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Doing this with a hand reamer works reasonably well as a one-off, but if doing a large number of holes I'd definitely stump up for a second hand (sharpened) spiral flute machine reamer to be able to do it at higher speeds, and less fear of reamer breakage. I found the knack is in consistently...

Buy a second hand centrifugal blower on eBay, sized to deliver the required CFM of extraction through the length of ducting required to go from your booth to the outside. I replaced my kitchen extractor with a blower from a ventilation system recently for *Hugely* improved performance. If...

As I'm working through setting up the workshop again, I'm toying with the idea of adding a hearth and anvil. I've done various bits of forging at taster events and acting a striker for people who actually know what they're doing, but don't really have any significant skill (although have rather...

Ditto, I donated my old school bench to a charity which makes craft skills more accessible to the community because I had space issues. Still regret it... Especially when I'm using it in their workshops! My current bench is built from roof truss offcuts (and secured with nail plates) with a...

That's wholly consistent with what I saw digging the broken blades out, and before that if I'm honest. A less tired, more switched on Jelly would likely have spotted it before it happened, rather than doing the same stupid thing twice... I think you've summed up exactly the issues here, I was...

No, but I will be for the remaining 2 stiles! Being that I'm used to using pig-stickers it never really occurred to me to do this, until just now when I was thinking about why ¾" pig-sticker chisels don't seem to be a thing.

The second one to snap had a tiny corrosion pit on the corner of the blade which appears to be where the fracture propagated from, first one had no obvious defects, and in both cases the steel is uniform with the grain structure i'd expect consistently across the fracture. Which is what lead me...

First time this has happened to me, and an unwelcome first at that, nevertheless. Following on me from extolling the virtues of both safety glasses, and learning from your mistakes yesterday; I have had cause to take both of my own bits of advice.... Cutting some 19mm mortices through 100mm...

I can empathise with this, I did my Masters via Distance Learning and studying at home, after work slowly sapped any motivation I had for just about anything including the uni work, so I'd end up sat staring a screen unable to move forwards but compelled not to stop trying. However my partner...

When I got my first job I remember my grandfather telling me the story of the apprentice in his department who decided he didn't need safety glasses when turning brass because it was so "soft". Long story short, because he was the department head and had a driver's license from his RAF days, he...

A friend of a friend has twice offered to sell me his spare one (it's missing some components in the motor control box and he's never got round to sorting it), if it reaches three times, I may well take him up on it... It's always the moving it that's given me pause for thought.

My money is on a DSG 17T lathe or a Butler 8" slotter...

I wouldn't be so sure, there's plenty of people out there doing that kind of thing in home workshops, for my sins I've built two machine tool spindles in a home workshop. It does reach a point of your hobby being "Precision" though... If you're interested in the kind of loons who would do such...

Having machined HSS using CBN coated carbide on a bridgeport (successfully, but with a big "lightshow"), I'd be inclined to say this is the best option. Heating the sockets up and cooling, then machining, then re-hardening would be a good secondary option, but is dirty, messy, faffy and can...

If they are creosoted, it doesn't penetrate through, so the outside edges could be cut off, still got to get rid of that though (and it's pretty carcinogenic for humans too!). However if they're Oak I highly doubt they're actually sleepers (and thus unlikely to be creosoted), as it would...

This I was unaware of, and I have been sold SY as "armoured flex" by reasonably reputable electrical distributors in the past when I've gone in for 3ph+E flex, so there's clearly a misunderstanding which is somewhat common and actively being spread there. Nevertheless, I've seen it terminated...

10⁵ and 10⁷ respectively right? I can see that being screwy when western systems effectively indoctrinate us to use steps of 10³.

I mean it's an improvement on what it could have been, until they divested their Oilfields and went all in for wind, "Ørstead" used to be "DONG Energy"... Imagine looking out to window to see a boat painted like a fisher-price toy with that written down the side in 15ft high letters!

Despite being born well into the metric era I will often think in imperial to size something up when sketching a rough design: i.e. "that hand rail should be about 3' 9" from the floor" but will convert to metric and round non-critical dimensions to the nearest convenient standard size when I...

I can see what you're getting at now... I guess I'm used to a "Rough Design, Estimate, Detail Design, Quote, Final Design, Buy" workflow from work, so it doesn't really bother me not having certainty of pricing until quite late on in the process, as I'm refining the design to drive price lower...