One of the miracles of the last decade is the invention of anti-slip (or anti-skid depending on who you talk to) material. I`m not entirely sure what this material was invented for but has spawned a whole new realm of inventions and ideas. And that idea is what was the see for this article. An interactive video on what members are currently using this anti slip material for.
I remember the first time I ever saw the stuff, a friend of mine had a small pad of this material on an indent on the dash of his car that he put change in. Every time the car moved, turned, stopped or bounded, the coins would clatter together and slide around. In this little dash indentation he had laid some of this anti-slip material and or course the coins never moved.
A few days later I happened to be in my workshop and openend a drawer in my cabinet to retrieve some pliers and of course when I opened it the all the pliers and every other tool in the store clattered around banging into one another and bunching up in the corners. It was then that I vowed to line all the drawers in my work cabinets with that anti-slip material, and I did..
I found it such a great material to have around, and many other applications that now I always keep a role or two of it around for those times when I can use some sort of an anti-slip surface. I have found uses for it on the feet to benches, work tables, saw horses, roller stands, and even as the top of my clamping rack to help keep the clamps from sliding off every time I accidently brush against them.
One of our members has submitted, what I think, is one of the best ideas yet, and that is to use this material on the base of push sticks and similar tools. What a great idea! To go along with his idea, he has also submitted a link to a drawing for making on version of a push stick, or at least in this case a push block.
But there is far more than just the anti-slip material, there are other products as well for use in the worshop ....
Still with the roll or material products there is a thicker version of this anti-slip material is sold as `router pad` and it works well for that for larger pieces (for smaller work pieces it is still best to clamp them so the router bit doesn`t fling your work piece away).
I guess I`m not the only one who has seen value in this material because Rockler has also put together some other interesting anti-slip products like their Bench Accessory Kit that also includes a roll of the anti-slip material along with some bench dogs. The anti-slip material is a perfect partner with bench dogs. The two of these together make an amzingly solid working setup.
And still with anti-slip materials, I`m not sure who invented the idea of combining the the anti-slip material with hockey pucks but the combination made yet another remarkable woodworking accessory.
I`m sure there are many other used not listed here that other woodworkers have invented or created with the use of this anti-slip material. I`t an amazing product ... and we would like to here from our woodworking readers what uses they have found for this material in their workshops and projects
Copyright Colin Knecht
woodworkweb.com