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I'd check that the back is flat (a few rubs across the sharpening stone will tell you), and if not I'd flatten the final half inch or so. If the back is concave or convex you'll find it hard to get a good edge across the full width. Otherwise what Jacob said for everything except very fine...

It looks like the finish has been sanded off, or been worn away by time. I'd be tempted to refinish the table and then look at the split again. Once the whole thing has a sheen, that split might look perfectly acceptable. A sign of its age, not a defect. The nicest repair would be a splint -...

From experience, sanding dust mixed with glue or finish looks nothing like a match. It's a lot darker, and is effectively all end grain which has darkened by absorbing the binder, so it reflects the light totally differently. Pictures might suggest a better way of filling gaps.

The system is badly broken by the digital technologies, especially online ones. Don't get me started on links - all I'll say is that YouTube or Vimeo video links should be OK because they embed the YT/Vimeo origin as well, but other links ... lawyer's answer, "It depends ..." akirk's point...

19th century guitar necks were often ebonised with lamp black mixed into shellac. This kind of thing: Couldn't quickly find a better picture, but you get the idea. It can be made shinier, this one is from pre-1830. Lamp black comes from art supplies, shellac you will already know. I'd guess...

The table analogy doesn't work because of what economists described as rivalrousness. Your table is rivalrous because if I take it away you can't still eat your dinner from it. Your photo is non-rivalrous because if I copy it, you still have it and can copy, display, etc it. This is why taking...

It would be nice if, on Monday, the government explained what it was aiming at when relaxing/removing lockdown. There was an interesting discussion on Radio 4's Today programme this morning, two scientists taking opposing positions on when and how fast things could be relaxed. But they both made...

I think it's more complicated than that (though no-one here wants my several pages of academic writing with footnotes which analyse this!). 1. People don't actually obey the law because they don't know precisely what it says. Instead they obey what they think the law is (which is influenced by...

It does matter where the claim is coming from I'm afraid. Different laws in different countries. In the UK the fair dealing exception doesn't cover use for a charity. Photos are almost always in copyright unless the photographer is more than 70 years dead. If you didn't take it yourself, or...

The thread linked to by JamesHow seems to me to be a pretty accurate statement of how best to proceed. Make an offer to pay a reasonable licence fee, based on the standard charge of the copyright owner. I believe that PicRights works roughly like this: 1. It searches the Web for images and...

I have the miniature shoulder plane. It's really useful for tidying up binding channels on ukuleles and guitars. I'd guess it might also be useful for tiny boxes, or dolls house furniture.

The two rights have different requirements because they give quite different benefits. Copyright just exists when you record a work (writing, song, picture etc) - no need for registration, not even a need for a copyright notice, though these can give you advantages later. But all you get is the...

Be careful about cross-grain reinforcement. Your top will expand and contract across the grain by several mm because of humidity changes, and rigid reinforcement means the stress has to go somewhere - usually by the whole thing cupping up or down! So cross-grain reinforcement needs to allow for...

A friend of mine is an architect and he designs bomb-proof doors for his country's embassies. I'd guess those might be rather spendy!

I think the reason it seems sketchy is that the media reports you read or watch only focus on what they consider highlights. As an analogy think of the Repair Shop - you never see the full repair process, just selected bits. All the vaccines do the same thing, they stimulate your immune system...

I'd say start by buying new saws. Old saws are almost certainly blunt, and by the time you've bought files, made a jig to hold the saw while sharpening, learnt to sharpen and fixed your mistakes, you'll have spent a lot of time and effort without cutting anything! Others will no doubt give you...

The top is usually domed too, but less visibly. To answer Billy_whizz, the sound might change a bit as the top rises and falls, but you'd need good ears to hear it. The main change us the height of the strings above the fingerboard, which changes how it plays.

The important trick is designing to allow the wood to move without destroying the thing you've made. I know of three ways: 1. Design so that variable width doesn't matter. Example: a table top attached with buttons. It's a bit wider today than yesterday, but not enough to notice. 2. Put it in...

I think the discussion about guns is simplistic, because it suggests there are just two extremes. This Wikipedia table is interesting, giving estimates of guns per 100 of the population: Estimated number of civilian guns per capita by country - Wikipedia Naturally the US heads the table at...

I once described the reclaimed timber I used to build a ukulele as "mahoganoid". Feel free to borrow that.