My Brilliant Wife's Invention!

Here is my brilliant wife’s latest invention!

She has posted it for sale, on Etsy!

Her invention is called the SkeinSnake!  It zips up around a skein of yarn.  This way, the skein can be washed without all the tangling.  People who want to preshrink fibers, remove the odd chemicals,  and relax the wave from recycled yarn, can use this to easily and cleanly do it.  It also can be used to keep a good wrinkle in a broomstick skirt!

Here is a nice skein of yarn ready to wash.

We are going to go ahead and roll it into a figure eight to make it a bit smaller and easier to manage!

Ne

And we will start putting it into the skein snake.    It all starts with closing the zipper around the skein!

Then the skein gets zipped into the skeinsnake!

A rather handy tool for knitters, especially those who want precision fits and to be able to take garments apart and reuse the yarn.

It covers itself at the end.  This allows different sizes of skeins to be washed.

When the skein shrinks a bit inside, there is no problem with the skeinsnake!

Closes with a snap!

Here it is flipped over.  A neat package, easy to wash.

I think she came up with a fairly clever tool here.  Unique and useful.

Bob

January 27th, 2009 | Category: Tools | 2 comments

Repairing a Japanese Saw

In a previous post reviewing the Grizzly Japanese Chisels, I mentioned the repair of a Japanese Saw that had it’s handle broken.

Broken Saw handle with Replacement being made.

On the left is the new handle mortise being made.  On the right is the broken handle.  Note that the mortise on the new handle is smaller, in width and length.  This way, when it is deep enough, I can shave off the sides and make the mortise fit perfectly.

Since the chisel I started the job with broke, I made an improvised chisel to finish the job.

Rig Job Chisel

Finished Rig Job Chisel

I made the handle from a Shaker Peg. The flared end made it a great chisel for pushing with the palm. I may modify this a touch and make several more like it. I really like the feel of this for a handle.

Speaking of handles, the saw handle turned out quite nice.

Saw Handle

Ash is strong, lasting and pretty.

Full Saw

Saw

Now I have a unique handmade version of a Japanese replaceable blade saw.

Bob

January 26th, 2009 | Category: Flowers, Gardening, Hand Tools, Husbandry, Tool Making, Tools, Tutorials, Woodworking | Leave a comment

Grizzly Japanese Chisels and Gouges, Part 4.5 Deep Tennon

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, (Part 4.5,) Part 5

I broke a Japanese saw handle a while back, and I have been needing to remake it.

Chisels and Saws

The old handle cracked out.  The saw itself is not so bad, but the handle was a lemon.    No problem here I like to remake handles.  This called for a fine one eighth inch wide tennon two inches deep.  Ages ago I bought a bunch of WWII or Korean War army stretchers at an auction.  This is from one of the wooden bars on it.  I think it is ash.

A two inch deep tennon is a good test for a questionable chisel.   I ground a new edge on the broken, smallest chisel in the Grizzly Japanese Chisel set.  It is one eighth of an inch wide and about half an inch deep to make it stronger.

Broken Chisel

In the photo above, if you look close, you can see that the chisel is now cracked. At about one inch deep, the chisel failed. Broken right in the middle of the blade. I am hoping that this particular chisel was bad, and it’s replacement will be fine.

I wanted to finish the job, and the tool box with my fine chisels in it was not handy, so I made a quick rig job chisel with a one eighth inch square bar of pretempered M2 high speed steel. This is not a bad steel for holding an edge, but it is brittle and not a good choice for a chisel that is making a deep hole.

Not even close to professional chisel

As you can see the angle is off on the chisel day one. I was just doing a rig job to get another job finished.

Chisel almost done!

Here the chisel is nearly finished.

With a bolt screwed on to add structure to the handle, it is a usable tool. Being crooked, increases the chance of an odd angle putting stress on the tool. Being only one eighth inch square gives it a much finer cross section than the original chisel. M2 is the wrong steel for the job. All this is going against the tool. In addition, the last inch is much harder on a tool than the first inch of a deep mortise.

Yet this hideous rig job held up and did the job. I was much rougher on it, since I really didn’t care about it. It blew away the inexpensive Japanese Chisel. It stayed sharper, was stronger, and could fit in the hole sideways to clean the sides of the mortise.

Hopefully the new chisel replacement will be better than the M2 rig job. I may just have to remake the M2 chisel. It was a pretty nice chisel after all.

Bob

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, (Part 4.5,) Part 5

January 23rd, 2009 | Category: Hand Tools, Metalworking, Tool Box, Tool Making, Tools | One comment

Nifty Hand Cart Plans on fullchisel.com


Steven Shepherd has a really neat post on an 1856 hand cart.

I really want to make one. It would be handy around the yard!

Bob

January 22nd, 2009 | Category: Hand Tools, Tool Making, Woodworking | 2 comments

Outdoor Workshop for the Shade Tree Woodworker

Outdoor workbenches

I have made an experiment of working outdoors.

Three workbenches here.
Three Workbenches

The one in front consists of two sawhorses supporting a four foot by ten foot frame. Sixteen foot long slabs of cedar make the table.

The one in the middle is treated pine. It has to be covered because of the pattern makers vise.

The far one is waxed cedar. Everything is either waterproof, safe to cover or put away at the end of the day.

A comfortable area
It is a comfortable area, the goal is make woodwork and other tool use, more fun.

Shelves, place for scrap and materials are all convenient along with a few odd bits for inspiration.

By the act of transporting tools out to work, I learn which ones are critical. Even so the amount of tools in use can become fairly large.

Tools on Table

In winter this shop walls stop most of the Northern winds. The sun is unblocked in the winter.

Sun lit shop

In the summer, the Southern breezes pass in and the trees grow their leaves back and give me shade.

Trees for a roof

Trees

In my area of Texas there are not a lot of great weather days in a year, so I have to make as much of them as I can. Summer nights, with a nice light on, can however be a dream for working.

Bob

January 21st, 2009 | Category: Woodworking | 3 comments
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