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Hello Joe, I've lost count of the number of times I've read similar words on this forum, "I'm new to woodwork, but despite having minimal skills I want to do something that's really rather tricky". It's one of these "known unknowns" versus "unknown unknowns" type of things. Being so new to...

There's a wood finishing question that's related to fading, that's how pale on the pale to dark spectrum does a timber need to be in order for oil based yellowing to be an issue? This was touched on in a previous reply. As with most of finishing it's fairly subjective. But my own personal view...

Over the years I've done dozens, if not hundreds, of fade tests on different timbers with different finishes. And I'm in contact with many other furniture makers who have also run lots of these practical tests. Here are four timbers that you'd commonly use in furniture making; clockwise from...

I have an n4400. Unlike most bandsaw manufacturers Hammer underestimate the widest bandsaw the machine is rated for. However, a 30mm wide blade that's also made from heavy gauge steel is still pushing it! I have used specialist 30mm blades that are made for butchers sawing frozen meat, they...

Clever idea from Andy. Here's a standard apprentice piece from the Barnsley Workshops with sabre legs angled as per Andy's suggestion. Locating a leg like this isn't straightforward (especially when it has a drawer like this design), but neither is it impossibly complex. You may need a bit...

If all else fails a couple of coats of a hard wax will still deliver you a decent shine for not much effort, cost, or complexity. For a surface that needs more protection you can have a more robust undercoat and just use the hard wax for some surface bling!

Looks good. Remember the old cabinet making adage, "joint first, shape second". Bottom line is you need square and true reference surfaces for morticing. This can put you slightly at odds with a second tip, minimise grain run out in the thinnest leg sections. It's resolving these all too...

Good point. I select most of my timber personally, I'll sight down the boards and if any are in serious wind (twist) I'll almost certainly reject them. They have a strong urge to keep misbehaving!

There's another reason why you cut the mortices before dishing the top. You need to lay out the mortice positions on both the upper and lower surface of the stool's top, and work through from both sides. However, you can't complete the lay out with sufficient accuracy on a previously dished top...

Look under the used machine section, http://www.number-1-mm.co.uk/en/en_GB/index.html Go to "display/demo machines" When I checked just now there were only two machines left, they usually only last a couple of hours. If you get on Felder's mailing list they'll email you when the next demo...

Here's a sketch showing the key features of the Barnsley style wedged through tenon. Note the saw kerfs cut in the tenon to receive the wedges, and how they're angled and finish just about a mill from the edges. Note also the angled ends to the mortice (down to about 3mm from the bottom which...

I missed this bit. I'll take a flyer here and say even though the leg is tapered the tenon isn't. In other words the leg taper is only over, say, the bottom three quarters, and tapers back into being a normal, parallel thickness board at the top where the tenons are. Either that or just the...

Here's another photo of the stool, One other tip to help get the wedges identical, instead of just bashing one home then moving on to the other, use a sized block next to the wedge so both wedges can only get inserted by the same identical amount, and tap them home alternating from side to...

A very similar stool is still an apprentice piece at the Barnsley Workshop, where Alan Peters trained. Here's the one I made when I trained there, It's a bit of a pig to make for all sorts of reasons that aren't immediately apparent until you actually get stuck in! The legs for example are...

That's interesting, I've never used a separate harder with Cascamite. With a liquid UF like Bordens it all gets mixed up together, and even with the basic blend you have a fair bit of control over curing time by adjusting the volume of hardner that you use.

Aerolite and Cascamite are pretty different in at least one key respect. Aerolite has the glue and harder applied to separate mating surfaces so that curing begins once the components are brought together, but once the two components are brought together the cure time is only a bit longer than...

If I've got a major lamination or veneering job I'll order in UF glue in liquid form such as Bordens. Cascamite (also a UF glue) is a convenient substitute for the odd job here or there, but Bordens has the advantages of different hardeners and different hardner ratios that can speed up or slow...

Superb work! They're all great but personally I think the Zebrano versions look incredibly cool and contemporary.

Except you can't. The best glue lines are achieved with PVA. UF glues such as Cascamite are a long way behind, although they're still better than Epoxy in that respect. Does that make UF glues bad? Not at all. Zero creep, their gap filling and water proof properties, and long open time, all...

It's that time of year again, Felder/Hammer are selling off all their display machines at useful discounts. You'll need to be registered on their website to view the stock, but there are some interesting machines such as a Hammer 310mm P/T at 20% off and a CF741 Combi at nearly £3k off.