Tools

Need Dryer Shop Compressed Air? – Step 3: Add two stage air filters to remove contaminants

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If you are just jumping into this three part post, an inline compressed air filter by itself does not work very well when it comes to removing moisture from compressed air but it definite works good as a third step in a thought out moisture control strategy.  If you haven’t read them yet, please read these other posts first:

  1. Need Dryer Shop Compressed Air? – Step 1:  Drain Your Tank Regularly
  2. Need Dryer Shop Compressed Air? – Step 2:  Add a Moisture Separation System

Now, as a third step, good filters are definitely needed.   In line filters remove even more moisture and protect your regulators and equipment from debris such as rust.  Filters are a good example of you get what you pay for.  Those really cheap air filters aren’t up to demanding tasks.  Setting shoddy construction to the side for the moment, you will notice that some do not say how fine their filter is (as measured in microns) or give you any indication of the cubic feet minute (CFM) the filter can handle.  You at least need to know the first part.

Buy quality units from a reputably manufacturer.  I like Milton, Parker and PneumaticPlus and they are three of many that are out there.  Everything I am going to write about here, I bought with my own money and actually use or have used so this is not some thinly veiled advertisement.  I’m recommending the various items because they work for me.

In terms of construction, some have a plastic/polycarbonate bowl and they are rated for lower pressures (usually 125-150 PSI) and others have metal bowls and are rated for higher pressures.  For example, my Ingersol Rand 2340 stores the compressed air at 175PSI so I use metal bowls on my filters and drains exposed to that pressure.  In downstream areas with lower pressure, I use filters with polycarbonate bowls.

If you are serious about filtering, you need at least a two stage unit.  The first stage is a coarse air filter and will range from 5-40 microns in terms of filtering element size.  The second stage will be a fine air filter and be remove even smaller particles often down to the 1 to even .01 micron level.  You must have the coarse filter in front or you will plug up the fine air filter real fast and negatively impact your CFM.

When you are shopping for filters, there is an ISO standard to be aware of that some reputable filter companies will reference – ISO8573.1.  Here is a good blog post if you want to learn more.

With that said, let me show you what I actually use.

My inlet air for the filter is 1/2″ because I wanted to provide a lot of flow.  All of my plumbing up to that point is 1/2″ also.  After doing a lot of digging, I opted for a PneumaticPlus SAU4030M-N04DG-MEP which is a combination three stage unit with a 10 micron coarse air particulate filter first, then a 0.3 Micron Coalescing Filter followed by a pressure regulator.

In researching the unit, I found that the rated inlet pressure was 250PSI and the outlet was rated at 150PSI — note these are metal bowls hence the higher pressure rating..  I planned on setting the regulator to 90PSI for my tools and found that the maximum flow would be around 38 SCFM (standard cubic feet per minute) @ 90 PSI, which also met my needs.  The two filters also have automatic drains so I don’t have to worry about purging them.

You’ll note the black warmer cable in the last photo – that’s because my shop is unheated in the winter.  The heated cable is on a thermal switch and only turns on at 32F.  This keeps the condensate from freezing in the bowls.  You’ll also note the 1/8″ tubing removing routing the condensate to drain where I want it to.

They both still collect moisture – the first filter more than the second.  Every day, I can see the condensate coming out of the tank, the moisture separator and to a much lesser extent, these filters.   I have been using this set up since August 2016 and really like it.  I usually find zero moisture downstream but I still run basic coarse filters just before my various regulators.  Attached to my plasma cutter, I still run one of their #128647 1 micron air filters just to play it safe.

Downstream, I still have in-line air filters just in case

As a rule of thumb, it is always a good idea to have an air filter just before a regulatory.  Before a couple of my downstream pressure regulators, I run Milton 1018 filters and they are nice.  40 micron coarse filters with 48 SCFM.  This one right here has been in use for a few years and predates the elaborate moisture control system I have in place now.  Look at the rust in the bowl from when I cleaned it!  I still have two of these in daily use and have no complaints.

These inline filters are all bone dry which helps me conclude the upstream moisture control is working pretty well.  They are probably 50-75 feet from the tank in terms of how much line the air must flow through before reaching them.  The dirty bowls are from the mess I had before the current system.  I cleaned them while I was at it hence the above 1018 being disassembled.  A nice feature of this model Milton is that it automatically drains when the pressure in the bowls drops to the point that a spring can pop open and let the condensate out. You can also push the rubber nipple sideways to manually drain it while pressurized.  They are simple and effective coarse filters.

Now the red and black filter is a Craftsman 16009 and it is pretty low end.  When my dad passed away, he left a couple of Sears gift cards that I used to buy three of these filters and some air hose.  When I google them now and read on the Sears website, they do not list the microns.  I suspect it is a 40-50 micron coarse filter but that lack of a rating should throw up flags.  I don’t have the original packaging so I don’t know if it listed it or not.  The one unit left in place was inserted a few years ago to protect the one regulator from backflow from the two airlines just before it The Milton’s drain when the pressure in the bowls drops to the point that a spring can pop open and let the condensate out.  With the Craftsman, you need to turn that little valve screw on the bottom and manually drain it.  Not too bad for casual use but I would not use them again for my stuff.  I should point out that on one filter, the pipe hole not straight!  Also, guys report bowls cracking and no replacement parts so at least that hasn’t happened to me.  I just include them here so you can see what I would not recommend.  You can see the angled/not true pipe hole in the second photo especially.  These are in my parts bin just in case.

5/2/2019 Update – I have replaced all Craftsmen filters with Milton filters.  The PneumaticPlus gear is all still running great.

I hope this three part blog post has given you some ideas on how to reduce moisture in your air lines.  I don’t consider myself an expert or anything close, but just wanted to share what worked for me.  There are some great resources on the Internet if you want to learn more:

The three blog posts in the series are:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Tools

Need Drier Shop Compressed Air? – Step 2: Build a Moisture Separation System

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When compressed air leaves a compressor, the the temperature drops as it expands, and moisture condenses on the wall of whatever surface is below the dew point of the air and then runs down to the lowest spot where it is collected and dispose of.  Now the cooling part is critical – just putting an air filter immediately outside of a compressor tank will not accomplish much.  Ideally you want the air to travel and cool for a bit in a metal pipe that is at least 20 feet long.  You may wonder why I mention 20 feet – it’s because I was told 20 feet at a minimum – in other words, I have no basis in engineering, just what guys have told me over the years.  I would just use that as a rule of thumb about how far the air needs to travel at a minimum before you do another round of moisture filtering.  The further the better.

I looked at three simple options when I was considering how to remove the bulk of the moisture from my airlines:

Run your hard air lines at an upward angle and install traps

This is as simple as it sounds.  I like to always install a ball valve and then a quick connect on the tank and run a rubber/flexible airline to the hardline to isolate vibrations. Plug into the airline above a moisture trap like so:

Uphill Hard Line Sample

I investigated this approach but it was going to take up too much space.  I needed to start accessing dry air much closer to my compressor so this was discounted right away.  If I were to build this, I would still use the PneumaticPlus drains referenced in more detail in the next section.

Pros of this approach:  Relatively cheap and easy to build

Cons:  Takes a long distance / not very compact.  It was going to be too long or my needs.

Build a compact moisture separator

Now this is what I do in my shop and it works great.  I use a series of vertical 1/2″ pipes with PneumaticPlus SAD402-N04D-MEP water traps with automatic drains at the bottom of each riser.  Now this works very well.   The vertical pieces are 6 feet tall and the cross sections are 6″.  This is occupying an area about 24″ wide and 8 feet tall.  It’s mounted on the shop wall and out of the way.  Most of the condensation happens in the first pipe. A lesser amount in the second and very little in the third.  It cost about $120 for the plumbing, $56 for each of the automatic drains and then maybe $50 for the  short hoses and 1/2″ fittings.  I installed this in August 2016 and am quite happy with it.

For me, one of the big benefits is with the automatic drains in the water traps.  When the float rises to a certain level there is a quick “pffft” sound and the trap blows out the water and closes again.  It’s not something you have to remember to drain, which is something I am not great at.  Also, when I am doing a lot of work, I might hear the first trap drain twice in one day but that is rare.

 

Sorry I don’t have a photo of the whole system from top to bottom.  I have equipment in front of it now and can’t get a good overall photo.  It’s just too tall for my camera given the limited distance I have to get the photo.

For me, it is really intriguing to see how much condensate is caught in the first trap closest to the compressor.  The second trap has much less and the third is dramatically less than either of the others.  This is not perfect as I still catch moisture in my air filters but it has made a dramatic difference at the end of the line.  When I blow air at a glass or mirror, there isn’t water all over it any more 🙂  I have wondered what would happen if I used 1″ pipe in that first vertical six foot section but have never had the need to spend the money and time to experiment.  In theory, the greater the expansion, the greater the cooling and thus the greater the level of condensation all other things being equal.

By the way, I really like PneumaticPlus.  I actually bought this gear off Amazon with my own money – this is a real review.  Every time I have questions they actually answer their phones and help me.  I had one defective part in one bowl and they immediately sent me a replacement.  In short, not only is the hardware itself good but I like the company behind it too.

You can add 1/8″ tubing to drain the condensate away from the water traps.  I feel it is a good idea to get the water away from the compressor as much as possible:

Pros to this approach:  It actually works, does not need electricity, automatically drains, uses relatively little space

Cons:  The floats could freeze in cold weather so I insulate and heat them in the winter.  I did not have any problems during the 2016/2017 winter with that approach.  It’s a little pricey but it really gets the job done.

By the way, if you can’t afford the automatic drains/traps, then put in ball valves with longer pipes to hold the accumulated condensate and drain them manually.  It definitely works but you must remember to manually drain the traps.

Install a refrigerated air dryer

The last option is the most expensive and that is to install a refrigerated air dryer.  Basically, the warm moist air enters a dryer that is a series of tubes that are refrigerated causing the moisture to condense and then drain out of the unit.  There is a Harbor Freight unit that gets surprisingly good reviews plus many different industrial models to select from.  I have not needed this yet, so I do not have first hand experience.  I’ve read about guys using them to protect their plasma cutters.  I use the above compact moisture separator described above, a two stage air filter system and then a very fine final filter from Hypertherm right before the inlet of my plasma cutter and have not had a problem.

Pros:  You can definitely remove the moisture.  Guys say they really like the low-cost Harbor Freight unit.

Cons:  Expensive and you need electricity for it to work.  It will get pretty dirty in a high dust environment like my shop and need routine cleaning to stay efficient.

If you are interested, here is the link to the HF dryer:  http://www.harborfreight.com/compressed-air-dryer-40211.html

So the first stage of moisture defense in my shop is to keep the tank drained.  Then it is this separator system to get the bulk of the moisture out of the compressed air.  In the last part of the series, I’ll talk about fine air filters.

The three blog posts in the series are:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Tools

Need Dryer Shop Compressed Air? – Step 1 Tank Draining Options

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In my shop, I need clean dry air for working with the plastics, the abrasive Blaster, and my air tools. It also comes in handy when I’m spraying on finishes such as Molyresin.  I have certainly had my share of problems over the years caused by dirty air including air tool failures, water or oil spraying on paint, clumping of abrasive Blaster media and so forth. As time went on I identified a number of practices that could help reduce moisture in the air lines as well as other contaminants.  I don’t use an inline oiler so most of my issues revolve around water, rust particles (from the tank and hard air lines) and some amount of air compressor oil that makes it past the piston rings.

The fact is that all compressed air systems will have some amount of moisture when first compressed. Natural air contains moisture and as your compressor pumps it into the tank, it is both heating and concentrating it.  Once the temperature drops below where the moisture will settle out of the air, that is known as the “dew point”, that is when the water appears.   Some of it will collect in the bottom of the tank causing rust and some will likely remain in the compressed air.

Now I am not an expert on this stuff but I have had to try and learn a lot over time.  In this post and the two that follow it, I am going to try and explain options I looked at and what I did.  I’m not going to go into a ton of theory or talk about things I didn’t check out.  If I am really wrong on something, please let me know.  If you really want to get into details, check out a cool website called Compressed Air Best Practices that has tons of information.

I live in Michigan and have a ton of moisture to fight.  I have a lot of air powered wrenches and sanders plus an abrasive blast cabinet and plasma cutter so this is a big deal to me – I need clean dry air.   For me, there’s not one single cost effective solution so I approach the reduction of moisture in stages.  The first and cheapest approach is to dry your air is to Drain your tank!  I can’t emphasize this enough!!

As water settles inside the tank, it gets blown all over the place during use plus it is causing your tank to rust and form sediment at the bottom. The best offense is a good defense. Get rid of the water by regularly draining your tank and this may mean several times every day.  Here’s the amount of moisture I blew out the drain after my compressor ran for several hours (and I do mean actual run time). It’s about a half a cup of water if I were to guess:

Water sitting in your tank not only means you have water blowing everywhere in your tank and potentially adding moisture to the outgoing air but it also causes rust inside your tank both adding further contaminates and weakening the tank over time.  We were all young once, right?  I bought some low end Devilbiss compressor 20-25 years ago and had it in the garage.  My dad asked if I had ever drained it and I really hadn’t been diligent about it.  We opened the valve and it was stunning as to how much smelly rusty water came out.  That sold me.  Over the years I have heard stories of blown / leaky corroded tanks but thankfully have never had that happen first hand.  For me, it is the moisture in the lines that is the problem and regular draining of the tank is the first step in combating that.

So, if draining regularly is a good idea, what are our options for small shops?

Use the drain valve that came with the compressor:

Every consumer or prosumer grade compressor I have seen comes with a drain valve.  When you get up to the industrial models, you may see a hole where they expect you to add something but for most small shops what you have will either look like the old petcock valve from a radiator or a round unit like the above.  Even though reaching those things is a total headache, one option is to live with it, reach under the tank and drain it.  If you are a light user, do this when you are done for the day and leave it open letting everything run out or at least let stop after the bulk of the condensation stops.  If you are doing a ton of work, you may need to drain it every few hours vs. at the end of the day.  It all depends on your experience and how much water you see coming out for a given amount of time.  In general, once is a day is fine and by doing it at the end, it doesn’t sit there needlessly for however long until the next use.

Pros with this approach:  Usually is supplied with the compressor so it is ready to go with not additional investment and it does work.
Cons:  Total headache to reach, ejects the water right under the tank waiting to evaporate and go back into the tank not to mention is messy because you can’t readily control where the condensate goes, and you have to remember to do it (which is the hardest thing always).  Also, these drain valves are pretty cheaply made, can corrode and then be a total bear to open. I really dislike these things but they are better than nothing.

If your existing drain fails for some reason, stores and vendors sell exact replacement drains but don’t do that.  Do one of the next two options to make your life easier.  Matter of fact, do one of the next two options as soon as you can to make your life easier.

Replace the cheap original drain with a better positioned ball valve and drain hose

 

Get rid of that awful little stock valve and install a ball valve that is easier to reach.  This can make things so much simpler.  Odds are the old valve is 1/4″.  Remove it and confirm the size.  Install a nipple, a right angle fitting, a long enough piece of pipe, the ball valve itself and then a hose barb (or 1/4″ quick adapter) with a piece of hose that allows you to drain the condensate where ever you want.  Be sure to wrap all the threads with PTFE tape.  I buy most of my plumbing stuff from Home Depot.  In general, I get pneumatic parts and supplies from Amazon such as Milton quick connect fittings, filters, etc.  I always read the reviews and ratings carefully.

One tip, go with whatever length nipple and a female-female right angle pipe fitting to get the greatest flow.  Also, make sure you have enough room for whatever you are installing.  There is often very little clearance between the bottom of the tank and the floor.  On my IR compressor, I use a “street elbow” that, even though has a relative small internal dimension, works just fine to drain water. I have a valve with a good sized handle and it is very easy to access and to turn.

Since my shop is not heated and I live in Michigan, I need to get creative.  The black cable you see is a pipe warmer with a thermal switch that only comes on at 32F to keep the valve from freezing.  I actually have it on a timer so it will only run 7am-10pm – when I am usually in the shop.

The rubber drain line you see is 3/8″ fuel hose pushed over a regular 1/4″ male quick connect fitting and it goes out the corner of my shop’s garage door.  I’ve never needed a hose clamp and it gets the condensate out of my shop.

Pros:  Quick, easy and cheap  It’s also very reliable in cold weather.

Con:  You still need to remember to do it and you can’t constantly do it.

Now, here’s an interesting alternative for low clearance situations.  I have only seen these – I have never used one but they make sense and pretty much anything is better than that hard to reach stock valve in my opinion:

Install an automatic drain and reap the rewards!

This is the last option and one I recommend – Invest in a automatic drain that has adjustments for how often to open and how long to remain open. Let me tell you, that automatic drain is worth its weight in gold when the temperatures are above freezing.  The only time I go back to the ball valve is when temperatures are below freezing and I don’t want the automatic drain to freeze open and it will do just that in cold weather.  When the warm weather comes, I reinstall the automatic drain.

At any rate, the installation is the same as the ball valve except the automated unit goes in place of the manual valve.  My unit is a Midwest Controls EAD-25 that is probably at least 5-6 years old.  Let me put it this way, I have moved it from one compressor to the next probably three times as I wore consumer compressors out.  I currently have an IR 2340 entry-level industrial compressor that has survived for 2-1/2 years, which is remarkable given how I blew through the consumer Husky models.

 

The following photos are of my doing my spring swap wherein I replace my ball valve with my freshly cleaned automatic drain valve:

 

 

 

These automatic drains are simple as can be – the timer trips and an electromagnet turns on and opens the valve for the specified duration.  The timer then cuts the electricity to the electromagnet and springs shove the valve back closed.  The only wear point I can see is the rubber surface on the valve and mine still works fine all these years later.  I just have to take it apart and clean it a few times a year, which I will post about later.  The photos in this post were taken in the spring as I converted back from the ball valve to the automatic drain.

Pros:  It is actually easy to install – just add the pipe and install the automatic unit, plug it in, set the timer and blow-off duration and call it even.  It is the best approach I have found when the weather is above freezing.

Cons:  It can be expensive if you buy a name brand but they last forever (I have never tried another brand as my local tool supplier recommended this one and it is still working!).  They will freeze up in the winter (I put my ball valve back in before it gets super cold as my shop is unheated most of the time) and debris can jam it but it is very easy to clean.

This is the exact model I have:

This is my model except mine has a blue case … it’s old and still working!

Here are automatic drain with very good reviews on Amazon:

In my next post, I’ll explain how to build a condensation based moisture separator and explain some concepts for you to consider.

The three blog posts in the series are:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Blades and Edged Weapons Including Khukuris

2014 Restoration of a 21-1/8″ New Haven Edge Tool Co #3 Cleaver

This dates back to August 2014.  I scored a beat up but fascinating New Haven Edge Tool Co #3 Cleaver.  It was quite large measuring approximately 21-1/8″ long and 3.187 pounds.  The exact age was hard to say – it could be anywhere from 100-150 years old given the way it is made.   After doing some digging, one person doing research said that “New Haven Edge Tool Company” was  a Sargent Brand and the listed it discontinued in their 1911 catalog so that would mean this cleaver is likely older than that.  Regardless, you would never know it now.

It would appear to be cast iron and is just a big no nonsense brute of a cleaver.  It’s either ready to go to work or to be one heck of a conversation piece.  Let me tell you a bit about what we did after we bought it:

The handle was cracked and we stabilized it internally with a special Cyanoacrylate glue that penetrates wood very deeply.  We also used glass reinforced epoxy to seal the front of the handle where the blade is inserted.  The blade is actually secured via rat tail tang that goes through the whole handle and is peened over at the pommel to firmly secure it.  Once we had the handle all fixed up, we sanded it and then applied four coats of a penetrating combination of boiled linseed oil (BLO) and turpentine.

The blade was actually in very good shape and most of our work was cosmetic.  We did some sanding to shape it, abrasive blasted it and then used an acid etching based on apple cider vinegar and phosphoric acid (click here to learn more).  Once it was all set, we applied a thick coat of engine oil to stop the rusting.  If you plan to use this to cut meat, and it definitely will do the job, be sure to was the blade and then apply a cooking oil to the blade.  This will avoid making your food taste funny plus it will prevent rust.

So, here’s how it turned out before it found a new home:

Approximate Dimensions

Overall length:  21-1/8″

Blade length: 9-5/8″

Blade height by the handle:  3-7/8″

Blade height at its tallest point:  5-1/2″

Handle at its thickest point: 1-5/8″

Handle at its thinnest point in the middle:  1-1/4″

Weight:  3.187 pounds

By the way, the BSI Super Thin glue is fantastic for taking care of cracks.

AK & Related Rifles, Gunsmithing

Post It Note Trick for Locating Front Trunnion Holes On An AK Receiver

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Back before I had the AK-Builder trunnion drilling jig, I needed a quick and easy way to locate where to drill the holes for the front trunnion.  A fellow showed me the PostIt note method and boy was it simple and it worked.

The front trunnion is drilled for the rivets from the first kit so those holes need to be located and drilled on the receiver.

Simply take a standard PostIt Note, stick it to the side of the clean receiver and then rub a dirty finger or pencil lead over the PostIt to see the outlines of the holes appear.  By the way, if the trunnion and receiver are clean, your Post-It adhesive will hold the note in place, which is what you want.

So line the PostIt note up on the receiver’s top and right edges.

Center punch the holes.  I like using an automated punch so I have less to juggle.

You then have your holes to locate your drill.

Use a hole finder to be more accurate and/or start with a small bit and work your way up in case you need to move a little bit one way or the other.

That’s it.  Easy as pie and pretty fool proof.  Lessons learned for me was to clean the parts to protect the adhesive, make sure the edges are aligned and then that nothing moves when you punch each hole.  You do one Post-It note for each side and you can write the trunnion serial number on it and safe the Post-It for future reference.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

AK & Related Rifles, Gunsmithing

Gasp – not another weld build Romy G

I get one or two emails a year from a purist telling me that what I did was evil, that I am a clueless half-wit, etc. Folks, innovation happens by trying new things. I have built more AKs than most – using rivets mainly because they do work best. There are a ton of reasons why rivets are best for joining forged blocks to sheet metal.

In terms of welds, do I understand the risk of destroying the heat treat in the locking lug area, the risk of causing embrittlement around the plug welds, that the Soviets explored this and dropped the idea due to cracking? Yes, I do and tried it anyway because I wanted to explore how to compensate. So, don’t send me hate mail me because I will not bother responding.

If you want to try and experiment, go for it. Should you do this with an AK build that you want to be historically accurate or plan to use heavily perhaps even under full auto, then the answer is “no – don’t do it”.

Yeah, these things were like $79-99 in June 2006 so I did a lot of playing around including experimenting with weld builds.  I still have this one and it runs just fine.  The welds were done with a HF 120 Volt MIG welder running an ArC02 shielding gas.  Basically I did plug welds in place of rivets but did some extra welding on the back trunnion as I expected more stress there.  The lower rails were installed with a 120 Volt Harbor Freight Spot Welder with an AK-Builder tong installed.

My basic conclusion is that welding is fine for casual use rifles but rivets are the way to go with hard use.  The tricks are to take your time, do plug welds and watch your heat.  Your not trying to weld the heck out everything – just to get a decent plug weld to lock the parts into position in place of a rivet.  You’ll notice that for the critical front trunnion, I actually drilled the holes in the receiver and plug welded into the trunnion that had the rivets drilled out.

I use a flap sanding wheel on my angle die grinder to smooth everything down.

A drill bit with the right diameter to line the lower rails up with the front trunnion is used to position the lower rail for spot welding in place.

I went for overkill welding in the rear and put in a few extra beads to take up stress.

Welding in the center support and sanded it down too

This is the rifle ready for testing.

I did Duracoat on this build and two big recommendations I would make to folks who choose to use the air dry Duracoat are to at least abrasive blast the surface and absolutely wait the full amount of time indicated for curing, which is 1-2 weeks or something like that.  If you don’t do these two things, when you move the selector lever, it will scratch the finish off right to the bare metal.  I only use bake on finishes now.  I’ve had great luck with blasting, parking and then applying Molyresin on top but this last step could be whatever finish you want.  The parkerizing is a terrific surface for a finish to really grab a hold of.  A bake on finish is really the way to go with the top coat.

If I new they were going to go up so much in value, I would have done rivets.  Heck, I would have done all the rifles using rivets had I known.  I was just having a lot of fun and learning a ton.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Blades and Edged Weapons Including Khukuris

The Gerber Golok Machete is Pretty Wicked and Surprisingly Hefty!!

Ok, so I wind up clearing brush pretty regularly.  Usually its pine, vines, scrub oak and junk like that.  Back in June 2014, I bought a Ken Onion designed Half-A-Chance machete (CRKT K920KKP) from CRKT that has served me well (click here for my review).  On my last trip to clear brush this past fall, I accidentally left the Half-A-Chance at home and had to get a replacement machete.  Thankfully SMKW was on the way so I stopped in and tried out a bunch of different ones in terms of heft and balance.  When I got to the Gerber Golok, I was really surprised.  It’s surprisingly thick and that mass makes a big difference when taking out saplings so I bought it and used it to clear the small stuff.

It seems like an opportune time to compare the two and share my thoughts.  In the next photo, the top is the Half-A-Chance and the bottom is the Golok.

What really surprised me was that the thickness of the Golok’s blade.  Why Gerber doesn’t make a big deal about this, I don’t know because there are fans of knives with big blades.  The blade is 12″ long and made from MN65 steel, which is a spring steel that is roughly equivalent to 1065 steel, which is fairly common in machetes.  The blade comes in at 0.2566″ when I mike it and weighs 1 pound 10.8oz (26.8 oz). That is a lot of steel!  It’s like you are moving the design from being a classical machete more towards a chopper with that kind of width.  When I was hitting some dried oak and ash, the Half-A-Chance bit deeper than the Golok and I think it reflects the relatively thin blade of the Ken Onion design that mikes at 0.1147″ which is less than half the Golok.  The Half-A-Chance also weighs 20.3oz.

The blade on the left is Half-A-Chance and the right is the Golok on a piece of dried ash.

You can definitely see the the thicker Golok blade right away.  It’s the top blade on the left photo and the bottom blade on the right photo:

Just a closer view of the Half-A-Chance on top vs. the Golok on the bottom.  The Half-A-Chance’s handle is more ergonomic but the rubber coated Golok isn’t too bad.

The Half-A-Chance’s sheath is fancier while the Golok is simple and to the point.

Folks, in the end, the Golok is a chopper.  It’s heavy but too thick for the traditional fast slices you are doing with a machete.  I’d recommend the Half-a-Chance for thin stuff like vines and stuff under 3/8″ ballpark and the Golok for thicker vegetation where you need to chop but you are also starting to cross over into where a heavy khukuri or hatchet might serve you better.

While clearing the lot I did put a nick in the Golok and used my Work Sharp Ken Onion edition sharpener to take it right out when I got back to my shop. [Click here for my post on the KO sharpener.]

Bottom line, the Half-A-Chance machete is still my favorite and the first one I would grab to clear brush but the Golok is a keeper also because I like its mass and balance.  It’s a lot of blade for the money and I do like big blades.  You ought to take a look when you get some time or even pick one or both machetes up from Amazon.

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Tools

Cordless screwdrivers can make a difference for folks with Carpal Tunnel – the Dewalt DCF682

Folks, the first time I saw a cordless screwdriver, or power screwdriver, it was a little Black & Decker Quantum 3.6 volt model – probably 15-20 years ago.  Do you remember Quantum?  They were the green and black line of tools that B&D introduced to try and be a step up from their basic black and orange B&D line.  My dad had bought it for me because I had been diagnosed with carpal tunnel and my hands were in tremendous pain and stiff.  For folks who have carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), you know it sucks.  For those of you who do not have it but use your hands a ton, you do need to worry about it.  Let’s talk about this injury known as CTS that totally sucks for people that use their hands a lot.  By the way, did I mention it sucks?

This definition is from Wikipedia “Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a medical condition due to compression of the median nerve as it travels through the wrist at the carpal tunnel. The main symptoms are pain, numbness, and tingling, in the thumb, index finger, middle finger, and the thumb side of the ring fingers. Symptoms typically start gradually and during the night. Pain may extend up the arm. Weak grip strength may occur and after a long period of time the muscles at the base of the thumb may waste away. In more than half of cases both sides are affected.”

As your tendons go through your wrist, there is this sheath called the carpal tunnel (CT) that they go through.  As the tendons pass, they rub the ligament and can get irritated and swell thus reducing space and compressing nerves, which then causes more irritation, more swelling and more irritation and more swelling, etc.

For me, manual screwdrivers suck.  My hand is bent and fingers closed and then I am twisting my hand to turn the screwdriver.  This really puts strain on the tendons going through the CT.  Whenever I do a lot of work with a screwdriver, boy do I feel it later or the next day.  Guess what, because of all the stuff I do in my shop, typing on the computer and what not, I can’t escape it.  I’ve had CTS for 22+ years but opted to manage it vs. have surgery.  Some days, I manage it and others it manages me might be a better way of putting it but I have learned a lot.

To be clear though, when you have carpal tunnel, it really pays off to learn what you need to do differently to put less stress on the tendons going through the carpal tunnel that causes the inflammation.  It used to be that after working on something, I would definitely feel it but by trying to reduce the manual twisting as much as I could, I didn’t hurt as much later that night or the next morning.  I also learned how to stretch my hands and the benefits of Aleve (naproxen) and Advil (ibuprofen).  It wasn’t “one” thing that had to change – it was changing as many things as I could – even how I typed on a computer.  Using a cordless screwdriver was one of many changes that helped.

So, back to the story.  My dad gave me the cordless screwdriver and I immediately scoffed at the notion of a cordless screwdriver (manly men don’t need them, right? I was wrong!) but the fact of the matter was that the twisting motion used to set and remove screws was tearing up my hands.  So, almost reluctantly, I gave it a try while questioning my man hood!  What I found out was that it actually made a big difference.   By using the cordless screw drivers as much as I could, I found that it made a big difference with my hands because I did not need to do the repetitive twisting motion when I needed to do a lot of screwdriver work — I was going to say screwing but that really looks funny in writing 🙂  It made such a big difference that I was a convert to power screw drivers.  Sure, I still have dozens of screwdrivers and nut drivers that I use when I must, but when there is a lot of work to be done, I grab the power screw driver.

In addition to reducing wear and tear on my hands, there was another big benefit too in regards to productivity – I could set and remove screws way faster than before.  Granted there were still times where I needed more torque or needed to “feel” the screw that made me do stuff by hand or break out one of my big cordless drills.  In case you are wondering, cordless screw drivers are smaller, lighter, easier to maneuver and can turn slower for hand work than a drill.  Bottom line, I did a lot less manual twisting with my hands.

My dad had the foresight of getting me a unit with removable batteries and over the years with many cordless tools, I’ve found it pays off to have more than one battery so you aren’t dead in the water waiting for the battery to charge.

I also found out that using the magnetic quarter inch bit holders allowed tremendous flexibility for driving all kinds of screws – philips, blade, torx, hex, small nuts, etc.  Over the years, I have tried tons and tons of them.  Cheap bits break or wear faster – for example, the sharp edges of a philips bit rounding over, the magnetic bit older cracking, etc.

I eventually wore out the Quantum and bought a B&D Vp810 Pivot Driver that used the same Versapak 3.6 volt batteries and both had a clutch and the handle that could pivot.  I used the heck out of that thing for a few years (and it is still on a shelf in my shop) but wanted more torque as I really wanted the tool to have broader use so I dug around and bought my current cordless screwdriver, which is an 8 volt Dewalt DCF682 that I’ve had for probably at least two years and use it constantly – probably at least once a day on average.

Being a tool geek, this unit has a gyroscope that senses the direction your hand is turning and by how much.  It then turns the motor in the same direction and boosts the speed up according to how much you turn your hand.  It’s a bit weird at first but then it becomes second nature.  There have been a few tight spaces where I wished there was a switch but 90% of the time, I am pretty happy.  It’s also faster at speeds up to 430RPM than the old VP810, which was up to 180 RPM and it does have more torque as you’d expect given the higher voltage.

My exact model is no longer being produced but you can find it on eBay and other secondary markets.  Dewalt now has a new model – the DCF682N – that also gets great reviews.  From what I can gather, it has two notable improvements over my model, namely a handle that can pivot and a 15 position clutch.  I’ve never really missed having a handle that angles but a clutch comes in handy to prevent over-driving a screw.  It’s the DCF682N1 and it gets great reviews.  You can get it with just the driver, battery and charger or a better deal with the driver, charger, two batteries and a carry bag.  I would recommend the kit because for the price of a second battery you can get it and you absolutely want a second battery to avoid delays.

I hope this helps you some.  Over the years, I’ve gone from scoffing at these cordless screwdrivers to absolutely being a user and defender of them.  Like all tools, they have value when used at the right time for the right task.

I hope this helps some.  Bottom line, if you have CTS or are worried about CTS due to a lot of handwork including driving screws, get yourself a power screwdriver.  It’s another tool that has a time and a place to help you out.

At the bottom of the page I will have links to the screwdriver and bits on Amazon.

If you want to learn more about CTS and how to manage it, check out:

Definitely learn about stretches that can help.  There are a ton of videos on youtube and it pays to actually see how to do them.  Here’s one example:

Please note that I am not a doctor and the above is not medical advice – just my experiences and opinions.  See a doctor if you are having pains and get the problem properly diagnosed.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@*********ps.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

When Strength and Quality Matter Most