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We don't, at the moment anyway. Termites are active between the 50º north and south latitudes, and all of the British Isles, except the Channel Islands, are at higher latitudes than that. Termites are accidentally imported to the UK from time to time, but conditions here are generally too cold...

Is that for wet topsoil or for dry topsoil, and if so what's their definition of wet or dry? As far as I know 1m³ is just that, a precise measure of volume, and if they sold you 5m³, I'd be looking for ~9.77 (call it 10) bags of stuff that sort of behaves rather like a liquid, wet or dry, that...

It is ... and it isn't. Your linked source is American, and Americans use the term Sycamore maple simply to distinguish Acer pseudoplatanus (European sycamore) from American Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), which, as you can see is not a maple (Acer) at all. What the Americans call sycamore has...

Oops. Not sure what happened there. Sorry. wasted message I guess. When I work out with this new forum format how to simply delete a message posted in error, that will help to keep things tidy. Slainte.

Oh, were you one of my night class students? I hadn't made the connection, what with your handle - Bill is a fairly common name I suppose, and Sutton Coldfield isn't exactly near Leeds to travel both ways for a two hour class. Slainte.

That might be the poshest bench hook I've ever seen, ha, ha. The ones I make tend to be very utilitarian and disposable, i.e., a pieces of man-made board such as 18 mm ply, plus two bits of hardwood offcuts screwed and maybe glued in place at either end: use for a while until manky, chuck it...

I suspect the pilot holes may have been too small. So, for example, if you were using no 8 screws, which are equivalent to 4 mm diameter shank screws, the norm is 4.5 mm diameter for the clearance hole and 3 mm diameter for the pilot hole (plus countersinking if using a countersunk screw), which...

The method works for me, Mike, swiftly and accurately time after time. I can't imagine what's causing your wobbly cuts if that's the norm for you - actually, I can think of two or three possible causes, but with your experience I wouldn't expect such causes with you. I seldom have a problem; if...

I don't really understand all this dancing around trying to do the job on a router table, what with stops and dropping on, lifting off, and all the rest of it, when the job is simplicity itself with a hand held router, a side fence, and a choice of either winged cutter (to run the router base on...

I find it interesting that there are quite a number of negative comments concerning the legs and the seeming weakness in their cantilevered form. I suspect this form is deliberately chosen for both practical seating requirements, although I'm not quite convinced this requirements is fully...

Ha, ha. Flat as pancake since the end of March/early April when all work fell off a cliff. However, maybe there are some slight indications of a weak pulse out there now that might yield something if I'm persistent with looking, and not too fussy: I've reached an age at which I must admit I do...

You've purchased a bit too big for the router, one (slightly possibly) intended for use in an overhead router or even a CNC machine. I say slightly possibly because I don't know what bit you've purchased. Buy a bottom trim bit that will fit, e.g, like one of these, or an alternative similar...

I don't think you'll be able to completely clean the paint off, but a pressure washer might be effective. If that alone doesn't work you could maybe try and soften the paint with paint stripper followed by another go with a pressure washer.

I suspect that probably what's really needed is some repair work to the joints to make them close fitting again prior to reassembly and gluing up. However, for whatever reason you may not have the ability to do this effectively, or perhaps the joints aren't too bad - no idea really from your...

In forty years or more of using planers and thicknessers and/or planer/thicknessers I can report, unlike others that have contributed here, that I have experienced kickback when using a thicknesser, and it happened on the same Wadkin planer/thicknesser on both occasions, so twice in the space of...

They're both ash going by the appearance, and the main ash species native to Europe is Fraxinus excelsior. It's more than possible that American or Japanese ash can be found growing here in the UK and the rest of Europe, most likely in arboretums and similar locations, but neither species are...

That technique only really works to best advantage or visual impact with ring porous woods, also known as coarse textured woods such as oak, ash, elm, and the like. Pine, in common with almost all softwoods doesn't fall into that category they generally being fine(er) textured woods. Slainte.

I've heard others say they're good, Max P, but they're not the type I have, which are the Record version, also good and served me well for perhaps thirty or more years. Slainte.

To reduce dye or stain uptake into end grain, or to have the same effect in blotch prone timbers, one good technique is to apply a somewhat thinned out coat of shellac on all the surfaces you want to colour up. Using ready to use shellac bought from a finish supplier, try diluting it by about...

Basically, here in the UK 'dry' construction grade timber for the construction industry means wood that has been dried to 20% MC or lower. There's a bit of give allowed in the quality control for testing large batches of wood coming out of the kiln of approximately 4 percentage points. In other...