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Cheap plywood from China, as is often found in DIY stores and builders merchants often looks good on the surface due to better quality veneers on the faces than in the cores, but beware, those outer faces can be tissue-paper thin and can be sanded through very easily by mistake.

Or make them from solid poplar. For load bearing, you can't beat long grain throughout. There is or at least used to be a type of plywood called drawer-side plywood, made from gaboon, a bit like sapele, but it was expensive. Ideal for drawers as all plys laid in the same direction. The same made...

No but drowning is a pretty natural way to die and reasonably quick. Could happen to anyone if they got shipwrecked.

What are your tests? I'm intrigued. Also lucky not to have payment problem since 30 years ago when the person had an emergency, which turned out to be just a bath panel needed making and fitting on a thursday evening so they could have a party at the weekend. Cash on the table to help myself to...

I use Google docs then viewable on all devices as well as album links to photos automatically uploaded from phone.

I look at the weather forecast and make sure I walk my dogs at the optimum times for each day, that way I don't feel so bad if I have to do admin and visits at a weekend or evening. I do some quotes in the day. It is all completely variable but my assistant does a regular 36hour 4 day week. As I...

Go and buy products from countries that have a better human rights policy then, but you will pay a lot more. We are all guilty of being advantaged from low cost products, either due to lack of funds, lack of availability (because cheap versions have pushed the expensive out,) or just bargain...

I worry whether deteriorating plastics may be carcinogenic?

John Hall, your link about deterioration of plastics in art was a great read, thanks.

We have a south facing conservatory which gets severe extremes of temperature. Every few years we have to replace the wall mounted fan which always disintegrates due to the type of plastic they are made from (have not noticed a smell by the way) (My old marples chisel handles smell but do not...

Doesn't need a gun. If you get it in a bag you can drown it.

Many years ago, the surface planer where I worked on a farm location wouldn't turn on one morning. Further inspection found a mouse with an incinerated head by a gnawed cable. Ever since then I have had a strict regime to keep all food and drink shut away in cupboards and maintain cleanliness...

I think this thread is about keeping vermin out of the house, not bringing them in, dead or alive. Field voles are probably not the cause of the problems. From what I have read so far, the peppermint oil suggestion sounds best.

2 year old cascamite. About 1 hour open time. If you buy a pot of cascamite once a year you can use whichever batch is most appropriate for your use. Cascamite is great for gap filling in certain situations. Not suggesting shoddy work with gaps but there are some genuine situations where a bit...

Ironic, isn't it that traditional good quality brass screws do not hold as well. Agree about the visual effect.

Reisser cutter screws are great. Although I love torx, if you are going to use them it will be infuriating if you have a mix of both torx and pozi so I have reverted to just pozi except for very small ie 3.0 gauge screws where torx are far superior and for those I use the Axminster Woodspur...

Dangerous for short pieces, sure, but how do you think we coped when all timber came as waney edged? We cut by eye to a line on the plank and if the plank had tension in it we had to hammer wedges into the saw kerf behind the riving knife. There is an awareness of the fight between the wood, the...

Riving knife even more important imho. I have after thousands of hours experience sometimes omitted crown guard in some considered situations but I would never omit the riving knife. Risk assess always.

Not enough budget by far to prioritise a thicknesser. Better get thicknessing and even heavy sawing done by a small cabinetmaker who will probably put it through their machine for some tea-money. They might even speed sand it as well.

That budget won't get you far. Maybe best find a mate with a workshop and offer your garage as excess storage/assembly area in return for sharing his/her better equipped workshop, and the £500 can go toward basic essentials and a contribution for electric and wear and tear.