How common is this ?

[francist]

Here is the pile of hand screws

Nice handscrews— the black ones are really cool looking. Did you use a chemical dye on them for the black, like a ferrous sulphate or similar? They look great regardless, and nice handles too.

-frank

 

[Dan Krager]

I've carried these oak rafter cut offs around for almost 40 years, all the time intending to make clamps. I found them in a metal rain barrel into which they were thrown when cut and rain accumulated around them till the barrel was full. So they were underwater for several years where their tanin reacted with the iron in the barrel until they were black through and through. When I "rescued" them, I let them dry out and they've been dry since. No stain, just BLO (boiled liinseed oil). I made an all wooden one including wooden threads, but the oak is not strong enough for threads at 3/4" diameter, and no left hand threads, so it didn't "crank" like these are supposed to. I wanted to make them 12" capacity because I've never seen 12" hand screws. The handles I turned for the all wood one were black through and through, too. I may try to remake that one with maple dowels using a vintage Stanley 77 dowel cutter. And it would be a fun project to make a LH thread box for 3/4" dowel.....etc. etc. etc.

DanK

 

[7milesup]

When I do woodworking it seems like if I make a mistake, it is EXACTLY 1" off, and it is never in the 'too long' direction.

I made some lock rods for my employer yesterday. They are about 56" long or so. The very first one I cut was too short. It is quite embarrassing to tell the boss to order more stock because I can't read a tape measure. Then he asks, "you do precision machining, don't you?" *gulp* Why yes, of course, once I get past this dang tape measure.

 

[Dan Krager]

The trick to precision work is to eliminate the tape measure! Number sticks are a fairly recent invention introduced by the separation of designer and craftsman duties. Number sticks became the means of communication between the functions. Early craftsmen were the designers AND makers and there were no number sticks. How did they do such precision work without them? The answer usually rests on the story stick. In woodworking it was a piece of wood long enough to accommodate the longest dimension and it contained marks to represent distances from a reference point. Three sides were used to represent X, Y, and Z axis. Every detail of construction including joinery, drawer parts, door parts, etc., both size and location were included. The design was conceived in ratios based upon an arbitrary unit and a sketch may have been drawn to represent a visualization of those ratios. Any recorded "dimensions" were ratios. The execution of the design was determined by the constraints of the destination of the designed piece. We call it "scaling". The constraints were marked on the stick and ratios used to subdivide the distances from the reference end of the stick. Transfers of distances for work were direct using a sharp instrument. Dividers, proportional dividers, and marking knives were the common "measuring" tools.

Agreed that these methods are probably not entirely suitable for space travel. But there may be good reason to question the methods we do use when earthbound. And the utter and total reliance upon number sticks is the most sketchy.

And I'm almost old enough to remember the "before".....LOL

DanK

 

[strantor]

The trick to precision work is to eliminate the tape measure! Number sticks are a fairly recent invention introduced by the separation of designer and craftsman duties. Number sticks became the means of communication between the functions. Early craftsmen were the designers AND makers and there were no number sticks. How did they do such precision work without them? The answer usually rests on the story stick. In woodworking it was a piece of wood long enough to accommodate the longest dimension and it contained marks to represent distances from a reference point. Three sides were used to represent X, Y, and Z axis. Every detail of construction including joinery, drawer parts, door parts, etc., both size and location were included. The design was conceived in ratios based upon an arbitrary unit and a sketch may have been drawn to represent a visualization of those ratios. Any recorded "dimensions" were ratios. The execution of the design was determined by the constraints of the destination of the designed piece. We call it "scaling". The constraints were marked on the stick and ratios used to subdivide the distances from the reference end of the stick. Transfers of distances for work were direct using a sharp instrument. Dividers, proportional dividers, and marking knives were the common "measuring" tools.

Agreed that these methods are probably not entirely suitable for space travel. But there may be good reason to question the methods we do use when earthbound. And the utter and total reliance upon number sticks is the most sketchy.

And I'm almost old enough to remember the "before".....LOL

DanK

Hey, I've been using "story sticks" (story papers) for a long time and didn't know it. For woodworking and non-critical fabrication, especially when I'm making some kind of add-on to an existing thing where I didn't come up with the numbers, I often use paper instead of a ruler or tape measure. It doesn't really matter what the numbers are. Put a paper up against a thing, mark its dimensions. If you need to subdivide it, fold in half, or thirds, or quarters, whatever you need. 8.5x11" copy paper is rarely big enough but I've got a roll of butcher paper that gives me a story stick however long I want. Especially helpful when transferring dimensions to/from planar and nonplanar surfaces.

 

[jwmay]

One of the lessons I learned from my time in construction was to find as many ways as possible to avoid remembering numbers. I never heard of a story stick, but templates were standard procedure for anything small enough to carry around. Need 200 boards this long? Measure one accurately, mark it TEMPLATE, and make 200 that match it.
That paper trick is brilliant. I wish I'd have thought of it.

 

[Just for fun]

It sounds pretty common. It happened to me today I measured 9.5 inches BUT, I marked it on the wrong side 8.5 Inches. Unfortunately, I didn't measure twice like I should have.

 

[StevSmar]

When I do woodworking it seems like if I make a mistake, it is EXACTLY 1" off, and it is never in the 'too long' direction...

The number of times I’ve done that while woodworking too… Now when I do it, its a signal that its time to have a break.

I have a 48” Lufkin steel rule that’s MM on one side. On the other side it’s Inches divided by 8th’s on the bottom, and inches divided by 10th’s on the top… I’d like to get rid of this ruler…