When I design a new piece of furniture, I start on paper, but I almost always mock things up before committing my ideas to joinery and glue. And a big part of mocking things up involves arranging parts temporarily then physically stepping back from the mock-up to give it a gander.
For this step of the process, I use a removable adhesive that goes by a lot of names, including Sticky Putty. It’s basically the stuff that you use to hang posters on the wall without push-pins. You can get it at any well-stocked grocery store for $2-$3 for a lifetime supply. It’s reusable, and it’s valuable for a wide variety of other workshop tasks.
In addition to holding furniture parts in place temporarily, I also use it to temporarily secure tools while I work. A dab can hold a square or sliding bevel as I sight against the tool to drill a hole (note: apply the putty to the side of the tool’s handle, not the base). The putty doesn’t leave residue behind or interfere with gluing, finishing or mind-control waves.
I keep my putty in a zippered plastic sandwich bag to keep it fresh and clean, though I don’t know if that’s necessary. The putty says it never dries out, but “never” is a long time.
— Christopher Schwarz
Read other entries from The Anarchist’s Gift Guide here.
I use Loctite BluTac.
Loving these practical gift guide suggestions. No relics here – well maybe the old service station shirts.
Not sure if this is the same as “silly putty?” I have used that (silly putty) for 40+ years in my tool-making career. Great stuff and indeed, it will hold your tools. We also use it to check the impressions we create in steel. It’ll probably work to check mortice depth/sizes if you are careful and press it against a molding profile to create a gauge to follow when duplicating a profile. Plenty of uses.
I love this one for sure. I use tape but have never been happy with it. Come to think about it I used that stuff when I was a kid, (posters and stuff) mom got it for me cause she was not happy with the holes in the walls.