I didn't look up the link, but we always made the string into a complete loop around the three nails. 1/2 the major axis is measured from the top or bottom of the minor axix to find where it intersects the major axis. That is the nail placement. No mathematical calculations needed. On walls, we alwa...

Over the years I have purchased several designs of elipsographs, ranging in size fron desktop to 4 x 8. The neatest one is an improved model that I coppied from one made by Frank Maesen. I made an MDO base with perpendicular dadoes 1/2" wide. I made a swing arm with a series of holes down the c...

perhaps I'm describing it bass-ackwards?

Gary Rhoads turned me onto the visible grinding wheel. They seem to be hard to find items now, but I use mine regularly, both for my chisels and Megan's kitchen knives. I don't find any advantage yet to useing a hollow grind instead of a flat. I do find that a shallower angle works better on redwood...

My wooden stick gets sanded with a fine paper periodically to remove paint smears. The ballon the end is covered with a piece of chamois drawn over it and secured with a rubber band. I also like to lightly dust the chamois and stick with talc. I keep the mahlsticks in my kit that break down, but far...

I also learned to drill a hole near each end of a yardstick and tie a knot in the string, pass it through the hole so the knot jammed, carve a small V groove at the end and wrap the string accross making a bow. This bow could be used for scribing an arc as well as for a snap line. We always had an 8...

Rod, did the fish eye stop when you swiutched to a different product? Reading the name of that stuff, might be your dad programming it into you to drive French cars?

There have been a few jobs we've done in recent months that have all held a common problem. Following burnishing leaf on surface gilds, the background did not retain the gloss it had previously. It had almost a spotted and blotchy dull look when viewed from some angles. We were able to cover this wi...