Search results

A note on edge joining thin plates (these were around 4mm): 1. I've used hot hide glue to join these plates for two reasons. First, it's the best candidate to give me an invisible glue line even if my joint is not absolutely perfect. Second, if I discover that I've made a mistake in jointing I...

Now I have to glue the pieces together. This is the way I do it. First, I use masking tape to stick them together, as on the right. Then I turn the joined pieces over on a flat board and put a pencil under the join to make a kind of tent. Bang nails in along both sides. If I apply glue along...

A friend's daughter Jenna (aged 10) won a set of Tasmanian Blackwood in the raffle at a ukulele festival, and very generously offered it to me as a present! Heavy negotiation ensued, and eventually I beat her up to me building the set as a uke for her. I also promised progress reports, and as...

If I want accuracy then I scribe the line with a scalpel or knife, cut close, and then plane down to the line.

White Spirit. It will keep its wet look for 3 or 4 minutes, and I've never had finish problems as a result (though I always start with shellac).

I think you might be surprised how easy it would be to hand plane this flat (assuming it's a normal sized table, not one of those refectory jobbies). Plane at 45 degrees to the grain direction, taking fairly coarse shavings to start with, and you'll soon remove the ridges. Once you're roughly...

I also find this, from an antiques appraisal of a print: "The Reliable Company of Newark, NJ imported both prints and paintings from Europe. There is not a lot of information out there on them but they did a large about of work throughout the mid 20th century...mostly in the 1950's. Like many...

I'm baffled - trying to imagine it in operation makes me think it stretches some leather component to fit (maybe a machinery belt?) but who knows. On Naznomad's lead, you should contact Crafts of New Jersey (http://craftsofnj.org), a hobby club of tool collectors. If it's locally made they...

My mantra (having read all the recent threads with deep interest and some confusion) is to set the cap iron as close as I can to the thickness of shaving I want to take. But I'm making ukuleles, so ease of pushing the plane is not a big consideration whereas tearout in a plate which is just...

Really quite quiet just running. Medium volume hum plus some high end whine from the blade as it gets up to speed. Of course, once the blade contacts wood ... but even then not too bad I'd say it works pretty well for what it is. It might even be worth removing the workings and building them...

Thought about that, but the lack of a blade guard is a concern if the recipient doesn't understand the risks of a table saw with no guard. I'd hate to hear that some novice ended up a finger short.

Here's a picture: The table is about 2 feet long and is flattish. I'd say it's for quick and rough dimensioning - it'll chew off 3mm of oak at a time, but only about 6 inch widths. Would also be useful to prop your workshop door open on a windy day.

Here you go: I think "well-used" would be accurate. The fence thing might work if you made a couple of brackets. If you're driving past Stowmarket some day when I'm around and this is any use to you, please take it away. Otherwise, dump I fear.

Now taken. Benchtop model, quite old, but the blade goes up and down and tilts and it rips wood. Rough cutting, not precision work. Note: the blade guard is missing though riving knife is still there, so you can't have it if you're a novice. I'd like to know that you plan to make it a...

Now taken. I think this is B&Q own brand. Purchased a few years ago before I learnt to use a hand plane and discovered that I can do all I want with that. So this just takes up space, can't be bothered with the effort to sell it via eBay if someone here could use it. It's marked as a...

I've just got a better bandsaw. TBH this is a fairly awful machine, but I got my money's worth (£25 s/h) wrestling with it and learning how to use a bandsaw. I doubt it will ever be brilliant, but someone might find it useful for cutting thin stuff. Needs a new blade (kinked the old one trying...

Thanks to all for your help. I've ended up choosing the Pax 1776 and it's sitting in its box as I type. Reasons: Good comments about its usability, it *looks* like a present (important for the giver!), and perhaps some sentimentality about UK manufacture and the traditional techniques. I can't...

Custard, your offcuts are calling to me! But I'm in Suffolk, so too far to pop down and rummage. If you have English Walnut offcuts which would make a uke, I'd love to buy a suitable pack. The minimum I need is (in inches): 10 x 3 x1, from which I can resaw top and back. 13 x 2 x 1/2 for...

Just back from a splendid weekend at a ukulele festival, where there were of course loads of production instruments and quite a few hand-made ones (for the pedants, of which I'm one, production instruments are hand made to a degree, but only by putting together standard components rather than...

I think the feet are sawn, so it's only the "neck" part which is bent, and that looks around 6mm to me. I've bent oak for a ukulele at 2mm using a hot pipe (3 inch steel tube with heat gun in the end) and my oak bent really easily. If I were making this I'd bend two 3mm pieces and laminate...