User talk:Nigelj/Archive 6

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Hello again!

Hi Nigelj, I haven't run across you for a l-o-n-g time! I was looking back at the history of one of the nuclear power articles and saw you, then wondered "Gee, are they still editing?" so clicked contribs. Glad to see you're still here! NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 03:12, 6 January 2019 (UTC)

Hi NEAG. Yes, I still tinker around here and there, but I don't have the time for Wikipedia that I used to have. Also, I've been away over the holidays and been pretty much offline for a few weeks. Great to hear from you. I'm glad that you're still here too - someone has to look after this amazing and vast resource!

It's been an amazing ride. First, I just tinkered. There were many topics that I knew about that didn't even have articles. I created quite a few. There were others that were so badly written, I could just rewrite them in an afternoon, or at least whole sections of them, off the top of my head. Especially topics I had taught as a school teacher, or stuff that I had studied at university, or worked on in industry. Back in those days days, if you seemed to know what you were talking about, no one cared too much about citations and refs. When I look at some articles, I still recognise some of my phrases and sentences, survived after all this time. Then there was the climate emails, and the climate wars. I didn't know half the rules, like 3RR etc, and broke most of them trying to protect and preserve the sanity of the CC articles. Then there was the CC ARB trials. Most of the warriors from both sides were damned, blocked, barred and sanctioned. I kept my head down, and escaped without mention in the despatches from on-high. When I returned to the burnt-out CC battlefields, almost everyone was gone, but you were there! Bright and new, keen and capable. We had a lot of fun together, but my enthusiasm was waning. Now, I just tinker again. But at least I know the rules now. I even know the difference between WP:UNDUE and WP:NOTNOTABLE!

Keep it up. It's important, necessary and valiant work. --Nigelj (talk) 10:30, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Usually, when I say "ahhh" in the morning its the first cup of coffee. Not today! Thanks for the kind words. Are you still....uh.... are you into boats? Sailing? Building? I don't know why I think that. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 11:07, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I am! One of the things that's eating up my time at the moment is that I am building a replica, a copy, of a 16 ft open wooden fishing boat in the style that's pretty well indigenous to the Island of Jersey, where I was born, grew up and now live again. I spend lots of time each week working with lovely oak, using razor-sharp hand tools, and dealing with a world of curves, where nothing is a right-angle - or even straight! --Nigelj (talk) 13:25, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

OK, I am about to bum myself out.... you'r in the UK somewhere I think, right? I would so LOVE to help out sine weekend if you were within easy striking range of the US midAtlantic states. My project later today is to continue restoration of a Bailey No. 4 Type 11 plane. I'm just getting started learning wood, really. There is a source nearby that tosses heavy duty red oak pallets after a single use. They're basically brand new! Its a free source of almost-free hardwood, if you only need small pieces. But going from books to doing is a lot rougher than working with someone that knows what they're doing. At the moment, I'm converting a cast off dresser into a multi level hamster extravaganza with my kid. Great fun, and reason to try to use what I've learned on something a little safer than .... a boat! NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 14:04, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Ha ha! I had to google the Bailey plane: I thought you were restoring an aeroplane! And then accusing boats of being dangerous! I see now. I use an almost identical plane, except made by Record, very regularly indeed. Yes, the Island of Jersey (as opposed to the State) is part of the British Isles, between England and France. Part of a group called the Channel Islands - except there are 'Channel Islands' in California too. All this makes talking to Americans about where I live almost impossible!!!

The trick about handtools is sharp blades, and so I have a set of three Japanese water stones - 240 grit, 1000 grit and 6000 grit - which can remove a lot of metal and then restore a mirror surface in the quickest way known to man. The stones soon get hollow, and so must be ground flat again, using a flattening stone (actually metal) and loose grit. I got all this stuff from https://www.fine-tools.com/ He's in Germany, but I'm sure equivalent US suppliers are available ;-) The most amazing book, that got my mind straight for all this was this one: https://www.amazon.com/New-Traditional-Woodworker-Popular-Woodworking-ebook/dp/B005JEKJYE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1 and I thoroughly recommend it. I have some old wooden hand planes, which I also use a lot. They have lovely heavy blades, and can be re-flattened and tweaked, they can even be re-made from scratch. I have the special tools to do so - froes? No, I can't remember what they're called - but haven't got around to it yet. I have a Veritas tool to hold blades at the correct angle while I sharpen them, and a Lie Neilsen bronze spokeshave. Both of these are amazing. Those two US manufacturers are doing an amazing job of making traditional hand tools out of the very best materials, to the best designs from history and present knowledge. They are expensive, but for the very best, they are no doubt it. Meanwhile, I'm very happy with my mongrel collection. --Nigelj (talk) 16:24, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

As a starting point, I'm just doing the lousy-named "scary sharp" with sandpaper on glass, and use the DIY jig in this vid. Slow but works. The book looks great, thanks for the tip. I'm amazed at folks with your skill who can CURVE wood to their desires. I'm still challenged making a single face truly flat. I suppose that's a good metaphor for tyring to get get all the twists and warps out of a Wiki article. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 16:48, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

I read and watched all about 'scary sharp' when I was getting started too. Thanks for the video. I really liked his jig - I like home-made stuff. The Veritas jig that I use has many similar features, but it cost $60. It also has a roller, which I think is necessary for stones as they don't have a smooth bit like his glass and paper combo does. A few thoughts. He uses very little water, which keeps his workplace very nice and clean. Mine is a much messier, wetter affair, as I slop water onto the stone every 8 (for coarse) to 20 or 40 strokes (for medium or fine). This means I sharpen outside, which can be off-putting in this cold weather. Iron and steel, especially as grinding paste, turn oak blue-black, which means I try to keep all sharpening activity well away from any good wood. I do use a pencil to scribble on the stones before I flatten them, but I don't use a felt-tip on the blades. The reason is that I always finish on 6000 grit, and start on 240, so it's easy to see the difference at a glance when starting. When cutting back a blade on the 240 stone, I feel for the burr (that ridge he spoke about), and that tells me that I have got right to edge, all along. The burr more or less disappears as you go through the finer stones, but nonetheless, I do touch up the back of each blade on 6000 grit at the end anyway. For planes, I use a thin, small steel rule along one edge of the fine stone to raise the blade very slightly, to make a 'micro-bevel' on the back of the blade at the opposite edge of the stone (probably less than one degree). This - apparently - is good, as it moves the cutting edge slightly in, towards the body of the blade, and means that less metal has to be removed for each resharpening. You mustn't do this on chisels, as often the flat back of the blade is important for accurate paring of wood. Finally, for mortice chisels, I grind all four sides of the length of the blade too, to maintain sharp right angles on the bottom part of its long corners. These, it turns out, are also cutting edges in the process of making mortices, and, if sharp, will leave a better finish on the wood inside the slot. Oh, and a high-angled smoothing plane, and cabinet scrapers, for a good final finish on planed surfaces. Tolpin, in that book, actually criticises any use of sandpaper: even at is finest, it leaves a dull finish on wood compared to the brightness left by a sharp blade, and once you have used any abrasive paper on a piece of wood, some of its grit will always be trapped in the grain, and will blunt any blade used on it in the future. --Nigelj (talk) 12:16, 10 January 2019 (UTC)

Thanks if I'm ever in the Channel Islands, I'll have to look you up, would love to see the shop. for I do use a pencil to scribble on the stones before I flatten them As I haven't decided to invest in stones I haven't read about their care. You mean you just scribble all over, or is there a way to see the fine detail of the high points? I am just starting to build my collection with forlorn and abused tools long forgotten, that I pick up at second hand sales or auctions. So there is quite a bit of material to take off. Some writers diss those who polish every nick and cranny, and urge readers to just worry about the business end of the blade and chip breaker. As I'm sure you've seen others like to brag about getting every bit of polish out of the valleys in the knurlings on the knobs. I'm somewhere in between, just making the whole thing clean enough to appreciate and feel good in my hand. The cheap sandpaper I start with doesn't last dry, and it isn't meant for water so that's a fast death. BUT... it loves canola oil (aka rape seed oil). I'd use a light machine oil, except I do my sharpening at the kitchen sink. Past 220 I move to automotive sheets, but so far I've only gone to 1600. Our local recycle yard let my kid and me dismantle some microwave ovens for parts. We're building a DIY spot welder, using the transformer. Once that is together, one possible project is the addition of a utility sink in a corner of the shop, with a horizontal water wheel and sharpening station. But I think I need fifty clones to do all the things on the project list! At one auction when they started simultaneous sales, all the guys got up and walked to the barn with the tractors and stuff. That left me in the barn with the china and knick-knacks... and under one table, down out of sight, several large boxes of woodworking books and back issues of American Woodworker, Fine WoodWorking, etc. Enough reading to fill my car's us.... I guess you say "boot"! As none of the knick-knack shoppers were interested, and the tool minded guys were out in the other barn, I took the pile $1 per box. Anyway, one issue had a feature on scraper sharpening; then another on making custom profiles, then another on use. What I don't get is how do you end up with a perfect surface instead of one that, up close, shows little fish scaly like contours? NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 12:57, 10 January 2019 (UTC)