Drill And Router Bit Stand

[Old Bill]

My wife used to do flower displays, but packed it in.
Among her 'leftovers' was an assortment of the foamy fiberous blocks that you push the flowers into... don't know the name of it.
The pieces were about the size of a brick, but simple to shape with a bread knife and make ideal holders for your drill bits, router bits, and mine even holds my nail punches and an assortment of other bits.
No drilling, no mess, just push the shank in, and they are light and easy and will not cause your shanks to rust.


Just had to re-roof the bach recently, and banging the roofing nails through the coro was giving me many a sore thumb because of the bounce back.
A simple idea is to drive a similar nail through a piece of 2x1 about a foot (300mm) long. Allow the nail to protrude about 12mm through the other side you nailed it from.
A smart whack with the hammer drives a small hole through the coro making nailing much easier, and several 'starter holes' can be done at once.

[silentC]

Great tips Bill.

You might have to explain the term 'bach' (pronounced "batch", not "bark") to those of us who have never been to NZ ;)

[himzol]

Bill,

The green fiberous material is called Oasis, can be got at any florist.
Be carefull that it doesn't get wet, the reason florists use it is because it retains water for a long time.

The other half was a florist and still dabbles ocasionaly.

Himzo.

[Christopha]

Bill, thanks for the Oasis tip that's a good one.
As for the nail through the lumpa timber trick, er, um, not too sure about that one. Here in Oz we haven't actually nailed roofing iron in a long time. We have this here newfangled invention thing called a "Screw". We have found this to be somewhat superior in performance than the old springhead was. Also, because I too am ancient, when once upon a time we did nail roofing iron we used a nice sturdy punch about 6" long with a nice sharp point which for some odd reason we called a "roofing punch", I still have mine and sometimes use it for making a lead hole for the "screw" when fixing the bottom of sheets. ;)

[Old Bill]

Thanks Guys,
Bach... "Cottage type small dwelling, which was/is often a holiday home for NZ'rs"

Hi Himzol,
Reason I tried it was that I originally made the big mistake of using wood for my stands.. but absorbent or not, these have given my great service. Mmm... wonder if they absorb the humidity from the air.

Hey there Chris... We too have the screws, but I had a few packs in stock at the time so ... well... waste not want not.. :)

Talking of the Bach...
I was digging around in there and was 'really' looking for some decent bits of timber, but came across some old magazines I had.... over ninety issues of "Woodworker" dating from 1947.. to 1953... and all in pretty good nick to say they are over fifty years old :)
Some of the old tools and methods of construction were pretty choice back then :)

[himzol]

Bill,

The reason I mentioned the moisture holding power of Oasis is that you may find that your Bits will rust ( so to speak).

I can't comment as to it's ability to absorb humidity.

Any chance you could scan and post some of the photo's in those magazines you found?

regards,

Himzo.

[Old Bill]

Sorry Himzol... no scanner.. or camera.
Pity really, as there was "one" article I wanted to post here on old planes in the 1948 issue.
It's headed.. "The long line of ancestors... The Pleun"
No.. not mispelt he he.
Apparently the "Pleun" has been around since the early Hebrew and Egyption times. The pitch of the blade in those times seemed to have been 65deg, and one of a 30deg one used for violins. There's a few pics of early 17/18 century ones, and the present style has been around since the late 19th century.
Scrapers and crude forms of hand routers and beaders were the only tools they had to produce such fine work that much of remains today.

Suppose this is the wrong section for this.. sorry guys :)

[Old Bill]

:) Managed to borrow my daughters camera so hopefully I'll have a pic or two to post.

Edit: Managed one (I hope)

http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/grumpygr/WW1948.jpg

[Christopha]

Well done, a real treasure there, pity we can't read the blighter ..... thanks Bill.

[JupiterCreek]

Hi

As someone who worked for a couple of nice hardware/tool companies in a previous life can I be pedantic and say that a roofing punch is more correctly called a "prick punch", which is no reflection on anyone here. :-)

[Dan]

If the Oasis stuff holds water, would it also hold oil?

[Old Bill]

I suppose it would Dan, but the last thing you need on your drill and router shanks is oil, as they need to grip in the collet or chuck. :)