Quick release and cast-metal woodworking vises are not all created equal. Some are intentionally made low grade, others high. Some are intentionally engineered with something we call toe-in, meaning the top edge of the front vise jaw touches and aligns with the rear vise jaw but the lower area has a 3mm or so gap. […]
Many things influence the performance of your bandsaw and the outcome varies according to any one or many of those influences. The outcome is of course reflected in the quality of the cut left as the wood progresses into, along and through the cut. Identifying what causes poor cutting is often problematic because the variables […]
A new Stanley #90 is a true treasure to own and its design is flawless. In my view the Stanley #90 bullnose plane, the one with depth adjustment, not the 90J, is a world best. I find the sloped nose gives better entry in awkward corners rather than the more blocky, squared off ones. It […]
I think it was in my mid years when I crossed a line, stopped apologising, determined my course. It was a day when I stepped off the production line, placed my machines second, pulled my hand tools to the fore and wondered how I could live without them, my workbench and my woodworking. I couldn’t. […]
I was 15. My plane arrived with Mr Cheapie, boxed in a Stanley orangey-yellow box with a dark green and white lable. At the bench Cheapie watched me unwrap the wax ed aper from the plane and checked I was happy with it. I paid him my week’s wage, £3.50 for that and a screwdriver […]
Hannah repurposed one of my old workbenches to fit into a shed for motorbike repairs. Probably more work than building from new but the wood was free and the practice good for her. Watching her move through the work with such confidence showed the progress she’s made over the last couple of years. Even in […]
Well, it’s not a finishing line so much as a non line we cross each time we close a project with the finish on. Each time I do that I make notes in my mind to see what I learned from the experience. Plywood tenons and how to cut tenons without splintering so thin a […]
The age of uncertainty eventually passes. That’s what happened for me. No longer did I seek the approval of others. My pieces sold. My work, the outcome of my efforts, became more predictable the older I got in that I knew I could develop the idea to a working model. Even new designs ultimately sold […]
I tried buying some wood from an importer who once sold regularly to me and then said no more, too small, can’t tie up manpower for small buyers. It’s happened before. It was one just five miles away—convenient but obviously with no commitment or loyalty to it’s customers, Timbermet, so that’s not an option now. […]
The thing that’s wrong with a blunt pencil is that you just can’t see the point in it. Here is a tool I recommend for anyone who likes sharp pencils all the time. Whereas I like and use a rotary pencil sharpener in the workshop, when i am out and about I found I had […]
