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I had one of those years ago, got it from a scrap dealer on the farm where i had my workshop. Very high quality machines with a gear driven cutter head, The gearbox on the side is intended to have oil in it iirc. I used it for a job building a long mast for a boat & the machines long length was...

If you are left handed like me you will most likely struggle to play a guitar righthanded, I have severe arthritis in my left elbow & it meant that i simply cannot twist my arm to play right handed, though the fingers usually work ok! Yet still people tried to tell me "you must learn to play...

Mum used tell me, "Dont pick your nose, It will end up like a pound pear", This was reinforced by being told If i picked my nose i would end up like the bloke in Knightleys news agents who did indeed have a huge conk! One of Dads favorite sayings was "There is nothing more ingenious than a...

I cut a similar size eucalyptus up for an old boy some years ago, It can have quite spectacular grain or be very boring, It tends to split & shake readily in a spiral fashion. Larger pieces will split worse. The grain can be heavily interlocked as well. Once dry it burns very well!

Just wetting them & then putting them in a waste bin is not enough, water evaporates the oil is still there... The point about metal bins is that it contains a fire & you can smother it with a lid or something, plastic bin just becomes more fuel. Leaving stuff laying about & using angry...

Its not just oil's, Fibreglass resins & particularly Peroxide catalyst are highly prone to spontaneous combustion. At my first job at Thames marine's boat factory we had a fire one summer. Bins were usually old drums but there was a refuse strike so piles of GRP waste was stacked outside in...

Lots of wooden planes were stamped with owners names & last year i picked up a fine moore & wright engineers scraper with the name G Clinton engraved into it.

Yes, depends if its rift or quarter sawn, where the tree grew & how fast, what soil, fungal attack, It varies a lot.

It all looks like oak to me.

Im 61 & cant say i was ever taught that thank god, however i was way above my peers reading age because my parents bought me books all the time & taught me to read very early, Something for which i will ever be grateful. But like BM101 i wasnt very good at maths & just scraped a cse pass. Fast...

Depends how fancy its mate is, If its a fancy hollow shaft oar by Suttons it will be built up from spruce, If its a cheap solid oar, pine of some sort, If it needs to be long & strong, douglas fir or even ash was used though it tends to be heavy. Dont over think it, A good decent straight...

Aerolite was one of the first UF glues, I have much experience of it courtesy of my Dad who used it extensively in boatbuilding. It is very economical in use & the two part nature is good. (Dont get the acid hardener in a cut as it stings summat awful!) I helped him build several glued clinker...

I turned a bowl from a chunk of common English oak from a tree that was cut down in my inlaws garden. It was just as dark brown as that, The colour is often due to fungal infection.

They might be classed together & related but are very different in practice, It probably depends a lot on the conditions where it grows. The range in density is huge, the two heavy boards i have are a deep reddish purple with a lustrous smooth finish when planed & extremely hard & heavy.

James Howarth, John Bull brand. Excellent quality tools well worth seeking out or restoring. The Chisel in the photo below is a 1.5" James Howarth, I got it out of a scrap skip & turned a new boxwood handle for it as the original was riddled with woodworm. It holds a terrific edge & is one of my...

It is Luan or Philipine mahogany, its related to Meranti, Some is almost as light as balsa others are heavier. I have a board just like it, It is very prone to thundershakes & is not very durable. Was used in the window industry for frames for many years. Dark red meranti although related is...

Venting dust outside is all very well if you are a long way from any neighbours. Years ago i had a workshop on a farm, I had a 28ft yacht in for major fibreglass repairs, now when you are grinding grp with a heavy grinder for hours at a time the amount of dust produced is huge. I rigged up a big...

You can spend as much or as little as you like. I was lucky in that when i started boatbuilding & went to college my Dad already had a lot of duplicate tools so kitted me out with a good basic kit of hand tools. In 84 i set up my own workshop on a farm, next door workshop was a builder who i...

Everyone knows red ones are faster....

Hope it works better than this prototype,