Shop Tip

[Bob Hartman]

Shop Tip:
Don't leave plastic gallon bottles of mineral oil in your shop on a shelf where a hot piece of scale can land, and melt a hole in the bottle so you can find it the next day. You would not believe the mess.
To some that may seem self evident, but for people like me . . .
Bob

[Doug Lester]

Don't put Minwax Wood Hardener into a plastic vacuum jar , it'll eat right through. I coated the ceramic tile in front of the fireplace with it. Good thing that the buyer intends to strip up the floor after I move out and that I don't have a better half to remind me of my little screw-up. The smell of the acetone in the hardener should have been a giveaway.

Doug Lester

[Pete Parsons]

Don't mix lamp oil into your quench tank. If you do, make sure you have a big enough piece of something to snuff out the resulting flash fire. Otherwise you just end up looking at the flames go higher and higher... ...until your wife brings the extinguisher from the kitchen.

[Thingmaker]

Never use a nylon strap as a hold-down for a hot piece of steel. It only works for a couple seconds. Using the nylon strap was, um, somebody else's idea. Yeah.

[papi]

Keep them coming guys, this thread is priceless

Plus it all seems familiar, I had my moments too, that is for sure
For example the time my little cousin had to use the fire extinguiser on me, as my shirt was on fire from cutting titanium with angle grinder with cutoff wheel Now that was funny(that little boy was making fun of me for at least another month)

[trav]

Hey guys , lets see if we can top Steve Johnson. He has 216 post and 15 pages of shop tips. This is friendly competion now !!!!! Travis

[Dana Hackney]

the dust collector motor when clearing/checking the collector
tubes

I had my dust collector nearly stop drawing air (have it mounted on the side of
my water bucket below the belt grinder) the other day. I have the barrel top
(Cincinnati ) collector set up to one port that has a Y in it for the grinder and the
buffer. Instead of being smart and turning the collector I pulled the piping off
the one side and peered into the Y - BINGO! The whole nine yards of steel filings,
antler and wood dust was blown down right into my pie-hole!

I staggered out of the shop looking like I had pulled a 12 hour shift in the
coal mine!

I guess I got my yearly supply of iron taken care of

Dana

[ranger1]

Do not use a plastic bucket for a quinch tank. When the hot steel hits it it will melt dumping 3 gal of oil on your shop floor.

[Dana Hackney]

Andy.....and my "bucket" holds about 8 gallons

Thanks for the heads-up!

Dana

[chiger]

Hey guys,

Don't forget the NUMBER 1 rule in any knife shop.

Never ever, ever...never ever...try to catch anything you drop! It ALWAYS falls point down!

I've been making knives for nearly thirty years and the bone in my bird finger just stopped aching after a couple of months. Hard habit to brake. At least I haven't tried to catch anything out of the forge yet!

chiger,

[Karl B. Andersen]

Originally Posted by Bob Hartman

Shop Tip:
Don't leave plastic gallon bottles of mineral oil in your shop on a shelf where a hot piece of scale can land, and melt a hole in the bottle so you can find it the next day. You would not believe the mess.
To some that may seem self evident, but for people like me . . .
Bob

I left a bottle of mineral oil near my grinding station and when my "cooling bucket" got low on water, I dumped in about 1/2 a gallon of mineral oil before I figured out what I had just done.
Keep your mineral oil in a cabinet or something!! It can easily be mistaken for water!

[Ed Caffrey]

On the subject of "cooling buckets".....ensure you use a heavy duty bucket! Otherwise when a blade slips out of your hands...it could go right through the bottom of the bucket.....and you wind up wearing 5 gallons of soapy water a grinding swarf. (Not that its every happened to me! )

[MLAZYB]

Once I was trying to dry some wood. Not really thinking. I put some pieces it my tempering oven. Set the heat at low low low. Did I say Low. Ok now get this picture in your minds. I place about 3 blocks to dry in the oven. Went to work on an ironwood handle. My wife came into the shop about 15 minutes later to let me know she was going to the store. As she was leaving the shop she commented that it sure was stinking the shop. I said thats just the way Ironwood smells. About 1 minute later I started smelling something stinking other than the Ironwood. Yes you are all Laughing now!!! The flames were about 1 foot high coming out of the oven. I just grabbed the fire ext. put out the fire.
tossed out the burn't blocks. Went to town bought a new tempering oven.

Lessen#1 Listen to wife.
Lessen #2 Don't try to dry wood in your tempering oven
Lessen #3 Have a good laugh at your own stupid tricks.
Lessen #4 Refer to lessen #1 if you need to

Bing

[Doug Lester]

When the better half comes out into you workshop due to the yelling and the language she'd just as soon not have the kids hear and asks what kind of an idiot are you when she sees the mess you made, the proper rejoiner is not "why do I always have to make the decissions around here".

Na, never really happened, just too good a story to waste.

Doug Lester

[jonwelder]

Never carry a newly sharpened knife under your arm, thinking as you cross the shop you'll pick up other things and save a trip. I can personally guarantee, you'll flap your arm for some dumb reason like doing the "chicken dance" and that knife WILL stick point down in the top of your foot!!!! Ask me how I know!!! ---Jon