Single Use Plastic in the Workshop and Beyond

 Many folks are making an effort to reduce the amount of single use products in their lives, plastic straws being one of the things with a high media profile.  Single use items don't play a large role in wood working and a smaller than average role in my shop.  For example, I know many woodworkers that use disposable foam brushes rather than wash out a bristle brush, I'm cheap I wash brushes out.  Glue brushes are another throw away item I re-use over and over again.  Sand paper is disposable, but a crepe block extents sand paper's useful life several times over. Not to mention that I use planes, files and cabinet scrapers when ever possible, partly because I am thrifty and partly because I want to avoid fine dust.   

  If I am thirsty I drink water out the the tap and if I need to take it with me I put it in a reusable bottle.  I carried vacuum bottles ( thermos in Canada) of coffee to work long  after there came to be a "Tim Horton's on every corner, party cheapness and partly hatred of adding to the world's accumulation of trash.

  I think Dunkin Donuts is the American Version of Tim Hortons.

  On the topic of dust and dust collection I installed vortex dust collection systems years ago to reduce the number of filter and other bags that had to be bought and thrown out.  Money I believe to have been well invested.

   Connected with the single use theme, today I am going to drift up the stairs and out of the workshop.  

  Forty plus years ago I began to shave my face and very quickly my father made it clear he was not interested in sharing his razor.  You may remember razors from the 1970's they were generally heavy brass, or steel and used a single blade.  However, around that time multi blade razors made mostly from single use plastic came on the scene. The new razors proved conclusively how primitive and backward was my father, who never made the move to the modern era and so only owned one razor in his adult life.

single use, unnecessary 

  For about forty years I used razors like the one in the photo.  I usually wear a fairly full beard and so seldom shave why entire face, nor do I shave more than three times per week.  If I shave every day my face and neck quickly resemble ground beef, raw, regardless of what shaving products, razors, soaps, balms or aftershaves used. I even tried a couple of costly electric razors which not only abraded my skin but cooked it at the same time. ( it is only fair to say that my face is covered with closely packed heavy black (now grey) wire pretending to be hair. )

  Recently I began to think about the single use plastic thing.  I don't use a straw with drinking and usually carry a knife and spoon with me for road side eating.  I hated plastic utensils long before they became an environmental issue.  So what was a further unnecessary throw away plastic thing....razors.  Over the course of forty plus years I have thrown more than two thousands into the trash. 

 What to do? Consider what my Father did.  The old man was smarter than I gave him credit. 

  I now have a razor which I expect to last me as long as I shave myself and it came with a selection of blades all of which seem to do an equally effective job.  One make is in a paper box and so will be what I order in the future.  (Astra)  I have found that there are a couple of weeks shaving in each razor blade thus far.

  

  After all the hype my single blade razor does a well as any of the three, four, five blade super duper plastic wonders I have used for the last forty years.  Eventually the single razor blades with be recycled or at least biodegrade in time as will the steel razor.

  As my Grand children grow and fill my life with joy and light I want their lives to be long and happy too.

 cheers ianw 

Soap Dish

 I have been working away on some small projects that were in limbo. I've flocked an other box and spent sometime sharpening tools.  Otherwise it is sort of summer vacation.  When you are retired how do you tell vacation from everyday life? I don't know either.

  The thing I actually made was a carved soap dish out of cedar. 

  The basic shape was cut on the band saw and to establish the depth to which the dish was to be hollowed I used my drill press.  After establishing where I wanted to hollow to be deepest I set the depth stop on my drill press and then drilled a 3/8 hole.  Once the hole was drilled I then used various carving gouges to gently taper down to the hole depth.

  To work on this project I used my carving jig/support.

  The sides are solidly screwed to the base.  The screw heads are well counter sunk to keep from chipping a blade if I slip. On the underside is a heavy lip that I can push firmly against my work bench. That way I can exert serious torque when necessary. 

  The various cut outs help hold various shapes better.

  If you wanted to make something like this soap dish and did not have carving chisels you could draw the shape on your board but not cut it out.  By leaving the board uncut you would have places upon which to clamp your piece down while using various power sanding machines.  A shallow indentation could be mostly shaped with a grinder and a random orbital sander.  Once the hollow is shaped, cut your pattern out on the band saw or with a jig saw.  I used knives and files to trim and shape the edges but a sander would do the job as well.  I opted for the mostly hand tool approach because I wasn't in a hurry and wanted quiet time.

  This soap dish turned out Okay except I experimented with the finish.  Instead of something traditional like tung oil, or just leaving it raw to soak up over time I tried something I found in a craft store.  My wife puts jig saw puzzles together and I thought I would try the premixed sealant/epoxy that puzzlers use to glue a complete puzzle together.  It didn't really work, too much of it soaked into the wood for a nice result.  It I have to seal the project before putting the sealer on, it is not a success. I appear to be a glutton for  punishment when it comes to the search for a finishing short cut. 

  Anyway, the weather is what we have been waiting for, more or less so get out and enjoy it.

cheers, ianw