Recent content by Sam Kilby

I find a bandsaw to be up to the job for tenon cheeks only when a few criteria are met, firstly that it’s big enough for the job in hand (little bench top jobs aren’t really up to it in my experience) Then that it is fully tuned up, and then that the blade is a very sharp wide low tip blade. I...

I would consider confirmat screws and glue only. You need the appropriate confirmat drill bit, and ideally when drilling you ought to clamp the pieces together or at least push against a stop. They are easy and strong, and also enable you to put together and take apart several times easily if...

Yes bare faced, wedged through tenons on the inside of the legs, into a breadboard.. would also be suitable grain direction then to not split the breadboard.. again I’m not saying I would bother with it, but I would argue it’s the optimum way to do it and would be a fun challenge if you haven’t...

There are literally thousands upon thousands of examples of old breadboard end tables. I’m just responding to the original question which even references sliding dovetails, so the obvious answer for an elegant joinery solution would be breadboards. I also said it’s a lot of extra work and...

If it were me I would be too worried about the depicted movement on the square mitred one earier in the thread. Rustic re it becoming not flush or flat on the top is one thing, but it will all crack apart and fall to pieces in my opinion, which is much more than rustic. Particularly exacerbated...

If you really want to go belt and braces, and use it as an excercise (maybe practice for larger projects like a dining table etc) The best, joinery based solution in my opinion would be breadboard ends. These could have the legs tenoned into them so they are fixed, then the boarded up top could...

I want one, but lots of stories online of the base plates on these cracking in half 😄 not sure if this model or a previous one though ..

I think this is the best you can do. Caveat yourself out the buttocks, so they understand any discovered pitfalls aren’t your problem to resolve. Discuss and try to explain calmly the work involved in the job required, and that your methods to resolve those problems are based on hard won experience...

Also check max capacity of machinery. Lots of “panel saws” can’t take a full 8x4 sheet, and loads can’t take the slightly larger mfc, if you plan on using it..

Obviously one significant saving that you can either take into account or not is the time and money involved in finding, bidding, collecting, installing etc. just ducting for extraction and getting a sparkie in to drop outlets in the right place would cost thousands. This might add up to 6...

In fact, come to think of it. A long mitre on ply, all things being equal (properly mated, appropriate clamping pressure etc) should provide a better gluing opportunity than a butt joint, as by its nature the mitre will have more gluing surface area. A mitre joint on the edge grain of timber...

Disregarding any additional jointing methods that may have been used as that rather muddies the waters of the original point, you can’t really bring ply into the conversation.. ply is a cross lamination where each lam is laid at 90 degrees. So every cut edge of ply presents both end grain and...

Well.. it’s more the whole method of just relying on a rail square is slightly flawed in term of accuracy rather than the tools used to achieve it ! But probably fine enough for certain jobs.

I have the makita 6000 and rate it. I found it secondhand, with 2 x 1.4 and 1 x 2.8 track for about £200, but did have to travel 50 miles to pick it up. I’ve used a few onsite and the bosch and festool seem similar enough in terms of quality and operation to the makita. The festool of course has...

It’s absolutey insane to blame the teachers for this. That’s like blaming pensioners for the pension age going up, or blaming taxpayers when taxation rates go up. There are several large underlying issues in the education sector that encourage schools to keep students on - Money Students...