Value: A Viewpoint On Collecting by J. W. Courter

 Value: A Viewpoint On Collecting
©2025 J. W. "Bill" Courter

There are several theories why some goods and services are wanted or needed more than others
and considered desirable enough for people to work or give up something else to get them. The
most significant theories to explain market values have been:

1. Aristotle: Goods or services are valued the same as what is given in trade for them.
2. Karl Marx: Goods or services are valued at their cost of production.
3. Adam Smith: Goods or services are valued at what they will bring in trade or "exchange."
4. Austrian School: Goods and services are valued by individuals, as judged from their
personal (subjective) viewpoints.

 The Austrian School of Economics developed the modern subjective theory of value and applied
it to the problems of economics. Its founders were Carl Menger (1840-1921), Friedrich von
Wieser (1851-1926), Eugene von Bohm-Bawerk (1851-1914), Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
and Friedrich A. Hayek (1899).  All were born in Austria. I have studied writings of Mises, Hayek and their students.

 The Austrian theory of value holds that the value of economic goods is in the minds of individuals and
therefore is neither constant nor inherent in the goods themselves; that values of the same goods vary from person to person, and from time to time for the same person. Value is not intrinsic; it is not in things (although some things may have intrinsic value in our economy). Value is within the human mind. Value is reflected in human conduct. It is not what a man says about value that counts, but how he acts.

 A person makes a judgment of value based on his wants, tastes, desires, feelings, choices, or preferences which cause him to act in a certain manner at a given time, situation and environment in an attempt to substitute conditions he prefers for those he considers less satisfactory. This judgment of value is personal and subjective and is not open to proof or disproof. It can only be identified by an action from which it is influenced.  Value is always relative, subjective, and human. Value is never absolute, objective or divine.

 Individuals always believe what they have, and are not trying to dispose of, is more valuable in "use" to them personally, under the circumstances, than it would be in exchange." Thus when they do decide to make a trade, it is because they believe what they are offering to exchange is worth less to them personally than what they expect to receive in return. Barring force, fraud and mistakes in judgment then, both parties will consider themselves to have gained as the result of a voluntary trade.

 On a simpler note, my dictionary defines value as "the relative worth, merit, or importance...that
quality of anything, which renders it desirable or useful."

Measures of Value. Historically measures of value have been a standard weight of a
commodity, such as gold or silver. Even so, no commodity is free from changes in value due to
the supply of it or demand for it. Establishing a reliable measure of value has been a major
problem of countries, politicians, and kings. The problem continues, as measures have not been
perfected. Today, we tend to think in terms of dollars but they are fiat and in reality, are paper
instruments of debt. The value of our dollar has depreciated for more than 60 years. Let's review
other day-to-day factors that affect "value."

Utility. Originally utility was the sole reason for buying most items. The importance was given
to its capacity to produce a desired effect such as light (lamp), heat (stove or fuel), or a station
wagon (you have lots of kids to carry). Many antiques have lost their utility value as our
technology and world changed. I think of whale oil lamps, fleams, glass insulators, and carriage
clocks for example. Aladdin kerosene mantle lamps possess considerable utility value today and
I suppose that is one of the principal reasons why they are still manufactured.

Intrinsic Value. Things like gold, silver, copper, diamonds, and precious stones have historical
value, as they have often been measures of value. Gold jewelry always has a value based on gold
content regardless of the workmanship or artistic value of the piece. Things that possess
"intrinsic" value often are a "store of value" and are used as a medium of exchange for other
goods (i.e. they became money).

Workmanship. Skills that turn raw materials into things people need add value to those
materials. I think of cabinetmakers, glassblowers, silversmiths, and craftsmen who created our
furniture, glassware, tea service, and cathedrals, for example. The numbers of our expert artisans
have diminished to the point where workmanship may not be effectively reproduced. Things like
veneer and parquetry work, glass cutting, goldsmith, and carved furniture have become "lost
arts" and consequently are especially valuable.

Provenance and Pedigree. Historical attribution often adds a premium to the object. The label
of a maker, the bill of sale, an autograph, quality known to be associated with the maker, or even
previous ownership are examples that document the importance of provenance.

Rarity. There is no question that rarity plays an important role for collectors in determining
value. This is especially true in coins and stamps. Consider, however, that there must be enough
items for collectors to collect; otherwise can one of something be so rare as to be extremely
valuable?
Often it is the least costly or least valuable item, commonly made, that ends up being the rarest.
These items may not have been popular when they were made, few may have survived, they
were breakable or not saved, or they tended to be used frequently and consumed. Consider things
like chalkware items, fragile Christmas ornaments, glass oil lamps, tin toys, and paper ephemera.

Condition. The only acceptable condition is perfection when we purchase something new. The
item must be and function as intended. We generally do not buy things that are repaired,
restored, or do not function as "guaranteed." Think about that crescent wrench, your television,
VCR, electric blanket, etc. In contrast, we will buy antiques or collectibles that show signs of
wear, chips, missing parts, and a certain amount of damage. The rarity, workmanship, or
provenance of the item may well over come these defects.

Market Awareness. Most collectors study and read to improve their knowledge. They may start
out with a nostalgic reason, "I remember that as a kid," but study and appreciation take over and
you accumulate more than one as the [text missing in source document]

Inflation. I must add inflation to the equation of factors that challenge our concept of value.
Inflation is a large increase in the quantity of money, which results in a drop in purchasing power
of each unit. Simply put, more dollars are needed to buy the same object today compared with
ten years ago. This is why antiques and yes, even Aladdin lamps, have been "stores of value" and
inflation hedges during the last forty years. Inflation tends to drive investors to tangible assets,
such as fine art and antiques (or other commodities). We can often buy an older lamp or piece of
furniture with fewer dollars than a newer one. And the workmanship of the older one may be
better!

Age. Generally older objects have greater value to collectors than those recently made. Rarity,
provenance, and other factors (above), including nostalgia, all greatly complicate the desirability,
familiarity, and perhaps affordability.

30-Year Rule. This leads me to comment on the 30-year rule. Harry Rinker, editor of Warman's
Americana and Collectibles and popular author and lecturer on antiques, says, "For the first
thirty years of anything's life, all its value is speculative." This rule applies directly to collectibles
and things manufactured (i.e. limited editions), especially to be collected.

 Thirty years allows time for the vast majority of objects to be used, discarded or deteriorate.
Also, there has been sufficient amount of buying and selling to establish a steady market by
collectors who have become rich enough to buy back their childhood.

Appraisal. The principles of valuation in professional appraisal practices are discussed and
defined in a useful manual by the American Society of Appraisers. In addition to most points
discussed above, this book defines important concepts such as fair market value, replacement
value, liquidation value, cash value, estate value, and donation value.

 I conclude by saying yes, we can and sometimes do pay too much by placing a personal value on
an object or house that is out of proportion with the values set by others. That is why we study
auction results, evaluate quality, and attend conventions, read, and compare opinions with others
who are knowledgeable in the field. We buy and enjoy our purchase because we have valued it
higher than owning the money that we exchanged (paid) for it.

 In the final analysis, the value of any object or good is worth exactly what a willing seller and a
willing buyer agree to exchange it for at any given moment in time.


References:
Albertson, Karla Klein. 1989. Real vs. Artificial Value: What is an antique actually worth?
Antique Review 15 (10):26-27.
Anon. 1989. A Handbook on the Appraisal of Personal Property. Am. Soc. Appraisers, P. O. Box
17265, Wash. DC 20041. 192 pp.
Greaves, Bettina B. 1975. Free Market Economics, A Syllabus. The Foundation for Economic
Education Inc. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY 10533. 242 pp.
Greaves, Percy L. Jr. 1974. Mises Made Easier. Free Market Books, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 157 pp.
Mises, Ludwig von. 1963. Human Action, Third Revised Edition. Henry Regnery Co., Chicago.
907 pp.
Rinker, Harry. (Editor) Warman's Antiques and Warman's Americana and Collectibles. Warman
Publishing Co., Willow Grove, PA 19090.

Copyright (c) J. W. Courter 2003 (adapted from publication in The Mystic Light newsletter,
17(5):1990, which covers antique and Aladdin brand lamps).

Aladdin Mantle Lamps (reprise?)

 I may have posted about this before, but if I did, it was a long time ago, and I got a couple questions about it from net-acquaintance, so here we go again, maybe. :)

 BTW, if anyone needs info on Aladdin mantle lamps, I've been studyin' on 'em for a while now.
I know have one, because DEAR GOD THEY ARE EXPENSIVE, ahem.

 Their value is that they are vastly brighter than regular wick lamps; on the order of a 60w incandescent
bulb, similar to a gas pressure (AKA Coleman, etc) lamp.  Because combustion is nearly 100%, they also emit much les odor vs. wick type lamps.

 In addition to being four or five times brighter than a regular wick lamp, they have four or five times lower fuel consumption, and four or five times great burn time, for a given amount of fuel, vs. regular wick lamps.

Let's be honest, you can't read by a wick lamp, they're just dismal.

The two, er three, er four most useful bits of arcane Aladdin knowledge which I have distilled from the mantle lamp boffins are this:

• For Denver and higher elevations, you must swap the standard chimney for a "MaxBright High
Altitude/High Output chimney". And that is simply a matter of there being less oxygen in a square
foot of air up here, than there is at sea level.  To get the mantle properly hot, a stronger draft of air
is required, and that's what that chimney does.  It makes a world of difference.  Not for use on
shelves, lol; the standard chimney is already tall - these things want a 4% fuel, 96% air mixture for
best operation.  The high output chimney is even taller.  The total height of my lamp is 26.5in.

• Antique Aladdin brand mantles, if you can find any, are better than any others. Ideally, the ones
from Brazil, because they had the most Thorium, IIRC.  Anyhoo, the balance of light-emitting salts
used in the mantle is different today vs. old mantles, because people were worried about manufacturing
workers being exposed to the Thorium dioxide ingredient, which is slightly radioactive.  The mantles
were never any danger to users.  They are brighter than newer mantles, and the quality of light (color
balance) is superior in the old mantles.  I have found old ones on etsy and ebay, but they are getting
harder to find.  Once burned, the mantles are just as fragile - or more so - than the mantles used in
pressure lanterns, so handle gently.

• fuel: K-1 kerosene (clear only). Do not use "odorless lamp oil" (paraffin oil) sold for wick lamps. It will soot up your mantle and destroy it in short order.  To make matters more confusing, Aladdin sells a
purified kerosene product they call "Aladdin Lamp Oil" which is NOT paraffin oil, and which some
people claim tends to smoke less.  I have not tried it because it costs more.  And um, well, if your lamp is smoking it is badly out of adjustment! (see document linked below)

• Aladdin Lamps carry a price for their bright light; they are the Italian sports car of the emergency
lighting world.  The lamp is slightly fiddly to light compared to a wick lamp, and then it takes ten or
fifteen minutes to warm up, during which time you have to keep an eye on the mantle, starting with
the vaporizing wick low, at first.  This is not terribly different from starting up a pressure lamp, it
just takes more time.

 A great treatise from Aladdin's service department, found in a letter to a customer in 1933, can be
found here:

https://aladdincollectors.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Aladdin-Kerosene-Mantle-Lamps.pdf

I recommend downloading and printing out a copy.

I also recommend printing out every other emergency how-to resource you own, and binding them
if possible (staples and cheap plastic binders from office store seem fine) so you can access them
when the power has been out for say, a week, and your UPS is dead, and the nearest city is a smoking
crater, things like that.

PDF files are useless in a real emergency, and I just realized I have a ton of them.  Oops.  Sigh.

It's What I Do: I Toke And I Know Things*

  I always find myself working along edges and in corners, where the Gotchas hide.

 I am a generalist and a synthesist, always have been, in large part to profound and mostly untreated ADHD.† I am the opposite of a Subject Matter Expert.  I have a tendency to start projects larger than my attention span, and subsequently lose interest in them.

 So the knowledge I have collected throughout my life tends to be all over the place.  I have always had a thirst for knowledge, and have been an autodidact my entire life.  If something piques my interest, I dive in headfirst and don't come up for air until I feel I've at least got a firm grasp on the subject.

 But long experience (I think it took me longer than most to figure this out) eventually taught me that having a decent grasp of a subject does not keep the Gotchas aways if you insist on working near edges and in corners.

 So now, I am actually more proud of knowing where the limits of my knowledge are, in most any subject I know anything about, than I am of what I know with certainty.  Because it is just as useful and important, but few people manage it.  Most people think they know more than they do.  I spent most of my life using that vewpoint.  But that viewpoint isn't baked into your brain.  You can change it. ;)

__
* No, the famous line is not in the books, if you were wondering. Check out this resource.
† Ritalin stopped working in my 60s.  I didn't know that was even possible.

NEMP, HEMP, SREMP Oh My! (money-saving education for preppers)

v1.1 includes minor typos and corrections
v1.2 includes additional text in HEMP section

 "First you need to hit the barn, next you wait fifty to a hundred shakes.
And then the bomb blows up."

You can all stop worrying about nuclear (or simulated) EMP.  This article will explain why.

1. Understanding NEMP (Nuclear ElectroMagnetic Pulse)

 First of all, everybody gets EMP wrong.  Movies get EMP wrong.  Writers get EMP wrong.  Preppers get it wrong, but it's hardly their fault, they're constantly being lied to.  "NASA Engineers" (who just happen to sell EMP protection snake oil) get EMP wrong.  Your mother's hairdresser's uncle, who saw an EMP once, gets EMP wrong.  Unless your name (was) Dr. Carl E. Baum, you've probably been getting NEMP wrong.  I got it wrong for decades, and I have been a nuclear weapons (outsider) wonk since I left the USAF in 1985.

 After this, you will not get EMP wrong and you may go about educating others or just feeling smug about it, whichever suits you.  ;)

 'EMP' is an acronym for ElectroMagnetic Pulse, which is an intense burst of radio waves created by nuclear explosions.

 The high altitude version has enough range to be a problem; it can easily reach the ground two hundred miles below.  The strength of the signal is so great, it can damage electronics and induce damaging currents - much like the solar wind - into power or telephone lines.  EMP is not harmful to life... unless you wear an external electronic medical device.  One (complicated) EMP pulse occurs per nuclear detonation.

 There are two flavors of 'real'* (as in, generated by a nuclear detonation) - EMP:

  HEMP (High altitude Electromagnetic Pulse)

 This is the big powerful EMP effect everyone thinks of when they think of EMP, for example when a ground burst happens and everyone's car stops working in The Day After (ludicrous scene - does not happen in real life; read on for why). 

 HEMP occurs when a very high-yield missile warhead - roughly a megaton or higher - is detonated above two hundred miles altitude.  The effect is maximized at this altitude because the expanding shell, or wavefront, of radiation has room in the low-pressure region to expand before striking the atoms of the atmosphere.  Involving a greater volume of air increases the number of electrons involved.

 The enormous burst of gamma radiation, and to a lesser (and later) extent neutrons, from the nuclear detonation, violently changes the direction of travel of electrons. This motion, combined with the Earth's magnetic field also interacting with them as they move, causes the electrons to dump energy as radio waves across a big chunk of the electromagnetic (radio) spectrum.

For more on this, please see Section 2 of this DTRA-sponsored report.

This diagram is for a 10MT burst.  There are no 10MT weapons in anyone's inventory.
Important: the effects on the ground are negligible if yield is much below 1MT

 That's the majority of HEMP.  Long after the main pulse, two smaller pulses occur, with completely different mechanisms of creation: first, the heat and energy from the bomb physically striking the ionosphere, causes a small pulse, and after that, the swelling of the ionosphere from being heated rapidly, causes another little bump.  These are called the MHD signal because 'magnetohydrodynamic signal' is too much of a mouthful to say at cocktail parties.

"types" is the wrong word - "parts" would have been better... but it's a nice chart

  But those two signals weren't the part everyone was worried about, as they did not contain enough energy to affect electronics.  They were only of interest to researchers with sensitive equipment.

Note that all of these multiple source effects cause the pulse to be stretched out in time, with a long tapering tail after the very fast-rising front edge of the pulse.  The chart above is idealized.

 Note that all HEMP measurement and characterizing ceased when atmospheric testing ended in the 1960s.  The phenomenon requires a lot of space to occur, it cannot be recreated in a lab or an "EMP bomb" (those have been studied, but physics got in the way and they were abandoned as ineffectual)

 The pulse has a funny shaped outline, due to the complex phenomena which create its various parts, but its bandwidth is known; HEMP has significant energy from DC to 4 GHz.

 SREMP (Source Region Electromagnetic Pulse)

 This effect is not known to most people, most preppers, most writers.  And that's fine, because you don't need to know about it.  Why don't you need to know about it?  Okay, so SREMP is a weaker EMP effect created by atmospheric detonations, be they airbursts as is most common, or ground bursts.  And, like HEMP, the effect is negligible with sub-megaton warheads.

 SREMP is lower intensity than HEMP, and it has a much shorter range: a maximum of about two miles.  Your average modern boosted fission weapon (with a fusion stage or not!) has a radius of total destruction at least five miles.  If you aren't destroyed by the blast or heat, the SREMP won't reach you, and you can start worrying about fallout.  If you're close enough for SREMP to zorch your electronics, you and your electronics will be almost painlessly destroyed by the fireball and mach stem.  Forget about SREMP.

 As for where SREMP come from...

Q: "If EMP requires low gas pressures or vacuum, how can it occur in atmosphere?"
A1:  Smart-assed answer (and wrong): There is a vacuum inside the physics package. :)
A2: The real reason is that jamming those gammas into air does create the same Compton shower
       effect, but the gammas can't penetrate the air very far, and the size of the "irradiated sphere of
       air" is much much smaller, so the generated signal is quite small.


 2. Why HEMP Is Not A Danger Either

 Reason #1: HEMP requires two things to happen: altitude of a minimum of two hundred miles, and a very large yield warhead, of at least 1 MT or higher.  The intensity of the effect tapers off quickly with warheads below 750kT yield.

 Since both Russia and the USA dismantled their megaton-class missile warheads in the early 2000s, using the fissionables to make smaller, lighter, more efficient physics packages, the conditions for creating HEMP can no longer be met.  MT-class gravity bombs are obviously of no use here, but those are slowly leaving our arsenal too.  They are simply inefficient; generals would rather have more warheads.

 Reason #2: HEMP was never thought of by anyone as a valid form of attack, because the effects on the ground turned out to be too unpredictable.  The areas of high intensity are crescent shaped, nested with areas of low-to-no intensity, and the direction this occurs from the burst is unpredictable - the effects are impossible to aim, and the effects do not blanket large areas.  To effectively blanket either the USA (don't forget Alaska) or Russia (don't forget northern Siberia) you'd need to throw away a dozen or more MT-class warheads (!!) ...on a long shot.  No general was ever going to waste a single MT class weapon on a lousy bet like that.

3. Conclusion

 It appears extremely unlikely, absent the failure of multiple baroswitches and inertial sensors all at once doing it by sheer accident, that we will ever see another ground-affecting EMP event, even in the event of a nuclear war.  Other nuclear weapon wonks agree with me.

 Every single person, self-proclaimed "NASA engineer", and company who sell EMP protection products are charlatans pushing snake oil.  Most of their filters etc wouldn't work, also.

___
* an example of simulated EMP are pulsed magnetic fields created by "EMP Simulators", such as the famous Trestle at Kirtland AFB. These do not reproduce the nuclear EMP waveform.  Instead, they typically create an approximate square wave pulse with risetimes and pulse widths corresponding to the NEMP bandwidth of 4 GHz.  This is typically accomplished by firing a Marx generator (a device which makes very short, very high voltage pulses) into an antenna structure made of wires, typically something called a TEM cell, which just refers to its shape and how the EM wavefront travels through it.

 Note that the military largely stopped performing EMP susceptibility testing in the 1990s.  If the military stopped worrying about EMP, shouldn't you?

___
 I want y'all to know just how difficult this article was to write. Not because of any PTSD thing from the USAF, but because most of it was written with a kitten on my lap. 😍💖

How To Use A Scriber - When The Map IS The Territory

Part 0. Move along, owners of CNC machine tools; you'll never use this stuff.  ;)

Part 1. The Whys And Wherefores

 The general idea of scribing lines directly on work to assist in fabrication, is to coat the surface to receive the marks with a thin layer of dark, non-flaking dye, and then using a sharp scribe to cut through the dye, making a physical groove mark in the material.

"Why scribe lines at all?  I own Sharpies™ er, Marker™, er, flow pens!"

 Because the width of the mark from an Ultra-Fine-Point Sharpie™ super fine pointed flow pen (cough) is .015 - .020, while the width of a scribe mark averages .004 (the size of some human hairs), that's why.

 "Who actually needs instruction on how to use a scriber?  How hard can it be?"

  Potentially everyone because the methods used will determine how close your layout comes to the print.

If accuracy doesn't matter, why are you using a scriber-and-fluid*?
Don't make unnecessary work for yourself.  I only rarely do
manual layout, but it sure is handy once in a while!

If accuracy matters a lot, you don't do layout at all.
  Choose a 0,0 on your part, put it in the mill, and
use the DRO to locate all features after that.
I jest; I get that this is not always possible.

 Hand layout methods are only useful within a single order of magnitude of accuracy, to wit:

.1 in. can be done with a paint marker.  Think structural steel and mag drills.

.01 in. is achievable with manual layout if you're consistent and careful. That's where this post lives.

.001 in. ain't happening with manual layout methods; choose another fabrication path.

 Why NOT to use scribed layout:

• It makes a physical groove into the material which may need subsequent removal if that
  surface will show.

• It typically raises the surface of the material surrounding the scratch mark, so cannot be used
  on dimensioned surfaces.

• If you screw up a marking, do your part dimensions allow you to grind or mill them off to start over?

Part 2. Getting Started / The Tools

 To do traditional manual layout, you need...

• a flat, clean, and brightly lit workspace
• layout fluid or flow pen in a dark color
• a scriber
• a steel scale or ruler
• a compass, probably
• vision magnification
• a prick punch
• a center punch
• a square

- When I say 'brightly lit', I mean as bright as you can stand it without getting a headache.  The brighter the workspace, the smaller your pupils, and the smaller your pupils, the greater your eyeball's visual acuity.  Your eyes perform at their best, and typically develop less eye fatigue, in brightly lit spaces.  My workspace is insanely bright.

- Layout fluid, sometimes called 'layout dye' is compounded such that a thin layer is very dark, allowing scribed lines on shiny metal to contrast brightly, and such that the dried fluid does not flake when scribing.  It is not terribly expensive, and a little goes a long way unless you work in production.  As a hobbyist, I've been working on the same little bottle for over ten years.

You can use "flow pen" aka Sharpie™ for small areas.

 I'm sorry, I do not have any tips for getting the commercial products to brush on evenly, I've been making a mess of it since 1976.  >_>   Part of my problem is that it dries faster here in Denver than it did where I learned to use it - in Illinois.  You can also get it in a spray can for big layouts; I've never tried that.

- Scribers come in several flavors, but for layout purposes, you'll probably want the pen type.  HSS points are less likely to break if you drop it or absent-mindedly tap the tip on something.  Carbide tips will mark hardened material and last a very long time between sharpening or replacement.  Don't spend more than $10, all you'll get is a fancier handle.

- A scale's markings are dimensioned from the physical end of the scale. Zero is the physical end of the metal.  This is handy for butting the end of the scale against things to take a measurement referenced off that feature.

- A ruler's markings are dimensionsed from a zero marking on the ruler.  This is handy for referencing another line, etc.  Most fabricators/machinists/bodgers have a preference for one or the other.  I find I do not need rulers, I can just use the "1" on the scale and subtract 1 from the measurement.

- Curved features are a given in metal working.  You'll need a compass AKA 'dividers', preferably one intended for a machinist and not a draftsman, so it will have hardened or carbide points in the kit.  I use a drafting compass and I have to sharpen one of the (plain steel) points too often.

- When you are trying to determine whether two lines are actually aligned, it sure is handy to have some kind of magnification.  If you already wear glasses, there are magnifying lenses which attach to the frames and flip into or out of your line of vision.  Many folks including a close friend swear by the Optivisor™ or MagniVisor™ headbands, but for some reason, the visor magnifiers give me a headache. YMMV.

top: Starrett No 816a prick punch -- bottom: shop-made center punch

Part 3. Methodology

 When reading drawings, never use the drawing to directly compare to your part - ie, don't use it as a ruler or gauge; use the dimensions printed on it of course, but place your layout marks on the part manually.  This is because printers will often happily print your drawing a few percent larger or smaller than exactly 100% even while telling you it's exactly 100%.

 Making straight lines on dimension
  Lines have non-zero thickness.  Declaring one side or the other of a line to be the reference edge rapidly leads to stacked dimensions and confusion during layout.  So we always deal with the center of a line.  This is part of the allure of scribed layouts; scribe lines have less thickness than Shar- I mean, "flow pen" lines, and because the line is a groove, it self-centers the scriber for subsequent marks.  It's easier to stay closer to the desired dimension if a line is narrow, and scribed lines can be arbitrarily narrow.

 When making a line from a point to a point, be sure to hold the scribe square to your ruler or scale at first, to ensure the point is exactly on dimension before you put it at an angle for making the line.  When you start scribing, support the point well so it doesn't chatter.

  Making center punch marks on dimension
 Ideally, you would only ever make a center punch mark at the intersection of two lines you have high confidence in.  The lines let you know how close your punch point is to where it ought to be before you whack it.  Post-whack, the lines let you see how well you did and whether you ought to move the mark.

 Using a "prick punch" (Starrett makes beautiful ones, and it's a small item with no moving parts, so fairly affordable even new - you can also make your own if you have a heat-treat oven), make your first punch very, very light, holding the punch vertical to the surface.  Even a small angle on the punch can move the mark off of dimension. Using a loupe, examine the mark.  It should be circular - not oval - and centered on the lines.

 If it isn't centered, a light mark which is only slightly off can be moved by holding the punch at an angle (pointy bit toward direction mark needs to go, hammery bit away from desired direction), and hitting it just a little bit harder with the prick punch.  This makes the mark deeper and wider, with the new mark's crater bottom now in a different place.  Note this makes the top of the hole slightly oval.

 A light mark is all you need if that location will only be used with a compass to make curved features.

 If the part will be drilled in that location, then enlarge and circularize the mark by placing your regular center punch (which has a much wider angle on the point) in the mark and giving it a good smack.  

I suggest you practice this on scrap before you need to use it on a real part.  ;)

BTW, I don't recommend automatic center punches for layout work, but they're great for casual cut-drill-and-weld sortsa work.

 ~≈{👁}≈~

 My next post will be off-topic from shops and tools, and will discuss Nuclear EMP and why you can stop worrying about it.

________________________________
*ain't got layout fluid? Shar- (er I mean, Magi-, dammit, I mean flow pen) -- also works.

rust

 This is what happens to your mill vise when you use water-based cutting fluid or an oil-water emulsion and then don't remove it from the "inaccessible" nooks and crannies.
It turns out there are no corrosion inhibitors in either window cleaner or the green soapy stuff, who knew?? This mess was under the fixed jaw, which most people never remove. Factory really didn't want it removed either, as the two bolts were fixed with both fancy super-aggressive double-sided lock washers, and thread locker. I used a torque wrench and my skinny little arms.

I assume this was caused by using mild soapy water as cutting fluid for plastics - well, there's not a lot of choice there. I don't think shop air would have got the fluid out of there, and I don't use shop air as much as other people, I prefer the shop vacuum, so as not to drive chips & dust into places they don't belong. So what do I do, disassemble the vise each time I cut plastics? (possibly yes) The only other cutting fluid I use is Tap Magic EP Extra, which is oil-based AFAIK, and shouldn't have any water in it. The good news is that all that horrible rusty crap came right off with brass bristle hand brushes and less than an hour of effort. Brass bristle because these surfaces are precision-ground and I don't wish to cause the slightest bit of surface abrasion by using steel bristles. I should have taken 'after' pics, because there was no pitting from the rust, I got pretty lucky.

At the end of the day, having the fixed jaw be perfectly aligned with anything else - even with the moving jaw - isn't all that important, because the fixed jaw is the only reference you trust, and you tram it with the table whenever you take the vise off. When you're squaring new work, you don't trust the moving jaw anyway; for the first squaring cuts, you place a bit of brass rod or the like between the moving jaw and the work; this only allows the work to align with the fixed jaw, rather than imperfections of saw cuts in the work causing the two jaws to fight each other. Then you put your freshly milled-square work face against the square jaw, and so forth and so on. So all the fixed jaw has to do is A) not move at all - not even 1/10,000 of an inch - and B) be perfectly parallel to the axis of table motion, ie; parallel with the table ways. Every time you take the vise off the table, or move it or whatever, you have to re-align the vise's fixed jaw with the table ways. It's not deep' you just mount an indicator on the spindle and move the table back and forth, observing the change in reading caused by the vise being at an angle to the axis of motion. Then you gently bash the vise with your deadblow hammer in the right direction and check it again, lather rinse repeat until there is no change in the reading. This is called tramming.
(see YouTube for detailed instructions)

Pro machinists gripe about this slightly, because time is money, but it takes me only five minutes to tram the vise or the head, and I'm not making a dime. Professional machinists also prefer to keep the machine in tram/square, and find other ways to cut angled features (vs. putting the head at an angle) if they can. It's kind of a philosophy of precision; once you've got the machine exactly right, you may be reluctant to take it out of tram again. ;)

Me being a bodger who rarely holds a thou, never mind a tenth, and being unafraid of the shop time taken to tram, I don't hesitate to use every feature of the mill if it will make my life lower-effort. ^_^

(If you ever move the head in any of its three axes, you will end up tramming the head afterward as well. That requires an additional inexpensive little doodad but it's not much bigger a deal than tramming the vise.)

I wish I'd taken photos of the bottom of the vise, as there are some interesting convenience features there which I do not use but I feel I ought to discuss. Some day...

~≈{👁}≈~

science! (of sweetening one's tea and coffee)

 Ever since I was a young person, I have believed that how I stir sugar into my coffee is faster than how most people stir sugar into their coffee, all other things being equal.  It's a casual idiosyncrasy, I haven't talked much about it, I must have thousands.  I felt it was self-evident once explained, but I never really looked into it.  If I investigated every trivial thing like that, I'd never get anything else done. ;D

 I was today years old when I looked in google scholar a bit, learned what the experts call things and which fields of study were most applicable.  There were plenty of hits and what really shut me down was a very old Royal Society paper that came up; this (stirring and particle dissolution efficiency) is not a new field of study.

 And it turns out that yes, I'm right... and it was well-understood a century ago. >_<

 Okay, okay, I'll stop teasing... but I think reviewing the basic theory is actually a good idea;

 If a soluble particle sits in a solute and starts to dissolve without moving at all, a zone of higher concentration (of the particle in the solute) will build up around the particle, and slow down dissolution.  Right.  That's why we stir.  If there is motion between fluid and particle, that zone gets swept away, exposing the particle to fresh, low-concentration solute. 

The greater the relative motion, the faster the particle is dissolved.

 It should be further evident that particles entrained by a flow will have lower relative velocity than particles in chaotic or constantly reversing flow.

 And so, instead of stirring one's spoon in a constant circular motion, reverse the motion of your spoon every 180º.  This appears to create more chaotic flow than moving it back and forth linearly, too.

 That's it, that's all I got today, I think.  Science so easy a child could do it and almost certainly has.
I wish there was a master index of all Science Fair™ projects ever. ;)

Going through a bit of a rough patch right now, not working in the shop very much.

~≈{👁}≈~

update; big dial indicator

 I took off the back and found the guts were clean; none of the cruft from the dial side had made it through the pointer hole.

 Note the plunger passes all the way through the indicator body; if I had more parts (rare) the other end of the plunger could be used for lifting the probe end, for example on a comparator setup on a mini-plate.

 Somewhere in that stack of jewels and gears is the reason the pointer won't return to zero reliably.  Somewhere in Colorado is someone who knows how to fix that.  Somewhere on YouTube there is likely to be a video (Blondihacks I think) on DIY repairs.

 I did some digging on services. Apparently almost nobody just replaces crystals.  Most shops have a flat fee which covers everything you could want, including a clean-lube-adjust (or whatever - do these things get lubrication? I wonder) and replacing the crystal.  This is $25 - $50 for one unit, possible discounts might obtain if you have a box of them.  Traceable cal not included.

 Well crud.  That's starting to make this indicator an expensive one.  All right then... on the one hand, it's a Federal (a good mid-grade), not a B&S, Mitu, or Starrett but also not junk; and B) new ones this size are well over $200 from anybody, even Fowler (cheap, low-grade brand).

 So, I guess I'm willing for this to eventually become a $100 (to me) dial indicator, it would be worth investing that much to have one Big Bright Beautiful Bezel, I mean crystal heh, and a movement that is smooth with no hizzups, on a dial three inches across because my eyes need a clean-lube-adjust too.

 Oh, apparently this original Federal movement didn't win any awards, so Federal came out with a new one with real jewel bearings they called the Miracle Movement which was much, much better.  MM indicators cost more than $28 shipped you can be sure. ;)

PS: if you find yourself taking one of these apart, DON'T LOSE THE SCREWS.  You won't find exact replacements anywhere.  Period.  You might find close approximations from jewelers or watchmaker's or clockmaker supply houses.  Then again, you might not.  Don't lose them.  They are vanishingly small, Fillister-head, #0-60 or smaller, with pointed ends (but I think that one feature is just an aid to assembly, it's not necessary).

PPS: On the advice of The Cranky Old Men on Practical Machinist, I attacked the crystal with plastic polish and to my surprise, it removed some of the amber, as promised. Can't remove it to attack the other side without also taking off the pointer, which opens a can of worms. I'd rather leave that work to a professional worm wrangler.

 More as it happens.

more links on fixing dial indicators:
Nik Colyer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoqvDueMn0E
Mr. Pete - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9gNrmxW_nU

~≈{👁}≈~

I am waiting until June to spend the $35 - $50 a worm wrangler indicator repair shop wants to fix it up.

~≈{👁}≈~ 

>_> Never a Fremen around when you need one. <_<

I am not as fastidious as I may at first appear

there is a dark side and a light side

 I need my shop time.

If I can’t do anything else (cough lathe borked cough), something always needs cleaning. "If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean..."

I said once that I wasn't going to bother with cleaning the mill knee, because fluids are always going to be dripping down it, re-dirtying it. Eventually it occurred to me that it has fifty years of grime on it, AND that given my light use I would be unlikely to put that kind of grime back on it, ever, AND it would make me happy, a little, to look at it if it were clean. So I've changed course and I'm cleaning the knee. Cleaning is an easy path to feelings of satisfaction; it's harder to screw up than making chips, for one thing.

 However, cleaning the knee is being fiddly.  To be thorough, I really want to unmount that little 3-way manifold to clean under it.  But that little tube that comes out of the top and disappears inside the knee - that looks real hard to put back if it were to pull out of the fitting and vanish inside the knee.  The only access to that area is through the hole where the lift screw goes, and I'm not sure I can get my arm in there.  The only alternative is to take the mill apart.  By which I mean, remove the table from the saddle, then remove the saddle from the knee, and then remove the knee from the column. If you think that is going to happen in my lifetime, you are very much mistaken.

 So I'm gritting my teeth and cleaning around it.  But I want you to know that the unreachable grime is really bothering me. :)

 By the way, the best concoction I have found for cleaning greasy "varnish" from a painted surface is 50:50 Greased
Lightning™ & 99% isopropyl.  It's better than either by itself, and this varnish is HARD to get off.  Elbow grease is still required, and I use a blue kitchen sponge for a lot of it, which is soft enough not to scratch the enamel.  Also lots of shop towels.

 I'm sure acetone would attack the HELL out of that varnish, and it would try to take the factory paint off down to the metal too.  Mineral spirits / paint thinner might be safe on the paint, but I dislike the smell and it probably causes cancer or something.  I'm not so worried about the isopropyl fumes, tho I did have to open a window and start a fan because I was evaporating a lot of the stuff.

 After starting this job, I discovered a manifold (sounds biblical, don't it?) on the saddle which is leaking oil, for fark's sake.  It is another part of the one-shot oiling system.  It shouldn't be terrible; it's only nine small compression fittings... 18 things to be tightened... at a bad angle... with a 3/8in wrench if I can even get one in there.  Already tried the right size of tubing wrench, it was useless.

 I might have to enlist my better half to pump the pump while I watch the various manifolds for drips or clues.

 To be honest, the biggest leakage of oil is what drips out of the knee-to-column ways, and I cannot begrudge that; they're vertical, it's gonna happen, that's what the cat litter in the base is for.  I don't know what the weight distribution is between column ways and lift screw, but there is a lot of real estate to lubricate.  And besides, I've only gone through a gallon of way oil in a decade, and I use it for other things too: the lathe ways (obv) but also slow bearings like the fan bearings in one furnace and also the swamp cooler.  Spindle oil is also perfect in faster bearings like nonsealed motor bearings.

 Whee!  Speaking of needful tools, I also would like my mechanic's creeper to elevate up into the air like an ambulance stretcher. <_<  And I want a suitcase full of money, and a pony, and world peace...

 If only the mill's knee could be raised and lowered - wait 😂

 Actually it might still be too high no matter what - I predict an unwelcome amount of bending to get the tightening done, and my back hurt when I woke up today.  Sheesh, what is this thing, a Harley?  After all, I always seem to be wrenching on it, and it always seems to leak oil... 😆

 (I jest, a little; machine tools are of necessity, oily.  A few drips are not wasteful in the grand scheme of things, but I'd rather not be constantly wiping them up from the shop floor.)

~≈{👁}≈~

I have done a very foolish thing

I just wanted to measure TIR

 It doesn't look wrong; just a center in a lathe spindle. You can't see the problem unless you know how the lathe is positioned in the room.

 What I did, that I should not have done, was to insert the center in the normal way, ie; shove the thing in with a flick of the wrist.

 Now it's wedged in place - the way it would normally be if you were going to use it - but I can't get it out again.

 I can't get it out again because the lathe headstock is up against a wall, preventing me from shoving a rod down the spindle to knock out things mounted in the spindle taper, the way one normally does.

 I literally have to move the lathe before I can use it again.
Plot twist: I have no way to move the lathe at the moment.

 It might be possible to remove if I make a special tool; I can't think of a way to get it out otherwise, short of moving the lathe and doing it the normal way.  I was gonna move the thing eventually, because of this, but I wasn't ready.  Ye gods I am dumb!  One instant of forgetfulness leads to hours of headache.

EDIT, later: man, this is a huge cockup.  I can't get the 3-jaw on over the center at all, and the 4-jaw I have is kind of a PoS, although it looks like it would mount over the center.  Even if it did, the center poking up through the center bore of the chuck will certainly restrict its use.  Nothing long at all can be managed, and centering in my 4-jaw is actually worse / more impossible than in the 3-jaw because it's also a scroll, not independent-jaw. >_<

The center can't be removed with a shop-made tool because the manufacturers machined it into a cylinder between the center angle and the spindle taper, so there is nothing to pull on.  Very convenient.  Clamp friction alone isn't likely to pull it out of a Morse taper, I suspect the clamp would just slide, although there is plenty of room for a very beefy clamp indeed.  The entire center is as hard as a bad day.

 Speaking of bad days, my lathe is now unuseable and I need a day out of the house because I'm now in a fucking foul mood.

~≈{👁}≈~