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I complained about a car ad - think it might have been a new Focus - some years back, as it was described as having a fully galvanised body shell. To my mind that says a dip in a molten zinc bath, seams all full of zinc. Probably last for 50 years or more. What you get, of course, is zinc...

The load on the screw is quite high. With a jaw depth of 95mm there must be about 80mm between the pivot points, and the screw maybe 30mm below the bar pivot. 200kg clamping force loads one jaw at 100kg, so the load on the screw is 80/30 x 100 kg, presumably threaded in about 15mm of ali.

Have you seen the USA) Paulk bench (Utube)? originally no mft holes, but set up with wooden imitation of the festool setup for his track saw. He uses it to make cabinets on site. Could be worth a look, and inexpensive! I've a Mafell saw; mafell track seems OK for panel cross cuts, the vacuum...

Probly mushroomed by smelting with club hammer to shock a rusted screw loose. Sort of impact wrench minus the rotation. Does help sometimes.

Phosphoric acid is good stuff. I got mine from a chemical supply house locally - full strength known as syrupy phosphoric acid - cos it is, abit. diluite 1 part acid to about 9 of water for a 10% solution. Although full strength, it won't dissolve your fingers away, but wear rubber gloves and an...

Hello, Cap'n I'm in mid Devon, and interested in your chuck. I haven't turned since schooldays, some 60 odd years ago, but just got a lathe to tidy up, an early Axminster import. I think it has 1 x 12tpi thread, so I'd need an insert for that size. As the chuck is plated on steel, is the...

The USA has poor food hygiene standards, and has almost ten times the rate of food poisoning per 1000 population than the UK. Clorination of chicken won't harm you in the short term, but it hides low standards of poultry husbandry which also require regular use of antibiotics, a use no longer...

Wife and I had ours 10 days ago. Local (rural) GPs got together for mass jabs at relatively nearby sport centre and sent out invites. Pfizer frozen jabs - they are being used only at big centres as must defrost big batch at a time. Well organised, car in and out separated, and socially distanced...

Buy yourself a Numatic Henry spare vac end hose commector and fit some new hose to it (google around for vac spares). I have a (36mm I think?) home made hose like this, with a festool (spares again) connector on the other end. Fits many other tools, with standard outlets (35mm I think) like the...

A few years back B&Q were selling 18mm birch ply, solid 1 side, think it was £33 incVAT. Bought what I could store, cheapest locally unless you could take a full pack. As you say, the other stuff is rubbish

N & S of Eire? Sureley that's Rockall and Scotland?

We began with a heater pullswitch (20A?) and a pull cord run along the ceiling. Tug on, tug off, where ever you were. But not quite, so progressed to an Aldi/Lidl remote switching set up (~£10 for 4 sockets), with the remote in my pocket. The motor starter was wired up as a contactor, powered by...

Dehumidifiers for a workshop won't use much electricity - less than half a 500W tubular heater. The heater has a thermostat (I hope), and a dehumidifier has a humidistat, so like the heater, it isn't on all the time. Also, most of the power taken by the dehumidifier ends up as heat - the air...

Interesting to read comment from all ages. When leaving school (early '60's) we were advised to go for subjects that interested us. Getting a degree then meant you were in the highest 2.5% academically, and advisers said any pure subject degree would tell a future employer about your relevant...

The japanese tool arival brought camelia oil, traditonally used on cloth in a pot, made from a bit of 50mm dia bamboo cut with a node for the base. What we get sold is expensive and contains a fair bit of mineral oil (baby oil). For some time I've used rapeseed oil available cheap from any...

No doubt a skillfully manned small boat can survive alone on the economic sea. It would do better in a convoy. A larger vessel entirely is more likely to make better and faster progress, as there are more resources under command. As of now, the skills navigating our small boat are questionable...

Yes, but only for solvent weld waste! Push fit is not glueable with any success - but the rubber seals hold it well enough for drains! Solvent weld waste pipe easily available up to 50mm holds together well without glue, the fittings have a sight taper. Our workshop has a 50mm ceiling mounted...

Thanks for the debunking of the "we only signed up to a trading club" nonsense. I voted to join and remember a lot of discussion about how trading would open the door to an ever increasing union in the future. Those who believe we were overrun by the armies of "ruling unelected Brussels...

Quite a few countries in the Asian area have managed to keep deaths below (some well below) 1000, per 50 million of population. In the UK 85,000 dead is roughly equivalent to 65,000 dead per 50 million. Hardly a success story. My neighbour, a retired GP, pointed out that Jeremy Ladygarden, when...

Yes, I wish we were still in, and no, I am not winging about it. What I do winge about is the distinct lack of promised golden upland on the horizon, and the growing realisation that those who promised the golden future have absolutely no idea what it might look like or from whence it will come...