bevel is the most complex molding I’m capable of! 🙂
Did I sleep thru Christmas again? Is it April 1st?????
Ha ha. Some of us buy brand new plane blades after each piece of work. Or, even if we’re just practicing. I store my planes in a nitrogen filled UV protective glass case. Kept shut with black electrical tape. If that light’s just right, you can see a little halo above the case.
Hi Chris Pick up some stick on circular felt pads, you should be able to find them pretty close to the diameter of the chisel handle’s head. Larry
The solution to all these persistent problems is single use, disposable tools. They come in a air tight oxygen free bag and at the first signs of wear and tear just chuck ’em and open a new one. It works for surgical tools, why not woodworking tools. Also scrap value for steel, iron, and bronze is pretty good these days, nothing like a little return on investment.
After all the abuse you’ve given us about being afraid of our tool touching while in a tool chest, you are whining about the fact that when you use tools they looked used. As you might say to one of us, get over it.
Now Mark,
You are just trying to stir things up. You know better…
No, I don’t.
I wasn’t raised right.
I feel like a fool, I thought you were serious. Glad I read the comments. Where’s the Tylenol?
Keep your hands in your pockets.
Wouldn’t the middle road be to replace the aforementioned thumbscrew with a wide wing-nut and use a rawhide hammer for the plane adjustments? Things don’t have to be ugly one way or the other.
OK from now on I’m going to label certain posts as “satire.”