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I bought one of these in about 2009 or 2010 because I needed a longer bed length than my previous lathe. It's been used regularly for furniture based spindle work, and has been a reliable and accurate machine.

Nice project. The Edward Barnsley Workshops do a lovely cupboard with solid burr panels. To make it obvious that it's solid burr rather than veneer, the panels have a subtle cushion profile worked into the front face. This isn't clear in the photo but in real life it really jumps out at you...

The Woodrat is an interesting machine in the context of dovetailing. It has completely flexibility in terms of layout which is great, and very significantly it ushered in some radically different HSS cutters that o the surface hold great promise. Unfortunately, despite using these cutters (you...

It's a shame we're at different ends of the country. Once Covid has blown over if you're ever passing through the New Forest then you're welcome to drop by my workshop, and I guarantee you'll leave with a nice pair of dovetailed Oak bookends that you'll have cut by hand! I was going to say...

Ian, I've done the same thing for the same reason, I tried a Leigh dovetail jig to see if it might radically speed up the build process. But it was the reverse, the set up time was so long that I reckon I'm about two to three times faster with hand tools. The only circumstances where I could see...

I despair every time I read posts like this. "Dovetail phobia", the irrational and totally unfounded fear of cutting dovetails by hand, is a blight on hobbyist furniture making! And it's all so unnecessary. The wonderful thing about dovetails is that even if there's the odd gap they're still...

Okay, count me in. What's my next step?

Very nice job, and very clear and thorough WIP instructions. I was particularly interested in your rationale for using ply rather than MDF. Up until a year or two ago I generally laid a layer of 3mm MRMDF onto ply before veneering. But then suddenly supplies of 3mm MRMDF disappeared. I...

When I was connecting up a range of Felder machinery to a Felder dust extractor I looked high and low for a cheaper alternative...but failed miserably. Damn clever these Austrians, they've figured out how to make us pay absolute top dollar for simple bits of piping!

8-10,000 miles a year in a Defender is an awful lot of miles, I bet fewer than one in ten privately owned Landies do anything like that. I've got a short wheel base TD5 Defender and do about 2-3,000 miles a year. The specialist Land Rover garage that I use says that's bang on the Defender...

I used the "big triangle" method. If the template will only be used to make a small number of components then I usually make it from MDF with the "big triangle" method. But if the template will be used to make lots of components then it makes sense to have it CNC'd in a more durable material...

Applying veneer to one side isn’t a good idea, this applies with glue film just as much as any other bonding method. To illustrate the problem think about a really extreme example. Say you have a 3mm thick saw cut veneer of Oak that you’ve bonded to just one side of a 3mm MDF veneer substrate...

That's a great question. Before CNC machines became commonplace there was a whole area of cabinet making skills that was just about how to make all the curved templates that you constantly need. On the example I previously gave there's a great trick that produces the gentle curves of extremely...

I used to use one of those Ulmia 728's but never really got on all that well with it. The one I had wouldn't lock off securely, so you never knew if the fence was going to slip half way through the job...which could then mean many hours of work getting flushed down the toilet! Those type of...

This is a job that I do fairly regularly, here's a summary of how I normally go about it. This is a three drawer desk early on in the build. Look at the curved front edge. You can see that a curved, solid wood lipping is joined to a curved veneered top. I'll normally route a 1mm groove along...

That's an interesting question, I've been pretty impressed with Little Green and their technical support really is streets ahead of Farrow & Ball. So if they say something is "skirting board tough", ie it can survive first contact with an out of control hoover, then I'd take them at their word...

Cabinetman's right, for a saw horse beefy is always best. Here are my saw horses, Design as if you'll be parking a locomotive on them...then add a bit!

Pop a Domino in it and move on!

I don't know where in Hampshire you're based, I'm in the New Forest near the Solent, if you're ever passing drop by the workshop and I'll give you a quick glue film demo! Incidentally, it's easy enough to make your own glue film/pre-glued veneer. Simply take a piece a veneer, liberally paint...

I don't use glue film regularly, but I have used it successfully and it's certainly got a role to play. It's good for anyone new to veneering who just wants to dip a casual toe in the water and is using very thin, commercial veneer. It's also useful for more experienced workers who need to...