The Universal Toolbox

Posting the tale of the apprentice's toolbox about ten days ago
produced a lot of interesting mail but a couple of key concepts
managed to escape comment. Perhaps these concepts are things everyone
already understands, although I've a hunch they aren't. So mebbe I'd
better beat the drum.

Each of us already HAS a kind of 'apprentice's toolbox.' It's that
lump of gray matter between our ears. We spend our entire life
filling it up and in the final analysis, it's contents are the only
things we truly own. Everything else in our lives is transient,
subject to being taken from us by a whim of fate, the stoke of some
politician's pen or by the passage of time itself. But knowledge --
the things we KNOW are ours forever. If your toolbox is filled with
useful things, even the worst disaster is little more than a minor
inconvenience. And I'm not just talking about how to find water,
protect yourself and make fire by rubbing two grizzly bears together.
I'm talking about the whiff of common sense that tells us it's
impossible for someone earning $30k a year to afford a house costing
$900k. Not only does your toolbox tell you that's impossible, in 1995
it told you that American real estate had become another South Sea
Bubble... and allowed you to protect yourself from its eventual
collapse.

Very handy thing, that toolbox between our ears. The question that
begs asking is: What are you putting into yours?

The second concept notable by its absence was the fact you don't have
to actually build an airplane to acquire the skills to do so. Nor do
you need a shop full of tools. It's possible for ANYONE having an
interest in aviation to build a few ribs, to learn to weld, to build
the complete tail surfaces of an airplane or to convert an engine for
flight.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote in message
...
Posting the tale of the apprentice's toolbox about ten days ago
produced a lot of interesting mail but a couple of key concepts
managed to escape comment. Perhaps these concepts are things everyone
already understands, although I've a hunch they aren't. So mebbe I'd
better beat the drum.

Each of us already HAS a kind of 'apprentice's toolbox.' It's that
lump of gray matter between our ears. We spend our entire life
filling it up and in the final analysis, it's contents are the only
things we truly own. Everything else in our lives is transient,
subject to being taken from us by a whim of fate, the stoke of some
politician's pen or by the passage of time itself. But knowledge --
the things we KNOW are ours forever. If your toolbox is filled with
useful things, even the worst disaster is little more than a minor
inconvenience. And I'm not just talking about how to find water,
protect yourself and make fire by rubbing two grizzly bears together.
I'm talking about the whiff of common sense that tells us it's
impossible for someone earning $30k a year to afford a house costing
$900k. Not only does your toolbox tell you that's impossible, in 1995
it told you that American real estate had become another South Sea
Bubble... and allowed you to protect yourself from its eventual
collapse.

Very handy thing, that toolbox between our ears. The question that
begs asking is: What are you putting into yours?

The second concept notable by its absence was the fact you don't have
to actually build an airplane to acquire the skills to do so. Nor do
you need a shop full of tools. It's possible for ANYONE having an
interest in aviation to build a few ribs, to learn to weld, to build
the complete tail surfaces of an airplane or to convert an engine for
flight.

-R.S.Hoover

" wrote:
Very handy thing, that toolbox between our ears. The question that
begs asking is: What are you putting into yours?

Just as you probably don't want to know what goes into your sausage, you
don't want to know the junk info I've been stuffing into that "toolbox"
between my ears!

;-)

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 13:42:45 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Posting the tale of the apprentice's toolbox about ten days ago
produced a lot of interesting mail but a couple of key concepts
managed to escape comment. Perhaps these concepts are things everyone
already understands, although I've a hunch they aren't. So mebbe I'd
better beat the drum.

Each of us already HAS a kind of 'apprentice's toolbox.' It's that
lump of gray matter between our ears. We spend our entire life
filling it up and in the final analysis, it's contents are the only
things we truly own. Everything else in our lives is transient,
subject to being taken from us by a whim of fate, the stoke of some
politician's pen or by the passage of time itself. But knowledge --
the things we KNOW are ours forever. If your toolbox is filled with
useful things, even the worst disaster is little more than a minor
inconvenience. And I'm not just talking about how to find water,
protect yourself and make fire by rubbing two grizzly bears together.
I'm talking about the whiff of common sense that tells us it's
impossible for someone earning $30k a year to afford a house costing
$900k. Not only does your toolbox tell you that's impossible, in 1995
it told you that American real estate had become another South Sea
Bubble... and allowed you to protect yourself from its eventual
collapse.

Very handy thing, that toolbox between our ears. The question that
begs asking is: What are you putting into yours?

The second concept notable by its absence was the fact you don't have
to actually build an airplane to acquire the skills to do so. Nor do
you need a shop full of tools. It's possible for ANYONE having an
interest in aviation to build a few ribs, to learn to weld, to build
the complete tail surfaces of an airplane or to convert an engine for
flight.

-R.S.Hoover

honesty and the desire not to delude or be self deluded are wonderful
tools.

while you dont have to build an aircraft to learn some things there
are some others that truely only come from addressing the challenges
squarely.

in the vein of not deluding I'd like to correct something asked in a
question many years ago that I recently discovered I gave an incorrect
answer to.

the question was "could you build an aircraft using epoxy from the
local hardware store" in australia the stuff the guy was referring to
is marketed as 24 hour Araldite.
my answer was that you should use a wood compatible epoxy.
turns out that there was some snake oil fed to me previously that was
unwittingly part of the answer. being well and truely into my second
Druine D3 Turbulent has given me enough contact with experts to now
realise that the answer is bull****.
epoxy is epoxy is epoxy. it is a particular plastic.
there are a number of formulations of mers that will coalesce into the
final epoxy polymer.
there is a company selling a titanium dioxide laced formulation that
uses a carcinogenic hardener. that product is certified and sells for
$400 per 250 gram tin. the titanium dioxide is supposed to give the
epoxy a matte surface finish if it is moisture contaminated and below
strength.

I use an epoxy formulation that is superb in use. it mixes 1 to 1 by
volume, has little smell and is a pleasure to work with. I buy it for
$22 per 500grams (2 x 250 gram bottles) Talking to the people I buy it
from revealed that it was made by ATL, the company who manufacture the
WEST systems products sold in australia. The epoxy formulation I've
been having so much success with is the same as the formulation used
in the tubes of 24 hour epoxy (araldite).

I can assure you that using good sterile housekeeping, never allowing
oil or grease contamination, has meant that my glue has never failed a
glue strength test in softwood. I dont need a test for contamination
weakness because I engineer it out with deliberate sterile working
techniques.

The answer I should have given was that yes 24 hour epoxy is suitable
for gluing a wooden aeroplane (or even a wooden airplane) but that you
wouldnt want to do it because the packaging ramps up the cost to you
by a horrible amount. two 17.5ml tubes of araldite bought off a
hardware rack will cost almost as much as I pay for 500ml in bulk.

the trick in sorting out the bull**** from the reality is to know how
to make a standard aviation wood glue test piece.
this involves three little pieces of wood each about an inch and a
half long. you sand them to a clean surface, blow off all the dust,
and then glue them together in a particular way.

=========
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^^^^^^ glue in that area.
you need the glue area to be about half an inch.
you end up with the three pieces glued together in a tuning fork or
"Y" sorta shape.
once they've cured you hit the parallel overhanging part with a hammer
to break the piece.

hit here
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|
V
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if the piece breaks through the wood the glue is stronger than the
wood and provided that the glue has no strength deterioration when
heated or chemical deterioration over time the glue should be
structurally suitable.

Recorcinol formaldehyde and epoxy are suitable glues.

pva, acid catalysed phenolics (selleys 308), and water soluable glues
are not because they will eventually fail in the joint.

if you make a little bundle of test pieces out of any glue left over
in each batch, and you test break them later, you will be able to be
totally certain that your glue work is sound.

apolgies for the previous error.
Stealth Pilot