Finish the Job Right with a Finish Sander

Porter-Cable 380 1/4-Sheet Finish Sander

The old palm sander in my shop went tits-up a while back: the fiber backing pad for the sandpaper simply off one day, leaving it essentially useless. I was on the way to my local BigBox store anyway, so I jotted “new finish sander” at the bottom of my list. Meanwhile, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try re-gluing the pad. I gotta admit, the flexible adhesive (E-6000) I used definitely surprised me! By the time was completely dry, though, I'd already bought a replacement, a Porter-Cable 380 1/4-Sheet Finish Sander.

When I eventually got around to trying out the new sander a couple of projects later, I was quite pleased: the 380 is definitely a tight little piece of work. It’s ergonomically superior to sander it replaced (an old Black & Decker) and much quieter. It also has rudimentary dust-collection – not a match for a vacuum system, but better than letting dust fly.

A Workshop's Gentle Persuader: The Rubber Mallet

A Workshop's Gentle Persuader: The Rubber Mallet

Some kind of hammer is most likely the first tool most people accumulate, whether their destiny is to become a carpenter or a hedge fund manager on Wall Street. My first tool, which I still have more than fifty years later, was a wood-handled 16-oz finishing hammer. Now that one has been joined by all sorts of hammers, such as a classic Estwing rock hammer and an 8-pound sledge. All these metal hammers have hard heads, though, so whenever I run into an situation that requires a little finesse I break out my Stanley Rubber Mallet.

The Mallet's Design I’m talking old-school design: the mallet isn’t a 21st-century technological wonder with Bluetooth and iOS 8.0; and it’s not constructed of miracle nanotech materials. It’s simply a cylindrical hunk of black rubber sitting on a simple wood handle made of hickory, like baseball bats once were, and given a coat of lacquer. The head has a little heft, weighing in at 18 ounces, and is made of a tough yet yielding synthetic rubber compound. The flat striking face is 2½ inches in diameter to reduce the chances of marring or denting a delicate-ish surface, but it still lets you smack something hard enough to nudge it in the right direction.

Finish Line Teflon Dry Lubricant: Lubrication Without the Gritty Aftertaste

Finish Line Teflon Plus Spray

Cycling enthusiasts are eternally happy to inform you that bicycles are the most efficient form of transportation, whether or not it's true (it probably is).  A modern bicycle maximizes the mechanical advantages inherent to simple machines, things like levers and pulleys, by reducing overall weight and keeping tolerances tight. Because of those tolerances, regular periodic maintenance and lubrication are some of the essentials to keeping your bicycle in top condition. A proper lubrication regimen means paying careful attention to all moving parts.

Over the years I've used dry lube on almost everything that moves on my bicycle, especially the moving parts of the front and rear derailleurs and the shifters. I also regularly lube shift and brake cables and brake cantilevers with a few drops dripped from a bottle of my favorite, Finish Line Dry Lube. More recently, I've expanded my lubricant arsenal to include aerosol cans of Finish Line Teflon Plus Spray. Except for added propellants, this formula is identical to what's in the original drip bottle. I picked up on this stuff after the household’s aging Lemond road bike developed shifter problems and the mechanic at the local bike shop chided me for not lubing the shifter housings, those integral shifter/brake levers that are the standard on road bikes. Finish Line's aerosol can comes with a skinny red straw familiar to fans of WD-40. That straw gives me pinpoint precision needed to squirt lifesaving lube deep within the shifter housings before a ride. I also use the aerosol sans straw for a wide-angle shot at the cogset after washing the bikes.

Frost-Proof Faucets

A Lot Cheaper than a Frozen Pipe!

One of water's most important physical properties is surprisingly unusual: unlike most other substances, when water freezes it expands instead of contracts. Life scientists tell us that this unusual property is absolutely essential to life as we know it; without this difference Earth's oceans would be little more than somewhat salty frozen treats. Your plumber may not admit it, but this property is also essential to the payments on his yacht. If a pipe around your house has ever frozen and burst, you know what the guy with the plumber's crack means. It ain't a pretty sight (you decide which "it" I mean).

Frozen Faucets are a Hassle

An outdoor faucet, also known as a hose bib or sillcock, is likely to be the weakest link in your plumbing when the temperature drops too far below freezing. It’s not just exposed to frigid air, it's also close to the ground where the temperature is lowest. Houses that don’t have hose shutoffs with drains for the outdoor faucets (very common for houses on slabs) are often in danger of freezing along that run of pipe. A wise preemptive step for a homeowner is to install a frost-proof hydrant. With their long valves, even a faucet that must be left operating for outdoor water supply during the coldest days of winter remains protected from freezing. That’s because, when the faucet is turned off, all the water stays within the house instead of in a pipe that's out and exposed to the cold.

Pipe Heaters

Prevent Frozen Waterfalls on Those Cold Winter Nights with a Wrap-On Pipe Heating Cable

Houstonians, where I grew up folks pretty much rejoiced if a January overnight low only dropped to 20° Fahrenheit, so your "nasty cold snaps" seem laughably warm to me. I kid you not, in seven years I've never worn my second-warmest coat here, much less my warmest - and the best gloves are still somewhere in storage, too. However, I realize that not only are the human beings around here unable to endure sub-freezing temperature, local houses haven't been designed for such temperatures either. So we are prepared: for example, we bought some of those 99¢ foam covers for our outdoor faucets and picked up some foam pipe wraps.

The Problem: Exposed Pipes

One inexplicable local plumbing practice - don't me why, given Houston has a hard freeze every few years - is to pipe to near the edge of the slab with PVC, then finish bringing water to the house through an exposed copper supply pipe. Yep, naked metal pipe outside the house; a veritable full-employment plan for local plumbers if there ever was one. I've outsmarted them, though, because I own a Wrap-On Pipe Heating Cable I'd bought several years ago for our Great (formerly) White Elephant on the Edge of the Prairie. No problems: even after several nights of low-twenties temperatures, we'll be fine -- though our plants probably won't.

San Angelo Bar

They Won't Sell You a Beer at This San Angelo Bar!

Although their name sounds more like somewhere you might catch a Los Lonely Boys¹ gig of a Saturday Night, San Angelo bars are pretty much as far from beer halls as you can imagine. Sometimes called a "rock bar" (also a venue where you might see Los Lonely Boys play, I guess), a San Angelo bar is essentially a seventeen-pound steel pencil. You can't buy a drink at one and you most likely won't hear any music, but when it comes to prying out a rock or busting through a hard streak when you're digging a post hole, you sure can't beat one.

Post holes are exactly why I have one - digging new holes and busting the cement out of old ones. I’m talking situations like a recent fence repair, courtesy of a 60-mph wind and a string of rotten, 20-year-old posts…. not to mention 95-degree heat.

Mine is the classic San Angelo bar design manufactured by Ludell Tool. A drop-forged steel bar with a one-inch hexagonal cross-section, it's seventy inches long and came painted with dark green enamel (newer bars are black). One end is pointed, as if the bar had been plugged into a super-sized (and super-tough) pencil sharpener. The opposite end is flattened into a dull chisel point 2½" wide. All told, it weighs seventeen pounds. Because it’s long and solid, a San Angelo bar is perfect for prying loose a heavy rock you encounter when digging. The pointy end can pierce dense, hard layers of soil, which is especially useful for digging post holes. Seventeen pounds of hardened steel launched two or three feet onto that point does a fine job on tough soil layers: a former neighbor once punched through what he thought was rock with his rock bar only to realize he'd poked a hole in the top of his septic tank!

Your Legs and Back Will Say "Thanks!" for Some Anti-Fatigue Mats

The older you get, the more obvious it becomes that no other floor is quite so unforgiving as a bare concrete slab. Even cheap vinyl tile has a little give. Unfortunately, most workshops are found in basements or garages, with floors of - you guessed it - bare concrete. If you find yourself standing for hours on end on hard flooring at work or in your hobby space, then your back, knees and hips will probably start aching about the time you hit your mid-fifties. You owe it to your skeleton to find some sort of cushioning to put underfoot.

If your joints and back are achy after a day in your workshop, an anti-fatigue mat may be just what the doctor (or chiropractor) ordered. You can create shop-built wooden platforms for stations like your drill press or band saw or buy commercial versions. A key advantage of the commercial mats is that many have beveled edges to reduce tripping hazards and to make it easier to roll equipment across them. On the other hand, they are sometimes fairly expensive.