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Draftsight is probably not a simple package to learn being a full on cad program similar to Autocad, I installed it last year but gave up with it in the end, simply too much hassle even getting it to work at all. Looking at the online forums this is a known issue. One of the simplest Cad...

New heat gun just arrived, instructions are wonderful, Warn, "In set up an electric circuit cases open the tool, let with electricity the part and join one to expose, it jeapordises life please pull out the plug first before turning on the tool". There was more, most entertaining read i have...

I have a good selection of Distons that i have inherited & acquired over the years, however after i discovered the Japanese pull saw they just live in their drawer gathering dust!

Black sack, sorted!

Colchester Triumph is a big lathe not the sort of machine that can easily be run on single phase, you are probably looking at a 4 to 5kw 3 phase motor. Roundhead machines not so sought after but if its got a good set of tooling its certainly worth a punt. The later Square head ones are quite...

It looks rather like some timber my old man had years ago, Gurjan, he said it was. It seems to often be mixed up with Keruing & may be the same species, there is often considerable variation in colour from sandy to red depending on where its grown.

This ^^^ is good, A good inventory of your tools & equipment & a wish list of where / who it goes to would be my choice. Fortunately my son is a lover of tools. Most of mine are old & have come down from friends or craftsmen that i knew even if only by name, it is good to have a name associated...

Last week i cleared an elderly friend of my inlaws workshop, he is still alive though at 92 in poor health. I didnt feel good about doing it but was asked by him & his wife to do it as he was worried everything was getting damp & going rusty & didnt want her to have the hassle when he was gone...

We should worry about what they are not showing us.

Im the opposite, i dont like big companies as you are liable to have just as many problems & will pay far more. I built a big extension & did a lot of it with a small builder & employed various trades as required, turned out far cheaper & me working on it as well kept them on their toes & kept...

On a similar vein, i found this yesterday on you tube, its a laser cut Hurdy Gurdy designed by a Dutch engineer, Sounds ok too, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mI1X10VB6U, The cutting files are a free download, i can see a lot of these getting built.

They are 2" thick 5" wide & 7" high.

I was clearing a shed out today for old friends of my inlaws. Mountains of junk & rubbish gone through. A few good tools that i have to sell for them. But an obscure thing turned up, a pair of Vintage Exide batteries, czg6 2volt low tension, they are quite large with thick glass jars, thing is...

Stick a soldering iron in the cavity on the end of the screw, give it a minute & try it, penetrating oil like plus gas & repeat. WD40 is not a lot of use for this. If a fastener has threadlock like loctite on it heat will break the seal.

I would clean it lightly, probably wouldnt even bother with rust remover, wet & dry the sole with WD40 Scotchbrite & wd the rest. Oil the handles ith a splash of boiled linseed. Then use it as is, I have several planes that i got like that & they all tell a story & work fine.

Years ago i found an old Preston spokeshave, the one with the spectacle frame handles. Its cutter was worn to a stub. To get it working again i ground the old edge square & silver soldered a section of HSS parting blade from my lathe tool stock. Re ground it & it works a treat. It is hard to...

A couple of days ago i actually saw a post on a facebook forum from a D&T teacher asking if anyone had advice on how to do this in a school! I would not want someone like that teaching my kids.

I used to have a very large stove in my old workshop, i used to shovel sacks of shavings & sawdust into it. The problem would arise that once it got going the contents would burn from the front & then would collapse in front of the bottom damper blocking it. Then large quantities of thick white...

Interesting, i have a very similar carving knife made by James Deakin of Sheffield, staghorn handle with silver mounts. I got it out a scrap skip a few years back & cleaned it up, It takes a terrific edge.

Bluing steel can be done several ways. Temper colouring, which is useful for small parts. Modern production firearms are blued with a caustic (alkali solution) used at high temperature. Then there is the old fashioned Browning & bluing which is an older but similar process. Browning is a...