We’ve reduced the price on two products in the store. Here’s the story.
We’ve permanently lowered the price of “Mechanic’s Companion” to $23 (it was $26). We are reprinting this title this week and can lower the price because the manufacturing cost went down (we placed a large print order).
We consider this book a foundational text for hand-tool woodworking. Peter Nicholson was a cabinetmaker as well as a writer. So this text is clear and shop-based. I still pick up important details every time I read it, much like Charles Hayward’s books.
This book is made in the USA and is designed to outlast you. Unlike several “print on demand” (POD) versions out there, this book is printed on offset equipment. The signatures are sewn and reinforced with fiber tape. The pages will not fall out after a few readings.
Don’t get me wrong, POD is great for some applications (“Alf” fan fiction, for example). But not for a foundational book.
Chore Coats
We have lowered the price of chore coats to $135 to close them out for the season. The regular price was $165. We have to change fabrics for our next run, so we need to move out the current versions to avoid confusion. There is nothing wrong with the fabric or the chore coats. We just have to change suppliers and so we need to close these out.
My eyesight is terrible, and so I’ve long relied on rules that have a satin black background with white etched letters.
For years I used one from Bridge City, but the markings were blurry. I suspect they were screen printed or not etched deep enough. After trying a few other brands, Peter Galbert gave me a flexible one made by SPI. It was a revelation. It’s not as good as a Starrett, but it’s close enough.
When we started Crucible Tool, one of the products we worked on for months was making a set of black rules, 6”, 12” and one that would fit in a Starrett combination square. In addition to the black background, we wanted to remove the 32nds and 64ths. The rules would have 8ths and 16ths printed on both faces.
I won’t detail all the ways we failed, but we couldn’t find a manufacturer that could do the job to our satisfaction.
This week, I finally closed the door on this project. We tried to get SPI to do a large run of rules with 8ths and 16ths on both faces. They politely declined.
If your eyesight is poor, I absolutely recommend the SPI rules. Just ignore the face with the 32nds and 64ths. When I work to those measurements for toolmaking, I’m going to use dial calipers or a micrometer.
The good news is that the SPI rules are an absolute bargain. Buy them from MSC Industrial Supply. Here are my three favorites:
This time we’re having an Irish themed Chair Chat. Chris talks about his DNA test that confirmed his part-Irish heritage. It also said he’s part Neanderthal. [Insert cheeky comment]. Like Chris, today’s chair victim is presumably Irish and vernacular. As always, we’re not sure of anything here. Not even our own sexual identities. We do however conclude that the chair has undergone a traditional Irish Beer Fart Finish™. As always, this chat is rated PG-13 and contains bearded men talking about finishing hard wood. If that offends you, please stop reading and call our Very Hot Line ™ for advice.
I’ve responded to the first 31 “Book of Plates” emails that landed in my inbox yesterday morning at 10 a.m., and I included tracking emails on almost all the packages (which are now at the post office). So I’m afraid if you haven’t heard anything from me, yours was not among the first.
This is one of the most common methods of joining components. It is interesting that while British use the name ‘turnscrew,’ the American term is ‘screwdriver.’ This is significant in that a screw properly arranged should not need to be driven, which implies hard work, but merely turned.
The screw has the following parts (Fig 75): head, shank, core and thread, and provision must be made for each of these in drilling the hole, since the screw, unlike the drill, cannot remove any wood. A standard screwed job (Fig 76) is one piece screwed directly to another and Fig 77 shows a section through the joint. The top piece needs a clearance hole made with a twist drill, in which the shank is free to turn. If this is too small much more effort will be required and the screw slot may be damaged, or the work may split if the hole is near the edge. The top piece may require countersinking. The correct tool for this is the snailhead countersink, but as an alternative the rosehead bit or drill may be used (Fig 78); however this is inferior, being designed primarily for metal. A larger twist drill may be used, and this is most successful when used in a drilling machine with a depth stop.
The pieces can now be held in position with the screw dropped in place. A light tap on the screw will leave a dimple on the lower piece on which the next hole can be drilled. This is the pilot hole and its diameter is that of the screw core. The principle is that the drill makes room for the screw core and the thread bites into the sides of the hole, giving the greatest strength with the minimum effort.
The screwdriver end should be well maintained and the blade must fit the slot. If allowed to become rounded it will slip out. Too large a blade will damage the wood, too small a blade will probably slip from the slot. Handles are made in proportion to blade size in order to exert the right pressure. Long, thin electrical screwdrivers should be used with particular care to avoid stripping the thread in the wood.
Fig 80 shows alternative screw heads. The round head is commonly used to secure fittings. If these are very thin a shallow clearance hole will be required for the shank before drilling the pilot hole. The raised head is sometimes used on metal fittings, and is most commonly used in industry. It can be conveniently used by the hand craftsman in conjunction with the screwcap washer when screwing plywood. The nature of plywood and sometimes its thinness makes it difficult to countersink neatly for a screw head.
For very small screws a four-sided awl is most convenient for the pilot hole. A touch of grease on a screw allows it to go in easier and by preventing rusting makes a later withdrawal easier too. Oak eventually has a corrosive effect on iron screws so for good-quality work brass screws should always be used.