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Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.
Comparing Circular Saw Blades
In this Project Farm video, Todd tests 15 different circular saw blades to find out which ones are the best. He tested blades for performance in ripping 2×4 lumber (before and after striking nails) and compared for performance while cutting through oak and ripping an 8’ pressure-treated 4×4. Bottom line? The Makita blade ($10) was best overall. The Spyder also performed surprisingly well for its $5 price tag (at time of testing), although that price is currently over $12 each, so look for it on sale. Doing a web search, I see it’s available at some e-tailers for under $7.
Cutlist Optimizer
Speaking of cutting things. If you have a woodworking project that involves a fairly complicated cut list, there is a free app called Cutlist Optimizer. It allows you to both organize your cut list to better keep track of all of your pieces and allows you to optimize the parts you can get from your sheet goods.
How to Calculate 555 Timer Frequency and Duration
Ah, the venerable 555 chip. One of the most useful and popular ICs in electronics history. Invented in 1971, released in 72, it remains a go-to solution for a myriad of timer, delay, pulse, and oscillation applications. In this Digi-Key video, they cover the steps for calculating the necessary resistor and capacitor values needed to achieve the frequency and signal duration that you’re after in your project.
The Power of Great Reference Books and Knowing the Names of Things
As both a maker and a word nerd (I edited Wired’s “Jargon Watch” column for 13 years), I’ve always tried to impress upon people the power in knowing what something is called. Knowing the proper name for something allows you to look it up, learn about it, track it down (if it’s a tangible object). In this Adam Savage video, he harps on the same thing. He does so while extolling the virtues of a book he recently discovered and loves, the Backstage Handbook. This visual technical reference is for stagecraft, but most of its contents–divided into tools, hardware, materials, shop math, electrics, and architecture–can be applied to all manner of making. You you get to learn the proper names for all of the tools, hardware, and materials it covers. Magic!
TOYS! StylusReach Flexible Flashlight
Cool Tools has launched a new newsletter called Tools for Possibilities. Every week, subscribers get sent a page from the CT book: Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. I was tickled to see that the first page I was sent had a review that I wrote on the StylusReach flashlight. The Cool Tools catalog was released in 2013. Nine years later and I still have, use, and love this flashlight. Good tools do that.
Newsletter reader Paco Hidalgo sent this in response to the piece in the last issue on water and baking soda as a CA glue accelerator.
“I first tried the Zip Kicker CA accelerator and found its smell very disagreeable, nauseating, and the spray bottle made it very difficult to apply just a small drop. I later leaned that cyanoacrylate glues “set” (polymerize) by the mere presence of trace amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere. This infographic explains.
“So, I concluded that if that is the case, then liquid water would certainly accelerate the polymerization. I found that just a drop of water from a toothpick or needle onto a blob of the glue does indeed accelerate the setting process. I never heard of using baking soda but that would add a foreign material to the bond. Why do that? [See comment below] There would be no reason to mix baking soda with water since water alone does a good job.
“BTW: A ‘secret’ that I learned from the guy at the counter of a mall hobby shop, is that CA glues will keep indefinitely in the freezer. I think the dry environment prevents the glue from polymerizing. The manufacturers don’t want you to know that so they tell you not to freeze their glues. I keep partial bottles of different types of CA glue, including LOCTITE, sealed inside a ziploc bag in the freezer that are at least 10 years old. I can take a bottle and use it immediately without waiting for it to come to room temp. It is liquid and works just as fast. I wipe the tip with acetone after each use and keep a common pin in the narrow opening so it doesn’t clog.
“I keep all my solvent glues, including Lexel, E6000, and Goop in the freezer too, with the same result. I think the cold environment keeps the solvent from evaporating and escaping from the imperfect seal that normally shortens the shelf life. I keep epoxy glues in the refrigerator. This is enough to prevent them from self-polymerizing.”
[Just to clarify: Baking soda is commonly used by itself as an accelerator, especially in the hobby/modeling communities. Besides being an accelerator, it adds more structure to the join. Large amounts of baking soda can be added to CA glue to create a very hard material. This soda and CA combo as a structural material is common among luthiers repairing bridges and fret boards. It can be sanded, drilled, etc.]
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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.
I have watched so many tape measure tips and tricks videos over the years that you’d think I’ve seen everything. But there’s always more to learn about any tool, so it’s always worth giving them a peek. In this Honest Carpenter video, he covers things like not marking under the curve (that’s built into the tape for stability and strength), not marking too close to the case, and understanding how the end tab works for getting accurate inside and outside measurements. All pretty basic stuff, but definitely a must-watch for any beginner.
https://youtu.be/FVQkFmQld3Q
The Best Adjustable Wrench Might Surprise You
https://youtu.be/0RcyBViaqUY
Adjustable wrenches are a must-have in any toolbox, but do you really need to spend over $100 on a Snap-On to get the best? Todd of Project Farm recently test-compared budget-friendly options (as low as $10) against high-end models ($136), putting them through strength, precision, and grip tests. Surprisingly, the $25 Milwaukee outperformed many competitors, offering a solid grip, six points of contact for better stability, and resistance to self-adjustment under vibration. Craftsman and SK also delivered impressive results at a fraction of Snap-On’s $136 price. For pros who need the absolute best and don’t mind paying for it, Snap-On still dominated in turning power and durability, but if you're looking for big bang for your buck, Milwaukee is the way to go. Want a wrench that won’t round bolts and will literally last a lifetime? Weight, precisionmachining, and a solid adjustment screw make all the difference.
Getting Rid of Toxic Liquids
Did he just say he uses diapers? That was my response when I overheard an artist friend talking to another artist about how he gets rid of waist acrylic paint instead of dumping it down the sink. He buys cheap adult diapers, keeps them in his studio, and then when he’s done cleaning his brushes and tools, he dumps the waste water into the diaper. That got me thinking about other safe disposal methods for other toxics. Below is a video of Dirt Farmer Jay discussing various methods of getting rid of latex paint. What are some of the methods you use for getting rid of nasty liquids in in the shop?
https://youtu.be/LXNZAhABPQk
Buying Locally
I’ve also always been a fan of the concept of resilient community, efforts to create local communities that are strong, that have intelligent systems in place for natural disasters and other threats, that encourage sustainability, small businesses, local farm-to-table, etc. Lately, I’ve made it more of a priority to support small businesses here in my small town, and every time I do, I feel like I’m contributing positively to our community’s growth and well-being. It feels good to go to the local hardware store, talk to actual people who know tools and materials, and buy from them rather than an online source. I also try and support small online businesses, like Taylor Toolworks and Adafruit.
3D Printed Soldering Station/Fume Extractor
https://youtu.be/5-Qx-JZ_bk0
I love this 3D-printed fume extractor that The Byte-Sized Engineer created to marry with the iFixit portable soldering station. As Zach points out, there are instances where you need your electronics to be away from your workbench. This little set-up is perfect for that. In the video, Zach tests out different ways of powering the 12-volt PC fan for the extractor before settling on using the second USB-C port thoughtfully included in the soldering station. He added a USB-C breakout board and a USB-C Power Delivery (PD) board. Some CAD work and 3D printing later, and he now has a sweet little portable, battery-powered soldering station.
In more 3D printing and soldering news, the 3D guru himself, Josef Prusa, posted this to his Instagram channel. It’s a solder spool pencil where your feed the solder to your workpiece with a scroll wheel.
More of Your Inspired Objects
I’m still getting fun and interesting responses to my inspired object piece from a few issues ago:
Michael Finn: The Europiccola from La Pavoni is not just a thing of beauty, but an elegant tool that one must practice and work at to achieve coffee brilliance. Even if I never become a latte artist, my Europiccola will be my favorite expression of coffee making. This one is from 1983 rebuilt and used every day.
John Young: My candidate is my Nikon F camera. This 56-year-old photo shows me, still in high school, using one that I bought from a returning Vietnam vet. After using it heavily in high school and college, it served me through a 30-year newspaper career and still functions as new after thousands of rolls of film. The design of the Nikon F — if not the durability --was mimicked by just about every camera-maker into the digital age. Few shop tools outside of a hammer could survive that level of use and abuse while maintaining functionality — certainly nothing as complex as a camera’s mechanisms.
Gar’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.
