Brush size: The smallest brush I have (can't imagine a smaller one) is an "American Painter" 1740 sable Spotter, made in Sri Lanka. I bought it either at Ames or WalMart, I think. It's perfect for applying glue to furniture kits; will put a tiny dot in a hole and make a fine line of glue on edges. It's been very durable, too.

Hilda Hardcastle

Making Dots: For the people that want to put small dots on something-- hairpicks from brush rollers work real well. You can make one perfect little dot. Try it out first please.

Vivian Worrell

Rotozip... Last Christmas, I "hinted" to hubby that I wanted a Micro Mark jig saw. He bought me a Rotozip... big difference! They are very powerful! So far, the only "real" project we've done, besides practicing, (which I highly recommend before trying anything you care about!) is cutting out a hole in the back of the computer desk for all the cables for the scanner, digital camera, printer, speakers, etc. I am going to look into the attachment for the Dremel Tool, as that seems more appropriate for miniatures. The Rotozip is advertised as being able to cut through ceramic tile, so imagine the power. It is a great tool, but in the wrong hands could be very dangerous. I have many power tools, most of which I keep at my brother Jeff's house, because I don't have the room, and he has the greatest workroom. We share all our tools, and therefore have twice as many. I have a scroll saw, belt/disk sander, router, etc., and he has drills, table saw, power mitre saw, etc. At home, I have my Dremel (Jeff has his own), a palm sander, a Micro Mark table saw, which I love! and lots of small hand tools & craft knives.

Cindy in MA

Tools for Your Chair making: If you're buying power tools, I would recommend the Dremel tool first over all the others. It's so versatile. The second most important power tool would be a good jigsaw. I had an early-era Dremel jigsaw, and found it unsatisfactory, because it had no speed control, and the blade choices were very limited. Price makes a big difference when it comes to power jigsaws. Don't scrimp, if you can afford it. The better ones are heavy (you'llwant to fasten it to a workbench), have dust blowers, a light attached to illuminate your cutting work, variable speed control, and can accept many kinds of jeweler's saw blades (see next paragraph for more about this). Also, the better ones have less vibration when cutting. My favorite tool isn't powered at all, and you may like using it best in scratch building fancy chairs. It's a jeweler's saw. Don't buy the X-Acto brand - they make good knives, but not so with jeweler's saws. I had an X-Acto one and hated it. Go to a dental supply or jewelry-makers' supply company to get one. They're about 15 to 25 dollars. Make sure you get one with a depth of cut of about 3. Much more than that, and it will be unwieldy. Much less than that, and you'll find yourself dealing with logistics when trying to cut anything wider than a couple of inches square. The blades you can get for this saw are incredibly small. (With some of the tinier ones, I can only tell if the teeth are set in the right direction by running my fingernail down the blade.

George Held

Dremel/Rotozip: I have both. You can now buy an attachment for your Dremel that includes the end guide and rotary saw bit to make it into a tool similar to the Rotozip, although it won't have as much power. I use the Rotozip occasionally to cut holes in assembled houses. That's about it.

Tom & Kari

Project Ideas for Hospital Stay: I don't remember who recently asked for ideas for her minis to do during her hospital stay but I think this might work for many people. I have health problems and sometimes end up in bed for a couple of days. Also when I travel these are great.... I make my own kits. As I go through magazines or read ideas, or occasionally come up with my own I jot them down. Then as I buy the fabric or whatever I cut it out put a copy of the pattern and or instructions in and any thread or whatever. I put all this into a plastic Ziploc bag. I've done pillows, nightgowns, a quilt. I find sewing projects good for this but you could also have punched flowers and cut bits of wire and then take some markers to decorate the paper flowers. When you get ready to go just make sure you have a separate bag or pencil box for the basic tools: glue, tweezers, scissors, pencil, markers, needles, whatever you need. I also have a small round cutting block that is handy to work on. Other projects could be cutouts, books, printables, If you keep them made and have a bad memory like me you might even surprise yourself with a new project.

Rita

Cutting plexi glass and Lucite: I found that by using the Plexiglas cutter on Lucite (1/4" thick) and making numerous score marks on both sides. (regrooving the same score mark many times) I was able to snap off the portion of Lucite that I needed. I originally tried sawing and it took a year and a day and made me perspire too much (in Florida that is easy)

Dr Bob

Titebond glue. As I was putting kits together w/it I was thinking how much I love it and wondering how the world ever got on before it. I can't say it's the best wood-glue in the universe since I haven't used them all; but I can't imagine a better one. I've used it for a zillion years, and it's never failed me. And some of the joins it's made for me on minis and real furniture you'd never imagine any glue could hold together. The body is perfect--not too thin or too thick, it grabs beautifully, giving just enough time to do your adjusting, it cleans up easily, if you goof all you have to do (w/minis) is run the piece under lukewarm water for a second and it comes right apart. (I put it on w/a tiny spotter brush; I don't know how it would do in a syringe injector.)

Hilda Hardcastle

Dremel: Tonya, Bklyn, NY wrote: Should I buy a drill press for my Dremel, or a router tool?

Both! I have both the router table and router attachment, which I have used for minis. I would dearly love to have the drill press, too. To give you any idea of uses, the router table, with appropriate router bits, will allow you to make some wonderful edges on such things as tables, pianos, to name just a couple of things that I have already done. I tried to make a brass bed, without the drill press - it's still in pieces.

Eileen

Dremel Router Table vs. Drill Press: I use the heck out of my Dremel router table. I love it for making my own moldings (although I still buy Northeastern stuff every now and then). I also have the drill press. It's coated with a heavy layer of dust, if that tells you anything. I found that every now and then, the bits would ride up just a little when I tried to run pieces through the drill-press, whereas with the router table, gravity helps keep the bits pulled down. I also try to make sure I'm always cutting the under side of my board when I pass it along the router blades. That keep it from riding up, too. I haven't yet figured out how to add feather-boards to help hold my wood pieces down and against the fence. That would help add to the consistency of the cut, too. I haven't seen the Rotozip. Hmmm. I may have to find out more.

Geo. Held

Roto Zips: The Roto Zip is a useful tool for windows, doors, etc., but corner cleanup will still be required, so hold onto your Dremel. My personal experiencehas been it's easy to operate, and quickly cuts through material. It's like a rough cut router, without the nice, neat edges. I also found that a controlled cut comes with dense material. Thin material has a tendency to vibrate, so I clamp with a straight edge, then run the base of the Roto Zip along the edge. The draw backs, the edges are rough. You will find that sanding is a must to clean up the edges. Also, it doesn't make a perfect 90 degree cut; the door/window corners have a slightly rounded inside corner. It gets rid of the majority of the material, you'll just need to 'fine tune' the corners with either your Dremel, or with a hand saw. The materials it can cut, Plexiglas, Formica and of course, all types of wood. I primarily use it to cut down larger pieces of material, so they are more manageable. This is the only reason I started using the Roto Zip. Dh thinks I'm too dangerous around large power tools, so one day he 'politely' asked me to rip off the pieces I wanted to work with, and 'he' would run them through the router or table saw. Humph, big boy's and their toys. Added note: They are very noisy, and dust goes everywhere...safety glasses and dust mask recommended.

Rita-Montana

Scroll saws: Hi everyone..... scroll saws are marvelous beasts, they come in all different sizes with their 'up and down prices' too match! I've been using a 'Diamond' scroll saw for the last 5 years and I can offer nothing but praise. It was the saw chosen by the craftsmen (and women) who carried out the restoration work on York Minster here in the UK after the devastating fire. It is at the pricier end of the spectrum, as is the German 'Hegner' they both run quietly and ultra smoothly. Both these saws are ideal for miniatures as they do not suffer from 'chatter' the reason is that all the moving parts that result in the saw blade movement are set in ball bearing races which allow no lateral movement. Most of the cheaper ones have their moving parts set in 'bushes' which usually wear pretty quick. The old English proverb (probably the same in the US)You get what you pay for (I'd personally avoid Dremel) Minicraft make a good one, fairly priced and I think they have a website in the US try http://www.minicraftus.comI know they have a http://www.minicraft.co.uk site who will be able to help otherwise. http://www.hegner.com has a good site, but be prepared to be afraid, very afraid, when you see the top priced model! With regards to the jeweller blades snapping, because they're so fine, they do get hot quickly and the steel re-tempers....then they snap. avoid pushing the wood too hard against the blade and avoid high speed!! Whatever, jeweler blades are really designed for 3 mm or less in thickness, 1mm being the ideal. Again, some blades cost more than others....guess why? The machine you use has a lot to do with it. Our miniature horses are cut initially with these blades, after cutting out 50 legs, I change the blade regardless. (take a look at them at http://www.woodencraft.co.uk ) (If you want to try a super dooper UK blade, I can always send one for you to try)

Peter Cook

Cutting toothpicks: Made a new discovery. I cut some toothpicks out in the shop by rolling them under a razor blade, but the project I was working on was in the house. I grabbed up my cut toothpicks, and went to the kitchen with them. Found out they were a little too long. Of course I didn't want to run back out again. As luck would have it, my sister-in-law gave me a pair of toenail clippers for puppies, and of course they were on that jam packed kitchen table. So......I used them to cut one of the toothpicks. Works wonderful! They're super sharp, don't mash the toothpicks and much quicker than the old way.

Bonnie Lavish

Dull X-acto blades: Did you know you can sharpen X-acto blades on a whet stone and get a little more life out of them?

Barbara

Sharp Exacto Blades: I have just finished a Brooke Tucker class and she told us about an observation she had made with Exacto knives. She said she bought some of the plastic handled ones, and after using them for several months, she realized that the plastic handled ones stayed sharper 2 to 3 times longer than the metal handled ones. She said her only clue as to why this happens is that the plastic handle has just a tiny bit of "give" to it, and perhaps that extends the life of the blade.

Patty Adamson in Bandera TX

Sharpening Xacto knives: For years, I sharpened Xacto blades using the striker strip on a matchbook. The grit was just right to achieve a good edge with a bit of work. After I quit smoking, matchbooks were not as common around my house; but I found a neat sharpener at Micromark  http://www.micromark.com. It is item 81619 and does the job really well for the normal dulling that occurs with use. It will triple the life of your blades.

Dave

Xacto knives: Tip from the newsletter I put out years ago: I kept 3 Xacto handles in different colors. The red handle always had a new sharp blade, when it began to dull, I'd move it to a blue handle and put a new blade in red. When I next replaced the red, I'd move the blue to a green, the red to the blue. OK, this sounds complicated, but much harder to explain than to do. This way I immediately could pick up a sharp blade when needed, and used the duller blade for things like cleaning up metal castings, scrapping dried glue, etc. Also: usually only the tip of the blade dulls, the rest of the blade usually stays sharp. One test--run the blade along magazine pages--if the paper tears, it is dull. A sharp blade cuts cleanly. And remember, like most tools, a dull blade is MORE dangerous than a sharp. And one more tip-most everybody uses the standard #11 blade, but also pick up some #16 blades. The sharp edge is about 45 degree angle and very helpful for many miniature uses.

Dean Jenson

SHARP things: It can be a nightmare losing a craft knife, needle, razor blade, etc. if you work in an area others will be using (especially a couch.) I have finally learned to put a glued piece of velvet ribbon (it can be anything like that) on craft knives so they won't roll, and I keep a magnet near where I work so it is easy to put items back on there...OR use it to 'vacuum' around the couch and floor when I realize something is missing. I also keep a flashlight nearby, as that sometimes catches the 'shine' of the needle or pin, etc. when I am looking. Still, it is easy to misplace a straight pin, so try to get in the habit of putting things like that immediately back on top of the magnet.

Rose

Rolling Xacto knife: Go to a stationery shop and get yourself a pencil holder for each knife. Its a triangular thingy that you put a pencil through to teach kids to hold their pencils right. This will stop those rolling knives.

Elli

Rolling Xacto knife: The relief for the rolling off the desk problem is easy. Get an eraser tip for pencils. You can find a couple of sizes at "anymart" to fit the handles you have. Put the eraser on the top and it will help keeping the tool from rolling. (By the way, many mini-tool suppliers will sell you things to do the same thing, except they will cost more.)

Dave Brazelton