January/February 1981
By R.S. Tupper
It's easy to forget that one of the best pieces of advice any handyperson can follow is, "Start simple!".
RELATED CONTENT
Book review of a guide to plans and methods for village and intermediate technology, Appropriate Te...
You can store more and save more money by building a food pantry to hold a few weeks’ supply of can...
A Plowboy Interview with Isaac Asimov, world-famous science-fiction author....
Mother's staff experimented with various methods of storing eggs with no refrigeration and for a lo...
On many occasions I have succumbed—as most handymen and -women do at one time or another—to "tool fever" . . . a disease which causes the sufferer to believe that the solution to any workshop problem involves buying more complicated (and usually more expensive) equipment. However, a recent experience caused me to remember that most households already have any number of effective (and low-cost) "tools"!
In my early attempts to glue together the two pieces of wood shown in the accompanying photograph, I tried spring clamps, "C" clamps, and handscrews . . . all in the hope of holding the components together until the adhesive could dry.
Each of the standard "solutions" failed to work, though. The fasteners would either slide off the curved boards themselves . . . or cause the pieces to slip out of alignment.
Then I hit upon the answer. Believe it or not, the plain old heavy-duty rubber bands illustrated here provided enough pressure to assure a good joint, and they didn't slide free. I was able to attach the block of oak to the chair leg and finish a repair job that (since I was reshaping a missing section of the leg) required a very solid bond.
