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Nice, I'm jealous! Don't have room for one in my new workshop....

You've made it your own :wink:

I've used that sort of bench and didn't find it had any particular advantages. In fact I found it a PITA. Much prefer my own setup which I have found makes things easier and quicker in every way. People are different I guess, they approach things in different ways, and different ways can get...

I was tempted! I didn't for two reasons — 1) because when veneering one is often working fast and it seemed to me that threaded rod is likely to do more damage to a component if given a careless knock; 2) aesthetics — which is a bit silly with workshop equipment, but I'm putting so much effort...

Ash is a lot nicer than tulip wood, (which is usually used for painted work), and easy to get hold of, and not too expensive. But all wood will move, and with hard wood it is more work to plane it flat! Might be a good idea to get the hand planing skills sorted (really not that hard) then you...

I've been spending the last few evenings making the steel rods for the cross bars. This involved threading 20mm steel rod at each end to make 16 assemblies with wing nuts, washers and shaft collars. They were made from 20mm steel rod. The holes they go through are 22mm, as I wasn't...

Finished at last! Made use of lots of the advice here, and a couple of ideas of my own. I ended up doing it at my woodworking bench; I don't like doing metal work at it really, but it has a better vise and also a corner which enabled me to walk round as I turned the die which made it easier...

My advice would be: a) don't buy Dakota and expect great quality ;) b) get a couple of cheap second hand gouges from ebay or similar to practice on c) you can do it freehand with a standard grinding wheel, but you have to be very, very gentle and delicate, don't aim to take off much at a time...

Hi Mark, that's very nice :). Just wondering if you reinforced the dovetailed leg joints with metal straps like you did on the victorian drum table? You got a bit of stick for that in thread I noticed, but I have recently fixed a set of eight round dining tables for a client which were made...

It will be absolutely fine so long as the timber is seasoned. No need for special precautions. If you think about it both parts will shrink (and expand when it's humid) about the same, including the joints, so it will all stay tight — one reason dovetails are such a good joint.

I'm wondering what construction methods you used — ideally a design should be able to compensate for or absorb a fair degree of wood movement without it being a problem. Can we see a picture?!

Completely normal, and often not just for cheap gear either unless you are getting stuff of Felder type quality where they come and set it up for you. Also with secondhand gear you'll have to fettle it to get it working as you want it to as often as not.

It's much easier to source oak faced mdf than oak faced plywood. The plywood is usually a special order and you may be expected to get so many sheets (or a pallet load!) to make it worth their while. MDF is cheaper too, but... it's mdf. Nicer than either would be to get some birch ply and...

I go straight to 600 from the grinding wheel, works fine.

sure, but if someone is bright enough to be able to read and absorb such a leaflet then they almost certainly don't need to. Still, as Mick says, it's not actually meant to be instructions, they're just covering their backs for when someone does submerge it in the bath and turns it on....

Thanks for these hints, very helpful. Just wondering, assuming the die is Ok (it seems reasonable quality) how long can I expect it to last before replacing? Just wondering if I should order more to finish this job.

No, sadly. I think I'll do two every evening for the next seven days, should be manageble.... Threaded rod won't do, I only want thread at each end, otherwise I would have used it.....

Thanks everyone, I've just tried Steve's idea and it works a treat. :) It's a new die, but still hard work. I've got 80" of thread to cut altogether, divided between 16 rods. Will look like Popeye by the time it's done....

Hi there, I'm trying to thread some 20mm steel rod, and am having trouble holding it. I have a reasonable engineers vise but it doesn't have pipe jaws, and as I'm having to apply a lot of pressure to the die wrench the vise won't grip and is chewing the rod up. Any ideas about a work around to...

Thanks for the interest! I've some more bits and bobs to be delivered in the next few days, so should be more coming soon I hope....