so we are about to embark on a tool I I've used it for 50 years or more and it's a rag-in-a-can, it's my rag-in-a-can oiler and people have asked me how do you make it what what your oil to you use I can refer them to this and what they will have it for their lifetime I've just taken a 360 no 230 gram can which is beans that can be tomato as in that case it could be any of that size of can and I'm going to show you how I make them because I've made dozens of these through my lifetime for students to use and it's wonderful for oiling the sole of your plane, it stops drag and actually the one of the important things is it will stop playing chatter it will stop skidding and jumping and all kinds of things and it stops the saw from jamming in the cut little light lubrication no it won't contaminate the wood sufficient to cause any problems with your finishes, so I'm just taking out the cut edge on the inside of the can to stop any cutting on my hands so I flatten the rim now it's nice and smooth and I have a rag cut too, I'll give you a measurement 'cause I had to guesstimate it you just under 10 inches nine and three-quarters what I found best I can't give you the length you just going to have to work as you go you keep rolling extra pieces on until you get the proper diameter so line up the edges like this I would bring the torn edge or the cut edge into the center so that you have rounded edges go one-third of the width like that try and get it even and then bring this one up to that edge and that will be just above the height of the can and you'll see how we deal with that in a minute bring this over whatever distance that saves rolling this one over here don't worry about any too much unevenness right now because it won't be a problem so fold and start rolling this tightly as you can compress this a t-shirt is perfect this is a cotton blanket a sheet that fits into the hole but it's not tight enough yet so just cinch that tight there just to keep it rested and I suspect that I would need half of this I'm going to go If I got this doubled this way if you where I lose that edge but i'm going to show you how I resolve that as well in a minute but do I not necessarily if I bring this one in here like this I lose this cut edge I mean I've got this cut edge I don't lose it back and lose the other lower portion like that now I'm going to start that cut edge there with where the other one ends to bring this one so it's fairly even when I started stuffing, see how is gathering up there it won't matter because we are going to getting close now you do not want to cut this too soon because it's better super tight than slack if it takes a surprising amount of power that's pretty good I think there we can go in an order and add some more if we need to I'm just evening this up in the center like that now I'm gonna stuff this as best we can into the lip of the can get all the edges in just like this and if it's too much just take off a level, part of a level get this in like this, just press and keep pressing until you've got the whole of the rim and then you need a screwdriver to take this down down into the can I like it puffed out like this because it covers the edge of the can you see how when I put my plane on here when I oiling the sole I go straight on here I don't have that rim I can just oil the size whatever the same with the plate of a saw flip this over there is no metal parts connecting to the wood, here i'm going to go in the vice and use the vice to push that in turn it around and I don't even mind if this sticks up quite a bit because eventually this just start to consolidate inside so I can go more now that is the Paul Sellers rag-in-a-can oiler and keeps his tools from rusting keep them lubricating does not cause the problem on finishes it's convenient I can leave it on the bench top or I can take it up in my hand is one more step from here and I think this is really nice and time just get this even now in the vice again make it nice and snug that's that, take off the advertising that's basically it. I have one more step that is just any household oil this is what they call light engineering light machine oil this goes on here like this just absolutely soaked it keep coming back for the next day or two soak it soak it soak it, it might even take half of this can and you just keep soaking it like this and then don't use it for the first day if it bothers you and then every time you come to all your tools it's going to be there so this is how it works like this oil on the sole that's too much oil in the in 24 hours that will not be too much oil and neither will be too much oil on your saw and that's how we make a rag-in-a-can oiler.
You know you're in too deep when you'll happily watch a video of some dude shoving a rag into a tin can for the best part of 10 minutes...
Paul Sellers is the biggest troll making a 10 minute video of putting a rag in a can. But I watched all of it.
Oil people: is this notably better than using wax? I figured it would effect finish prep if you're not doing a bunch of sanding.
I got so much shit from random people on instagram when a video of my rag-in-a-can made it out there.
I love this method. Made one for myself a while ago. Used 3 in 1 oil.
Paul sellers is awesome =-)
I was going to post this earlier today, but then work got in way. I think Paul Sellers has even replaced St. Roy as my favorite online/media woodworker.