Quarantine Projects!

hman said:
I start with bacon grease. Boil it and an equal volume of water for a while, stirring occasionally, to extract the salt. Discard the water. Then dissolve the lard in kerosene. My cutting fluid of choice for aluminum. A bit of the lard will separate out during colder days, but it still works well.
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That sounds like a good method. It stays in liquid form because of the kerosene, I assume. Kerosene and lard are both supposed to be good cutting fluids so combining them is kind of a win win.
 
Not to sideline this thread, but I just received a bunch of 1018 steel to keep me busy over the next few weeks. I've read that COVID-19 can live on hard surfaces for days. Is this safe to handle? Should I wait a few days? Should I spray them with something?

To stay with this thread, I just finished my mill stop that attaches to the mill table. Now, I'll start working on my vise version.
 
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Might not hurt to wash it all down with soap and water. Wash your hands after moving them around. Seems like the most likely place for the virus to live is on stuff that the general public touches a lot, like door handles, ATM machines, grab bars on the bus, stuff like that. But you never know. Maybe the guy at the steel yard had it, didn't know, and sneezed on your steel.

Just to be safe wash it down and let it dry in the sun awhile. Seems like the two things that kill it readily are soap and UV rays.
 
I'm a little afraid of rust using soap and water. Are there alternatives?
 
As long as it dries quickly in the sun rust will be minimal. You will probably get some very light flash rust. You could wipe it all down with alcohol maybe.
 
Rootpass said:
I built an adapter for my cheap tool and cutter grinder to grind square lathe tools. I don’t have a dovetail cutter so I used a 60* countersink and then got into the corners with an 1/8” end-mill. It works very well and by widening the slot and adding set screws I can grind any size I need. View attachment 317885View attachment 317886
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Nice job. Any plans you would like to share? South Africa is also under lockdown from 24:00 tonight for 21 days. PLAYTIME in the shop.
 
I wonder if hydrogen peroxide would work and be better than soap and water?
 
I think hydrogen peroxide is a very strong oxidizer of ferrous metals. Maybe not at drug store concentrations though. Not sure.
 
Living up to your handle Low tech, but that's what I've been doing here at home with delivery's. Everybody be safe out there. Mike
 
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