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Welcome Tony, I am a retired furniture restorer/cabinet maker. So will be happy to compare notes! When I first qualified at West Dean College,(1978,career change) I taught evening classes three nights a week at local schools to boost income. Sadly schools no longer have workshops they only cut...

spll & selectortone, would you please decide which of you own my road and come and repair the potholes!

As a sixteen year old in 1963, I cycled about five miles to work in S.London. With heavy snow my boss sent me home early at 4pm as it would take a long time to get home. I got home almost the same as usual! I cycled after lorries in their tyre tracks and the only dodgy bit was changing...

£20 per week seems a bit high for 1962. I would think more like £15. I started work in 1962 on £4-14-6d a week (Test department- Electrical relay manufacturers). My Dad a carpenter/joiner I believe was on around £15 per week plus overtime.

When I had a Miele washing machine it had a cast Iron weight not concrete and at that time most of the "high end" brands also used cast Iron. The Miele didn't last any longer than the Hotpoint that replaced it.

Yours looks from the photo looks "old", which is probably morticed at the top and most likely at the bottom too. Cut through with a fine saw under the handrail. To refix after repair use a loose tenon into the rail and then a slot in the spindle. Modern staircase spindles are not morticed. At...

Many years ago I had one of these garages, I converted as a workshop. These are "sectional buildings" and each section has thicker reinforced edges, think picture frames. I built a framework fitted at the top of the wall and into the concrete floor. I then insulated between the frames. Then clad...

Any "two pack" resin based glue will work well. There is no advantage to using PU glue. In essence what you are doing is constructing plywood. Each layer's grain direction should be at rightangles to the previous layer. I have several 28lb. weights which are adequate for this pupose. The...

Kittyhawk, great work as always in your models. Enjoy your time in slowing down and remember Death is natures way of telling you to slow down! Catalina strikes a chord in me as there was a wrecked one on the beach in Diego Garcia when I served there in 1974/75. The whole story of its demise can...

The original post specified Pre-Cat not two pack (which is another ball game). I have used pre-cat extensively on desks and tables. Indeed my computer desk was finished that way and still looks OK, almost twenty years later. To give a more natural finish use Satin Pre-Cat and once hardened rub...

Absolutely lovely work, BZ as we would say in the Royal Navy (Well done). First item I ever restored was an early and battered Rocking Horse in 1973! I have one of those angle grinder attachments and I love it. I have had accidents to hands/fingers from the most innocuous of items in and around...

I would say from these replies there are no "best" clamps/cramps. So much depends of the kind of work you do (or might do). Most of my career was with G-Cramps (C-cramp across the pond!) and sash cramps (again N.America favoured pipe clamps). As F-cramps became more common these were added...

I have seen U.S. youtube videos of "glitter bombs" used to combat Porch Pirates who steal doorstep deliverys, don't know what they are but would give you satisfaction! Must also add, I am rather tired at the Daily Mail taunts. I do not read any newspapers as you are deluding yourself that any...

B3nder, I have brought my almost identical drawing instrument out of storage! I have taken a couple of photos. I can confirm that a thin "leatherette" type fabric for the outside over a possibly pine core, second photo shows a small area damaged covering where it has lifted. The inside velvet...

I would first invest in a piercing saw with piercing saw blades which are much finer than fretsaw blades. Also no noise very little dust and no electricity used! The frame is adjustable for blade length. A jeweller's saw has a much narrower throat than a piercing saw (though the terms now seem...

When I started my Royal Navy apprenticeship 60 years ago we were issued with a drawing instrument set identical to the one in the original post by B3nder. This was the only item that we did not have to return on leaving the navy, that is apart from the "housewife", (no not that sort, a roll...

I would love to see those ratio figures for say France and Germany. I do not believe the NHS is undefunded. Over staffed and badly managed, Yes. I have had recent hospital surgery as has my wife and the "Curate's egg" comparison definitely applies. Having had recent surgery, which was first...

The British company Serif has a suite of programs, Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher. They are one time purchase not subscription. At the moment they are avilable on a "Black Friday Deal" at 40% off but only for the next 24 hours. These are high end programs equal to the...

Note to oneself,"Don't buy a house near Keith"! Seriously why do we build all of our living accomodation and thus all of our valuables etc. at risk of natural disasters on the ground floor? Seeing the distress caused with recent floods, when losing all personal possessions which can't be...

Can't help wondering how Museums store actual photographs and negatives, and of course scan them as a digital archive?