Thread: What are you working on?

Florida is a funny state for the salt phenomenon. You only get it much near the coast and really only if you drive THROUGH the water...there's so much rain here that even when I drive the hour and a half over to surf it will probably wash off on the way home. You do see the belt of rusted cars along the 1350 miles of coastline but not in the interior.

Cars dissolve here in short order. I have seen 5 year old trucks with all the box mounts gone. There has been some really bad ideas used in Ford designs. Air filtration for the fuel tank under the spare tire was another one. FX4 off-road package on a super duty, but you couldn’t drive it on a gravel road or the tank breather wouldcplug up. Super expensive to fix and no coverage from Ford either. I think that’s the worst part of buying Fords. They won’t pay for any of their errors.

Work on them (all makes) all day and you will realize that they all are crap. They add gadgets and gizmos and don't correct 5 year-old defects.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Work on them (all makes) all day and you will realize that they all are crap. They add gadgets and gizmos and don't correct 5 year-old defects.

I was just getting ready to say that. I tell my customers just about every day every mechanism has its favorite thing to break and that is this one's favorite. Some are better overall than others but they ALL have problems. My wife (bless her heart) likes cars with all the gadgetry and I always say that looks expensive to fix when it breaks. Give me plain jane, especially in vans and pick up trucks which by the way is hard to get anymore.

I used to look forward to buying a new vehicle but not any more. The more gizmos and gadgets they add the more to go wrong and it will. Add to that the size of the owners manual is now the size of a thick novel. The only thing I require a car salesman to do is kiss me because I know I am going to get screwed one way or another. Yea, no joy in it any more.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

I used to look forward to buying a new vehicle but not any more. The more gizmos and gadgets they add the more to go wrong and it will. Add to that the size of the owners manual is now the size of a thick novel. The only thing I require a car salesman to do is kiss me because I know I am going to get screwed one way or another. Yea, no joy in it any more.

Bob

I hear ya, Bob-I bought my wife a Toyota Rav4 Platinum last year. It's a beautiful SUV, with more bells and whistles than all the rides we've ever had put together, and she adores it. I just hope that it will last a long time without issues like the other Toyotas we've had.

Originally Posted by Gasman

BTW, here are the last two hone boxes finished...

Attachment 308887Attachment 308888

I went without stain on the Maple. Just a couple coats of semi-gloss clear and some sanding and polishing. Waxed the insides and out just because i figured it could hurt putting a little wax on the bare wood on the insides. The waves on the Maple move with you. Looks really cool. Cant wait to do some scales out of it. But I think I will go with Tru-oil on the scales for a little color.

Jerry, here's a question for you (or any other wood-finishing experts). I picked up a few boards the last time I was at Woodcraft in Charlotte; they are the perfect size for making lots of razors at 3"x8"x24." I'm thinking about doing one in the purpleheart on the bottom for my wife, who's totally a purple person. I don't want to darken it at all, but I think it would look fantastic in a glossy or semi-glossy clear coat. Just curious what you or anyone else uses-one of the Minwax wipe-on cans? Do any of the spray on finishes give an acceptable finish? Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

The two above the purpleheart are Bolivian rosewood and redheart if anyone is curious. When I saw they had uniform 1/8" planks, I about fainted-I really get tired of thicknessing on the flat-bed grinder!

Originally Posted by outback

Well a little birdie gave me some info on another notorious ford problem, when it comes to fuel pumps not working.

Drop the spare tire and look at the "Fuel pump driver module". They mounted it to a cross member, cast aluminum to steel. 95% of most fuel pump problems.

So in less than a half hour to R&R the module, it was running.


Summit Racing is only 10 minutes from the house, and they keep ample supply in stock, being they used them on diesels as well.

So you ford owner better keep an eye on your tranny and power steering lines, as well as this module.

Steel too aluminum just don't work. The module, now comes with two rubber bushings to keep them from touching.

What year Ford?

I am also one who likes less gadgets to break and repair.

The one gadget I really do like is heated rear view mirrors. When I had them I used them just as much if not more in the summer to dry rain.

With my latest truck I had to buy another $5,000 package to get them and figured I didn't like them that much.

I have wondered if the wiring harnes still is there and if it would be worth trying to go to the junk yard to get some different ones?

Originally Posted by BobH

I used to look forward to buying a new vehicle but not any more. The more gizmos and gadgets they add the more to go wrong and it will. Add to that the size of the owners manual is now the size of a thick novel. The only thing I require a car salesman to do is kiss me because I know I am going to get screwed one way or another. Yea, no joy in it any more.

Bob

Owner's manual? My latest car manual didn't even list all the warning light symbols. Driving to work one morning and this symbol pops up on my dash. Wound up having to search on the net to find out it meant the outside temp was below 37f and there might be ice on the road. Probably saved them a 1/2 cent per manual to not print all the symbols. Heck manuals used to have torque specs and firing sequences. Ok done with my rant.

I'll bet back to more thread related matters...

Waiting for some epoxy to dry on my Robeson so I got my latest swirly scale razor (Sheffield Cutlery Co.) cleaned up. Just steel wool and polish, didn't even unpin it.

Took a bit on the stones to get a couple of rust spots off the edge. Got to clean steel and finished it up on my black ark. Nice shave this morning.
Still figuring the ark out, but it's a step up from the 8000 Norton. I'm thinking a bunch of stropping will smooth the edge out a bit more.

The blade has a double hollow? grind, really subtle increase in thickness near the edge, then it tapers back down to the bevel. It's hard to see, but you can feel it if you pinch the blade near the spine and wipe your fingers to the edge.

I think my favorite thing about these scales are the transparent patches you can see the blade through. It's difficult to photo, hope it's somewhat clear.

Front and back


Close up of transparent patches in scales

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Jerry, here's a question for you (or any other wood-finishing experts). I picked up a few boards the last time I was at Woodcraft in Charlotte; they are the perfect size for making lots of razors at 3"x8"x24." I'm thinking about doing one in the purpleheart on the bottom for my wife, who's totally a purple person. I don't want to darken it at all, but I think it would look fantastic in a glossy or semi-glossy clear coat. Just curious what you or anyone else uses-one of the Minwax wipe-on cans? Do any of the spray on finishes give an acceptable finish? Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Don't consider myself an expert and tend to do more traditional oil finishes, but I've had good luck with Minwax spray polyurethane for shelving projects (oak and pine mostly). Haven't tried it on "exotic" woods and I'm not sure how it would take to flexing. If you try it I'd use a minimum of 4 coats with sanding between. 6-8 coats would add durability and depth to the finish.