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Working to chisel size is good practise, but you have the sizing of the pins and the tails the wrong way round I think - the tail should be the bigger bit and the pin the small bit. If you worked to the smallest chisel you have for the baseline cut between the tails (i.e the bottom of the pin)...

I reckon they're pretty good for a first attempt at dovetails. Personally I would make the tails bigger in relation to the pins, but the layout of dovetails is a matter of personal preference so theres no right or wrong. Ed

I tend to camber my blades using the David C method of tipping the Eclipse guide a bit. I believe this is only really affecting the edges of the blade and the middle remains substantially straight. Consequently I have never had any concerns using blades sharpened in this way for shooting. Would...

Its a brilliant plane. I sharpen mine to 43 deg plus the bed angle of 12 deg gives an effective pitch of 55 degrees which seems to handle most things. I wouldn't buy it as a first bench plane though, because its too short to act as an all-rounder. The Veritas LAJ would be best of both worlds in...

Yes similar with the Mafell KSP55 that I use, but for the time it takes I always plane a couple of shavings to be sure. Ed

nothing wrong with that, if I had one I'm sure I'd do the same Ed

At the risk of repeating myself, PM me your name and address if you want to join. Ed

Ian I like those a lot - very crisp workmanship. I think the 3 bands detail on the front is a nice touch. I've got big lump of Yew waiting to be used, but the first time I made a small box with one end of it I found it to be quite an irritant so have not gone back to it yet. Nice work Ed

Using a no.7 is all very well if you have a generous battery of planes to select from, as you 2 gents do. Given that the OP only has a block plane at present I don't think a no.7 would be the most versatile first plane to buy. If you have made the material substantially straight by machine...

Classic Hand Tools

First plane to buy in my opinion is a 5 1/2 or something the same length such as the Veritas LAJ. That would be fine for the operation you are proposing here. Ed

Jesus, for a minute I thought he'd died. As I understand it the last series was a 'revisited' type of rehash anyway. He's probably had enough by now so its fair enough. He was my initial inspiration into woodwork so I salute him. Ed

Something must have changed at Rutlands, because although I haven't used them for about 5 years I have in the past made some big purchases with them and got good service. I bought my Mafell KSP55 from them and Lamello biscuit joiner - good service. I bought my Scheppach planer/thicknesser and...

I would cut with the TS55 and then hand plane, as Ironballs says. Forget the router its not worth the effort for edge jointing. The saw will get it substantially straight and then the plane just finesses the fit of one board to another. Ed

Yes just PM me your name and address. Ed

Its a bit of luck that you had those steels installed just before you take on a staircase job... Looking good Ed

UPDATE - we just hit 30 participants. Ed

Well I've got the real thing (Tormek) and don't think its that earth shatteringly great. I think it is a tool that is underwhelming even when its a good one. Ed

I usually try stroking my hand along the timber as you describe, but this is not foolproof. As Karl says, a light cut in what you think is the right direction will soon tell you if you have it correct or not. Don't forget that some timber will have grain that reverses along its length, so...

I suspect the cost of 4" stock will be enough to put you off, if you can even find it properly seasoned/dried. Carefully laminated, or edge jointed into a box, you can make a 4" leg out of 1" material that no-one will ever know is not a single piece. Ed