Reply To: most and least favorite tools upgrades
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My upgrades are in the format “starting tool/upgraded tool” as follows:
1. Large wired power tools/battery powered combo tool
My first wood tool upgrade was from wired machines to a battery powered black and decker matrix ‘combo’ drill/jigsaw/circular-saw/etc. It got me started, I still use it a lot for drilling, and while less powerful, and not as good at stripping drill bits, it outperforms my wired hand held power tools in terms of precision and maneuverability. I think other brands of battery and/or hand powered drills and circular saws may also work.
2. Borg block plane/Flea market block plane(s)
For arm-power tools, the first sort of upgrade was going from a hardware store block plane to two unidentified flea market block planes. I sharpened up all three according to Paul’s lessons, and one of the flea market ones came out on top. Unsure of the brand, but it was the one with the most levers, dials, and adjustments on it. This later led me to buy a Stanley Bed-Rock Bench Plane #605. This was also a big upgrade over my previous use of block planes as bench planes.
3. John Buck Chisels/ Buck Chisels Sharpened
Sharpened according to Sellers instructions these chisels went from “ok, sharper than yer average big box chisel” to “I save hundreds of dollars a year on razor blade costs”. (made a fancy jig, but stopped using it after watching the video, went freehand, so liberatin’). I learned that chisels are what you make of them, and most metal is mostly metal.
3. For driving chisels into wood: Regular Metal hammer/Home-made oak joiners mallet
The above will be obvious to anyone who has used a hammer. or a chisel.
4. For sawing wood: Borg miter box saw/Borg miter box saw filed down to a rip cut.
(filed a bit blindly) to a rip-cut with a slightly hammered out fleam per Paul’s lessons, of course, though I used the wrong type of file (triangular Borg file, $5, but it still worked). Sadly, this is my only working saw at the moment (despite several other Borg saw purchases – AKA Borg pull saw – I felt like a Shogun when I bought it. Now, not so much.).
Anyways, I can crosscut a 2×4’s with my sharpened Borg Miter in less than 30 seconds, despite the depth limitation caused by the metal support thing at the top edge of the 3″ deep blade – I just rotate my cutting around the circumference of the board, awkward but currently effective.
5. (coming attractions) For big rip cuts: “combo panel saw’. circa 1960 (?$)/’Disston D8′, circa 1950 ($40).
The rusty inherited, hardened steel, combo saw was made for rip and crosscut with a fancy, yet rusted out and broken, tooth pattern. It does everything you don’t want a saw to do: wide kerf, tear out, wandering about, vibrating, unsharpenable, and hard to push. Imprecise for crosscuts, exhausting for rip cuts. In short, my arm hurts and may have nerve damage.
My research indicates the Disston D8 is authentic, despite being made nearly at the time when Disston was bought out by the maker of my combo saw (see above). A test run of the D8 revealed some very low cutting power. Nevertheless, it does seem to taper out the way Disstons are supposed to do. I’m hoping with my semi-correct sharpening skills this D8 will become the rip saw to cut them all, and with the glue, to join them!
5. Speaking of glue, I use what I call a ‘tape cone’. I put a cone of tape over the top that keeps the glue from drying out in whatever oddly designed container the glue finds itself. If the spigot or other opening clogs, I use a wrench or aluminum shears to open it, and then put the tape cone (@TM) back on top of whatever remains. I am also experimenting with ketchup-type containers. They seem promising and I’ll post a brand name soon if they work in my hands.