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I have finally finished my portable tool rack design. It is a tool roll, rack and box, all in one. Maybe not really a box, but then it may be better. Read along, and you can be the judge. Before I let the cat out of the bag and show you the vagabond tool rack,
let me give you the background on this project. I have been testing Ecopoxy as an adhesive. They are not marketing it as an adhesive, but I think they really should. I love this stuff.
This nice jagged chip is about to be glued.
To this chair leg.
I waxed my clamp first so it wouldn’t become part of the chair leg, and then I smeared the epoxy. The resin component of the ecopoxy had crystals in the bottom, kind of like the crystals that will form in honey. I crunched them up with a Popsicle stick and stirred them in. I was a bit nervous, with this, but a test is a test. It stirred up a bit cloudy, but as you can see, after adding the catalyst the glue became transparent with no evidence of cloudiness. The epoxy was not thick, so it went into the pores and gaps without too much work. The setting time is quite long, so I was able to paint both surfaces quite well, join then and even dabble a bit more in to fill holes. There was no smell at all. I also painted a bit onto the surface of my worktable, where it was a bit lower than the rest of the table. An odd sort of fix and test. My worktable is juniper, so I managed to do a test of Ecopoxy on a fairly acid wood as well. As another rather vicious test, I added five new mallets to my mallet collection.
Mallets tend to get a bit of impact, so using a glue to make a mallet is cruel. Osage has a bit of oil to it, so it is also a rather cruel test. Using Aluminum Bronze, and joining it to osage is rather going over the top as far as pushing a glue. I also used some ash, since that is kind of expected as a handle and will work as a comparison if the rest fails. So far the chair and the mallets are all holding up fine. I have not gone easy on them either. I have to say this is a very good glue, long setting time, rugged finish, unlimited shelf life, forgiving mixing ratio, no smell to speak of, and it takes weight and impact well. When you throw in that it is food safe, and marine grade water proof, this stuff is a hands down winner. I have quite a few other tests about, but it will take a bit of time before I can say how well they have held up. The chair and the mallets are the sort of thing that I have seen other glues immediately fail from. Bob
When grinding down a few old drill bits to make other tools, I noticed that the spiral on a point was quite lovely. This inspired me to produce this design. This is a scratch awl, for leather and woodwork. The awl itself is made of M2 tool steel. The handle is ash and leather with a stainless steel ring. The grip by the way, is wonderful. I am tempted to make several gouges and chisels with this grip. One thing I have not seen, apart from a tool roll, is a leatherworkers holder for tools, made from leather. Kind of hard to find in a search, since leatherworkers make aprons, rolls, holsters, belts and pouches for everyone else. In western woodworking, one of the common rites of passage is the manufacture of a tool box. It is certainly a good test and demonstration of skill. It is also a nice way to showcase your skills. Because of these things, my fascination with tool containers, and my desperate need to organize my tools, I decided to make a leatherworker’s tool holder. Of course I decided to try to be a bit artistic and to make the holder have a timeless sort of quality.
I love multifunctional tools. Sadly, most of them don’t really work very well. Here is one that is a real gem.
The bottom divider is unmodified. Works great, and it can hold a pencil. The top one is modified by having one point ground down. It will not measure quite as small a gap. It is however a much more useful tool. The leather sheath above it holds extra bits and protects the divider. The bit pocket has a snap at the top to put bits in and a snap at the bottom to pour them out. It is a bit flawed as the sharp bits fall right into your hand, so you need to be careful. |
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