Bought a hundred Allen keys. All the same size today at a car boot sale. (A
quid for the lot) Have made some great centre punches etc out of them. Very
handy for depressing nail heads into wood for covering with filler amongst
other jobs
What have you adapted for uses other than what the tool was designed for?

"Colin Jacobs" wrote: (clip) What have you adapted for uses other than what
the tool was designed for?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Too bad this isn't rec.crafts.woodturning. They make excellent tools for
turning the inside of small wooden hollowforms.

"Colin Jacobs" wrote in message
...
Bought a hundred Allen keys. All the same size today at a car boot sale.
(A
quid for the lot) Have made some great centre punches etc out of them.
Very
handy for depressing nail heads into wood for covering with filler amongst
other jobs
What have you adapted for uses other than what the tool was designed for?

They make good engraving tools. I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll have
some great little screwdrivers.

BTW, for the straight ones, I cut off the short end with a cutoff wheel so
that I could sink the rest into a hole drilled in a wooden handle, filled
with epoxy. I still have a couple of those after maybe 25 years.

The larger ones make good gunsmith's screwdrivers, if you know about them.
The hex shank lets you get an adjustable wrench on them.

--
Ed Huntress

I hade a heap of 3/8" long handle allens, and I made a small but
sturdy wall mounted rack for pieces of material up to about 2' in
lenght..I dirlled a seried of holes in 1/4 x 1" flat bar and welded
the allens on the back side with the short arm up.....worked fine.

On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 15:55:05 GMT, "Colin Jacobs"
wrote:

===Bought a hundred Allen keys. All the same size today at a car boot sale. (A
===quid for the lot) Have made some great centre punches etc out of them. Very
===handy for depressing nail heads into wood for covering with filler amongst
===other jobs
===What have you adapted for uses other than what the tool was designed for?
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

"Ed Huntress" wrote in news:roC1e.3205$n03.2087
@fe11.lga:

I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll have
some great little screwdrivers.


Great minds. The other thing I've done is cut off the "L" and grind the
flats of the hex on a taper so that the small end is close to the next size
down. When you have a stripped out hex head hammer it in and use a wrench
to turn it.

--

Dan

In rec.crafts.metalworking, Colin Jacobs wrote:
Bought a hundred Allen keys. All the same size today at a car boot sale. (A
quid for the lot) Have made some great centre punches etc out of them. Very
handy for depressing nail heads into wood for covering with filler amongst
other jobs
What have you adapted for uses other than what the tool was designed for?

I had a bunch left over from Ikea kits. All the same size, all with
two bends. I used a number of them for legs on a lobster scultu

Underside:
http://louvre.tribe.net/tribe/upload...b-16dc6cd84804

Front, top:
http://louvre.tribe.net/tribe/upload...9-5795195100dc

Not unlike my use for tire irons:
http://louvre.tribe.net/tribe/upload...c-019716dc1429

Elijah
------
also made a tire iron candelabra but photos are not handy

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in news:roC1e.3205$n03.2087
@fe11.lga:

I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll have
some great little screwdrivers.


Great minds. The other thing I've done is cut off the "L" and grind the
flats of the hex on a taper so that the small end is close to the next
size
down. When you have a stripped out hex head hammer it in and use a wrench
to turn it.

Our minds are running in the same tracks. I have a couple of those, too. g

I think I inhereted 100 or 200 of the things from my uncle. You have to
figure out *something* to do with all of that good tool steel, eh?

--
Ed Huntress

"Ed Huntress" wrote in
:

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
news:roC1e.3205$n03.2087 @fe11.lga:

I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll
have some great little screwdrivers.


Great minds. The other thing I've done is cut off the "L" and grind
the flats of the hex on a taper so that the small end is close to the
next
size
down. When you have a stripped out hex head hammer it in and use a
wrench to turn it.

Our minds are running in the same tracks. I have a couple of those,
too. g

I think I inhereted 100 or 200 of the things from my uncle. You have
to figure out *something* to do with all of that good tool steel, eh?


Yup. Once you make up a set of "shorties", some nice little scew drivers,
and some extractors, then what? I used to use them to broach a hex in brass
sub spindle ejector tips when tooling up a Swiss. I would use a bench vise
as a press. They also make a handy spacer. Other than that, I have a drawer
full of unmolested ones waiting to be put to some use.



--

Dan

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
:

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
news:roC1e.3205$n03.2087 @fe11.lga:

I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll
have some great little screwdrivers.


Great minds. The other thing I've done is cut off the "L" and grind
the flats of the hex on a taper so that the small end is close to the
next
size
down. When you have a stripped out hex head hammer it in and use a
wrench to turn it.

Our minds are running in the same tracks. I have a couple of those,
too. g

I think I inhereted 100 or 200 of the things from my uncle. You have
to figure out *something* to do with all of that good tool steel, eh?


Yup. Once you make up a set of "shorties", some nice little scew drivers,
and some extractors, then what? I used to use them to broach a hex in
brass
sub spindle ejector tips when tooling up a Swiss. I would use a bench vise
as a press. They also make a handy spacer. Other than that, I have a
drawer
full of unmolested ones waiting to be put to some use.

Take up engraving. They'great. If you use the German style, hammer-tapping
them, you can avoid having to crank the shanks by setting them in a metal
handle, close to one side rather than in the center.

I have to admit I'm not much of an engraver, but they gave me a chance to
try it out.

--
Ed Huntress

Damn, in my old shop that is moving, I think a box of *hundreds* of these
things is headed for the junkyard....
Now I gotta go head'em off at the pass... 4x4, don't let me down now!!!!
Great idears!
----------------------------
Mr. P.V.'d
formerly Droll Troll
"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
:

"D Murphy" wrote in message
...
"Ed Huntress" wrote in
news:roC1e.3205$n03.2087 @fe11.lga:

I've also ground some into both straight and
right-angle screwdrivers. Grind slowly, keep the temper, and you'll
have some great little screwdrivers.


Great minds. The other thing I've done is cut off the "L" and grind
the flats of the hex on a taper so that the small end is close to the
next
size
down. When you have a stripped out hex head hammer it in and use a
wrench to turn it.

Our minds are running in the same tracks. I have a couple of those,
too. g

I think I inhereted 100 or 200 of the things from my uncle. You have
to figure out *something* to do with all of that good tool steel, eh?


Yup. Once you make up a set of "shorties", some nice little scew drivers,
and some extractors, then what? I used to use them to broach a hex in
brass
sub spindle ejector tips when tooling up a Swiss. I would use a bench
vise
as a press. They also make a handy spacer. Other than that, I have a
drawer
full of unmolested ones waiting to be put to some use.

Take up engraving. They'great. If you use the German style, hammer-tapping
them, you can avoid having to crank the shanks by setting them in a metal
handle, close to one side rather than in the center.

I have to admit I'm not much of an engraver, but they gave me a chance to
try it out.

--
Ed Huntress