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Did you watch the Peter Follansbee video Bob? It's really easy: Set the gauge to the width of the chisel you CHOOSE to use, mark out the sides of the mortice and the ends and KEEP the gauge setting. Chop it out as he shows you (sharp tools and careful clobbering). You _can_ use a claw...

I don't want to start an exchange of fire, but I wish you lived closer to Bristol: we have a superb secondhand tool shop, Bristol Design, where, from time-to-time I rummage in their "cheap" bins for old chisels. I have found some beautiful tools, which I love using. I also have a set of plastic...

A mitre box isn't really the best way to do it though, at least for internal mitres (i.e. those in the corners of rooms). The best way is to scribe one side of the skirting to the other one. That way, if the boards aren't square to each other it doesn't matter as much. You can also arrange the...

Ordered three different bandsaw blades via their web site this last Wednesday afternoon (they were on holiday Tuesday after the Bank Holiday). Despatch yesterday (Friday) Handed to me by the postman 1/2 hour ago (Saturday). At some point between Wednesday and Friday somebody at Tuff Saws...

Richard G and Pete M have both made some good points. Despite passing on the cable tester, I'd double check the correct pairs are twisted together in the cable (cable testers don't test this, and it's very important), by removing the outer sleeving from an off-cut. I'd also check if it's...

Our remote red light and buzzer system worked, but only went as far as Bristol comms centre (originally Bristol control room, which had three proper uniselectors of its own when I started in 1978). If doing something live, such as Any Answers, it was an occasional good tease to ask London...

I had a weird deja vu moment a few years back: in the early 2010s I was asked into the BBC in Bristol to do a "down-the-line" interview for a London programme. Technically, this is often achieved by use of a cupboard known as the "unattended studio". The idea dates back to WW2 I think -...

It is odd though - you never hear of people/things being "fenestrated", presumably being thrown into a building via the window. A handy skill if you have It, presumably. The Czechs turned it into a "thing", having three notorious goes at it. I have seen the window , in Prague castle where the...

Join the Land Rover owners' club. I did (had a 200 TDi conversion in my Defender - was really nice). There's quite a lot in their magazine, and oodles on YouTube, etc. about major engine work. Also work backwards from the end of the process: Are there any things whose positions you need to...

A good quality route-finding (Silva-type) compass will do it too, but watch out for metal stuff nearby that will also affect it. There might be small brads holding any trim in place, around the panels, but you should be able to see any filled holes. Otherwise I'd say metal is fairly unlikely...

The "bench" will hinder you - the legs look like they come from a musical keyboard stand - way too springy for what you need. Also a proper planer makes chippings rather than dust, in the main. I would worry about dust from a router, but not a planer, though it will make a lot of mess! The...

Sorry if someone has mentioned this before: how is your stock bent? Bowed or cupped boards are fairly quick to sort out with a planer and thicknesser used in combination. If it's "in wind" (rhymes with 'mind' rather than 'pinned'), it has a bit of a corkscrew look about it. You can spot this...

They are definitely shapenable, at least my Makita's manual says its blade is, anyway. In my very limited experience the blades that come back from the saw doctor (Leitz Tooling in my case), usually outperform new blades. I think Leitz's QC is very good. E.

My Record is probably 1970s. I was surprised to find the threads for the jaws are metric, M6, IIRC. So it rather depends on when it was made I guess.

A lost Giacometti sculpture has been authenticated. It was on the "Fake or Fortune" programme last winter, and that ended inconclusively, but it's now been confirmed as genuine, netting the owners a lot of money. The story is covered in the Telegraph today, but their piece made me roar with...

Warmbacs are made in Glastonbury - a really good-quality British export, seen in caves all over this planet, at least, and worn in the Thai football team rescue recently. We still make Oldham mining lamps in the UK, too. See also Survex, Aven, etc. for relevant software. I suggest they get in...

Stick with kit that can run on the Festool-style tracks (see Peter Millard's comparison videos). Even if you don't buy Festool now, you may want one of their rails later. Personally I hate joining rails, so have a 3m Makita rail (which is OK-ish but not dead straight, I fear). If I get the...

Thanks from me, too. Now all I need is a left-handed tape measure... :-)

Good to see it has a granny gear for those really hard to clamp things. :-)