Stories of family, creativity, and diverse distractions.

Tag: metalworking Page 1 of 3

Machining, welding, brazing, bending, folding, spindling and mutilating metal.

Let’s Make a Half Hitch Tool

When you tie your own flies you make a lot of knots. You need to keep the fly materials and thread from coming unwound from the hook and the most appropriate knot for the job is the half-hitch. But fishing flies are tiny, and you need to place the knots in exactly the right place as you tie the fly. It’s really hard to tie a tiny knot with your fingers and place it precisely. You need a half hitch tool. Let’s make one!

Angling for Perfection With A Dovetail Cutter

I have written several prior articles about milling cutters, and today it’s time for another. We’re going to look at a specialized cutter for making dovetails. Once again, the person who named these didn’t waste much time on the task. They’re called dovetail cutters.

Making Curves the Easy Way – Corner Rounding End Mills

I’ve written before about end mills, but so far all we’ve discussed are the straight ones, for cutting square corners. Those are real workhorses, and I use them most of the time. But once in a while I need to make a curved shape. What then? Corner rounding end mills, that’s what!

A Little Straight Talk About Straight End Mills

Last week I wrote a brief introduction to end mills. Big shout-out to the one person who read it! Today I’d like to further test everyone’s patience and go into it a bit further. We’ll start by talking about straight end mills, which are by far the most common.

Spinning Blades Of Death! An Intro To End Mills

Awhile back I made a post about my milling machine. In that post I promised to talk further about end mills and other milling cutters. Well, today’s that dreaded your lucky day!

A Milling Machine Is Never Run Of The Mill

In this post I talked briefly about my milling machine. It’s one of the most important tools in my machine shop. Today let’s explore it a little further.

Let’s Make an Ultralight Lid

A while back I found a really light titanium bowl, and I intended to use it as an ultralight cooking pot for solo backpacking. But it didn’t come with a lid, and you really need one to cook efficiently. So the project went to the back burner, so to speak, and I used the pot I already had. But today we’re going to finish the build.

A Real Life Hack: Getting the Most from Hacksaws

Does your arm hurt when you even think about cutting steel with a hacksaw? Mine used to hurt too. But I learned a few things about how to use hacksaws, and it made a huge difference. Today you can learn some hints too. Your arm will thank you!

File This One Under Tool Talk: The File

Even though I have some fancy power tools for shaping metal, I still reach for files every time I’m in the shop. As I mentioned in the shop tour, I have quite a large collection of files, in many shapes and sizes. Today I want to talk about them.

Hammer Time With The King of Tools!

Shop textbooks call hammers “the king of tools”. Maybe that’s because the first human tool use probably involved smacking something with a rock. Or maybe it was because blacksmiths used to make all the tools, and they mostly used a hammer to do it. But either way, today we’re going to have a look at hammers.

Page 1 of 3

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén