learning to write

[tablesawtom]

As I am learning to write, learning to say things in a better and a more clear way. I would ask readers to read the whole thing before misunderstanding and offering a misrepresentation ( replies ) to that which the text is  really about. The old saying holds true that a text taken out of context is a misrepresentation of what was really said.     Is That to much to ask?

I chose this forum in which to write because a lot of what I hope to write about deals with the use power tools and why some of you actually put problems into your projects without ever realizing. So I hope the Mods will give me some leeway because what I write is going to be far reaching from      What plane do I buy first.    The general theme of the next posts will be power tool related.

I have been hammered in previous post about working in thousandths, because I worked to close tolerances in metal and it is not necessary when working with wood. But that is not what I said or implied at all. If you care to go back and really read the subject you will find the subject  ( text) was  referring to machine set up and not about the wood at all. About maybe if one wants to go the extra mile one can expect even better results. and about reliable results easier. 

So here it goes.

Again I have been hammered about wood working in thousandths but the truth is, hopefully you all do. It is in fits and lets use a tongue and groove joint as an example. Science says no two matters can occupy the same space at the same time. Even if the tongue is the same size it will not go into the groove. What we are not talking about is that it can be forced in.  So even if it is the same size it is to large. and if to large it is probably by a couple thousands, hence can be fixed with a shoulder plane no big deal but you are only taking off a few thousands. but you are working in the thousandths without knowing it.

If the joint is to loose it is probably by a few thousandths. Now I am not talking about the couple under to jest a good fit I am talking about an extra couple that make the joint to loose to glue up and that it needs to be fixed or redone to move forward with what ever is being built.

Have you ever made several pieces using a tongue and groove joint and when finished, had some to tight, some just perfect and some that were to loose to use and had to be remade. And the remakes had to be done from scratch even to being cut from a board you were saving for something else? I am writing from experience so I have had the problems in the past butt now I don't have then nearly as often. Why?

Another note:  if you have run 2 pieces through a planner and layed them side by side on a flat surface and ran you fingerover them  and felt a step you have just measured to at least .0002 of an inch because the human finger can tell the difference that small.


Also I have been on this forum long enough to know how it can get. So will  some of you, as people on this forum, set aside you biases by not reading them into the text and actually giver me a chance before shooting down what I really said?

Tom

[texaswally]

One thing I would like everyone to learn is the difference between to, too & two and there, their & they're, also then and than. I see these words use wrongly all the time. The Spell Check won't find them because they are spelled correctly just the wrong words.

[Lynden]

Another one is "rule" and "ruler". I can remember my 9th grade shop teacher saying "A ruler is the head of a country, a rule is a measuring device." That's "device", not "devise". Also, "advice" and "advise" are often misused.

[Stytooner]

It helps with contractions if you actually say the word being contracted if unsure how it should be used. That is not they're car. They're riding in their car.


The above was close to word for word from one of my High School English teachers.

[JGrout]

let alone rabbet,  rabbit and rebate 




and the difference between a friction fit and a piston fit... 

And Ironically a similarly sized part that seemingly will not fit until you learn that  one can freeze one piece of metal  and heat the other and slide the two together. 

A good example of this is a wrist pin used to hold a piston head  and connecting rod together 



And that Tom is why I see no need to work any more accurately than I feel necessary 

You can go on and on and on about how nice a perfect fit would be in woodworking and manage to attain the goal one time in three.  You have gone on and on about how somehow the only way to make a planer perfect is to incorporate the use of measuring devices that most hobbyists only dream of let alone have the time (or the patience) to follow through on. It is an admirable goal for all of us to reach for, alas life is short and time and money  is at a premimum for most Add in some version of operator error such as planing stock constantly through the center of the laner and the wear alone ruins all that planer setup time in a few hundred lineal feet Case in point: I set knives on an old 16" wide american jointer  One time I did so handed the owner the bill for my time he paid me and we went to lunch 

When we returned one of the employees came in the office and stated I did a terrible job of setting the knives I am one who stands behind my work so I walked out in the shop to the jointer looked at the pile of about 60 laminated stiles 4/4 glued in the middle to make 1 3/4" stock The edges he was jointing had glue drips all over them, ( no attempt to scrape of even saw them clean) . The operator then told me that the middle of the knives were not correct and proceeded to show me by running another piece of the laminated stock. 

Once he got done I looked at his boss, who knowingly looked back at me I moved the fence 2" and ran the same stile over the knives....... Worked out perfectly 

Moral to the story: operator got a thorough tongue lashing, and I got paid a second time in two hours for setting new knives.... all because the operator failed to move the fence once in a while...... Wear is a woodworkers greatest enemy That is a given and we have to be able to account for it simply or we would spend all our time fixing machine tooling 



So to imply that wood structure is  a constantly measureable medium and totally attainable (let alone repeatable) medium like metals is foolish  there are factors in wood that cannot be replicated from one piece to the next. 

To me for you to say   leave the wood out of the equation is equal to  you have sunk the boat with the anchor.....

[tablesawtom]

As I stated as I am learning to write, not since I learned to right. I am not an English major, but a retired tool and die maker. For probably 30 years the only thing I wrote was a letter or two and to sign my name on a paycheck. My wood working began as a hobby in 1973 so I have been doing it for a while. I was visiting Woodsmith one time and was told it is easier to make a writer out of a woodworker than to make a wood worker out of a writer. It hold true. And I have no editor.

I went back and reread my post several time  and found one place where I got a period in the wrong place. If I reread tomorrow I may find a few more mistakes, But I did not find any of the  petty things that are being stated in the replies.


So what does your preconceived biases have to do with this post? If you have a problem with other peoples word usage please do it in your POST.
Why do a few of you have to stop some information from being past on, information from which someone might benefit? Shame on you.

Tom

[Downwindtracker2]

Writing something technical is more difficult than telling a story. People tend see what they want to read, not what's written. Have you told somebody something and he didn't hear what you said, his mind was already made up about what he heard.

[tablesawtom]

To J.Grout

You an I have never seen I eye to eye on anything and I am sure we never will, but I have never once written anything against anything you ever posted.

I wrote about an easier more reliable way of setting jointer blades but all I got from you was negativity. No solution only negativity.

I wrote about setting planner blades to help keep problems out of your work, but All I received from you is negativity. Start your own post, I won't bother to reply to yours. I never do.

I mentioned tongue and grooved joints as an example and I got heating metal for what ever.  I am laying the ground work for why they come out different and you will never guess what you gave me more negativity. and what does moving a fence 2 inches have to do with the joint in question. All I have seen so far is I, I , I know it all and I.

If you know it all  then you do not need to read my posts. Anyway because with your track record it will be negative. Please give me and I hope others a brake by not reading and responding to my posts.

Tom

[Stytooner]

I was just making a statement. I didn't really see the point you were trying to make in the first post. You should work to the degree that you want to work in. Metric or inches. It really makes no difference. Metal moves too. I do not work to near the tolerance that some machinists do, but still produce a product that works within my tolerances. Also if you are asking for thoughts and opinions, you should not be ticked off when you get them.
Feel free to use Starrett calipers on your woodworking projects if you want to.

[AHill]

Another one is "rule" and "ruler". I can remember my 9th grade shop teacher saying "A ruler is the head of a country, a rule is a measuring device." That's "device", not "devise". Also, "advice" and "advise" are often misused.

I think common use has morphed so that either word is acceptable.  I'm guilty as charged for calling them rulers.  Perhaps it was the way I was taught growing up.

Dictionary.com cites this as one definition for "ruler":

"Also, rule. a strip of wood, metal, or other material having a straight edge and usually marked off in inches or centimeters, used for drawing lines, measuring, etc."

Merriam-Webster cites "ruler" or "rule" definitions meaning the measuring tool marked off in units.

I agree, though, that most manufacturers call measuring devices "rules."  Lee Valley, Starrett, Incra, Woodpeckers, PEC, Lufkin, and General Tools all call them "rules".