{"id":37135,"date":"2020-10-15T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=37135"},"modified":"2020-10-12T16:41:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T23:41:10","slug":"37135","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/37135\/","title":{"rendered":"The Antique Art of Cable Lacing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Antique Art of Cable Lacing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The

The cable ties that bind.<\/p><\/div>\n

An email exchange after last week\u2019s newsletter with maker O.G.\u00a0Steve Roberts<\/a>\u00a0reminded me of the wonders of cable lacing, an old-school method of bundling cables together, using a\u00a0lacing needle<\/a>\u00a0and waxed twine. Here\u2019s an\u00a0ode to cable lacing<\/a>\u00a0I wrote on\u00a0Make:\u00a0<\/em>many moons ago as part of the \u201cLost Knowledge\u201d series I did on the website in support of an issue of the magazine with that same theme that I guest edited. The\u00a0whole series<\/a>\u00a0is worth checking out.<\/div>\n

The Joys of Bluing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Blue

Blue Steel!<\/p><\/div>\n

In this\u00a0Adam Savage<\/strong>\u00a0tool tips video<\/a>, he extols the virtues of machinist\u2019s layout fluid. Aka \u201cbluing,\u201d this blue ink is brushed onto steel stock that you\u2019re planning to cut and\/or drill and then a scribe is used to mark out your cutting and other layout marks. In the video, he recommends his favorite\u00a0Starrett scribe<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0layout fluid<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lazy Person’s Pinstripping<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Gold

Gold makes it fancy.<\/p><\/div>\n

On\u00a0Hand Tool Rescue<\/em>, as\u00a0Eric<\/strong>\u00a0restores a Victorian food chopper,\u00a0he reminded me<\/a>\u00a0(25:40) of this simple and effective method of painting perfect lines around a circular object. He tapes down a gold marker at the height he wants his line and then rotates the cylinder to paint the line.<\/p>\n

TOYS! Spring-Bottom Oiler<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Old

Old school!<\/p><\/div>\n

This<\/a>\u00a0is one of my very first memories of a tool. My granddad had a spring-bottom oiler on his basement workbench. It was one of the first tools that I associated with making. I loved the\u00a0click-clack<\/em>\u00a0sound that it made when you pressed on the bottom. I still do. I have a soft spot for all of the\u00a0Goldenrod oilers<\/a>. Even the modern ones feel like old-school tools.<\/p>\n

Making Your Own “Japanning”<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Black,

Black, always in style.<\/p><\/div>\n

Japanning is black tool finish commonly found on hand planes, antique sewing machines, and other older (and some modern) tools. It is a 17th century European interpretation of traditional Japanese black lacquering (dating all the way back to 2000 B.C.). There are many different recipes for making your own Japanning. On\u00a0Hand Tool Rescue<\/em>,\u00a0Eric tested a number of formulae\u00a0<\/a>and ended up recommending a mixture of 50% turpentine, 30% asphaltum\/gilsonite, and 20% boiled linseed oil. See the video and video description for the full details of the recipe.<\/p>\n

Making a WD-40-like Penetrant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone loves to reach for the WD-40 when a penetrating oil is called for. But did you know that you can cheaply and easily make your own? There are dozens of recipes out there (do a YouTube search). Here are two that get high marks from many basement penetrant chemists:<\/p>\n

Recipe 1:<\/strong> 4 parts charcoal lighter fluid, 4 parts mineral spirits (or paint thinner), 1 part lightweight motor oil.<\/p>\n

Recipe 2:<\/strong> A 50\/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid<\/p>\n

The Essential Craftsman Reviews Carolina Boots<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"This

This Old Shoe.<\/p><\/div>\n

If there is a go-to shoe within the maker community, it is likely the Carolina boot. Maybe that\u2019s because, as a company, the company is very smart about sending out free boots to\u00a0YouTubers<\/em>\u00a0and other online influencers. (I\u2019m still waiting for mine, Carolina!) In this\u00a0Essential Craftsman video<\/a>,\u00a0Scott\u00a0<\/strong>breaks down why he\u2019s sold on the\u00a08″ Domestic Moc Toe Wedge<\/a>\u00a0work boot.<\/p>\n

RIP, Sharon of Figments Made<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Sharon

Sharon in her element. [Photo by Jon Williams]<\/p><\/div>Last week, the maker community lost a light.\u00a0Sharon<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Figments Made<\/a>\u00a0passed away peacefully in the night on Tuesday. I never met Sharon in person but I felt like I knew her. She always had a kind word, a helpful suggestion to my\u00a0Instagram<\/em>\u00a0project posts and tweets. She liked and shared EVERY SINGLE ISSUE of this newsletter on social media each week since the week it was launched.<\/p>\n

Sharon may have made me feel special, but I was far from alone. She was this supportive and generous of spirit to everyone. When news of her passing began to circulate, everyone shared stories of her generosity, huge heart, and her wicked sense of humor. Sharon genuinely loved the maker community, loved making things herself, and she really enjoyed sharing what she knew with others, especially children.<\/p>\n

I only knew Sharon a little, but that little meant a lot. Her impact had weight. May we all be so lucky in our lives.<\/p>\n

\"The

The smiles have it.<\/p><\/div>\n

Maker’s Muse<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"What

What could possible go wrong?<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gareth’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales – Issue #65<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":37136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2371],"tags":[2372],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37135"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37146,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37135\/revisions\/37146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}