Category: Projects

March 16, 2023 – Storing Fuel: Inventory Liquids

March 16, 2023 /

The more I think about this topic, the more I think it can go on for many weeks. It is not that it is complicated but that it is so deep. It is so deep that I am having a hard time getting started because as soon as I start thinking about a direction I almost immediately fork (in my mind). I will try to keep it on a high level and generalities, that way you can apply the concepts to your own situation.

As I said last week, the first step is to inventory what you have. Now, not everything you have you may necessarily need in an emergency situation. For instance, is the lawnmower a necessary piece of equipment? I don’t think so but you might want to note that you have it and it runs on gasoline (if you don’t have a battery or corded model, but that is a different discussion). Whatever happens, you may want to have two gas cans for your mower so that you don’t have to run to the gas station before you mow your grass.

See what I mean, I am already jumping around from inventory to necessity to power equipment. Staying in the power equipment arena, I have a string trimmer, chainsaw and leaf blower. These are all two cycle, gasoline tools, so they need gas and oil. I think the industry trend is now 50:1 blend but old tools were 40:1 and some were even 32:1.

Preferably, I would like all of my equipment to require the same blend ratio that way I only need to have one mix on hand. What is key in my situation is that I pay for yard maintenance. So, really I don’t have anything pre-mixed because I don’t want it sitting around and potentially going bad. When I do use them, I mix what I need at the ratios I want it. I do usually have a small amount of commercial premix available in case of emergency. What is nice about that is that is those containers are sealed and free of contaminants, like water. Read easy to store, quick to use but super expensive at $10 a quart.

Of all of those things, only the chainsaw to me is an emergency tool. Here I would star in my inventory, need gasoline. Moving on, I have a small generator, more gasoline. Did you know that you can use your car as a generator? More on that another week but more gasoline.

I mentioned that my house is all electric. My backup cooking plan is Coleman camping equipment. Mine are dual fuel which mean that they run on gasoline and Coleman fuel (white gas). I prefer gasoline as a common fuel and less to inventory and store, more on that in a minute. FYI- They made some older models that were Coleman fuel and kerosene with some part changes if you are looking for versatility. They were for European users since apparently kerosene is easier to get than Coleman fuel.

I have some Coleman fuel in storage for the same reason I have premixed two cycle gas. It is sealed and free of impurities. The truth is, I have had it for several years and this is before I really got my gasoline program in place. This provided a stop gap for having fresh gasoline available for all the things I wanted redundancy. And it is easy to take on a camping trip. At least easier than a five gallon gas jug.

I use a kerosene heater in my shop. Is is the best setup? Probably not, but I have it. In some areas of the country, you can buy kerosene at the pump. I was able to do that when I lived in South Carolina. But here, I have to buy it at the stores like box stores and home centers. The trick with this fuel is that it is seasonal. It is only stocked in the stores in the winter time frame and when it is out, it is out.

That is to say that when the bulk quantities are out you can often find one gallon jugs in the paint section but you are also paying double what the winter prices are. Now, it is running $10 a gallon at winter prices. So, I buy it when it is on sale and available to have 10 gallons available at all times. Remember that my house is all electric, so I want the ability to move heat where I want it if I need to.

I have gotten some use out of my heater and I know that 2.5 gallons lasts about 40 hours running. It is good to know how much fuel that you might want to have on hand if you need it. This means that my storage capacity is about 160 hours. I wouldn’t run it all the time but a couple hours in the evening would be nice.

I know that I am all over the place. I told you that I was having a hard time staying succinct. But, by my count I want gasoline and kerosene at least and I want some two cycle oil with the ability to measure and mix. The basic strategy is count up all the things you have or want and what fuels they use. Figure out what might be required inventory and rotate (more on that later too). The more commonality you have, the simpler things will be.

One final thing about fuels. Things like generators run on fuel but they don’t run forever without maintenance. If you have one and you think that you might have to run it, oil changes are required. On mine it is every one hundred running hours after break-in. If you think about it, that is about every four days of continuous running. I would suggest that you store corresponding maintenance fluids and even parts so that you don’t find yourself smiling until the generator seizes up.

End Your Programming Routine: Next week, I am going to talk about storing gases. Probably the following week all things electrical. Hopefully, I am not going to bore everyone by going down the preparedness rabbit hole but even if you choose not to do what I do, not having to go to the gas station before you mow the grass seems smart to me. Consolidating and having dual fuel or commonality also seems smart to me. I am going to keep going so hopefully you learn something as well.

March 15, 2023 – My Old Enemy… Time

March 15, 2023 /

I suppose this is somewhat of a project update and some sort of analysis. When starting this project, literally months ago I had scoped it to be done by the end of January. I knew that I was going to be travelling in February but now it is getting to the middle of March and I am not done yet.

Now, am I actively working on the project? Yes I am currently in the glue up portion where I am gluing the aprons and the legs together. This means that I am very close to final assembly and finish. This means that the project will be done. However, this is my last week this month so it is likely that this will now run into April.

When I estimated the project at the beginning of the year I guessed that it would take 100 hours for this project. I am not sure that I have spent much more time than that but I think where I went wrong was 100 hours over a month would be 25 hours a week. And that is not really realistic. I am probably logging 4-6 hours a week.

Extrapolate 100/5 would be 20 weeks. That is five months and by that math and hypothetically I am actually ahead of my estimate. However, I borrowed an old crutch of hope, that was wrong. I hoped that my work would accelerate as it often does when I get into things but hope is not a plan.

I am enjoying the work and I do believe that it will be worth the effort. So, I am not necessarily wishing it to be over but I am certainly looking forward to moving my stereo system into my office. To that end, I am also looking forward to getting my rain barrel setup as my next project.

While it is not my first, fine woodworking project I would consider myself a novice at it. My mortises and tenons were rough. with loose fit for some. My chisels sometimes were dull, causing some of that roughness. This was my first tapered legs that I have made. I learned some things from the experience for sure.

I guess that you could boil all this down to using realistic expectations. If I had just used my brain rather than hoping I could do this, I would have set clearer expectations and by proxy wouldn’t be disappointed by my results. I knew better.

End Your Programming Routine: It’s like I always say, fifteen minutes a day is still almost two hours a week. This is another trap that I sometimes fall into. Ultimately, I am committed so it will be what it will be. And, it truly wont be that long until I am done, I am just lamenting that we are coming into April and I wanted this done at the beginning of February.

March 9, 2023 – Life Without Fuel

March 9, 2023 /

I was born in the mid-1970s. I do remember the gasoline shortage of 1979 vaguely. I remember asking my mom if the water could run out. My dad purchased a bicycle and started riding it to work everyday. He rode a bike to work and back from 1980-1983 (until we moved too far away). My mom rode a bicycle to the grocery store and around town.

Whether people realize it or not, our lifestyle revolves around fuel. One type of fuel is electricity. In my house that is the stove, the refrigerator, the freezer and the furnace. I would say that it is pretty important. A small amount of electricity can be stored in batteries and another small portion of electricity can be made with a generator but that doesn’t run without fuel.

We have all seen the Walking Dead where gasoline all runs out and the entire planet switches to ethanol. It’s a fun fantasy for sure but not really realistic on a large scale. Some preparedness minded people have made a huge investment in solar but this also assumes the outage is not caused by something like an Electro Magnetic Pulse. This is essentially a high level nuclear detonation that fries anything electrical. If you think that it is not possible, think about military escalation with Russia and a Chinese balloon that flew undiscovered along with who knows how many others.

I really don’t think that it is possible or practical to prepare for catastrophic events. What is smart is to deal with the typical, short term problems we see in everyday life. An ice storm knocks out power for a week or the government shuts down society for a month. You can’t leave or you don’t want to leave how is this going to work?

Can you actually stay home for two weeks? I know that examining what happened during the pandemic we didn’t. Sure, we had lots of food and we were fairly well prepared for survival. On the same hand, none of us knew what was going to happen so we went out in search of more while we could.

I remember standing in an hours long line at Costco on one of the first Saturdays of the lockdown. We waited for an hour and eventually decided that it wasn’t worth it. We ended up going to a scratch and ding kind of place called Wheeler Dealer because there were no lines. We got everything we wanted at scratch and dent kind of prices without the wait. It was mostly snacks and comfort foods, not something we stock a lot of. The truth is, we didn’t need to go out. It was a shortage fear that triggered us to react.

Leaving woulda/coulda/shoulda of that era behind, fuel is not much different the food. We may need to leave to get it, the prices are generally going up, it has a shelf-life, we can never have a lifetime supply at any one time and we use it daily. I am going to take the next couple of Thursdays talking about fuel storage, redundancy and alternative solutions.

End Your Programming Routine: This was going to be a single post but I couldn’t get my head around exactly what I wanted to say. There was too much and the topic was too broad and I wandered too much. I think I changed the title ten times before I settled on this one. Fuel is always something on my pantry list. It’s not sexy or fun but boy are you glad you have it when you need it.

February 23, 2023 – When Cheap is Expensive

February 23, 2023 /

Way back in college, I wanted to purchase a .357 magnum revolver. Things are a little bit different now then they were back then. With the proliferation of plastic frames and Metal Injected Molding (MIM) along with Computer Numeric Controlled machining, some firearms have have gotten a lot cheaper. The truth is, there are a lot of models that can be purchased for less than what I did in the middle 1990s.

I really wanted to purchase a Ruger GP-100 but I was $50 short, so I ended up buying a Rossi M971 for $450 instead of a Ruger at $499. I really have only had two complaints. One is that the same Rugers are selling for $800 now whereas my Rossi is selling for $300-400 used (read bad investment) and the second is that parts and accessories are far and few between.

Recently, I was at the range and the rear sight broke off. I have no idea how that happened. I don’t think it was dropped, I speculate that the plastic just became brittle over time. My replacement is metal, I am hoping that this is the last time it has to be replaced because it may not be replaceable in the future.

Don’t take this as gospel but Rossi is a Brazilian brand. It is now owned by a Brazilian conglomerate Taurus Armas which owns brands like Taurus, Rossi and Heritage. They got their start copying Smith and Wesson and Beretta handguns (originally under license). Once those patents expired and agreements ended, Brazilian copies started appearing in the US markets, hence there are a lot of similarities of a Rossi and a Smith and Wesson revolver.

The reason any of the above is relevant is because about a year after I owned the revolver, my roommate was handling it without my knowledge and dropped it an broke the front sight. At that time, Rossi was it’s own brand and the distributor handled all of the parts. They sent a replacement, free of charge. Since the acquisition, the distributor no longer exists and Taurus USA does not sell parts aftermarket. This would be for a product that they no longer make. In fact, Rossi has become a rifle/shotgun brand only. So, I doubt they have parts in the first place.

But, despite the similarities, there are some differences. I am not going to go into that right now, but what it really means is that aftermarket support is really scarce. For instance, I can find replacement sight blades for Smith and Wesson at $13. I found one local manufacturer base in South Dakota. He was selling a replacement sight at $38 plus shipping and I was happy to pay it.

The way it installs is different too. In the Smith and Wesson it is all largely done with a screwdriver. I needed to purchase a 1mm punch to drive a tiny pin out. This of course cost me $35 dollars. The first time I used it, I broke the drive pin because 1mm is tiny and that metal is hard and therefore brittle. So, I purchased replacement drive pins in a six pack at $15.

What I am getting at here is that I am now $100 and two months into this. I suppose I could have taken it to a gunsmith. I doubt that would have saved me any money, maybe some time. Here again, this is probably a quarter of what the firearm is worth. But without it, it is almost worthless so it has to be done.

If we were talking about a domestic brand like Ruger or Smith and Wesson, first of all this probably would have never happened. But, if it did there are parts available. Gunsmiths can do the work or even the factory. This is the argument for buying the F-150 or the Toyota Camry or the Whirlpool. When there are lots of them made then there is future support likely. Of course there was no way of knowing that the Rossi brand would get scarfed up and discontinued. But initial price and reputation have to play a factor in those types of decisions.

End Your Programming Routine: I am super grateful that Jack First Inc is in business to help keep me going. I am not saying that I was pennywise and pound foolish but had I waited and bought what I really wanted, I don’t know that I would be writing about this subject. I certainly would be happier with my investment value and never wondering what-if. I can’t say that the revolver has ever treated my bad, is inaccurate, not reliable or anything like that. It is just cost a lot of time and money to repair. Maybe this is my foreign sports car?

February 1, 2023 – Making a Taper Gauge

February 1, 2023 /

I am slowly getting there. I suppose that I lost a little momentum over the holidays and it is taking a minute to get back there, but it is happening and I mean my sofa table project. Last weekend, I got to the point that I was ready to cut my legs. So that is what I am going to write about today.

First, I am going to start at the beginning. What am I doing? I am making what is called a Shaker styled leg. That means that it is tapered from the bottom to the top and those tapers will be on the inside edges. The outside two faces remain square.

The Shakers were a religious movement around the early 1800s as part of the great awakenings of that period. Shaker’s were know for their simplistic styles in efforts to maintain focus on worship. This has translated as furniture that lacks the adornment and decadence of the Victorian designs (they go by other names in the furniture/art/history circles).

So, I needed to taper some legs. I looked at buying some fixtures to do a generic version of this, but I soon settled on the fact that I would build my own purpose built ones. I had all of the materials, so let’s see how it went.

The first two things you need are a base and a fence. I chose a piece of plywood that will act as a sled against the saw fence as the base. The fixture fence was a piece 2×6 that I salvaged from my facia project this summer. That I send through the joiner to get a flat bottom and edge that I want to cut against.

Both the top and back of the fixture fence do not have to be perfect. The back for obvious reasons. On the top, I will mount some adjustable clamps. Because I can adjust for tightness, the top does not necessarily have to be square.

Measure and mark your taper on the base. When you figure that out, you can attach the fixture fence and base together. Counter sink the screws so that everything rides properly with the fixture.

I used some short mending plates to act as a stop for the front edge of the fixture. That way, as I push against the piece, the pressure will keep my workpiece tight against the fixture. My only other piece of advice here is keep metal away from the blade and make sure that the stop is placed low enough to contact your final dimensions. The clamps I placed roughly in equal thirds for distributed downward clamping pressure.

Amateur Tip #1 – The fixture fence should be as tall or taller than the workpiece thickness. Mine was shorter which meant that the clamps didn’t fully lock in place when adjusted to the minimum height. This is part safety and part quality. Had I have known, I could cut a fatter piece from my 2×6 and mounted it on edge

Amateur Tip #2 – After cutting the first face, save the off cut. Reattach the off cut to the main part with tape to maintain a flat (ish) surface for the second cut. If you can get away with rotating the cut edge to the top, then this wont be necessary. I picked the two faces that I wanted to remove and sometimes the first cut face needed to be facing down against the sled to get my taper on the proper side.

All in all, I am very happy with my first attempt. Part of this process is actually getting the proportions correct. I drew them to scale and the looked alright there. I think that they looked pretty good in the real world too. My next step is cutting mortises and tenons for the base. And that is another day.

End Your Programming Routine: There were a few things that I would change. Like for instance, I didn’t verify that my base was square, which is wasn’t. Consequently, my taper was a little more aggressive than I planned. But, that is OK. Experts would say that someone without experience should run test pieces or mockups. That’s great advice for commissions or expensive woods. In this case, my whole project is training. Live an learn, but I am happy with my first shaker legs.

January 31, 2023 – When the Hot Water Doesn’t Flow

January 31, 2023 /

OK, so I underestimated the hassle factor on this. I thought I was going to get off cheap and easy with $30 in parts and an hour of time. First problem, I couldn’t find the breaker. After a bunch of running up and down the stairs, I found out that my breaker panel is actually mislabeled on which breaker actually runs to the water heater.

I figured it was probably a 30 amp breaker, because it was 10 gauge wire coming in to the water heater. The panel was labelled a 20 amp breaker. Now, some years ago, we had some arcing in the panel and we paid an electrician who removed the top level breakers and shoved everything down in the panel. At that time, almost nothing was labeled so I never bothered.

I only label breakers as I find them. Worse case scenario, I can turn everything off with the main on the panel. But, as much a I have dinked around the house, I have never had opportunity to look at every circuit.

After testing to verify the power was finally off, it was time to drain the tank. Hook the hose up and run it to the sump. Open the valve and nothing. Come to find out that the drain valve on the tank is plugged up with mineral build up. So, now I have new problems. How to get the water out of the tank without burning myself or dumping 50 gallons of water all over the floor.

By the time I figured out how to approach this problem, I ran out of time to do what I needed to do. Plus, I needed time to obtain the parts so I spent another $30 on brass tube fittings to build something that could blow air back into the system and clear the drain. That took a couple of hours, but it worked. Finally, after three different attempts, I was able to drain the water heater.

In 2020, when I spent my entire summer remodeling the apartment, I did some water heater work there. I have known since we moved into the house in 2005 that there were a few low risk items that needed to be addressed. One of which was no catchment pan under the water heater. So I bought one. How ever, I wasn’t able to drain the water then either. So, I left it for another time. This was going to be the time.

First, I wanted to get the elements out so I could see how bad the inside of the tank was. Feeling good that I conquered the draining, soon changed to I didn’t have a socket to remove the element. It required a 1 1/2″ socket. So, another trip to the store. I also needed PVC for the drain line, although that was really optional for the initial job. Another $30 for those parts.

I removed the top element an there wasn’t much to see. These tanks are glass lined, so they are pretty impervious on the inside. But when it came to the bottom element, it was heavily corroded and my new $6 element socket quickly met it’s match. It tried penetrating oil, heat and hammering none of them worked. I needed to find a real socket, not the stamped sheet metal one for the most leverage possible.

These are tractor sized dimensions, to the tractor store for tools. Now, add another $40. I also didn’t check my PVC glue before the last trip which was also dried out. I had to get that too. But, finally, I got the bottom element out. All in all, it looked better than I was expecting. That being said, there was definitely some buildup on the elements.

Once drained, I wanted to flush the tank. Ideally, to do that I would get the pan underneath the tank so I could flush without sending water all over the floor. Fortunately, my son is strong enough that he can bear hug the tank while I slid the pan underneath it. I was able to complete the PVC work but ran out of time to actually flush the tank.

End Your Programming Routine: It is nice to have hot water again. I guess the degradation is so slow that you don’t realize what it used to be like. Hot water is continuous throughout my shower and the dishes again. After doing this job, I am convinced that this is a one hour job with the right knowledge and tools. That being said, I overpaid with time and materials. I don’t regret doing it myself because now I know but it wasn’t as cheap or as easy as had planned.

January 26, 2023 – Make Your Gas Cans Not Suck

January 26, 2023 /

Cleaning out my in-laws property two years ago, they had a generator that they upgraded. Consequently, I ended up with it. Unlike in Atlas Shrugged you cant make electricity from the static electricity in the air, you need fuel. So like all good preppers, I started buying gas cans when they were on sale and I was waiting for the winter price drop to fill them.

Before I did, I wanted to make some modifications for better use. It is a sad testimonial when you have to spend another $5 on a $20 gas can just so that it will work properly. The cans sold since 2012 are all but unusable due to modifications made to prevent vapors from evaporating by lazy users. Now, instead of letting vapor escape, you just spill copious amounts of fuel all over the ground since the cans are so difficult to operate.

P.S. My personal favorite is the sticker that is put on the can that says “Children under three should not be permitted to use this product”. I mean, can you imagine a four year old and a gas can? What if it was a non-smoking three year old? I am not even sure what they were actually insinuating.

Of course the cheapest modification you could do is drill a hole in the back of the gas can and cover the hole with tape (or even a cork). I warn you that just drilling the hole and not replacing the spout with a simple tube type, in a full can the gas will spill out the hole while you are trying to force the valve open to pour.

The modifications are easy to do. Once you do one, the rest are much quicker. One thing that I learned after I filmed the video is that if you drop the catchment filter inside the can, it is very difficult to remove. One other tip, if your can previously held gas, give it some time to evaporate or you will be dribbling gas all over the place and potentially on you trying to do this process.

End Your Programming Routine: I get it. The regulation to require gas can changes was an attempt to reduce greenhouse emissions. No matter where you stand on the issue, it is always laudable to try and do better. I don’t like evaporating gas either. But, this has to be one of the most in-effective changes ever made. I cant express how ridiculous it is to dump gas all over the ground because we are going to prevent it evaporating in the can.

January 25, 2023 – My New Sewing Machine

January 25, 2023 /

Maybe my time reading Self-Reliance magazine is starting to rub off on me as I have been thinking about getting a sewing machine. I was thinking that if I ran across one at Goodwill for $20 or so, I would get it. After sewing my kids Boy Scout patches on by hand for years, I am kind of tired of doing it.

My mom sews, so this is nothing new to me. Growing up, there was always a fully outfitted sewing room. Mostly, I asked mom to do this because she was much better than me, but I could do it in a pinch. In fact, as part of the sixth grade survey we had 18 weeks of Home Economics where we all sewed a basic drawstring bag. What I am trying to say is that it is not that far off that I could sew something.

Recently, we cleaned out my in-laws storage unit. It was either donate, trash or keep. I think that we ended up keeping too much and throwing out too much but it was what it was. I ran across this sewing machine and decided that this was going to be mine (if none of the heirs wanted it, which they didn’t). This means that I really need to my sofa table done so that I can put this sewing machine where my stereo is currently.

Now, I am not planning on doing anything really major but it sure is handy to have around when you have three or four patches to sew on. The truth is, my boys are of the age that I am ‘letting’ them do it. If they ask for help, then I will but I am no longer just taking initiative to sew on their patches. This is something that is really their responsibility with uniform compliance. I used to feel some degree of judgement but not anymore, they are plenty capable.

When I was in grade school, my mom would sew us one shirt. We got to pick the material and it was the shirt that we would wear for school pictures. Generally speaking, that shirt first went to the county fair before school started. So, we had to wait and visit it before we got to use it.

Going to the fabric store was really painful as a child. It seemed like we were there forever and there was definitely nothing a child was interested in, except maybe the scissors isle. There was one year, I picked a fabric for my shirt that had a silver thread running through it. I think my brother picked a fabric that had a gold thread running though it. We thought it was pretty cool.

I think that my last year, I was in fourth grade. My mom made a shirt where the Millennium Falcon was embroidered on the back. This would have been right before Return of the Jedi came out. It was the peak of Star Wars mania (for me at least). Unfortunately, it took too long to complete and so the shirt went to my brother because it didn’t fit me when it was completed. It did win a blue ribbon at the county fair.

There have been some times that I have been tempted to try and build a backpack or bag. For instance, I cant find an exact range bag with the features that I want. With both of my boys shooting trap, I just don’t have enough space for everything that we need on a weekly basis in my range bag. Wouldn’t be cool if I could just sew one up? This is probably way too ambitious but it is actually possible. This is how many technical gear companies have started, see a need and fill a need.

End Your Programming Routine: As a alluded to in the first sentence, Self-Reliance magazine has three or so projects that are pretty simple, like sewing a reusable bag out of feed sacks. You know, like the kind you can buy at the grocery store. This is not really about making dresses but a tool that can really be useful. Throughout my adult life there have been many times I threw something away because it was too difficult to mend or repair appropriately. This is a step at correcting that

January 10, 2023 – Fly Tied, #1

January 10, 2023 /

As with my philosophy, first build discipline and then proficiency. Well you could say that this is what I did. I wanted to tie a fly that used all of the materials I had on hand (I did have to buy hooks however). I saw no reason to buy more materials when I had plenty on hand. I also wanted to make something that was large. It is easier to do dexterity work when you are not at micro-scale.

I have alluded to this before but it used to be that fly fishing and fly tying was a very traditional endeavor. I have some pattern books, but I just wanted to make something. And what is more flashy then a streamer? These are the peacocks of the fly world. So, I found a picture of something that I liked the looks of and made up the rest.

Step one is to wrap the hook in thread as a base layer. Then I put down a layer of gold tinsel. My intent is to have a butt end with some exposed gold.

With my base layer down, I added black chenille. That simulates the body of an insect. I probably made a mistake using marabou (feather) as hackle, that simulates wings. Marabou is typically used as dubbing (or adding mass to a body, not as hackle. But remember, I was using what I had on hand.

After building up the head and adding head cement to hold it all together. I had tied my first fly in thirty years. Now, it wasn’t super tidy or good looking. I was thinking of naming it something in-appropriate, but didn’t. Maybe you can suggest something funny or unique? I have no illusions that this is the one to knock them dead. But this is the one that got me back into the game.

I learned a few things in this trial process. The first thing I learned was that my vice sucks. It essentially free spins with almost no pressure. I sure don’t remember that from the past. It is going to be a while before I actually do anything about replacing the vice. For one, I can’t justify doing something for a ‘someday I might want a better one’. Second, I have other projects/expenses lined up before this becomes a priority.

The second thing that I learned was that I have enough tools to make simple flies. I do plan to purchase more thread bobbins and hackle pliers to have some spares on hand and thinking that I might make more complicated flies eventually. But for now, what I have will work for what I am doing. I will never give up on two is one and one is none in case something gets lost or broken but this should be fine for what I am doing now.

I don’t think the hook I used was proper. The pattern I emulated called for a #3 to #5 hook. This is actually a #2 but it seems short to me. This hook was billed as a bait hook but I think the shank is too short. There are specific or common fly hooks and this was not one of them. So, I think my output would be neater an cleaner if I actually used a better hook. But again, this got me going and I could buy it locally.

End Your Programming Routine: I really wanted to prove to myself that I could still do it. I think that I have lost some skill and technique as well as knowledge after all these years but proof of concept is complete. I am trying to figure out exactly how I want to handle all of this but this is a good start. I am really trying to keep my toolbox fallacy at bay and this is the way that I started.

January 4, 2023 – Take Your Saw Blades To the Dentist

January 4, 2023 /

You know, I suppose that I am lucky. I go to the dentist twice a year. One time I was talking to my dentist and he said that some people have teeth so bad that they have to come in once a month for cleaning. Whatever the chemistry or the diet or the personal habits are, there is enough build-up necessary to have a cleaning session.

A lot of times, your saw blades have the same problem. The quality of the cut is not necessarily the sharpness of the blade, but the build-up of the sap/pitch/crud on the teeth. Not only does that build-up effect the quality of the cut but it also effects the quality of the blade. Meaning, the harder the metal has to work the more heat build-up there is and the more likely dullness and or damage will occur.

Just like the dentist, I brush my teeth, then I scrape them using something like an X-acto knife and then I brush them again. My picture above is after brushing them once. First, I spray on some simple green. I have the blade in a very cheap automotive fluids pan to contain everything and let them soak for 15 minutes. Then I use a bronze bristle brush like you would find in the gun cleaning section of the store.

When to to this is usually visually apparent. You can see the build-up on the saw blade. Now, I am as lazy as anyone else. I don’t like doing this and it takes away from my productive shop time. So, I make the decision on a task by task basis. If I am cutting construction lumber, then I don’t really care so much about cut quality, but on my woodworking projects, I do care about the finish cuts.

All that being said, I would also be more diligent depending on the quality of the blade. The one pictured is a $40 blade today ($30 at the time I bought it). I suppose that this is nothing to sneeze at but there are much more expensive blades. It is a decent quality blade and cut, but in the end these are consumables.

And with all of that, I am not manic about it. I spend thirty minutes doing the major cleaning and maintenance and then I move on. It doesn’t look like it came out of the box but it works much better than before I cleaned it.

Before I scare anyone off, the frequency of cleaning has a lot to do with what you are cutting. I tend to cut mostly fir, hemlock, cedar and spruce. These are high resin woods where the buildup happens immediately. Working with the American hardwoods like oak, maple, walnut and others the pitch buildup will be significantly less. My air dried fir has hidden pitch pockets that are still liquid so it doesn’t take long to coat everything in pitch (including my fingers).

Up until this point I have been referring to circular saw blades. Band saw blades are effected even more from buildup. When I am re-sawing boards, it is nearly impossible to get a straight cut when the blade is not clean. I do the same process, I just leave the blade on the saw when I do it.

There is probably a lot more to say on the topic of saw blades in general but I wanted to focus on cleaning them today. There are specific products for this job on the market, but Simple Green (or generic substitute) works just fine for me. That being said, I have never tried them so they may work better than what I am doing. There are other products that are meant prevent the problem in the first place. Think of it like Pam for your tools. I worry about that stuff effecting the finish that I eventually put on the wood.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are struggling with quality cuts, take a look at your blade. You might be amazed at what a difference a cleaning will make on the final outcome. You also might need a more appropriate blade for your task, so try cleaning first, then replace if results are not desirable.