I remember sitting at my workbench ten years ago, staring at a rusted-to-hell Stanley plane I’d pulled from a damp cellar, thinking I’d need a chemistry degree and a mountain of expensive solvents to bring it back. I was wrong. Continue reading How to Restore Vintage Hand Tools
I remember standing over a heavy industrial lathe back in ’84, the smell of cutting oil thick in the air and the rhythmic screech of a dull bit grating against my nerves. I watched a young apprentice try to force Continue reading Common Metal Surface Finishing Methods
I remember standing on the shop floor of a heavy fabrication plant back in ’84, watching a kid try to force a precision job on a machine that was clearly out of alignment. The screech of the wheel against the Continue reading Using a Metal Surface Grinder for Flatness
I can still smell the burnt ozone and hot steel from my first week in the fabrication shop forty years ago. I remember a young apprentice—well, I was that apprentice—thinking he could breeze through a sharpening job by just shoving Continue reading Using a Bench Grinder for Metalwork
I remember standing in a fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a kid try to force a worn-out bushing into a housing with nothing but a heavy mallet and sheer stubbornness. He thought he could skip the prep work, but Continue reading Replacing Worn Metal Components
I remember sitting in my old shop back in the nineties, staring at a piece of walnut that had been ruined because some kid thought he could skip the prep work. He’d tried to force a copper strip into a Continue reading Methods for Metal Inlay
I remember standing in a fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a young apprentice try to muscle through a thick plate of mild steel with a brand-new unit he’d just pulled out of the box. He was treating that machine Continue reading Using a Plasma Cutter on Steel
I remember standing in a massive industrial fabrication shop back in ’84, watching a kid try to use a glorified toy to join two thick sheets of steel. He was sweating, cursing, and probably about five minutes away from blowing Continue reading How Spot Welding Machines Work
I remember sitting in my first shop back in the late seventies, the air thick with the scent of hot oil and burnt scale, listening to the rhythmic clack-clack-clack of a pneumatic hammer. My mentor, a man who didn’t say Continue reading Techniques for Joining Metal With Rivets
I was out in the garage last Tuesday, staring at a cracked cast-iron skillet that a neighbor had practically begged me to throw away. He’d spent a fortune on one of those fancy, pre-packaged metal repair kits he saw in Continue reading Essential Tools for Metal Repair Kits