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I had to laugh at that because I was saving Episode 3 for today and had no idea how far he has got with the project as a whole. Maybe his day job is as an astronaut or something else that keeps him away from home for longish periods. Incidentally, I got some of that Aquacoat stuff that you...

Here's a vid of a bloke who seems to be almost sickeningly good at sawing his tenons (and sawing in general). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BVXCaT4ICk Interestingly at around the 5 mins mark he uses one of those kerf making things.

That's a very charitable suggestion but the fault is mine, unless of course all my rip cut saws suffer the same affliction whereas my crosscut ones all stay bang in the line. Actually, the latter is not quite true: they all stay bang on line across the grain but also tend to drift off to the...

Could it be a handle for something that gets hot? The two slits could be moved upwards to house a horizontally running bar and then the side of the object would brace against the bit below the slits. We had something similar which worked on that principle with an ash pan at the bottom of a...

Thank you very much indeed for all the replies. The thing is that I'm fairly good with smaller "normal" sized mortice and tenons. I suspect that the dimensions of these ones are what have got the better of me. I accept entirely Jacob's idea of the need for a serious practice session. I do...

Good Afteroon All, I've just failed in my second attempt at doing the deep (approx. 4" x 3/8") mortices necessary for the making of the frame of the lid for the Anarchist's Tool Chest. The first try was quite disastrous with the mortices ending up going anything but plumb through the wood. I...

And don't forget the 10/- note, known as a ten bob note, which also gave rise to the expression "as bent as a nine bob note" for anything of a highly dubious nature (an expression which I still use).

Thanks gents. Now I know what to do.

I’m just about to put the final wax finish on a project. A mate of mine has offered to lend me his Festool Rotex 150 Sander/Polisher to buff it up but as he only has sanding discs for it, I would have to buy the relevant polishing disc. What I would like to know is, is the Rotex a decent tool...

Charles and Derek: I did what you both said (trimmed pins and used liquid hide glue) and it worked a treat. Thanks. Matthew, I bought DC's secret dovetail DVD and it's going to be a while before my skills are up to attempting it but thanks for reminding me about it.

I've just cut some dovetails for a small drawer and they are a very tight fit and so I am wondering if they will need glueing at all, especially given the swelling effect that glue has on wood. Is it acceptable practise to not glue extremely snug dovetails?

I'll second that: not a hint of pretension on the part of Mr McGuire, just down to earth, straightforward and good humoured imparting of ideas and information. I considered getting M&T because the fundamental premise seems good but the blurb seemed a touch too luvvy darling, as if you could...

It's the spoon rack from The English Woodworker (aka Richard McGuire) website. Despite its name I suspect it will end up in the hall as a place to hang keys, put wallets etc. Would you be able to recommend a good brand of grain filler?

I'm very happy to learn from your mistakes but I gained the impression that oil followed by sanding sealer and then wax would avoid the sort of problems you describe. I've obviously not quite understood something. I could dispense with the oil if the sanding sealer really brings the grain out.

That's very interesting. I do understand that ash darkens with age (as also pointed out above) but in its "new" state it is a touch too pale for my taste. A very pale straw-ish tint is what I would be after. I will give walnut oil a bash and follow that with the sanding sealer topped by wax...

Thanks for the replies. I'll order some sanding sealer and give it a go. I did a bit of wider digging and one source said that you can use camellia oil on wood but it won't harden off (as also said on here). So does that mean I could use the camellia to bring out the grain a bit and then seal...

I had a look at some older threads on finishing ash and a common opinion was that you shouldn't use oils as they can make it go a horrible colour. Does this also apply to camellia oil which is very pale? I was thinking of finishing an ash piece with this oil and then using Dictum wax over...

Genuine question: I've read that if you sharpen up into the higher thousands, the edge you achieve is good for a few passes of the plane then it goes into a slow decline during which it will continue to cut perfectly well. That seems fairly logical and so you rehone when experience tells you you...

Matt, thanks for the confirmation of the idea, Andy.

Yesterday I was working on a 2' by 6" piece of American Poplar (Tulipwood) which is earmarked as one end of the bottom skirt of my toolbox. In its rough sawn state it was nigh on flat and planing and sawing revealed that it was more or less the definition of quarter sawn with the grain running...