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You got there first but that was my first thought when I read the op's post. Regards John

When I was at sea a lot of the deckhands had knives made from industrial hacksaw blades as they stayed sharp longer than any knife you could buy. Cutting rope blunts blades fast. As to marking knives I take it the blade is slotted in the handle and then glued and wrapped? Regards John

I suspect the infill is not a Mathieson. Great as they are that looks even better and it may have been made by that J Lowrey himself. The woodwork on it is outstanding and its about the best looking infill I have seen. Regards John

A thing to be aware of with surface planers is the table length. The short benchtop jobs will only really handle short lengths of wood up to about 1.5m. New budget end jobs will also lack quality. Be on the lookout for good old cast iron with good long tables. You may need to replace bearings...

I always wondered if those steel soles were user add ons or did some makers sell them that way. It would increase the life of the plane many times over but there are plenty very old wood sole planes still out there too. Regards John

Mine is an old chisel that was a bit on the short side. Ground a bevel at an angle and made a handle. Single bevel as I don't get along too well marking with a double bevel. Regards John

Good to see you are still at it. Thats the thing about making bows, we basically just have to learn by our mistakes. Of all the branches of woodworking I have tried it had the highest failure rate but something about seeing that arrow on its way keeps you coming back for another crack at it...

Have one of the other blast gates part open so as not starve the collector of air. My thicknesser is 50mm into 100mm and when I part open another gate you can see dust spinning a lot faster in the lower bag which looks to me to be working better. Regards John

Your lungs will be sucking in the same dust as the compressor is making airborne. Something to think on. Brush or vac inside. Regards John

There is never a guarantee that wood will not move when ripped down. Dry is a good help as is quarter sawn. Absolute safest way is do the same to both sides and do it as one job. If you are sure its dry and the growth rings are near to giving you quarter sawn then I would be tempted to save as...

I would take off the 2 corners with the tablesaw at 45* then planes to round in the edges. An electric hand plane would make quick work of bulk removal and a hand plane to finish off. As Jacob says draw the profile on the ends first. Thinking on it there is a wide range of tools can be used...

No more flammable than a lot of oil based paints and varnishes. The point of a fire door is that it holds up the spread of fire for a period of time. Well longer than a hollow core door would. Other thing about fire doors is they only work if they are shut. Regards John

Like Robbo I would say yes as well but would first saw out a blank of the harder wood to reduce the amount of nasty dust flying around. Regards John

The unavoidable fact is that the trees will move as they grow. And they never stop growing. Any fence or gate arrangements actually attached to the trees is only going to be a temporary fix. Any fence that includes live trees will always be in need of adjustments. Regards John

Just a guess it may be Jarrah. Jarrah | The Wood Database (Hardwood) Regards John

As said paste wax. Buff it off when you get back. You could also throw a cloth drop sheet over the top. Regards John

Probably more power than you need but a drill with var speed has the whole package for not much money. Mount the pulley from the old motor in the drill chuck and you are just about there. Regards John

Lots of us have mounted sanding drums to the drill press and if you have some kind of bearing on the foot of the drum to take the sideways forces then its a pretty good use of the machine. Like the lathe a drill press has a range of speeds and can do a great job at sanding. Add a table with dust...

Yes long items are always very expensive to ship. Back when I was into making bows I was wanting to get a couple of yew staves from western USA. Shipping was more than the cost of the wood. Instead I got them as 1m billets and that reduced the shipping more than half. I then had to learn the Z...

Hard wax would be my pick for a candle holder. Check out the carnauba wax finish. Five Quick and Easy Woodturning Finishes - Woodworking | Blog | Videos | Plans | How To Its nice and simple plus very quick. Regards John