And please spread the word if you like what you see here. Thank you!
A Look at the Proxxon Motorized Angle Polisher
Last issue, I wrote about Adam Savage restoring the yellowed plastic cover of a vintage Nagra IV-S audio recorder. He ended up using a combination of a 12% hydrogen-peroxide bath and stages of a polishing compound to bring the cover back to its former glory. In this video, he talks about the Proxxon motorized angle polisher he uses while restoring the faded and scratched plastic dome on a spacesuit helmet replica and extolling the virtues of the tool.
Paint Coatings: The Great Weapon Against Rust
Grady of the fantastic Practical Engineering channel continues his series on corrosion engineering by looking at one of the great weapons wielded in the war against steel rust: paint (or more accurately paint coatings).
Next-Level Oscillating Multi-Tool Tips
Wow. James of Stumpy Nubs always brings the goods, but I learned so much from this video on improving one’s use of an oscillating multi-tool. I just recently bought my first cheap oscillating tool (to see how I like it) and am just beginning to learn how to use it properly. Even if you’ve had an oscillating tool for a while, I bet you’ll learn something here. How to angle your plunge cuts, pre-scoring cuts, holding onto the blade for better control (yes, it’s safe), using semi-circular blades for making straighter lines, so much more. Lots of tips for cutting metal with an oscillator, too. And, James has a good recommendation for an inexpensive blade assortment.
Quick ‘N Dirty Aluminum Casting
In this Daniel LupienYouTube short, he shows you how easy it is to create a simple sand mold and cast it in aluminum. All you basically need is a chunk of aluminum, a crucible and tongs, a source of heat, some kinetic sand (or regular casting sand), and something to press into the sand to create the mold.
No-Cost Stud Finder
When my wife and I moved to our new digs in Benicia, CA last fall, I needed to install a swivel-arm wall mount for our TV. I simply used a 1″ disk magnet I had on-hand to locate the stud. No fancy stud finder needed. In this Becky Stern tip, she shows the method of using a string and a magnet. Easy peasy. If you’re uncomfortable with this method and want to make sure to find the center of the stud and locate (and steer clear of) any wire runs, pipes, etc., sophisticated imaging scanners can be had for under $30.
Fixing a Leaky Faucet with a Ten Dollar Tool
We know that professional plumbing doesn’t come cheap. Doing your own basic maintenance and repairs may seem intimidating, but it shouldn’t. Jobs like clearing a trap, changing a toilet float assembly, or replacing faucet washers are relatively simple and easy. Years ago, I changed a toilet float kit. It was easy (after getting the very frozen-in old assembly out). And, I felt like I’d accomplished something and saved myself over $100. The replacement kit was $15.
Mark Frauenfelder of Cool Tools recently replaced the rubber washer in his shower. He writes in Recomendo: “Our shower head was leaking, even after I replaced the rubber washer. YouTube informed me that I had a scarred valve seat, which is the brass ring that’s supposed to form a tight seal against the washer. I bought a reseating tool for about $10 on Amazon, which smooths the surface of the valve seat. It worked, and saved me a $150 plumber visit.”
Notable Quotables
“Move carefully and fix things.” -Civic technologist, Bill Hunt
“Read your fear as excitement.” -Author and public speaking guru Scott Birkin [Said about public speaking, but applicable to many other, similar situations.]
Shop Talk
Reader Art Elliott shares this tip:
“My fav pencil is the tri-conderoga. It’s the best of both worlds. Three sided, so it doesn’t roll away, and thinner than a regular carpenters pencil, so you get sharper lines, but it’s also thicker than a regular pencil, so the lines are still nice and thick. My family got me a pack for Father’s Day and they’re my go-to in the garage.”
***
On the issue of CA glue curing accelerated by water or baking soda or baking soda and water, reader Josh Martin writes:
“Setting CA glue with water makes an inconsistent, often crumbly consistency to the set glue. Baking soda improves on this, but nothing works as well as accelerator (or just time).”
In reference to storing CA glue in the freezer, reader KX4WD enthuses:
“The money I could have saved on super glues over the years with this storage tip!”
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Cool tools really work.
A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
How to Wrap Five Eggs: Japanese Design in Traditional Packaging by Hideyuki Oka (author) and Michikazu Sakai (photographer) Harper & Row 1967, 203 pages, 10 x 11.6 x 1.2 inches (hardcover)
This book is a museum of traditional packaging artifacts from Japan. Before the age of plastic, the Japanese perfected the art of packing consumables in incredibly ingenious ways. They excelled in using natural materials such as paper, straw, clay, and wood. Much of the packaging looks astonishingly modern, even though the form may be hundreds, if not thousands of years old. In fact, packages in Japan today often are wrapped in the same way. I recently received a gift from Japan that contained seven layers of boxes within boxes, wraps within wraps, each layer its own exquisite art, the packing at least equal to the cost and worth of the gift inside. There is a mesmerizing variety of packing collected during the last years of traditional Japan on display here. Each artifact is featured in stunning black and white photographs. It is a real inspiration for both designer and maker. Long out of print, this masterpiece of design was first published in 1967; used copies can be found today at rare book prices. It has also been republished in a modified paperback form, that contains some of the original content at a smaller scale. – Kevin Kelly
FROSTGRAVE – AN APPROACHABLE MINIATURES GAME IN THE SPIRIT OF OLD SCHOOL DUNGEON DELVERS
Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City by Joseph A. McCullough (author) and Dmitry Burmak (illustrator) Osprey Publishing 2015, 136 pages, 7.7 x 9.9 x 0.6 inches (hardback)
With the great success of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, the popularity of shows like Stranger Things riding a growing 80s nostalgia wave, and the success of game-based YouTube channels like Tabletop and Critical Role, there’s no doubt that we are in a tabletop/RPG gaming renaissance.
Two of the hallmarks of modern fantasy, sci-fi, and horror games are faster game play and more streamlined rules. The skirmish game, played with small numbers of miniatures, and the hybrid board game, combining miniatures and a game board, are all the rage these days. Into this moment of 80s D&D nostalgia and newfound enthusiasm for tabletop gaming comes a game that seems designed to hit all of the sweet spots: Osprey Publishing’s Frostgrave: Fantasy Wargames in the Frozen City.
Everything about Frostgrave is about economy. The book itself, gorgeously and profusely illustrated by Russian artist Dmitry Burmak, is compact, under 8 x 10, and only 136 pages. The backstory is simple, but highly evocative, the rules are basic and concise, trading off realism for fun. To play, you need only this inexpensive rulebook, around ten miniatures for your warband (taken from any 28mm fantasy range), and whatever terrain and random monsters you might encounter during the game. And some 20-sided dice and a tape measure. Frostgrave can be played by up to 8 players (2-4 are best).
In the world of Frostgrave, a thousand years ago, a flourishing city of magic, called Felstad, was plunged into a deep freeze after a spell massively backfired on a careless wizard. Now, a millennium later, the city has mysteriously begun to unthaw. Wizards from all over the land are flooding back, flanked by small warbands to protect them as they loot the city of its treasures and ancient magic. The Frostgrave game does an impressive job of boiling down the dungeon-delving experiences that many of us remember as D&D-playing teens. The goal of the game is to take your wizard (armed with a series of spells that you have chosen) and his/her warband into the city to try and recover as much treasure as possible. You have to locate the treasure and move it off to your table’s edge. Along the way, you fight competing wizards and random monster encounters and you overcome traps. There is no Dungeon Master in Frostgrave. The monsters are generated on a random encounter table. Even though the rulebook is modest in size, they still managed to pack in a campaign system and a number of scenarios. There’s a sweet little bestiary, too. Frostgrave gets most of it narrative/RPG elements through campaigning over multiple games. You also get to spend your acquired treasure between games so that you can hire better warband members, buy magical items, etc.
Frostgrave is not D&D. It’s a miniatures game, not an RPG. But it still manages to offer a lot of the essence of the retro fantasy RPG experience in a tabletop game that’s quick and easy to play, without a lot of upfront investment. If you’ve been thinking about getting into (or back into) tabletop gaming, Frostgrave is a perfect place to start. – Gareth Branwyn
Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair.Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.
