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jdowney

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Everything posted by jdowney

  1. Has anyone tried hide glue? I use it on furniture sometimes, usually if I'm making something nice that I want to be repairable. I used to use Duco and Ambroid on balsa airplanes.... Good all around glues.
  2. Hi Tom, welcome to MSW! Tucson is a great place, I lived there for many years before moving to New Mexico. I worked my way through the U of A in the 1990's with a part time job in one of the local hobby shops.
  3. I tend to agree, though I've never tried them either. Stropping does the same thing, functionally, but is far faster and necessarily less precise. I would suppose that micro bevel adherents believe that precise angles and precisely flat bevels are of the first importance. I've found the opposite in years of woodworking, so I tend to keep things simpler and quicker so I can focus on the work rather than the preparation for it. I do know several people who take so much pleasure in tool preparation that it is an end unto itself, I've always kind of included those who micro bevel in this group. Speaking objectively, there is really nothing at all wrong with that. Taking pleasure from one's activities is the point of a hobby after all.
  4. Sure, any relatively firm material can make a good strop. I've used a scrap of wood with fine slurry from a waterstone in the past, worked well, as I'm sure the type of cardboard you mention would. One reason that there are sooooo many different ways of sharpening and so much ink, pixels, and video MB expended in discussing them and describing them is that they all basically work (even the wet/dry sandpaper on glass that I often deride works). It all comes down to preference, probably preference informed by background and history, but still preference. The main thing is to try it, keep after it, try different methods if one isn't to your taste, and even mix and match steps if appropriate. The latest I've heard of was from a woodworking forum where some guys borrowed a final buffing step from the knife world (basically power stropping) and found that it made for a very keen edge that was very resistant to damage from chopping dovetails and the like. There's an article in a recent magazine about it (I forget which, I don't subscribe to any of them). The main advantage is that it's fast - and that is perhaps less of an advantage in modeling, where I would imagine opportunities to chop through hardwood all day are somewhat limited
  5. Wow! Just what I needed to better understand how to rig my long deferred Opium Smuggler. Many thanks for an excellent article.
  6. Wood ID is tough at that level. Its certainly tropical, iroko is quite likely. I've seen similar streaks in many woods though, including teak. Color is not right for teak however, unless its been finished (then teak can have that nice rich red brown). Raw teak is a more greenish color - I can go take a picture of some if you like, I still have some around. The only sure means of identification for most woods is to look at a thin shaving of end grain under magnification and compare the pore structure to reference samples or photos.
  7. Hi Bill - I'm playing catch up here, but I do want to say that's a very clever jig for re-drilling the mast hole. Good job! John
  8. Funny, I knew that trick already and it never even occurred to me to use it My sister is a former art conservator and in grad school they referred to it as using a "mild enzymatic solution".... I think that was a professor's running gag, making fun of a professional reluctance to say "use some spit".... Once I get the bulk of the dust off with a brush and vacuum, I will use that for the last going over - thanks for the reminder!
  9. It wasn't a midwest kit - it was Authentic Models Holland. Kit is the opium smuggler - as soon as I remembered the manufacturer I remembered the kit name too. I almost don't want to post the pic - soooooo dusty! Probably try to vacuum and dust with a little fan brush first, maybe then compressed air? Dial it down to 30 psi or so and it shouldn't hurt anything. Bowsprit and one mast are loose, but those are easy to fix. What little rigging I did on the bowsprit was a flight of fancy, got to redo that I hope I don't need to touch up any paint - that was PollyS as I recall, and any I might still have is sure to be dried up after so many years.
  10. Thanks for the welcome everyone. I'll take a couple pics when I get home in a day or two. First point of order will probably be how to clean it - kinda dusty around here! Then undo the early attempt at rigging (finding the kit instructions lacking, the attempt amounted to look at the picture on the box and wing it!) and add some neglected details (the tiller for example ) I don't have another build in mind quite yet. I've been tempted by some kits, but scratchbuilding is also very appealing. I just bought copies of Phillip Reed's books, and I'm very much amazed by the small scale at which he works.
  11. Corona. Its about 200 people and a gas station. At the moment there's another 200 or so in RV's working on windmill construction. Half the locals have built RV parks since the project is supposed to go on 2-3 years.
  12. That it is. There is a monument outside of town mentioning his stopping around here once. I bet every town in this county and all the others over to the border with Texas have something similar. There was also an old stream mill of some kind up in Ruidoso that had a lot of Billy the Kid claims associated with it, but it burned down (again) a couple years ago. They will without a doubt rebuild it (again) and keep the tourist thing going Nothing formal about this area, or even the whole state! I'm sure there is a joke to be made since the next state north has legal pot.... but I'm not on top of things tonight
  13. For general dowel making (not tapered) I drill a series of holes in a steel plate, then relieve the back side with a coutnersink so that the material with the hole is thin - 1/32" or so. Need not be sharp but I've seen that done too. Basically like a much bigger draw plate, used differently (at least I think so - I've only used draw plates with wire) Then you take a square bit of stock, chuck it in a drill, and run it through the biggest hole to knock the corners off. Angle a bit and you get a bit more cut off too since you're now cutting to the minor axis of an ellipse rather than a circle. Then proceed to the next smaller hole and repeat. Surface will be pretty rough until you do the last hole (whatever the desired size is) and keep the dowel square to the plate and go slowly for a nicer finish. The final nice finish is the reason to leave a bit of thickness to the hole when making the plate. One could get a big set of drill bits and some O1 steel and number stamps to do this all very correctly and make a labeled and hardened tool that will last a lifetime - I always seem to be in a hurry though so I have two or three of these in various steel I had around and am continually drilling bigger and smaller holes for the needs of the day I learned to do this in a cabinet shop I worked for between careers. We sometimes used pretty wood for pins on mortise and tenon joints. When the pin was covered with a square peg instead we just used regular dowels bought for the purpose. I find this quite a bit quicker and easier than using a lathe, but really its just another way of skinning the cat.
  14. Higher - 6000' and above in New Mexico. I split my time between a tiny town in the middle of the state and a bigger town in the mountains outside Alamogordo (9000' there). Though the temperatures are moderate, it is still dry around here, though probably not as dry as Victorville. I did some summer work in college working out of Lone Pine, that seemed a bit drier
  15. I'll second the plug for Durhams, it is really handy stuff to have around. I would be a little hesitant to put it over something glued with super glue (water breaks down super glue) but the putty hardens quickly so probably the water in it would be gone long before harming super glue. I'd use it over PVA without a concern. I used to use it for groundwork on dioramas - I forget where I read about doing that, a book or magazine no doubt. The method was to sift dry putty powder onto a smooth, wet putty substrate, then once dry paint, dry brushing and static grass would complete the job for a very realistic look. One might be able to do something similar for modeling waves and foam perhaps. I still keep Durhams around for puttying nail holes and such, it can be tinted with water based dye to better match the wood (not good enough for modeling, but good for molding work in a house). Its the sort of product that you can keep indefinitely and for which you keep finding uses. No affiliation of course.
  16. I've been a member here for several years but never posted. Finally getting around to finishing a small schooner I started 25 years ago - been sitting on a shelf with no rigging for a looooong time! It was one of the last kits I bought when I worked for a hobby store through college, just a little solid hull thing that Midwest or some similar outfit put out. I've been a modeler and woodworker since childhood, so wood ship models always seemed like a natural fit. Too many hobbies over the years though, just never seemed to get around to such involved projects. Last summer I was doing some fiber optic work at my job and realized that I could still do the fussy, tiny work for model building, which made me think I ought to finish rigging the schooner Though I've since separated from that job, I'm not retired yet (and may still do some contract work for their fiber needs).... probably one more stint of day jobs before I truly retire. Got a line on one that would lend itself well to model making in the slack time, we'll see if that pans out!
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