vnowi asked:


A teenage boy lost in the woods after a plane crash. It starts out with and his mom in the store buying stuff then he gets a little Cessna type plane and the plane crashes. He sings the worm song in the movie too.

Not too sure when the movie was made… I wanna say sometime in the 80’s.

Swimmer asked:


Why is Tiger Woods getting all the coverage??????????

Shouldn’t we be more concerned about a man who crashed into a federal building?

thesitebox asked:

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Joe M asked:


I want to buy a never been used wood pipe from jamacia to Canada and I just wanted to know if I put it in my suitcase wrapped up in clothes will the airport detect it and arrest me?? I’m 18

Victor Epand asked:




Building a model plane does not require you to possess an engineering degree, but the plane itself should have some engineering qualities in it at the time of the build. This will ensure that it holds together while in flight and also withstands crashes without falling apart.

Most do-it-yourself hobbyists would be making a wooden plane, since a plastic or fiber plane requires various moulds in which the fibers and glue is poured into and formed. In the case of wood, all you need are proper cutting and finishing tools. Contest Balsa is still the preferred wood because it is lightweight. Plywood is quite heavy and heavy planes can have a very sluggish response time, even if you do manage to get it up in the air. The power to weight ratio and the weight to strength ratio have to be properly balanced in order to create a lightweight plane that flies well and responds to your commands immediately. Even if you are using a thin section of wood, at least provide sufficient ribs inside so that the skeleton of your plane is strong enough to withstand hard knocks.

Your plane’s engine capacity will also determine as to how your plane will behave in the air. You will first have to decide on going ‘electric’ or ‘gasoline’, since electric motors will need batteries to be slotted in and a gasoline engine will require storage tanks for the fuel. Gasoline engines are normally more powerful as compared to similar electric motors and wooden frames can easily accommodate a gasoline engine. Your design thus, will require your plane structure to be based around your engine choice. You could also try out single glues instead of epoxy glues in which two glues have to be mixed together to turn it into a single hard glue. Epoxy is costly and requires more energy to sand it once it has dried off. Apply weights on the parts, which have to be stuck after gluing them. This will result in a better bond.

In addition to the structural strength and the matching choice of motor, the design of the plane is also very important. A poor design can render your excellent construction useless if your plane behaves like a radar-less bat in the air. Designing the appropriate ailerons, fins and rudders, which match with the dimension and weight of the plane is equally important. A trussed fuselage where thin balsa wood is skinned on top of a skeleton made of square braces, which can also be supported by diagonal beams, will not only make the plane lighter but also provide a strong spine for your plane. Finishing is also important and the plane has to be sanded to a perfect smooth finish.

So, in short, a proper design for your plane, lightweight but strong material and a strong inner skeleton skinned by a thin sheet of wood and all that mated to a perfect motor will ensure that your flying machine takes to the skies with the least effort and stays there until you beckon it back into its hanger.

Edward Hazel asked:




It does not matter what your current woodworking project is, either a custom desk or a simple coat rack a proper finish is essential to creating a piece that is truly remarkable. Surface preparation is necessary for creating a beautiful finish but too many people spend more time than is necessary on surface preparation. Surface preparation in order to be done efficiently needs to be divided into three different stages each with different methods and tools. In the first two stages you’ll be using planes, scrapers and sandpaper or other abrasives. In the third stage of surface preparation you will be using different fillers and wood putty.

In the first stage you will be removing the most amount of material a wood plane is very efficient at removing the marks are left from machining. Nowadays with the event of power sanders most people do not use woodworking planes, that really is a shame because using a long soled plane will leave the surface flat unlike a power sander that can leave high and low spots depending on the hardness of the wood. Another good option that most woodworkers have overlooked is a scraper, scrapers were used extensively in the days before sandpaper and actually a scraper can replace sandpaper. Using a scraper is easy for beginners to master, a cabinet scraper is great for removing machining marks and will also level the surface. To use a scraper push the scraper away from you while exerting downward pressure and holding the work peace study. When a scraper is good and sharp it will produce very fine shavings when it is dull however it will produce dust.

Sanding has become unquestionably the most popular way to smooth wood before applying finish. It can be done manually or with an array of sanders from a simple palm sander to large belt or disk Sander. While most woodworkers dread the idea of sanding it is a lot easier and more efficient if you follow in logical and orderly steps. Prior to sanding remove any dry glue with a scraper as the glue will quickly clog up your sandpaper. So what grit sandpaper should you start with well that depends on the depth of the machining scratches that are in your work peace when in doubt always start with a higher grit number remember the higher the grit the smaller the abrasive material.

Although hand sanding seems out of place in todays world of a machine for everything, it is still a good way to get a nice flat even surface some of the advantages of sanding by hand is that you can actually start with a lower grit paper because you can stand only in the direction of the grain unlike an orbital sander that will sand in all directions. This directional sanding allows you to only remove the material that needs to be removed. Once you have started sanding you’ll need to progressively move up to finer and finer grits. If you start with say a 80 grit sandpaper you’ll want to progressively move up to 100 grit and than 120 skipping grit sizes may seem like a good idea but you will actually have to work harder in the long run to remove the scratches left from the previous grit sandpaper.

So how can I tell when all of the scratches have been removed from a project? Well the best solution that I have found is to wipe on a light coating of mineral spirits this will show up any imperfections or sanding scratches left and the wood.

pseudoreid asked:

Sosia tries to launch the balsa wood plane off of the balcony at Chautauqua.

Joelyn Pullano asked:




It takes knowledge and experience to identify the different wood species used for tools. There are several good books on the subject and you can also get wood sample kits from wood supply companies to help with identification. Perhaps the best way to go about the identification of wood is to have an experienced person label examples for you, maybe even using some of the tools you’ve already collected, pointing out the distinguishing features of each species.

Wood identification is much easier in the classroom with a fresh clean sample. The two items that make up grain, as seen by the ***** eye, are the longitudinal pores, which form the annual rings, and the rays.

Pores are the openings in the tiny tubes running up the tree, that show up as holes when the tree is sawn across the trunk. The tree’s annual rings result from having the more, or larger, pores at the start of the growing season. If the pores are visible with the ***** eye, the wood is termed open grain. If 5X magnification is needed, the wood is called tight or close grain.

The pores appear differently when the log is sawn lengthwise. They now appear as tiny groves, such as you would get by cutting a bunch of straws lengthwise. In antique tools these may be filled with grime, making them appear to be darker. If the cut is through the center of the tree, the annual rings appear as parallel lines. If the cut is at right angles to the radial section, the rings “wander.”

The rays appear solid and flattened and run outward from the center of the tree. In the cross section, they are seen as thin lines running from the core to the bark. In the radial section, they become irregular flecks; in the flat section they are tiny straight lines. The rays are an important identification and usually need 5X magnification.

Two other definitions: the sapwood is a doughnut section of wood next to the bark; it is usually much lighter in color than the remaining heartwood. With just this information you can identify the 20 or so common tool woods. The clearest view of the pores and rays requires slicing the wood with a sharp razor, something that most collectors would never think about doing, unless it could be done on a hidden part. Cleaning the surface with #0000 steel wool will do just as well. This will also help in determining the true color, as most tools have an aged surface, (patina) that deepens their natural color.

The wood most commonly used for tools is beech, particularly in planes. Though it is a distant cousin to birch and maple, the three are not easy to tell apart. They are light colored woods , but can patina to almost a walnut color. Maple , used occasionally for handles and braces, is rarely used for planes, so the choice for molding planes is almost always birch or beech. Early American plane-makers, particularly those in 18th century New England used a lot of birch, but wooden planes made after 1800 were most often beech.

Boxwood is used in molding plane wear strips, plow planes and miniatures. When this light yellow to buff wood paginates and darkens, it might be mistaken for maple. Maple’s end grain under 5X has variety distinct ray lines, while boxwood’s rays are so thin and close together that they could be missed even under magnification. Apple, particularly its sapwood, is occasionally taken for boxwood, but it is much grainer and has a pinkish-brown color. Cherry and apple were the fruitwoods most often used. Cherry has a reddish hue to its brown color, and although it looks very much like apple, it is grainier. Another characteristic of cherry, often used for decorative effect, is the contrast in color between the sapwood and the heartwood. The sapwood is almost white. Many woodworkers used the sapwood and the heartwood in the same piece for effect.

The woods in the next group are not botanical “cousins,” but all are dark in color. Ebony can be either jet black, or have dark brownish streaks or hues. You’ll know it’s ebony because of its extremely smooth surface. Ebony is also very heavy and it sinks in water. Rosewood shows color striations that range from reddish brown to almost black. There are many species of rosewood, the most common used in tools being East India rosewood, which is darker and more solid in color. Another species, Brazilian rosewood, was used starting in the late 19th century. It is more orangey in hue and dramatic in grain figuring. Lignum vitae, another wood that sinks, also has striations resembling rosewood but varies (in the same piece of wood) between brown and yellow and, unlike rosewood, is very tight-grained.

Last in this category are the mahogany’s, generally moderately dark brown, with occasional reddish hues, often highly figured and moderately open-grained. They range from moderately heavy to very heavy in weight. There are so many species of mahogany, which grow in South and Central America and Africa that only an expert can tell them apart. Mahogany was most commonly used for levels, for infill in English planes, and for measuring instruments. Although you may find some color striations in the grain, it will not be as prevalent as the rosewoods and that’s one of the best ways to tell them apart.

Handles that need to absorb shock such as axes and adzes; are generally made of hickory, a though, twisty, open-grained medium brown wood. You will be able to see long grain lines in hickory. Oak, rarely used for tools is an extremely open-grained wood with heavy ray flecks.

Hornbeam is a European wood used by German and Austrian toolmakers. It is a light colored, heavily flecked wood. French Cormier is a softer wood similar to our apple. Both are common in planes and braces that originate in those countries.

I hope this information helps you to identify the woods in your antique tool collection.