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I spent most of my career in the boat trade, similarly afflicted by tightwads. Often people have big ideas & shallow pockets, Its pointless trying to undercut the opposition, all you do is win the race to the bottom & go skint quicker. Better to double your prices & then win the odd one who will...

I use them a lot, Green = coarse, Maroon = Medium, Grey =fine, great for cleaning & restoring tools etc, great for final sanding on boats etc as doesnt sand through corners. You can also get scotchbrite mops mounted for use in drills for polishing.

Aluminium work & age hardens so will tend to spring back if forced into a different shape, If its twisted as a result of being dropped , falling over or similar it will need annealing to soften it. Aluminium anneals very differently to steel. With steel you heat it to red heat & let it cool...

White vinegar in a jar with a handful of steel wool, leave for a few days before using, It turns Oak a pleasing grey colour very quickly & Also Cherry, strangely cherry goes grey even quicker than Oak using this mix. It also works on pine & beech though slower.

When we were young & foolish we hung a long length of timber from a beam & used it as a battering ram to knock out a long section of wall leaving it supported just at one end, this was in a derelict warehouse scheduled for demolition, it was two stories & the walls were two ft thick at the base...

Be interesting to hear how much condensation is produced. When we moved into our house the double garage (concrete slabs & asbestos roof) was unheated, Use of a space heater would make the walls & ceiling run with water which in the winter would rapidly freeze into ice. All my tools & machines...

20 years ago the Nicad battery pack on my Racal Airstream respirator failed, at that time the explosion proof battery pack was over £100, I sawed & split the case & found ordinary nicad cells inside, Got 4 new ones for £16. More recently the battery failed again, A new 7.2v 4000mah NiMh battery...

I detest sharp corners on anything, I like corners to be nicely radiused & smooth flowing curves. This springs from my life as a boatbuilder. Sharp corners on boats get the finish chipped when you bump them with oars & stuff. Also from a practical point of view, when you are rowing & sailing &...

If anyone needs new slotted blades for their Multico planer, I just bought a new pair of blades from Woodford Woodworking Machinery & Tooling Ltd In Cheshire, ordered yesterday afternoon & arrived this lunchtime. Excellent service & reasonable price too.

I have grown chillis for about 15 years, last year varieties grown were Ring of fire, Kung pao, De Cayenne, Aji limon, Padron, Hot wax, Anaheim Jalapeno & Purple jalapeno. The Aji Limon has overwintered well the rest i will strt from scratch to keep disease down. This year i will cut back a bit...

No way a lathe as heavy as a graduate is safe on castors, its too tall & heavy. Me & a mate had a fair sized metal lathe over once when moving it with a fork truck & it was lucky that nobody got hurt & that the damage to the machine was very slight. I also had a startrite bandsaw on castors...

I have seen some wonderful dry rot in old boats, only way is to cut it all out & burn it.

Worth looking at the HSE Toxic woods list, its online & lists just about every timber & what it can do to people. Commonly used in plywood are Birch & Poplar, both can have effects on people. One of the worst is Western red cedar, it might smell lovely but the dust from it is nasty & causes...

If you are getting a reaction be careful, a lot of people use epoxy for years with no ill effects at all (myself included) But once you become sensitized to the stuff you have problems. Because epoxy doesnt fume & stink like polyester grp resin people assume its harmless but it isnt. I got a...

I have a metabo, best grinder i have ever had, its at least 30 years old & the model number is not even recognised any more. Doesnt vibrate at all.

I keep the consistency about that of honey or slightly thicker as long as you get some squeeze out of glue you know you have enough on there. Having the boat nearby any squeeze out can hopefully be used somewhere as filler. You soon get good at spreading the correct amount!

I just use a flat stick & spread the glue on thinly just the one side, I usually use West 105 resin with low density filler, sometimes add microfibres as well as it increases strength. West brand Colloidal silica is often used as a thixotropic agent (non sag) too much of this makes the glue...

I have done many such jobs making laminated deck beams & other components for boats. Good prep is essential & nice clean surfaces, you can glue straight off the circular saw but sanding is good. Always sand a tiny radius on the outer face corner of each lamination, if its a heavy bend & there is...

A few tools that were cheap & that performed way above their price would suggest. Lidls PowerFix Japanese saws, I bought two of the small ones about 4 years ago, £5.99 each came with a spare blade, they have been heavily used & are still going. Also Powerfix dremel accessory box, everything you...

Might be worth getting him a forge experience, My son & i did this last year, Although i was 60 & had some experience due to having been a D&T technician, I learnt more in one morning with a first class blacksmith than i had learnt in the previous ten years. That way he can hit the ground...