What came in the mail today?

[Mark J]

20 hours ago, Chet said:

New Starrett center punch.  

Fun fact - this replaced one I purchased from Harbor Freight back in the late 70's when they were just mail order and their catalogs were printed on news print paper.

Is that the spring loaded type, or do you tap with a hammer?

[treeslayer]

I have an electric branding iron that quit working a while back and now I just heat it up with a torch no problem 

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 2/15/2026 at 8:37 AM, Mark J said:

@Ron Swanson Jr., here's a tip someone gave me.  After branding, a light sanding with final grit will clean up the singe marks and make the image more crisp.

Your are absolutely right! 

@Chet sent me a note with the same suggestion, and i was really surprised at the difference it made. 

Thanks Mark!!

[Von]

I cleaned up this Disston cross-cut saw I picked up at Restore (they seem to have an endless supply at $5 ea). I got for occasional rough lumber breakdown when I don't have enough of a reference edge for the miter saw.

I took the time to run a file through the teeth, mostly to clean out some rust but also to get a feel for what sharpening would be like as I have no experience saw sharpening. It felt more natural than I expected, though a little tedious. I don't know I sharpened it any but I don't seem to have done any harm. I don't get the sense actually sharpening would be too difficult. 

(The white part near the handle in the photo I'm sure is paraffin wax. I put on a light coat as a last step, but it doesn't look so obvious IRL. It has a very dark patina and I expect it's some camera artifact.)

[Chet]

On 2/15/2026 at 6:39 AM, Mark J said:

Is that the spring loaded type, or do you tap with a hammer?

Yes, it is spring loaded.  I use it mainly for marking points to be drilled.

[Von]

On 2/14/2026 at 1:12 PM, Ron Swanson Jr. said:

[A punch] is one of the unsung heroes on my shop. Pound for pound it gets used more than a lot of other tools.

+1

Using a punch before drilling is one of those "little lessons" I think has greatly improved the quality of my work.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 2/15/2026 at 10:34 AM, Von said:

I cleaned up this Disston cross-cut saw I picked up at Restore (they seem to have an endless supply at $5 ea). I got for occasional rough lumber breakdown when I don't have enough of a reference edge for the miter saw.

I took the time to run a file through the teeth, mostly to clean out some rust but also to get a feel for what sharpening would be like as I have no experience saw sharpening. It felt more natural than I expected, though a little tedious. I don't know I sharpened it any but I don't seem to have done any harm. I don't get the sense actually sharpening would be too difficult. 

(The white part near the handle in the photo I'm sure is paraffin wax. I put on a light coat as a last step, but it doesn't look so obvious IRL. It has a very dark patina and I expect it's some camera artifact.)

Sharpening a saw that's filed rip is very simple and can be done by someone with zero experience. You're really just holding the file straight and pushing it through the teeth. 

Sharpening a cross cut saw has a little more to it as you're introducing fleem, but honestly it's not all that tough either. 

Saw sharpening is one of those things that i thought was way more complicated, until i actually did it a few times. 

[Chet]

I just got this.  My daughter got it for me from where she works.  You have to purchase quite a bit of their hardware to be on their list for a catalog.  4504 Pages.

 

[Beechwood Chip]

On 2/15/2026 at 5:01 PM, Chet said:

You have to purchase quite a bit of their hardware to be on their list for a catalog.

I recognized it from the thumbnail!  This catalog was always on my father's desk.

One of his favorite stories:  The VP R&D and VP manufacturing came to his desk and asked, "How do you make a brass/graphite slide wear plate?"  He chuckled and said, "You don't make them, you buy them!" and pulled out his McMaster-Carr catalog.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 2/15/2026 at 4:01 PM, Chet said:

I just got this.  My daughter got it for me from where she works.  You have to purchase quite a bit of their hardware to be on their list for a catalog.  4504 Pages.

 

Wow. Now THAT'S a catalog!

[gee-dub]

@Chet - Dang man . . . all I got was the new door sweep for the back door (installed and operating thank you) and some replacement pads for LOML's TV-watchin' wireless headphones (also installed and operating).

[Coop]

Ok, elaborate on the headphones. She needed these instead of cranking up the volume? I’ve been putting off hearing aids and something like this, if the case, would peak my interest. 

[gee-dub]

On 2/15/2026 at 6:57 PM, Coop said:

Ok, elaborate on the headphones. She needed these instead of cranking up the volume? I’ve been putting off hearing aids and something like this, if the case, would peak my interest. 

There are versions available.  We use these.  They can also be used for telephone or video conversation as they have a microphone (we do not use them this way). My wife is hearing impaired and has been since adolescence.  This is probably why she puts up with me.  She probably turns her hearing aids off and just watches my mouth move half the time. 

 She also reads lips so a lot of people don't realize that if they turn away from her while speaking it is like turning off the sound on the TV .  This is an endless source of amusement in restaurants since she can tell what people are talking about across the room. 

Despite explaining this to friends and family over the years I think many of them are still caught off guard when they are right behind LOML in the kitchen, talking to her, and she is ignoring them.

I use a bluetooth transmitter hooked to the TV.  The variations and connection methods are too numerous to go into here I think.  I use optical out to an optical splitter that feed a pair of transmitters. One serves the headphones and the other pumps music out to the backyard as desired.  Your equipment requirements will vary with your TV, control hub, sound source and destination.  It isn't as complex as it sounds.  I have stripped away a lot of the tech I used to use to make things simple.

This system lets her use the headphones as she likes and lets me use the TV sound in addition when I am in the room.  The main driver for the design was that it was one (or none) button operable for her.  I may have been a geek for 40 years but she was not  

[legenddc]

On 2/15/2026 at 9:57 PM, Coop said:

Ok, elaborate on the headphones. She needed these instead of cranking up the volume? I’ve been putting off hearing aids and something like this, if the case, would peak my interest. 

Depending on your TV setup there are a lot of different ways. I occasionally connect my 3M Worktunes to an Amazon Firestick in my shop.

We use Apple TV's in our house and you can very easily connect Apple AirPods to them. It's as simple as opening the headphone case and hitting one button. Some of the Apple AirPods can function as a hearing aid. I know there are other over the counter hearing aids available now as well.

[fcschoenthal]

On 2/14/2026 at 2:43 PM, Ron Swanson Jr. said:

This came a few weeks ago but didn't get to try it out until now. It was a Xmas gift that arrived in late January. 

No better way to ruin a nice project than to put my name on it!

I got one 2 Xmas' ago. It takes a while to figure out how much to heat it and get a good print.

I ended up taking the handle off and chucking it up in the drill press. That way I can clamp the piece to the table and can lower the iron down in exactly the same place as many times as it takes. It also gives a much more even press than I could by hand.

[fcschoenthal]

I actually got this hand-held leaf blower at Christmas, but used it again today and remain completely blown away by it (pun intended).

It's the size of a hair dryer, uses my DeWalt batteries and rivals my yard blower in power. I've used it to blow out the shop and my wife has used it to clear the walkway instead of trying to use the big blower. There are other brands that take different battery platforms. I initially heard about it from Ron Paulk on his channel.

[Von]

Picked this oddity up at Restore for $1. It's, I'm pretty sure, a carbide insert mounted on the end of a tool handle. No maker's mark I can find. Might be a shop-made scraper of some sort? That's how I suspect I'll use it. I welcome any insights.

[Tom King]

Those scapers work great.  Lee Valley sells one called a detail scaper with changeable tips.  It's worth what it costs.  That one was probably intended as some sort of gasket scraper.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/scrapers/110314-detail-hand-scraper?

[legenddc]

Ordered some pan head wood screws for attaching drawer fronts and machine screws for handles. 

[fcschoenthal]

On 3/4/2026 at 7:47 AM, legenddc said:

Ordered some pan head wood screws for attaching drawer fronts and machine screws for handles. 

Who did you get them through?

[legenddc]

On 3/4/2026 at 9:26 AM, fcschoenthal said:

Who did you get them through?

I ordered these from CSHardware.com. I managed to exercise restraint and not order 1,000 of each where you a really big price break. I was going to try McFeelys for this order but they didn't have some of the sizes I wanted.

[gee-dub]

I am a big McFeely's fan but have never had any issues with anything from CS Hardware. 

[Chet]

On 3/4/2026 at 12:53 PM, gee-dub said:

I am a big McFeely's fan but have never had any issues with anything from CS Hardware. 

I was using CS Hardware for years but for the last 8 or 9 months I haven't had the black Robertson, square drive, that I like.  So now I am a big McFeely's fan also.

[Coop]

I don’t have a a square drive screw in my stash but after helping my brother the last few days and working with his, I wish that they all were. 

[fcschoenthal]

I've bought Spax brand screws in the past and they are a mix of Torx and the Phillips/Square combo heads. I use the square drive on those I can, but hate having to switch back and forth between bits for the different sizes. I need to standardize, and probably will look at the square drive to accomplish that.