Black Magic paint.

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks for the links Joe. Cap'n Eddie Castelin adds some very useful videos onto YouTube and I watched his $2 sharpening jig video quite a while ago; I've never heard of "Dust Bee Gone" nuisance dust masks before and one of these masks might help me out. Regarding using an office fan to blow down onto a lathe; this sounds as though it will work but wouldn't such a set up simply recycle dust laden air if used in a small workshop if the fan couldn't be supplied with a source of clean air? I'm always open to new ideas or information though.

I've seen the Racal Airstream helmets before Lawrence but they are expensive; I know I only have the one set of lungs so shouldn't begrudge spending on their safety but it's interesting to look at alternative clean air solutions. I have a proper respirator for when I'm paint spraying fitted with the correct cartridge; hot weather isn't a problem for me because it is so rare.

Had I known before I painted using Dulux Gloss White paint about the many problems Dulux are having because of their paint turning yellow in a very short time I wouldn't have touched the Dulux at all; I spend ages in preparation and rubbing down and now the white Dulux is turning yellow very quickly which is soul destroying. Next time I paint in gloss white I'll use Little Greene oil based paint which is a lot more expensive but I don't care because I'd much rather pay a premium for anything that is going to last; buying white paint only to have it quickly turn yellow is a total waste of money making it highly expensive because the work has to be repeated. I live and learn?

My review has been accepted on Ideal World and is here;

http://www.idealworld.tv/Black_Magic_Pai...s@lt;{8011}

Kind regards, Col.

[pwdrive]

I've seen the Racal Airstream helmets before Lawrence but they are expensive; I know I only have the one set of lungs so shouldn't begrudge spending on their safety but it's interesting to look at alternative clean air solutions. I have a proper respirator for when I'm paint spraying fitted with the correct cartridge; hot weather isn't a problem for me because it is so rare.

I found that when I was full time sawmilling that anything over my face was a positive danger, the dust seemed to manifest itself with nasal problems with me, I say dust, it could have been the red diesel I had to apply to the running band with a brush every minute or so.
Don't forget that if you homebrew some kind of mask that draws fresh air in from the outside that yer lips might turn blue in the winter and snowdrifts might pile up on yer chin.....just a thought.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks Lawrence. What a combination; red diesel and sawdust; you must be bulletproof by now?

Thanks for the reminder; it won't be long before we are putting antifreeze in our tea again up here? The blue lips are standard but the snow on my chin might impair my vision a bit. The Jubilee lathe was only fitted with an old Hoover motor when I bought it but now with the new top quality Brook Motor at 1.5HP and the VFD I think this will break the mandrel free of the thickened oil this winter? What a prospect though; another nine month long winter to look forward to; woodturning during winter in Yorkshire should be classed as a winter sport?

I've just had a good day hacking back the front garden greenery which was growing onto the pathway in front of the bungalow and for good measure trimmed the hedges and conifers; enough for one day.

Kind regards, Col.

[pwdrive]

Yes, red diesel was the only effective way to reduce resin build up time on the driven side of the band and the band wheels leaving it unchecked would result in multiple band cracking that's for sure but eventually the resin would build up past acceptable limits, the solution then was to use a paint scraper on the driven side of the band and the band wheels followed by a fresh slosh of red diesel with a brush, a nervous job if not used to it.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

I'm pleased I don't have to resort to sloshing red diesel around whilst using my bandsaw Lawrence; apart from the mess it would stink the bungalow out especially our bedroom which is directly above the bandsaw in the garage. It's a good job I'm using dried timber and not green?

I'm pleased you drew my attention to the "Dust Bee Gone" dust mask Joe; although an american product I've just done a bit of web browsing and find these masks are on sale here in the UK. Craft Supplies now called Turners Retreat stock these masks but they sure are not cheap initially but over the longer term will work out cheaper than buying less expensive inferior dust masks which mist up glasses.

http://www.turners-retreat.co.uk/mask-to-neck-size-15

Size 15 would fit me and although I could order online I think it would be a good excuse to take Bron out for a drive to collect one? The last time we visited Turners Retreat we had just got our new Aygo and this Aygo is fitted with a built in Sat Nav. I tried the Sat Nav out and wished I hadn't by the time we returned home; we both felt worn out after being routed through "The Strines". The road surface was absolutely atrocious and must have taken a couple of years off the new cars suspension? Next time we visit we will go the Dove Holes route. Dove Holes was voted the most boring place in the UK a few years ago.

£29.95 is a small price to pay for lung protection and a price I won't grumble about. One way or another I'll be buying one of these dust masks shortly.

Kind regards, Col.

[pwdrive]

I'm pleased I don't have to resort to sloshing red diesel around whilst using my bandsaw Lawrence; apart from the mess it would stink the bungalow out especially our bedroom which is directly above the bandsaw in the garage. It's a good job I'm using dried timber and not green?

Hi Col I was refering to wide blade bandsaws (big ones) eg: 4 inches and above band width, the ones I used to run did have built in scrapers and lubricating reservoirs but the scrapers and reservoirs would inevitably get crunched as they do. We used to use water as well but red diesel was the best, the last large bandsaw I had was a forrestor 900 with hydraulic feed tables but that was a baby compared to the old Stenner I used to use, the rack tables on that were made from half inch steel plate and were 20 ft long and it was driven by a old combine harvester engine with an overcenter clutch.

Lawrence.

[pwdrive]

The Forrestor 900 logging saw like wot I had, rolling tables, hydraulic feed (sprocket and chain)

The good thing with these saws is that they are free standing and thus no sawdust pit is needed, very fast for breaking down 6 ft fencing bars (125mm to 175mm TD (top diameter) logs) as you can cut two end to end in one pass and the table return speed is quite fast. The tail end Charlie that joins the two halves of the tables together must be made of wood.....! A small piece of plywood was the norm. Gullet (bottom of) overhang approx 3 mm.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=ht...ter900.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.citysuburban.co.uk/recycling_centre.htm&h=358&w=480&sz=44&tbnid=yv0lEL4TTrIeTM:&tbnh=96&tbnw=129&zoom=1&usg=__ugbIY55Tjm7jm8VdowbHWcH2tpE=&docid=xxDkzughalOgrM&sa=X&ei=8vwIUrjBNqHM0AX0oIHQDg&ved=0CDwQ9QEwAQ&dur=1098

The Stenner VB42 like wot I had, cast iron, built like a tank, half inch plate rack tables, the one in the video is set a bit too low, another six inches higher for us tall guys, better simpler dogging system than the Forrestor, nothing to go wrong with the dogs and they will hold anything if you keep them sharp, again tail end Charlie to join the two halves of the tables together must be of a soft sawable material, again usually a piece of thick plywood, needs 40 HP plus for grunt free sawing. Gullet overhang (bottom of) 3 mm approx.

Unlike the Forrestor 900 the Stenner needs a sawdust pit about 5 ft deep complete with sawdust extraction duct and cast as part of the pit are the reinforced concrete pillars to support the bottom half of the head rig, the set up has to be accurate, the scribe lines on the two halves of the headrig must line up otherwise the bandwheels won't track and it won't cut straight. A nice rig, it will cut the good, the bad and the ugly, still in use today no doubt and probably every jungle in the world has had one of these installed in it at some time or other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBwFRlq2tFY

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

Many thanks Lawrence for posting the interesting bandsaw video which I've just enjoyed watching full length.

All the bandsaws I've worked on have cut dried timber so there was never any problems with blades becoming coated. One question though springs to mind when you say you used red diesel; what tyres did the band wheels have installed?

Bandsaws don't come any better than Stenner. Our local timber yard has a Stenner in full time use and there is no stopping it; built like a tank and will last many lifetimes with minimal servicing.

I used to attend a wood machine exhibition (Timcom?) in the midlands years ago and brand new Stenner band saws were on display; I was actually stroking one and commented to the sales guy you can't beat cast iron; he informed me the frame and case were heavy steel plate which really did surprise me because it looked and felt just like cast iron. Impressive bit of kit though.

No names but at one of these exhibitions I got into conversation with a guy who owned a timber framed manufacturing company and we were discussing pallet making. I explained that I was responsible for pallet design and making at work and had just designed and set up a rapid pallet making steel bench which could be adjusted in seconds to accommodate various sizes of two way pallets which we as a company used thousands of. The smallest pallet to accept a 100 frame motor could be nailed up in half a minute using this table and air nailer. The guy was all ears and I left him my card.

A couple of weeks later this guy phoned me at work and started picking my brain as to how the new metal table was constructed and didn't the operator suffer from repetitive strain hand using the nailer all day? I explained fully the design of the table and how it adjusted also I further explained that the nail guns used where on a counter balance suspended from a rail above the table so all the operator had to do was to squeeze the trigger and tap the pallet with the gun in sequential mode. I then forgot about this conversation.

The following year my colleague Richard and I attended the next exhibition and Richard said to me come and have a look at this? The guy was selling my design and possibly still is doing so and good luck to him.

I was also looking into designing an angled frame to accept assorted lengths of pallet bearers but this time to use full length boards for the pallet tops; the bearers would be pre cut to length but the top boards would remain full length. The boards would be nailed then a panel saw would slide along and separate the individual pallets. At this point I left the company because I was working 24 hours a day 7 days a week; I simply couldn't switch off and ended up with shingles so to cut a long story short retired from active conflict aged 53.

The mention of Stenner bandsaws bring back lots of memories for me.

Kind regards, Col.

[pwdrive]

They don't have tyres as in rubber type tyres Col, they are large saws, the band wheels are cast iron/steel and crowned, the bands were tensioned to a very high tension, my old Stenner used a screw jack, my old Forrestor used a hydraulic jack, these jacks were built in as part of the headrig.

The Forrestor was an all fabricated bandsaw, even the band wheels were fabricated from welded components.

The Stenner headrig was an all cast iron jobbie including the band wheels.

I couldn't say for sure weather either of the above were fitted with heat shrunk steel tyres, it's not something I would have noticed, the band wheels would do a serious amount of mileage before needing a re crown, we never had any re crowned, the last I heard Stenner would still re crown wheels off their really old saws.

The bands would be rolled and tensioned when sent for sharpening, the Forrestor ran a 4" band but you could keep sharpening that down to about 2.75" and it would still just about hang on to the bandwheels at the correct tracking.
The Stenner ran a 5" band and we could take that down to about 3.5" although to be fair they never cut the same when they are sharpened right down as the blades start to wander somewhat due to age and crack repairs then eventually crack beyond repair.

Typical run time for a fresh sharpened band was 4hrs max then send away for sharpening.

Lawrence.

[Retired]

Hi,

Thanks for the very interesting information Lawrence. Although I've been around big machinery for the last 50 years most of the machines have been in other industry than timber conversion.

It must have been an expensive job to keep having the bands resharpened after so few running hours; two bands a day; over a year this will really mount up. Obviously the cost of resharpening the bands is offset by the sheer amount of board feet which can be produced in such short time by each band.

I once watched a New Yankee Workshop episode where Norm was visiting I think a double glazing company making wooden window frames etc. The railroad brought the timber directly onto site and if my memory is correct this site processed 6 million board feet of timber per week; it was truly awesome to watch the computer aided saws in operation milling the stock to dimension; I wish I had copied this to disc.

This was many years ago so now I wonder what impact UPVc has had on this huge site?

Yesterday I received an email from Screwfix informing me of their "Deal of the day" this was a Titan 406mm Scroll Saw powered by an 85W motor. Reduced just for the day from £79.99 down to £54.99 a saving of £25. At first I thought what a bargain and felt tempted to buy one of these saws until I read the reviews which instantly put me off.

Last year I sold my top of the range expensive variable speed Hegner scroll saw; I seldom used the Hegner and never really made friends with it possibly because I'm used to much bigger machines but at £54.99 had the Titan received good reviews I think I would have bought one for occasional use?

Last year I spent six full weeks in our rear garden felling trees and cutting back hedges and bushes; in particular the laurels needed extensive cutting back. I shredded over 150 bags of material and used this as mulch around the garden. Yesterday I was attacking the weeds which had now grown to waist height; these are in the area vacated when I removed a double trunked big elderberry bush leaving the ground around totally bare. It's incredible just how quickly these weeds have populated the bare ground and I'm once again attacking the laurels which have put on a lot of growth. I wanted to get into the workshop but the bungalow and gardens keep throwing jobs at me. Today I need to clear the rubbish; it won't go through the shredder but I'm thinking of digging it in rather than run it to the tip.

Kind regards, Col.