Reply To: Chalk line – leaky
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I have a couple of those chalk boxes and the item that stops the “leaking” is some felt pads that the line passes through. It’s possible to slow the leaking considerably by just turning the pads upside down so the line has a new surface to run over and by shimming them closer to each other.
For your issue break the chalk box in with the ultra thin line( I assume by Tajima). You can make the pads work better if you shim them with something like cereal box cardboard until you get the effect you want.. if the felt is too worn you will have to make replacement pads from felt glued up to thickness with rubber cement. Cut it to shape with a razor blade or really sharp chisel. You use to be able to buy new pads, but I think those days are long gone. Really clean and fine work generally requires a person at each end of the line and a small flick of the line away from the work to get loose chalk off the line.
You might want to consider buying a Tajima chalk box that will probably work better and has the advantage that they are geared to allow faster reeling if you are doing a lot of layout work. They are available with different thickness lines preloaded. You will never fully eliminate the excess powder.
For really fine lines for furniture work the Japanese use lines in boxes that are loaded with ink, not chalk. Their disadvantage is inky hands. Tajima also makes those boxes and ink in different colors. Furniture layout in Japan is done with those boxes.
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This reply was modified 10 months ago by
Larry Geib.