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So for anybody who is interested, the three pieces of Spring steel (£6) came from the eBay chap, I had a go at replacing the blade this evening. The spring still is indeed incredibly difficult to cut, I tried several methods, hacksaw, other gizmos I have, but in the end, a diamond tipped bkade...

Usually such pins (IME) are tapered and not hollow. Looking at the size of that spring, you’re going to have fun trying to get it back in. I would be very careful with it, make sure that you trying to get it out in the right direction, and the hole through the middle is probably to make it...

Right, thanks for all the helpful replies, offers etc. I have ordered some of that 0.5mm steel from eBay. 3 sheets wiill give me opportunity to screw up if necessary. Plan B could be getting a replacement blade from Blackburn tools. I will follow Deema’s method. There are a lot of good tips in...

I thought that too. The split nuts on the handle have clearly been used a few times, it’s possible that it isn’t the original blade.

That’s interesting you spotted that. Yes, in fact the line of the teeth wasn’t at all straight. So today I filed it back significantly, trying to correct it, but making sure I still had enough of the “high” teeth left to register against. It made a big difference, it was no longer sticking in...

That one yes, the dovetail saw has 0.020” / 0.5 mm

Spring steel eBay link I wonder if that would be ok? (No it’s CS95 steel which is too hard, needs to be CS80) Luckily I have a little milling machine which will make it a much easier job than it could be for 22 TPI or whatever it is. I can put some accurate nicks in the edge and then sharpen...

Oh no, disaster. Just sharpened my little dovetail saw, cutting beautifully, slipped out of my hand and dropped on the concrete floor :-( 150 years and an ***** like me comes along and wrecks it. Anyone know a good source of suitable spring steel? (Un)Happy new year Steve

Hi I happened to be in a grand Victorian house in Hertford today, and it had the most exquisite mahogany balusters, half of which were spiral and half of which were reeded. I’ve often wondered how reeded spindles were done in the olden days. I also have a lamp stand with the same feature, and...

i made do with a second hand bench sander, and made a solid grinding rest plus the jigs for skew and gouges (not the fingernail type) from scrap bin metal. Total cost about £40 and does the same thing. I’ll get a pro edge one day when it breaks down. For ordinary chisels imho there’s no...

I was thinking the same as Tris above, basically that the tailstock isn’t aligned with the axis of the lathe. But on the other hand, live centres are perfectly ok to be used for turning tapers on a metal lathe using the “offset tailstock method” so that should be fine. One thing I’d imagine...

Hi I picked up a Disston saw vise last week when in the USA for $28. I swear it has never been used, it is in perfect condition. It will be used now. Does anyone know the likely age of this vise? I’ve Googled around, plenty of info on Disston saws but not so much on the saw vises. thanks Steve

Any engineering square from an engineering supplier will be fine for setting up woodworking tools. They will likely be far squarer than the surfaces you are aligning are flat. They generally will have a tolerance of 0.0001“ or thereabouts for setting up metal lathes etc. where the tolerance...

There you go, Ian sounds like he knows what he’s talking about 👍 Mine is definitely 3/16. And Ian has just explained why it is indeed wobbly.

Awesome job. I have one but it works well enough that I haven’t had to do anything much with it yet. It weighs about as much as a neutron star. You may have inspired me to add it to my list of projects.

Stan - its a 3/16” steel rod - plenty on eBay. If you have BSW taps and dies coming just check the existing bolt with a thread gauge. It may be an American thread but they are almost the same as BSW. If you want to fit the brass screw on the top it will need to be imperial if you don’t want to...

Stan I had a rummage around and I have a spare bolt which was for a no 4 but fits a no 3. You can have it free of charge if and only if you promise to restore the plane to proper working condition. These are antiques and fabulous tools. They don’t deserve to be ornaments or “binned” by people...

Nooooo it’s in almost perfect condition! Just needs a bit of a sand and a polish. Ok, so the tote and knob are probably not quite pristine but these can be made or bought on eBay for not much.

Completely different. Japanning is basically a mixture of powdered bitumen and turps, it is applied and then baked on the oven. It’s more like enamelling than painting, it leaves a very durable brownish-black coating. Very common in Victorian era metalwork. I haven’t done it myself, I bought...

I did almost the exact same thing with my father in laws no 3 a few months back, luckily he let me keep it and it’s now one of my go to planes, imho if it isn’t a worker, it isn’t really restored, with a bit of tlc these planes last forever. Go for it, when you get that first perfect shaving you...