The Antique Arms Show - I had no idea I would enjoy this so much!

 If you live in Las Vegas and complain that there's nothing to do here - well, you  just aren't looking in the right areas! 

Although - if you ask people who live here, most will tell you it's been ages since they've visited the Strip, unless they work there, or have to go for a convention or to meet someone. It's just too damn expensive - almost every casino / resort charges you to park, and even if you just want to visit two or three casinos, it'll cost you $100 in parking fees. Hence - we locals don't go very often!

That said - every single week, there are conventions, meet-ups, gatherings, performances and so much more. Yesterday, the Westgate hosted an Antique Arms show, which featured everything under the sun concerning historical weaponry and military armor. 

And even better - two friends who are knife makers had a booth at the show. So you know I had to check it out!

The show was held in two halls, not quite as massive as the main Convention Center halls we have here, but still - this venue was pretty big. 

My good buddy Len has only been making knives a couple of years - he started out as a wood carver (and he's a damn good one!) but his knives are really beautiful. Some knives seem almost "too nice" to use - but Len's knives feel great in your hand, and just give off a "use me" feel to them. 

He was primarily using wood for his handles, but lately has started experimenting with resin handles in all sorts of colors and cool characteristics. 

Because Len started out as a carver, you can see some of his carved walking sticks in the foreground of this photo. 

Len shared his booth with Tony, probably the premier local expert knife maker here. Tony is not only one of the most knowledgeable knife makers that I've ever met, but honestly - he's just an all around great guy. 

He never makes you feel stupid if you ask a question, and always willing to answer anything, no matter how many times he's probably been asked it! He's been educating me on Damascus steel knives, and now of course, I want one. For cooking. It might be my next big splurge, who knows?

If you are unfamiliar with Damascus knives - you should read up on them. Fascinating stuff!

I was so distracted by all the cool things at the show (asking a million questions, too) that I didn't get a lot of photos of some of the amazing weapons at this show.

This sword that belonged to Clark Gable.  

I believe the fellow who owned it said it was used in a movie that Clark filmed years ago. (Was he a swashbuckler in something? Gone with the Wind?) I don't know, I don't watch old movies... but my mom would know.  She knows more about old movies than I know about woodworking!

It was engraved for Clark - imagine this - this was decades before engravers were automated... so all of the tooling on this sword was done by hand. 

I couldn't believe they actually had cannons on the display floor! 

Several, in fact. I can't tell you how many cool things were on display - rifles and pistols from the wild, wild west...  everything from weapons from the Civil War, Revolutionary War, WWI and WWII, Vietnam and even more recent wars. 

One fact that blew my mind - many of the rifles had GIANT bayonets mounted to them, and someone mentioned that during certain wars - more soldiers died from bayonet stabbings than from being shot. That's because soldiers would run out of bullets, so the bayonet was the only way to fight. That fact kind of blew my brain up - some bayonets were so long, it look like you could go through 3 people at once! 

Bizarre.

Seriously - I wish I had taken photos of the rifles - there were models with dates and names carved into the butts (from the 1800's or earlier) and so many cool little details that were fascinating. Think - Billy the Kid, or Annie Oakly. 

Next time, I HAVE to get better photos. 

OK, on a lighter note - there were also quite a few booths dealing with Native American stuff - blankets, jewelry, trading post kinds of artwork. Moccasins, beaded work, peace pipes, very cool stuff. 

Lots of cowboy boots and hats, too. 

Out of everything I saw at the show - one little item caught my eye. 

This fellow had a lot of oriental stuff - swords, knives, Hari-kari daggers, etc but this little box with two very small (maybe 4" long) musical instruments were fascinating. 

I couldn't figure out what they were. 

Can you guess?

These were a set of antique sterling silver salt and pepper shakers. Simply amazing details.

There was a very small door on the back of each one, where you could fill the shaker. And on the side of the body of the instrument were 6-8 small holes from which the salt or pepper could pour. The attention to detail was ridiculous, and I'm kicking myself for not buying them.  Luckily - the man who was selling them lives close to me, so I may give him a call and pick them up. 

All in all - this show was worth the trip, despite the $45 parking fee (that included a $10 valet tip) and the $20 entrance fee. I'm not even that  interested in weapons, but went to support my two friends. But if you're a history buff or just interested in weaponry, this is a show you shouldn't miss!

And finally - someone with a sense of humor! 

Wood in Space?!

 This is one of wildest stories I've read this year!

Imagine sending a small wooden box into space and when it's time for its  return, it (purposefully) burns up in the atmosphere, thus creating less pollution and potential damage to the planet. Wow!

Here's the story that caught my eye...

World's first wooden satellite, developed in Japan, heads to space

By Kantaro Komiya and Irene Wang

The world's first wooden satellite, built by Japanese researchers, was launched into space on Tuesday, in an early test of using timber in lunar and Mars exploration.

LignoSat, developed by Kyoto University and homebuilder Sumitomo Forestry, will be flown to the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission, and later released into orbit about 400 km (250 miles) above the Earth.

Named after the Latin word for "wood", the palm-sized LignoSat is tasked to demonstrate the cosmic potential of the renewable material as humans explore living in space.

"With timber, a material we can produce by ourselves, we will be able to build houses, live and work in space forever," said Takao Doi, an astronaut who has flown on the Space Shuttle and studies human space activities at Kyoto University.

With a 50-year plan of planting trees and building timber houses on the moon and Mars, Doi's team decided to develop a NASA-certified wooden satellite to prove wood is a space-grade material.

"Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood," said Kyoto University forest science professor Koji Murata. "A wooden satellite should be feasible, too.”

Wood is more durable in space than on Earth because there's no water or oxygen that would rot or inflame it, Murata added.

A wooden satellite also minimises the environmental impact at the end of its life, the researchers say.

Decommissioned satellites must re-enter the atmosphere to avoid becoming space debris. Conventional metal satellites create aluminium oxide particles during re-entry, but wooden ones would just burn up with less pollution, Doi said.

"Metal satellites might be banned in the future," Doi said. "If we can prove our first wooden satellite works, we want to pitch it to Elon Musk's SpaceX."

The researchers found that honoki, a kind of magnolia tree native in Japan and traditionally used for sword sheaths, is most suited for spacecraft, after a 10-month experiment aboard the International Space Station.

LignoSat is made of honoki, using a traditional Japanese crafts technique without screws or glue.

Once deployed, LignoSat will stay in the orbit for six months, with the electronic components onboard measuring how wood endures the extreme environment of space, where temperatures fluctuate from -100 to 100 degrees Celsius every 45 minutes as it orbits from darkness to sunlight.

LignoSat will also gauge wood's ability to reduce the impact of space radiation on semiconductors, making it useful for applications such as data centre construction, said Kenji Kariya, a manager at Sumitomo Forestry Tsukuba Research Institute.

"It may seem outdated, but wood is actually cutting-edge technology as civilisation heads to the moon and Mars," he said. "Expansion to space could invigorate the timber industry.”

Revenge of the shop nerds. - or how to trick out your shop vac!

 Friends are the spice of life, right? 

My buddy Rick is a designer, computer whiz, woodworker, inventor, and one of the nerdiest guys that I know. I say that with a ton of love and respect for him! 

 The other day, he decided to paint and trick out his shop vac, turning it into a droid. Because.... why not? 

Like I said - NERD!

He has so many tools and tricks up his sleeve, but he relied mostly on his 3D printer. And his creativity.

He painted the body of the vacuum with a shellac primer, ordering a couple colors of paint from Home Depot.  

To make it look like a droid, he designed some buttons and lights -  here are some of the prototype parts he printed. 

He even curved the backs of them, to fit on the rounded body of the vac.

He dug out some semi transparent filament for the buttons and the lights, to make it look more realistic. While he was printing the light panels, he started thinking about the arms, and designed them to hold the end of the hose. The other one will hold the bag of accessories so it’s all together. (Smart design, I love it!)

These arms have fake screws and fake wires. 

Again - they are curved on the back for the round body and the yellow pipe can be a hook or hold the end of the hose.

This rendering is what it would look like, according to his design.

Hot off the press - these four button/LED plates just finished printing. 

He thought of everything, including printing a bunch of multi color semi translucent buttons and lights for the droid. 

This is crazy-fun!

Next - he turned his attention to the exhaust ports.  Fake vents with fake screws? No problem!

Here's the vac after two coats of primer and two coats of paint. Next is the black banding around the middle

He masked off the area, and sprayed the band black. 

Gluing the semi-translucent buttons and lights on the panels was a challenge. Superglue for the win! He told me this was all PETG filament for these parts,  btw.

(Whatever that means!)

A real challenge was clamping everything while the glue did its magic. 

Good thing he has a ton of these clamps.

He attached the feet and started applying some detail items. Clamping the robot name plate on.

He decided to do a 30mm atomic rocket ship inlay - all 3D printed, no paint. His 3D printer holds numerous spools of various colored filaments, so he can print things, integrating the colors. 

Here's one of the “arms” of the robot.

Btw the text on the logo means “AIR!” In an droid font. (Who the hell knew there was a droid font?!?)

A little robotic grip to hold the bag of accessories for the arm

This is genius - he put a pool sock on the filter, so he doesn't have to constantly buy new filters. I'm totally buying some of these socks the next time I buy a new filter - I hate beating on my filter to coax a little more life out of it. 

 He also figured out how to make the superglue work more quickly, by using a spray activator on the glue.  That meant he didn't need to use tape or clamps to hold everything.

And finally...  

I'm not sure when he snuck the wiggly eyes on it, but it's a cool effect.

I constantly tell him that he should advertise, telling people about some of his services - like 3D printing. He has a big laser and a CNC - and I have used him a few times for help with some of my projects. 

So - if you need a little boost for something you're working on, let me know and I'll connect you with him!

The future of reclaimed lumber?

 Seems like every week, I get an email or a call from someone asking me to build something out of reclaimed lumber. That's always dicey, as the chance for finding nails or screws in the wood is a real concern.  

Finding bullets in boards is pretty common, too. Most people don't think about that, but shooters often attach targets to trees, and aim at them. So trees can be riddled with bullets, which make their way to lumber mills, which end up on your workbench. Running a board through my planer - and discovering a piece of metal embedded in it can be a nightmare. Blades are expensive, and the downtime for replacing the blades is a real concern. 

My buddy Eric sent this video, and I was fascinated to see that someone has come up with a machine that will inspect a board for metal, and then remove it. After it is removed, the machine then x-rays the board to ensure there's nothing left!

How does this all get accomplished? That's even more interesting - the metal fragments are targeted with induction heat, thus charring the wood around the screw or nail. This makes it easier to pull out the metal culprit. Brilliant!

This ten-minute video is worth a look!

Finishing up the Porter Cable 690 router repair

The router parts finally arrived - the two new bearings and a new set of brushes. 

Installing the larger bearing was simple.

 It slipped very nicely in place, and I re-installed the snap ring that holds it in place. 

But then I turned to the armature, where the smaller bearing was to be installed. 

It was a super tight fit, and I had to grease it, in order for it to slide on.

 I slipped a socket over the top of it, so that even pressure was applied when I tapped it into place.  

The armature fit nicely back in the body, 

and this nut holds everything in place. It's a 1" nut, and I tightened it down with an impact driver, all while holding the armature on the other end with a rag. 

There are a lot of sharp fan blades on the other end of the armature, so the rag is definitely needed!

Finally - I put the top cap in place, making sure that all of the wiring was pushed away from moving parts, and that nothing would bind. 

 Last thing to replace were the two brushes - and WOW - those were a PAIN to install. My hands are pretty small, but even so - my fingers got in the way of holding down the brush spring, all while slipping the top plastic cap in place. 

Seriously - it took longer to install the two brushes than the whole time it did to replace the bearings. There must be a trick to it that I was missing. 

But finally - the router was buttoned up, plugged in and working fine. 

 If you ever see one of these (Porter-Cable 690 series router) at a garage sale or flea market, I highly recommend that you snap it up! They are out of production and when they're gone, you'll be out of luck! Just the fact that they made two differently sized collets for it, as well as a fixed and plunge base makes this one of the most versatile routers out available.