Quick Clamp Wrap
“I just read the small article on the Quick Clamp Wrap and was impressed. It leaves me with the impression that if I clamp something with it and take the tape off after 12 hours, I will be able to reuse it. Is that so?” – Michael Holubar
Nope. According to the manufacturer, the tape grips to itself and immediately begins forming a bond that becomes permanent after about a day. Odds are, you will not be able to peel it off itself after twelve hours. – Editor
“I remember using tape like this when I was in the Air Force. It was as handy as a pocket on a shirt. We used it for everything, and we called it F-4 tape.” – Jim Snow
“How is this different than the F-4 tape that I have seen at Home Depot?” – Ken Sternberg
Funny you should ask that, because there is quite a story behind it. We’ll let the owner of the tape company tell it. – Editor
“My company sold Home Depot the basic X-Treme Tape. They later contacted a major supplier of duct tape, but not of silicone tape, and asked them to supply it. Rather than contact us, they found a firm that supplied them with tape, but of inferior quality. The tape they bought had 40 percent of the weight of our tape and was so thin that it caused problems in the electrical and mechanical areas. Not surprisingly, they became concerned about the quality of their supplier’s product and came to us. We are now quoting and will be supplying that company with X-Treme Tape, although the package will show their name, as it does now. The other differences you will notice above and beyond the greater weight, electrical insulation, stretch and strength is that our tape has an added ingredient to improve the grab and a liner that separates more easily from the silicone tape.” – Joe Miller
A Defining Moment
“Thank you so much for putting the link to the online dictionary of wood terms. I have put it in my favorites. Like one of your other readers, I am not a very experienced woodworker so sometimes some of the terms confuse me. Incidentally, is flatsawn the same as plainsawn?” – Eva Bailey
Yep. – Editor
Pencil It In
Carol Reed, one of our answer mavens, suggested melamine as a good material for router table tops. This reader agreed, and added his own additional reasons for liking the stuff. – Editor
“Carol didn’t mention that you can use a pencil to mark cut lines, notes, and calculations on melamine, then easily remove them with an eraser or a damp cloth.” – Tom Morris
Depth Con
Several readers pointed out that the answers on one of the questions in our Q&A section were not only wrong, but way too kind to the manufacturers. – Editor
“Sorry, but I think both answers to the question in issue #179 on drill press sizes are wrong. The center of the spindle of my old 14″ Delta drill press is 7″ from the post. So the 14″ drill press will bore a hole in the center of a 14″ board, not a 28″ board. This is consistent with every other drill press I have seen.” – Keith McKinnon
“In the latest eZine issue, both respondents to this question gave incorrect information. A so-called 14-inch drill press will drill to the center of a 14″ circle. The throat depth is half of the rating given by virtually all manufacturers.” – Steve Leverich
“Some drill press buyers are going to be sadly disappointed if they believe that. My Delta that is labeled ’12 Inch Drill Press’ and has the center of the chuck only six inches away from the column. The advertised sizes, probably to make things sound better than they are, are the size of a circle you can drill in the center of, and have been so for many years.” – Milford Brown
More on MDF and MDO
An online discussion about whether or not MDF contains metal prompted this writer, a former US Plywood employee and MDF exporter, to fill in more background on this handy stuff. – Editor
“MDF was first produced by The Medford Corporation in the early ’80s. It is basically sawdust heated under pressure until the cells break down and lignum itself becomes the adhesive. The board is extruded or pressed. Do not confuse this product with particleboard, in which one can find metal. The manufacturing process is totally different, as is the product. MDF is an incredibly flat and smooth surface. It is not an exterior product like MDO, nor is it structural panel.
“MDO comes from the late ’50s. It was resin-impregnated paper laid one or two sides on a piece of fir plywood. Under heat and pressure, the paper is both the adhesive and the finished surface. The plywood was exterior grade and/or marine grade. The resin-impregnated paper brand name was Crezon, by Crown Zellerback Paper Co, and held paint superbly. That product, when painted, was used for signs, ‘lap strake’ boat hulls, roll-up doors on trailers, and as soffets and lap siding on houses. It has a strength that neither particleboard or MDF have. If you do any cutting of MDF or MDO, you should use a mask.” – Tom Heilpern
One More Time: It’s Not a Review
Along with another writer who called this “a totally useless review” because it did not rate the tool against other similar ones, came this letter. – Editor
“I’m not sure what the point of this article was. I could have read the brochure. It would be nice if you included some information about how it performed and if you felt it was worth the $349.00, or is this just a paid ad for RIDGID?” – Donald C. Burr
On several occasions, we have explained that we do not review tools in the eZine, only in the print version of Woodworker’s Journal, and that this segment is to preview tools, not review or rate them. While there are paid ads in the eZine, that was not one of them. We try to be clear about what is and is not a paid advertisement. – Editor
British Form vs. American Style
“Not really a typo, but it does annoy me when people misuse our shared English language as in ‘Most woodworkers start small.’ You cannot start ‘small.’ ‘Small’ is an adjective. You should say ‘Most woodworkers start in a small way.’ Another favourite one is to ‘get things done fast.’ Again, ‘fast’ is an adjective. Try the adverb ‘quickly’. Sorry to rant on. I’ll still keep on reading your great eZine.” – Frank Johnson (UK)
Good thing you don’t live on this side of the pond, Frank, or you would be in a perpetual state of annoyance about some of our favorite, as opposed to favourite, expressions. Here it is common to be “real” happy about getting “fresh” brewed coffee (instead of being really happy about getting freshly brewed coffee.) The line between adverbs and adjectives has been blurring in common usage in the U.S., but the reality is that how we use our language dictates what it is and what changes befall it. Such changes “start small” but soon expand. While it may rankle the linguistic old guard, common usage eventually defines what is acceptable. – Editor
Typo Corner
Here’s where fast fingers and spell check programs work together to mangle what we meant to say. – Editor
“I like your sight.”
We can see how you would. – Editor
