Isaac Hart
04-18-2002, 08:10 PM
I work around steel, concrete, and un-godly miles of copper wire everyday. In my duties, I am required thread, bend, cut, compress, weld, and even electrify(justy the wires :) ) , cold dirty metal. After work, I look foreward to getting sawdust all over me, though since christmas its more woodtuning shavings than anything else. When my lathe broke, I was devistated. I even considered buying a new lathe, just because it was going to be a few weeks till I got the replacent part. Luckly, Thanks to a little advice from some of you about a special trick, I was able to repair the broken piece.
This got me thinking about how often I am able to circumvent hobby-destroying problems thanks to the skilles I have gained in construction. I have been able to make my own metal tools, jigs, and repairs, some of which would have cost alot of money. I feel that all woodworkers should aquire some metalworking skills. Tempering steel can be done with a house hold oven. You can weld mild steel with a $60 Oxy/MAPPGas setup, and can get the basic knowlege out of a $20 book. You can even use Oxy/Acetalyne for under $300, or an arc welder for under $400 (though I recomend a course at a comunity college for these two). You can get taps and dies to make your own threads on metal for well under $100. You would be surprised how much money you would save.
some things I have made/repaired with metal
Spoke shave
gringing support
sharpening jig
steel topped workbench (good to weld on :) )
marking knife
work knives (i have actually made four, three for coworkers and one for me)
large compass (made from an old drywall circle cutter)
profile scrapers
and most recently, my lathe
I dont know.....just a thought. What do you guys think?
Isaac
P.S.: I got the replacement part for my lathe today. I put it on the shelf.....havent even opened the box yet. The old, formerly broken, part works just fine.
This got me thinking about how often I am able to circumvent hobby-destroying problems thanks to the skilles I have gained in construction. I have been able to make my own metal tools, jigs, and repairs, some of which would have cost alot of money. I feel that all woodworkers should aquire some metalworking skills. Tempering steel can be done with a house hold oven. You can weld mild steel with a $60 Oxy/MAPPGas setup, and can get the basic knowlege out of a $20 book. You can even use Oxy/Acetalyne for under $300, or an arc welder for under $400 (though I recomend a course at a comunity college for these two). You can get taps and dies to make your own threads on metal for well under $100. You would be surprised how much money you would save.
some things I have made/repaired with metal
Spoke shave
gringing support
sharpening jig
steel topped workbench (good to weld on :) )
marking knife
work knives (i have actually made four, three for coworkers and one for me)
large compass (made from an old drywall circle cutter)
profile scrapers
and most recently, my lathe
I dont know.....just a thought. What do you guys think?
Isaac
P.S.: I got the replacement part for my lathe today. I put it on the shelf.....havent even opened the box yet. The old, formerly broken, part works just fine.