Finishing with Super Glue

If you are looking for a really great, hard, durable, shiny finish for turning projects,  try cyanoacrylate glue - that's super glue to you and me. It's quick and suprisingly easy. I sort of just started doing this as a way to finish pens. No other finish lasts as long or stays as bright and clean. It is, after all an acrylic plastic.

So here is how I do it.

Adjustable Bench

I don't like going to the dentist and really, does anybody? But you have to admit that dentist's chairs are pretty cool when it comes to "adjust"-ability. In this example, this heavy work bench is made out of a piece of laminated beam with a shelf underneath. The whole thing is bolted to a dentist's chair mechanism. It swivels and goes up and down. There is also a brake that locks it in place as you swivel it.

Of course barber's chairs work remarkably well as bench bases, too. Luthier Michael Sanden from Sweden made this one from a barber chair he had in his own barber shop. It too, swivels and the lever pumps it up and down.

You can find these old chair mechanisms online for a few hundred bucks but the proliferation of tattoo parlors has driven the price up. You still find them at flea markets and even in old barber shops. But it's a neat way of getting the ultimate adjustable stand for the ultimate adjustable workholding tool - Grip-All Jaws.

Lining Gourds with Paper

We asked Stacy if she would demonstate her lining technique and she very nicely consented. So here is what she does.

Make Your Own Measuring Guage

As a machinist, I often used a measuring gauge or surface gauge for comparing and layout work. It's just a base, and a riser that holds a pointer and slides up and down on a shaft.

Mine was a Starrett and cost about 200 clams - though I seemed to remember they actually preferred money to mollusks. But they are designed for a scriber since you are etching on metal after first coating it with Prussian Blue dye. I had to make an adapter to use a common pencil on my expensive surface gauge.

Well here is an easy way to do that and costs a couple of bucks - maybe.

This one is made from plywood, hardwood, HDPE, heck you could use pretty much any stable scrap material. And as a seasoned, expert craftsperson we know you keep good scrap for just such occasions.

We won't show how to make one here, but click on the link to go to the Documents section of our web site and get a pdf copy.

Note: You may need to turn off your popup blocker to download the file.

Happy marking!