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Out of curiosity, has anyone tried bending 3/8" or 1/2" rebar with a big (30" handles) model of tubing hand bender?

Try (in this order): -Barkeeper's Friend -Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) -Fast Orange or whatever your favorite citrus hand cleaner/degreaser is. This works really well to remove stains from plastics. -Acetone. I have never yet met a stain it won't fix. You'll find that it won't work...

^^ Thanks. I wondered about hand bending it, but I was concerned it would get out-of-plane so that it wouldn't lay flat on the ground if I did it this way. Though that's maybe not too hard to fix. Yea -- I'd love to do a classic Gibson Les Paul or Stratocaster design with tight bends where the...

I would like to bend some 3/8" or 1/2" rebar into a (life-size) perimeter of a guitar shape. The idea is to make some custom stands for some 40LB gibson speakers that look like guitar bodies: I want the base of the stand to be bent into the shape of a guitar. What's the best way to bend a...

^^ This is genius. I have never seen this. I have several sets of pliers in different shapes/types where I've masking taped the jaws to make them `soft jaws' -- I probably use those more than my non taped up ones (how often do you really use pliers on something you don't mind marring with those...

Thank you all for the fantastic replies -- way better info than I hoped for. Sounds like a surefire is in my future. GeoBruin -- Why do you like the 6PX aluminum series over the G2X polymer series? I usually don't buy plastic tools, but a polymer could have the potential to be quite tough to...

A couple months ago I did some research to replace my old beat-to-death double AA Maglites, and I ended up buying two new AA LED Maglites (the newest ones with 350 lumens). The new ones absolutely ****. Both lasted only a couple hours before getting stuck in 'low power mode', and now one...

Vinegar is acid. It reacts with rust but also etches (slightly eats away at) the metal. If you have any aluminum or copper on your parts, it eats those faster. Evaporust is chelant. It only reacts with rust. It does not react at all with alu, steel, or copper. If you have the choice, use...

Thanks for posting. I usually pay this much for a quart. Having tried everything on numerous large restorations, I can say evaporust is the best. It brings back metal that looks beyond help.

How do you end up with a pair of matching 10EE's in matching colors? People search for years for a nice one that isn't beaten to death. Nice lathes. If I had them, I'd find room for the 2nd (maybe this is why I have too much stuff)

Vidmar cabinets for $280 each in LA: https://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/bfs/d/torrance-stanley-vidmar-5-drawer-cabinet/7200469931.html

I need to replace the weather seal/gasket on an exterior door that is currently letting in too many bugs. What's the absolute best (most bug-proof) material for this? I am thinking about just using this 'borrowed from cars' solution: USA Trimlock D-shape compressible rubber seal...

Ask (put up a WTB ad) on OWWM.org BOYD. It's a pretty common drill press, though the slow speed is a bit loss common. I have seen many parted out over there. Ebay prices for singleton machine parts are usually significantly higher than owwm'ers, who like helping people make machines complete.

:wtf: Lathes eat fingers donated by the inexperienced. It's nothing like borrowing someone's drill press or milling machine. Get training before you touch one, or have your buddy make your part. I have a lot of lathe training, and I still make sure I am 100% focused before touching one. Every...

You'll do what you want of course, but my strong advice would be make it a single speed and add a brake. If it were mine, I'd add 2 brakes (not as cool, but have had pedestrians and car doors jump out while doing 20+MPH on my front-brake-only bike and it did not end well). Fixies are all fun...

I love my corded drill. Yes, when I have to drill a quick hole I usually grab a super cheap battery drill that is ready-to-go and don't even bother getting out the 'real' battery drills. But if I have to drill some actual steel, the Milwaukee USA-made corded model with the extra handle comes...

^^ Short answer: Yes. I have (factory-installed) 1hp on both of my Burr Kings. If you read the knife forums, you might think you need 2+hp, which I think is a bit ridiculous. While it's true that on mine you can't push steel into them with all your might like the guys with 3hp can, you probably...

Sometimes you can use some very small needle nose pliers the same way, sliding the jaws down into the relief cutouts of the tap.

Try orange citrus degreaser (the hand cleaner stuff with fine grit in it). I haven't tried it on a Stihl yet, but I restore a lot of tools and I have tried pretty much every solvent out there, and I can tell you that orange citrus degreaser will get the discoloring out of most plastic and vinyl...

I would just buy a good complete used GMTK (military general mechanic's tool kit). It's hard to beat, bang-per-buck, for a newbie starting out. The older style with a complete set of tools often goes for ~$350 on Ebay. There's no way I can assemble that many sets of US-made tools (used) for this...