Ed

It’s not as simple as that. Air can be warmed in the house, rise, and exit near the top of the structure. As you say, air must come in to make up what went out. This can lead to infiltration at the basement (and elsewhere). The house acts like a chimney. In my house, in cooler months, no fan is needed to have air gushing in at windows in the…[Read more]

Keep in mind that, if you move air from space A to space B, you can backdraft combustion sources like furnaces and fireplaces in space A. Also, if you open a “port” to exhaust A into B and B happens to be at positive pressure, you may get the opposite of what you expect. I’m not sure that a garage with it’s door open will vent air vs. draw air in.

I completely understand what you mean. I wish the result was reported in ug/m3. This is what I mean by the manufacturer being guarded. What I can suggest is that you research the product, research the correlations that are shown between this device and others. Examine what people say in various professional forums regarding this meter vs. more…[Read more]

I have a Dylos DC1100-PRO . It’s been a couple years, so there may be other options.

I need to be careful about specific claims or assertions. What I’ve done is informal. The topic is complicated. The manufacturer is cautious about applying the meter and interpreting the data. There is a sticker on the meter that says, “Air Quality Chart 0.5…[Read more]

I’ve taken to using a garden rake to gather debris from the floor. This leaves behind only the dust which is then easily vacuumed with a shop vac or pretty much any vacuum cleaner, but I make sure to use something with a HEPA filter. I do not use a broom. I did some experiments with a particle counter and convinced myself that dust is more of a…[Read more]

I build the same way as @darnmcdo . When the thickness doesn’t matter, I don’t care what it is. Learn to work from a reference edge and reference face and learn to do layout in a way that thickness doesn’t matter and in a way that variations in thickness are accommodated in the layout. It will save a lot of work. Sometimes, you have no choice. A…[Read more]

Mine, too. The only thing I’ve found that helps is to unwind a turn or so any time I’ve used the QR. I’ve stared at it, scratched my head, but so far do not see an obvious thing to try. For what it’s worth, I find it interesting that Paul’s Record vise seems to slide and spin much more freely than the Eclipse.

DMT XX-fine: I’m unsure about it.
1) It leaves a scratched surface, not a polished one as you’d expect.
2) After two years, it is delaminating and has pits in the surface. I asked them about the scratchy grinding pattern, but they never replied. I need to ask the about the pitting to see if they will consider it to be a warranty issue.
3) I…[Read more]

Scorecard for various tools beyond Paul’s standard set:

Wins:
– 4″ engineers square and a cheap General depth gauge which I use more as a square/probe when things are too tight for the engineer’s square (https://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-444-Depth-Angle/dp/B00004T7TD)
– Various ceiling lighting and a swing-arm light with magnifier
– bandsaw
-…[Read more]

Harry, we’re on the same page favoring the solid wood. I was thinking out loud to see if there might be a way to do it with ply, but I don’t think it’s worth it. I don’t think the voids leaving holes in the top would be a real problem, but I’d still not take this route, even if you wanted to pay for the baltic birch. Honestly, the ply we have…[Read more]

It’s not ply, but I plopped a piece of MDF on top of a late 1800’s dining room dresser, hung a vise and called it a bench. I hate it, except for the drawers and storage cupboard. It’s too bouncy and doesn’t hold a holdfast. I do like the size and where I put the vise and I’m absolutely dependent upon the drawers. Every time I’m faced with spending…[Read more]

@mark68 Yup, perfect. I wanted to make sure there was a gap that ensured that the cap iron meets the back of the iron at the edge with tension. Looks fine. There is some refining you might do over time, but not right now while you’re starting, as long as your shavings are flowing well and not jamming.

The chip breaker does not need to be perfectly parallel to the blade. You can center it on the blade at the cutting edge, but then have a little twist to counter an edge not being perfectly square. There’s enough slop (extra width) in the cap iron slot to allow this twist (sometimes twist plus a bit of offset). Eventually, you’ll want to square…[Read more]