Surprising uses for wood

One block of wood; five uses. Dave Lowery suggests why timber off-cuts can be a modeller’s best friend.

You can equip your workshop or workbench with all manner of tools and equipment designed to make your modelling better or easier. Some items might cost pennies, others might set you back a couple of hundred pounds.

But who would have thought that an offcut of 2in by 1in planed timber could prove to be so useful? In fact, it would be hard to do many jobs without this old friend.

1 DRILLING

The most obvious use is as a base for drilling into. If you have a pillar drill with a metal base, you can drill into the wood to extend the life of your bits. The adjustable base on the pillar drill has slots in it, so to prevent your block of wood flying off, I have inserted a short No. 8 screw, which catches in the slots. For hand-drilling with a small bit in a power drill, clamp a piece of wood onto your work surface to make it secure.

While you can hold the work piece while it is being drilled, it’s better to secure it to a block of wood using clamps, screws and even drawing pins. This will also help reduce the burning sensation in your fingers if you are using them to hold a metal workpiece while drilling.

2 SOLDERING/HEAT

Wood doesn’t conduct heat very well, so it’s perfect for holding parts that will need a large amount of heat applied, either from a high wattage soldering iron or even a gas blowtorch. It is far better to burn an old offcut piece of wood than to damage your workbench or even worse, the kitchen table if that is your temporary workstation.

Again, when soldering components together, use clamps to hold the main piece in place while you hold the piece to be soldered to in the exact position before applying the heat.

3 ALIGNMENT AND RESTING

Blocks of wood can make ideal construction aids. I recently built a DJH ‘Big Bertha’ 0‑10‑0 (MR275) and wood proved invaluable, particularly during construction of the tender end and sides.

You can hold one component in place securely, allowing you to make adjustments and ensure the joint line is perfect before you make the soldered joint. It is good because if a final bit of filing is needed on the parts to get the exact square fit, one of them is already held in place so the second piece just needs to be positioned then soldered in place.

4 ASSEMBLY JIG

A recent project I undertook for a friend couldn’t have been achieved so easily without using a piece of wood. At one end of PRMRP’S

‘O’ gauge TEA tanker kit is a pair of curved ladders that allow access to the hatches on top.

The kit has two curved side etches with holes in them for the rungs. That’s right – each rung needed to be soldered in place on both sides in order to create a ladder. I turned this piece of batten wood into a jig

5 STRESS RELIEF

Every modeller has one of those days when nothing seems to go right and you just want to hurl whatever it is you’re building across the room. You shouldn’t feel bad about having that reaction – we’re only human.

But rather than destroying whatever it is you’re building, why not throw your block of wood instead? You get to relieve your frustrations and stress and you don’t destroy what you’ve already built (thus saving time and money). Once you’ve thrown it, take a break – then cut yourself a fresh piece of wood and start again in a much calmer frame of mind!

These ‘OO’ gauge main frames have been drilled on a piece of wood with a small electric drill. The wood then held the frames as the wheel bearings were soldered in place with a small blowtorch.

To help with stability, I clamp the 2in by 1in piece of wood to the work desk with a simple G-clamp. You can then hold down work pieces to the wood with drawing pins or more clamps.

I use two types of wood: the 2in by 1in is used on my desk for everyday working while the 4in by 1in piece is used on my pillar drill.

To stop the 4in by 1in piece moving around the drill base, I added a couple of screws that sit in the base slots.

The block can be used to help when soldering large components together; these whitemetal castings come together to form the end and side of a ‘OO’ gauge tender.

Having a block of wood on the bench gives you something on which to rest the work piece during construction, especially when flimsy steps have been added – this reduces the chance of bending them.