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Those should last me a good few years, as I mainly use Holly for stringing lines. In the absence of Holly, Sycamore is a good alternative. It's not quite as white, nor quite as close grained, but it's still a pretty good option.

No, it doesn't affect gluing.

It depends on the thickness of individual lamina plus the radius, but basically the answer is no, you don't need green or even air dried Ash for this job. I'd probably think about lamina that are around 5mm thick, and I guess the radius on a toboggan runner would be, what, about 250mm? That's...

Planing the edges of plywood? Some ply seems to have glass hard adhesive layers that can knock seven bells out of a plane's sole, it's bad on metal planes but it can massacre a wooden plane. I've often wondered if it's not entirely coincidental that wooden planes fell out of favour just as ply...

For small quantities I mix by volume, 3.5:1. But the trick is to mix in two stages, add half the water to all the powder and mix until it's consistent. This is the tricky bit. At first you don't think there's enough water, but persevere and you'll get to a stiff paste. Only then add the...

Holly's another interesting timber! Yes, it can be very white, but it's also extremely susceptible to fungal attack until it's dry, which turns it a nasty shade of green/blue. Traditionally it was felled in the dead of winter, immediately lifted from the soil, and then dried as quickly as...

Laburnum holds a special place in traditional British woodworking, a country furniture maker using local timbers had three options for a really dark timber. Bog Oak, but that's only available in East Anglia and the West of Ireland and until very recently was generally only available in small...

You generally end up spending more for the tooling and accessories with a spindle moulder than for the machine itself. I'd advise you to write down exactly what specific woodworking operations your gates will require, and then cost out the tooling required for each of them. For example the...

I can't speak for Lime as I've never used it much, but for all the others any kind of oil based finish will make the grain pop. Incidentally Laburnum's an interesting one as it'll go much darker after a few months in a sunny room. These are two pieces of Laburnum that were taken from the same...

Just keep your eyes open and you're certain to find Blackthorn on a country walk, it's very common either in hedgerows or growing wild in woodland as a stunted, shrubby tree. If you can see some Hawthorn (dead obvious at a distance because of the bright red berries now appearing and getting even...

+1 Veritas make a tapered plug cutter that works well for this type of job. The problem is no plug will be truly invisible unless you sink more time into the repair than the kitchen itself took to build! Maybe go the opposite route, be loud and proud about the reclaimed timber heritage and just...

Congratulations! A cracking project that's a welcome change from yet another router table build! =D>

If you're going to use ratchet straps make sure you alternate the ratchet mechanism on alternate sides. The strap itself will not be evenly tensioned, and the ratchet strap will exert a lot more pressure on the side with the ratcheting/tightening mechanism. If you don't alternate the straps...

I've heard foresters say that they'll sometimes grow a percentage of the Oak in a plantation to maximise pippy figure, but then lament that fashions change and some years pippy Oak sells at a discount rather than a premium. In truth the market for highly figured timber in the UK is pretty...

Don't forget to drill some holes in the ply base, if the air can't escape from the foam then you'll be wobbling around like you're on a space hopper!

I've never heard of them before, you really do learn something every day! At a guess I'd think they'd be just as good, galls are a reaction by the tree so I suspect they're all ultra rich in tannin. They keep for years so it'd be worth getting some while they're there.

That's an amazing result, really original and unique. =D>

A nicely designed, relatively straightforward project, that only requires a cubic foot or two of carefully selected timber...but executed impeccably well. Exactly what woodworking should be all about. =D>

I agree that it's most likely Rippled Ash. It's not quite as common as Rippled Sycamore, but neither is it particularly rare. This is typical of the Rippled Ash boards that I've bought over the years, And here are some Olive Ash boards that also have pronounced rippled figure, The rippled...

Blimey, over thirty years of using Record planes and I never knew that. I checked and you're dead right, about 4mm shorter in fact. I've never noticed them not being interchangeable, and I checked today and can't detect any difference in being able to extend or retract the iron. But then...