OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

271363 gary may 2020‑07‑03 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
True, true, Mr. Conroy---
 Do not despair, galoots, if it's wood, it's always moving, and different pieces
move at different rates.
   I'd try a week or two in the dryer you use for chair-legs and trunnels. If
you don't already have such a thing, it's a top-vented box with a hot light bulb
in the bottom, at the intake vent.
   As your patient warms up under the hot lights, try loosening day after day.
One should also try tightening: The contact surfaces in stuck screws are almost
always  'trained' for tightening. Once budged, it's much easier to reverse
direction.
  Applying high frequency vibrations, by hell-beating with a hammer, is
sometimes in order.
  If your subject hasn't come apart after a few weeks of desiccation, move out
of the dryer to a moist environment and try the same persuasions for a few more
weeks. If it hasn't come apart by then, bronze it, and send it to some galoot at
Christmastime.

                                and a very happy 3rd of July to all galoots
everywhere; gam in OlyWA/USA
    PS---Apropos of nothing much, hammer-drills from concrete borers on down to
the modern hideously loud impact-driving screwguns can drive nails, settle
concrete in forms---or shake the letters off a printed page---with no traces
left behind---if cushioned properly. YMMV

"If you were Einstein's father, there wouldn't be a bomb."  Peggy Hill, ca. y2K 

    On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, 02:07:32 PM PDT, Thomas Conroy via OldTools
 wrote:
 
 Scott wrote: "Wooden screws can sometimes be impossible.
Its sad, but its a fact."
Correct as always. Don't despair, though; remember that wooden screws expand and
contract with changes in climate. Sometimes they are frozen at one end of the
year but loosen up at the other. Checking it once a month for six months may get
you to the sweet part of the year. Sometimes they freeze when going from one
kind of heating to another. That can be trickier to diagnose, but not so
difficult to treat, if you allow for time to acclimatize to a better climate.
(but remember that a wooden screw can freeze up either by shrinking or by
expanding).
Tom Conroy
271364 don schwartz <dks@t...> 2020‑07‑03 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
On 2020-07-03 1:03 p.m., gary may via OldTools wrote:
>     I'd try a week or two in the dryer you use for chair-legs and trunnels. If
you don't already have such a thing, it's a top-vented box with a hot light bulb
in the bottom, at the intake vent.

Might a tour of the microwave do as well?

Don

-- 
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” —
Albert Einstein

“Worry less, concentrate more, and above all relax.” James Krenov

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but
thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
— Frederick Douglass
271365 Tim Pendleton <tpendleton@g...> 2020‑07‑03 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
On July 3, 2020, at 3:03 PM, gary may via OldTools  wrote:

>
>  Applying high frequency vibrations, by hell-beating with a hammer, is
sometimes in order.
> 
Sage advice!  I suspect that Natalie might condone flogging with a Woodchuck...

Tim
I observed a young squirrel taking a bite out of one of my mariachi peppers this
morning; Not a mistake it will likely repeat.  :)
271372 gary may 2020‑07‑04 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
Don Schwartz my Dear Fellow 
  ---Microwave *might* work, but talk about your tailed demon! Lemme know if
you're trying it so I can be out of town that day.....best g


 

    On Friday, July 3, 2020, 12:34:49 PM PDT, don schwartz  wrote:  
 
 

Might a tour of the microwave do as well?

Don

-- 
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” —
Albert Einstein

“Worry less, concentrate more, and above all relax.” James Krenov

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but
thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
— Frederick Douglass
271373 Erik Levin 2020‑07‑04 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
Don inquired:


>Might a tour of the microwave do as well?

>Don


Given that the contents of the maraca- sorry, handle- are unknown, and and metal
in a radarange is a Bad thing, I would class this application as inappropriate,
unless for solely for the entertainment value of the electron burner becoming an
incendiary device.



*** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address
271382 don schwartz <dks@t...> 2020‑07‑04 Re: Call for ingenuity: loosening a wooden screw (Don't Despair!)
Ooops! Silly me. Pass the Brasso!

Don

On 2020-07-04 5:43 a.m., Erik Levin via OldTools wrote:
> Don inquired:
>
>
>> Might a tour of the microwave do as well?
>> Don
>
> Given that the contents of the maraca- sorry, handle- are unknown, and and
metal in a radarange is a Bad thing, I would class this application as
inappropriate, unless for solely for the entertainment value of the electron
burner becoming an incendiary device.
>
>
>
> *** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
> To change your subscription options:
> https://oldtools.swingleydev.com/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>
> To read the FAQ:
> https://swingleydev.com/archive/faq.html
>
> OldTools archive: https://swingleydev.com/ot/
>
> OldTools@s...


-- 
“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” —
Albert Einstein

“Worry less, concentrate more, and above all relax.” James Krenov

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but
thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
— Frederick Douglass

Recent Bios FAQ