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Welcome to the forum Luthier. I would go with the QS from Workshop Heaven. I have certainly heard that not all the planes coming out of the factory in China are of the same quality. Mignal is right that you can fettle an old plane but there can be other problems apart from sole flatness which...

Aideym, I think a UF (Cascamite etc.) glue would be a much better solution for your project. It is very strong and has an open time of around 30 minutes (more if it is cold) which I would imagine would be a very useful trait for what you are doing. Jim

Absolutely not I'm afraid. A friend had a small business one of whose lies was making speaker cabs and thought along similar lines. The results were acoustically disastrous and they had to take them back and replace with non PU glued cabs. Quite an expensive lesson. While PU does fill gaps...

If you combine that with a box over it lined with acoustic foam, the noise reduction will be huge. Jim

Jim, I thought you were joking about the weeping willows otherwise I would have responded in similar vein. How about something like a white birch or there are some other nice birches with bark in more subtle cream and orange shades which peels every year. There are of course also many lovely...

Jim, Eucalypts are generally great regenerators so there is a good chance you will not kill it. The chances are that you will get multiple stems sprouting from around the area to which you chop it down. You can cut it low, leave them all and let it develop a more bushy form or reduce the...

Peter, I know of two, but both are in West Sussex, so rather a long way from you. One is W. L West & sons at Selham near Petworth and the other is English Woodlands at Cocking near Midhurst. Both seem able to reliably supply good stain free sycamore, Jim

I assume you are having the glass made for these. One solution for future pieces would be to have them made with 3 or 4 holes drilled and placed just inside the inner circumference of the barrel. You could then put bolts/studs through these holes that project down into the barrel and locate...

Absolutely. A bandsaw and a p/t is a powerful combination if you are working mostly in solid wood. You may spend a bit more time in preparing it compared with rough cutting on a t/s but you save quite a bit of very vaaluable space and the extratime is much less significant in a non-commercial...

The most space hungry thing on your list is the table saw. Unless you will be working mostly with sheet materials, you would be best to leave it out and maybe think about a small planer/ thicknesser. In that space you will need to think about putting things on wheels so you can move them...

I wouldn't use PVA because there is a fair chance that is what was originally glued with, and PVA doesn't stick well to old PVA. MY choice would be either a cyanoacrylate (superglue) with which you would have to work fast, or urea formaldehyde (Cascamite etc.) both of which will stick to most...

Nice story, Frank. My experience has some similarities. Dearest had a new hip on 13th Dec. so I have been on a crash cooking course, having survived 43 years of marriage without the need. Roast beef rather than turkey, but under instruction it turned out rather well and she even bought me a...

You certainly won't go wrong with QS planes from Workshop Heaven although I have heard that QS from other suppliers are not necessarily of the same standard. Buying used can be a bit of a minefield and it is true that pretty much any plane can be made to work well but, if you are unlucky, it...

Sorry to be a pedant but the contemporary Mini was a cheap car which the current Mini isn't. A better comparison would be with one of the current crop of cheap small cars which would put it at around £10k. Admittedly it wouldn't be made in the UK although it might be made in Europe. Jim

Why would want to sort it out? A blade bed that is not aligned with the sole is unforgiveable, even on the cheapest plane. Send it back, it's not fit for purpose, or in consumer protection speak, not of merchantable quality. Jim

Given that a CD rack isn't likely to suffr from damp or tea spillages I would go with shellac - quick and easy to apply a few coats and you can cut it back and burnish to any level of sheen you want. Whatever you do avoid water borne finishes on walnut.they look cold and insipid. Jim

I have one of those Stanley's, Andy, my first block plane. Much fettled with a Japanese laminated blade it is very good and much nicer to use than the LN 60 1/2 (awkward to adjust) which I sold. I also hae a Veritas NX60; beautifuly made and with many refinements but not as comfortable as the...

It will get damaged but I still think it is worth putting some sort of finish on a bench simply because it will keep the dirt from getting ingrained and it makes it a whole lot easier to remove glue drips. I have done mine with Danish oil which works fine. I had never thought of using floor...

I agree with the comment on F&C about the use of unedited press release puffery to fill space, it is irritating. Coming back to BW, I hope my comments are not taken as implying that I think the inclusion of simpler stuff downgrades the magazine, something I was trying to avoid. Well written...

Going back to the beginning, I too worry about BW going monthly. It isn't just the problem of keeping up the standard which is difficult enough in itself, but the inevitabbility of repetition overt time. BW has more than its share minor editorial ****-ups as it is and, to my eyes, it looks...