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The sides are just under 2mm thick (they're not structural, but sides that thick are tough enough to keep an acoustic guitar in one piece, and any way, anything over 2mm is tough to bend - I use a hot pipe). The back is another matter. What kind of fool would plan to make a 12-piece back, you...

Some build highlights. I'm very much inventing this as I go because I couldn't find any images of the inside, except for one which was heavily modified to take a National cone. So I'm largely working from what the few repairers have written, and my gut feeling about what will work. The core of...

An obscure musical instrument, but I wanted one! It looks like this: And here it is in action: https://youtu.be/iX6GRmuvP0Q Making one of these is roughly 70% woodwork, 30% engineering and about 98% swearing. I posted build pictures on a luthier site, and so could reproduce them here if...

For rubbing down between coats I prefer fine wet and dry paper to steel wool. If you haven't completely filled the grain, little bits of steel wool can break off and get embedded there. And for me, "rub down" sounds too vigorous - I really just use the wet and dry to dust off the surface and...

I got a lot of good advice on this thread: saw-sharpening-deep-ripping-technique-t107524.html Note my epiphany about rake angle on page 3!

My rip saw is 26 inch, £2 from a car boot, and inelegantly sharpened by me. I'd guess that a 4 foot cut in a 1 1/2 inch mahogany board takes less than 10 minutes, including a pause for a breather. That might give you an idea how long you'd spend on a small table. If you're young and fit...

Hmm, plenty of food for thought here. A few years back I bodged up a trial scratch stock and didn't get on with it, but I was using the corner of a cabinet scraper so maybe a thicker piece of metal would improve it. Certainly easier to use. My plane would need a really sharp curve, maybe a...

I have one of those, and it's too useful! But only a 6mm blade, and very fiddly to use. Cheshirechappie's link shows a woodie which is much fatter above the working part and thus gives you something to hold. I'll bodge up something along those lines.

You could just stick some scraps of appropriately thick wood, or even card, on the back of the bit. When they're level with the surface, you're done.

Should have specified longitudinal curve - thanks CheshireChappie for guessing what I meant! The sole only needs to be 8mm wide for what I want - would a hacksaw blade be stout enough to make the iron from, or should I be looking for a plough plane blade?

Has such a thing ever existed? I've not seen one pictured ever, but that might be because we now have routers. I could definitely use one to cut the binding channels on a guitar or ukulele, and it would be fun to make one (a woodie would be fine). But the fact I've never heard of one suggests...

My experience is guitar and ukulele making, to put this in perspective.... I'd say the most important thing is to glue the beech on in comparatively low humidity (around 50%). You don't want the veneer to shrink and crack. A guitar top or back using a vertical grain cut (viewing the board end...

As you're not carving them, why not find your local green oak building company? Mine (a neighbour) would probably plan you those as offcuts for sensible money. The wood will move a bit, and maybe crack, but by the sound of it that might not be a problem for you.

When you get your tenon saw, find some scrap and cut a few tenons first. It's fairly easy to cut a straight and vertical line with a tenon saw, but not the very first half dozen!

Is the sneaky solution to inlay a false curved breadboard end into the top surface and then veneer the curve? With good glue joints this could look like one piece (If no-one looks underneath).

Without pictures these are guesses, but ... 1. The wood is probably scorched, but not badly from your description should sand out. 2. If nail varnish damaged the finish it's likely some kind of polyurethane varnish. 3. You want to refinish the whole top - a patch of new finish will stick out...

I've just invested my £14 too. I think 1.5 ins is the packing width, so the plane is probably 6 x 1 - quite a good size for cleaning up binding rebates on the tenortrope I'm currently building. Tenortrope? I might post some build pics when I get closer to being done.

Nitro is the standard finish for top end guitars (that or French polish) because it can go on very thin. But some top makers have now managed to spray catalysed polyester very thinly, and that's like an armour casing. Small scale luthiers rarely use nitro, which can go wrong in multiple ways...

Agreed. But do look into what was actually granted as a right of way. It won't help you to say it was "intended" to be temporary if the granting document says otherwise - the planners will go on what the document says. I see shed9 has just posted something similar. If the right of way is not in...

Milling from a solid block is very niche, and doesn't really count as all solid (though technically it is). 1. The resulting uke is madly heavy - great in a bar fight, no fun to hold and play. Back and sides are too thick to resonate much, so they don't add to the sound. 2. Many parts of the...