I didn't know where to put this so here it is. 

A friend sent me this video. Tick sticking is something I'd never seen before and it's one heck of a useful technique. You guys all make stuff, I think you'll like this one.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd2LY857oTY

 

 Simple, I like it. 

 

Frosty.

That tip is brilliant.

Thanks, for posting it.

How come I never came across it before?

SLAG.

That is the bomb.

My brother once showed me how to use a "story stick" when we were cutting in a deck. This thing looks like story stick 2.0.

Robert Taylor

I learned this when I was doing carpentry as a teenager. In return, I taught my boss how to calculate the bevels on roofing intersections using trigonometry.

Awesome. Thanks, Frosty

Very cool. Gonna have to go make one now

With the addition of a piece of string you could also map out irregular shapes that have curves in them.

Pnut

Mr. P. Nut,

said,

" With the addition of a piece of string you could also map out irregular shapes that have curves in them."

Me,  (the SLAG),  is having difficulties visualizing your string tip. Could you please expand a little on the concept?

I got to thinking, and devised a method for copying an irregular shape.

I could photocopy the item or could outline the irregular shape with string (or florists' tape, or long pipe cleaners, etc. etc.),  and harden the string with hair spray, or coating it with a starch and water solution, or even shellac. and then apply that string to the 'paper', for tracing.

Just some stray thoughts from yours truly,

SLAG.,    (L.L.C).

p.s. Mr. Frosty, shouldn't the topic be better called the  "the sticking tick"?

     Groan.

 

A string anchored  at one end and a pencil at the other will produce an arc. Different lengths of the string will produce an arc of a different radius. I don't have any cardboard and string handy but when I do I will get a pic of what I'm thinking. 

Pnut

Mr. P. Nut,

Thank you for your rapid with further information.

The suggestion should make it a lot easier.

My brain 'stormations',  (disclosed above),  should work for very irregular lines, that do not resemble regular arcuate borders.

SLAG.

 

No lead solder in larger sizes can be formed to some sorts of irregular shapes and then traced. 

Wanting to get the local mountain range to reproduce I taped clear plastic transfers on the inside of my truck windshield  and traced the crest with a marker.

And of course there is the old woodworker's contour gauge...

I like the lead solder idea a lot. 

No Lead solder---basically tin with a few % other stuff.  I usually have a nice thick coil of it around the shop for kids in the single digits to hammer on while their parents play with FIRE and STEEL!

Take your ticking stick, place your pencil in the v groove and outline your shape on your paper as you follow the pattern

How pantographic!

TP, you’re comment about the solder reminded me of what I did when I was a kid around 8 years old and went on the roof of my grandfathers tractor shed and pried the lead from around the roofing nails then beat them into something and showed it to him. I was proud, but he showed me my first example of a “blacksmith swing” while explaining why his roof would be leaking 

I played with the lead solder when young too; now look at us!   I have had a few experiences that were definitely learning ones *after* they were "discovered".  Luckily I learned pretty fast.

I've already started giving grandkids tools for Christmas.  I liked the Craftsman sets; but their replacement guarantee was what made them child appropriate.

9 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

How pantographic

I haven't heard that word in a long time. I used to work at a printing company and after hours would use some of the old letter press equipment for personal projects and there was an old machine that produced pantograph type and graphics and another machine that the name escapes me now that would make lead type to order. Just type out a line or words and in a few seconds a piece of lead type would drop out a chute like a slot machine.

Pnut

Linotype?

SLAG.

You are correct, after I lost access to the equipment from work I bought a tiny hand cranked press that I primarily used linocuts in which were made from linoleum . This machine from work cast the type from molten lead I'll have to see if I can find the name. It's possible that it's a linotype machine though.There's been a resurgence in letterpress crafting over the last few years and there's a lot of manufacturers offering consumer quality supplies like linoleum blocks, inks, rollers, and solvents.  Linotype is probably the most accessible way to get into printing without spending a fortune on equipment. All you really need is a linoleum block, something to carve the design ,ink ,a roller ,and paper and your off.

Pnut

I had the linotype machine and linocut printing confused. Mr. Slag, you are correct and I thank you for jarring the cobwebs loose in my head. The linotype is a casting machine. 

There were two main types of hot metal type: Monotype and Linotype. Monotype machines cast individual letters in the order they would be needed in the press, which was an improvement over having to hunt for them in a type case. However, Linotype machines cast entire lines of text at once ("line o' type") and were therefore much faster and required a smaller staff.

The last newspaper in the USA (possibly in the world) still using Linotype is the "Saguache Crescent" in Colorado.

The term for printing from cut linoleum blocks is "linocut", analogous with "woodcut".

About reproducing intricate contours. A ticking stick records points of whatever you're copying on the pattern thingy. Then you reproduce the points on the material to be cut or whatevered and you connect the dots. 

I'm wondering if this is where the term, "ticking off the points" originates. 

I'm also envisioning Thomas copying the mountains with solder. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Want to come down and help roll the cable spools along the ridgetops?  Generally under 10000'.