Recent content by heimlaga

I normally make the wedge flat sided and drive it in with enough force to compress the wood

Eletra Beckum is more like hobby grade though at the upper end of it. Startrite is unknown to me. I have rebuilt quite a few machines and honestly it is easier to make something out of a 100 years old industrial machine that was thrown out as "worn out" or "outdated" 40 years ago and has sat in...

One more thing. Running into the woods to hide is the instinctive way of many a heathy man dealing with severe stress. The closer to the woods that is mans natural habitat you go the more widespread and well known the instinct is. In rural parts of densely wooded Finland it is the normal way of...

Having a hoarder in my own extended family I suggest you bring p the issue with her in a friendly and non-agressive though brutally honest way. Remember that I come from a region renowned for brutal honesty within a country world famous for brutal honesty and yet theese are tough things to talk...

I uproot a spruce stump or two now and then either for boat repairs or for old style millwright's work which both require grown crooks. It is just common work to me. I have saved a few high stumps when logging this winter and will see what I can get out of them once the ground has thawed. In...

When we rebuilkt an old log granary which was originally built in the 1690-ies the cutting tools I saw marks of were: -Short edged felling axe -Broad axe -Knife -Chisel -1 1/2 inch spoon auger. -1 inch spoon auger -Probably a Scandinavian style straight handled draw knife though I am not...

10 cm long tenons require some very large cutters. My tennon cutters can manage up to some 7 cm. It is hard to find any lager cutters han that in this wicked time of ours. For anything longer I use a 300mm cirkular saw blade held between a pair of home made flanges on the spindle.

I have had the opportunity to buy quite a few brand new Holzmann branded Chineese machines for 50 cent per kilo. Never found one that was worth the price.

I am a fan of waterstone grinding but 8 inches is a rather smal stone which will soon wear out. If the rest of the machine hasn't worn out even sooner. My main waterstone grinder is an old Alimak which is approaching the "ship of theseus" stage. The motor and the frame and the water trough and...

There are two types of cast iron anvils: 1. Old American ones with a spring steel plate fire welded to the top. They tend to crack with age are very difficult bordering impossible to repair but as long as they least they are decent usable anvils. Few were imported to Europe. They are no longer...

The way I was taught to work wood there is only limited use for birch plywood. Probably because I got much of my knowledge from men who had learned woodwork before the market was flooded by cheap Russian birch plywood in the 90-ies. Before that the stuff was expensive and was used accordingly...

I run a 38mm auger bit in an electric drill all the time. You just need a drill with enough torque and low enough speed and some means of holding the auger bit. So simple. In this case the solution is a large slow running Eibenstock drill and an auger bit with a number 3 morse taper welded to...

At 86 you are well past the age when a man doesn't have to care about what others think. One of my father's best friends started appearing increaingly senile year by year in his early 70-ies and all who know him were totally convinced he had become gaga. He was becoming concerned about it...

I have come to hate those cellosaic or sour rods. The welds become brittle in low temperatures and things fall apart. Those things are dangerous. Therefore they are structly forbidden for anything structural or anything in the construction trade in Finland.

New Stanley and Record are all about using an established brand to con people into buying fake tools. One can usually make a usable tool out of one of those fakes but it generally involves quite a bit of filing and often hardening and tempering the blade and occasionally recasting and machining...