Stories of family, creativity, and diverse distractions.

Tag: tool talk Page 1 of 2

Posts about tools: selecting, buying, etc.

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.

It Ain’t No Vice to Have a Big Vise!

It’s all very well to have a file, or a hacksaw. If you can’t hold the work tight you really won’t get much done. That’s where a vise comes in. Let’s chat about them for a minute, shall we?

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.

Are your rulers measuring up?

Walt’s recent posts on levels and squares had me thinking about other tools that might need a closer look. I took a look around the house and found a massive number of measuring tapes, rulers and so forth. So I thought a look at the various types might be handy.

Let’s Test How Square My Square Really Is

I may be getting old, but I still don’t believe it’s hip to be square. Nevertheless, I expect my carpenter’s square to be at least as square as Pat Boone. But how do you test a square to find out?

Page 1 of 2

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén