Tool repair: Hacksaws, Bench Grinders and ACE Hardware

As a known estate and garage sale habitué, it shouldn't surprise anyone that more than half of my tools are less than new & are sometimes purchased in need of love.

Today (out of a box of tools labelled "50 sents each") I got a reciprocating saw-blade holder. Really, just a handle that would let you use Sawzall blades as a small handsaw. This one was made by Craftsman, and except for the missing thumbscrew to secure the blade is in great shape. Of course I tried to track it down, but it either came as an included accessory of a reciprocating saw, or wasn't deemed worthy of maintaining parts for (the plate that grips the blade is trapped / non-removable, so the only replacement part *IS* the thumbscrew.) No matter, my local ACE hardware has a ton of bolts and thumbscrews, so an easy fix.

Took the handle to the store and using the bins of bolts determined that it was 1/4", 20 tpi (threads per inch.) Second step was to decide what sort of head I wanted - wing nut, thumbscrew, slotted, hex drive with round knurled side - lots of options. Having no idea what the original looked like (although I'm guessing low-profile knurled edge, coin-slot to tighten so as not to get in the way) I decided on a thumbscrew. I may have gone with something with a lower-profile head, but this handle can be used to grip the blade either way - straight up, or flipped 180 degrees, so if a thumbscrew would get in the way one way, I could simply remove and flip the blade and retighten and be back in business.
ACE "only" had 2 lengths in the thread size that I needed - too long, and even longer. I really only need 3/8" of threaded length and leaving it long would have gotten in the way even worse. So, in addition to the thumbscrew, I also bought a stainless steel nut of the right size, and a couple washers. Sure, I probably have those, but rather than finding them in the garage, it was easy to spend the extra 20 cents to save time. After I got home, I slipped the washers onto the thumbscrew and tightened down the nut - the threads under the washers and nut were about the length that I wanted. If I wanted to leave any longer length of threads, I would have bought 2 nuts and not bothered with the washers and simply tightened the nuts against each other. I then used a hacksaw (although using my reciprocating saw would have had a certain poetry to it) to cut off the extra threads. The next part could be accomplished with a hand file, but I wanted this tool to cost less than buying one new (time is money) so I used a bench grinder to smooth the end of the threads up to the stainless steel nut. Depending on how good your hacksaw job is, this can be pretty painless & accomplished quickly without the need for quenching.

I then removed the nut and washers, and did a trial fit. Note - one of the main reasons for putting the nut(s) on is so that you can keep the threads clean / relatively burr free. Simply removing the nut slowly can clean up / chase the threads a bit for you. That is why I spent the extra couple of cents on the stainless steel nut - as it was a bit harder than the thumbscrew, it was adjusting it, rather than the thumbscrew adjusting the nut. If there was room for 2 nuts, I wouldn't have bothered with stainless steel. Trial fit - a bit long. Replaced the nut without the washers and got a cube of ice from the kitchen. Too short to make an adjustment cut with a hacksaw, I would have to grind off about the thickness of a washer. Tightly trapping the "thumb" part of the screw between my thumb and cradled ice cube, I ground off what I needed, rounding a bit this time to allow easier insertion. I got the idea for using ice for grinding from Frank Ford's Frets.Com website. Thanks Frank! It works great! The whole site is interesting / useful, but his shop tips are wonderful.

To conclude - even if a part isn't available, there isn't any reason you can't find (and adjust) something into a suitable replacement. A minimum number of metalworking tools you should already have (hacksaw, bench grinder, files) will get you there most of the time. Ice is wonderful for grinding & will prevent you from removing temper and/or keep you from burning yourself. A well stocked local hardware store is worth its weight in... ...broken tools that would otherwise be binned or recycled. If it is a complex part, try the manufacturer first, generally through their website.

Oak Column Plant Stand

This one happened fairly easily - it isn't a very big project - less than three feet tall, with a top just nine inches on a side.
It started like this: David and I were hanging out in his living room not many days after he proposed to Claire. I mentioned that I would like to make something for him. He said "There is one thing I would like" and brought out a plant stand that was made 90 to 100 years ago by his Great-Grandfather. It was made of Oak, with a fairly dark / darkened finish. I took measurements and made a sketch then and there. And within the week started to work on it. This is the perfect kind of project for a smaller shop craftsman to work on. There is nothing better than building something that your customer can't just buy from a catalog.

Design: purely dictated by the existing piece I was trying to match. Four tapered boards make up the column, the top and bottom are both made of two boards tongue and grooved into each other. 3/4" Cove molding dressed the top and bottom of the column. Nothing too difficult. The final part was to make two full-size patterns of the tapered pieces - 3 pieces of graph paper taped together for each, with the elongated regular trapezoid shape cut out of each. Why two? The second had to allow for the thickness of the wood of the wider sides. There are four small feet, also wood under the bottom board so that if things do get too wet, the stand won't be sitting too deeply in a puddle. Also note that the top and the bottoms are square to each other and exactly the same nine inches square in size - sure looks like the top is bigger in the photos, huh?

Construction: First stop was Woodcrafters for the Oak - I had some quartersawn in stock, but wanted grain that came close to approximating the original. So I went looking for relatively small cathedral grain for the wider sides. Woodcrafters obliged. At a bit over 26 inches tall, there isn't a lot of wood in making one of these & after bringing a long board to the desk I was talked out of buying it by the clerk. I was chatting with him about what it was going to be used for and he mentioned that they also had a bunch of shorts available. I went where he directed, and sure enough, found even prettier pieces in the short bin. Once back home (and after I had jointed and thicknessed the wood to 3/4" that I planned for) I laid the larger of the two templates on the wood, looking for the prettiest grain. Once found, I lightly traced the outline on the wood in pencil, and started looking for the rest of the pieces in the wood. Oh! As is obvious from the photo, at some point it was decided that I should make 2 of these stands - someone else saw my sketch & asked if I would make one for them as well. As it isn't twice as hard to make 2 or more of something when you are already set up to make 1, I readily agreed. The photo is interesting because it shows the grain flowing from one stand to the next. As I laid out the tongue and groove tops and bottoms as one long board, it wasn't a surprise for this to happen. Once cut into 4 pieces, I used the prettiest two for tops - what you see are the less visible bottoms, which are even less visible with the molding applied.

One good trick to share for cutting - the angle of each side is just 2 degrees. I used a Wixey digital angle gauge to do a couple of the cuts - I zeroed the gauge my tablesaw top, then I laid my angle cut jig on its side on the tablesaw, and adjusted it until it read exactly 2 degrees. This technique would work for any taper cut such as table legs. Kinda cool for those times when the eyeball alone isn't good enough. A related tip - the battery in the Wixey is the same size used by LED tea-lights. So, if your battery dies it might be cheaper to buy a pack of those for a dollar or two than a replacement battery alone for Six dollars!

Most of the angle cuts were done with a template and carpet tape as most of the grain I wanted wasn't aligned in any way with a board edge. Assembly was relatively straightforward - using offcuts as clamping cauls, Titebond III for the glue up, etc.

The only tricky part was back-sanding the molding to conform to the column taper. This was only necessary for the molding on the bottom. Finished with tinted water-based Poly (it is a plant stand, it Is going to get wet) in a reasonably close shade, covered with a clear gloss water-based Poly of the same brand. I also made sure I turned the project over and sealed the feet and bottom of this stand too. If there is the slightest chance of it ever standing in a puddle, it may as well have a fighting chance. I rubbed out that final clear coat with very fine steel wool to give it more of a semi-gloss finish. A simple but attractive stand. My hats off to David's Great-Grandpa!