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Moisture meters are OK below ~30% mc but if you're looking to make furniture or anything that will be indoors you are aiming for around 9-10% mc. 30% mc is the approximate moisture content at which shrinkage will begin to occur as further drying takes place. It is called fibre saturation point...

If you want to determine moisture content you will need a balance and an oven. Take a piece of wood* and weight it (Wet wt). Dry in an oven at just over 100 deg C (105C recommended) for an hour or more depending on size (you can use a microwave oven but you may regret it when you have to clean...

I honestly don't think it will have much of an impact on Isaac Lord's. Not long ago I enquired about something they no longer stock but they knew where I could get one - they showed me the Axminster catalogue. I won't stop buying there and I don't think most of their customers will either. It...

Is this what you're looking for? Brian

Have a look at these courses. Brian

Raspberry jam wood is Acacia acuminata - from Australia. My favourite smelling wood is West Indian Satinwood - Zanthoxylum flavum - it has a smell of coconut when you cut into it - aaahhhh! Back to your elm - there wouldn't be any sign of rot or decay in the wood but the smell from the...

Here's something I never knew till now - elms (and other trees) suffer from a bacterial infection called bacterial wetwood or slime flux. The smell you experience could be down to the source tree being infected? I've never experienced any bad smells with elm. It could also be that you have a...

Aaahhh, the beauty of wood!! Brian

There is some truth to this but with higher temperatures the relative humidity will drop. There's also the effects of microclimates to consider!! The main reason for not leaving wood exposed in the winter in a very cold workshop overnight would be to avoid the formation of condensation. That...

If you leave timber covered outside (effectively what you have) it will reach equilibrium between 16-20% mc (depepnding on species) in the UK. You could, as you suggest, make a drying cabinet but unless you maintain the temp/humidity the mc of the wood will eventually revert back to 16-20%...

This look like what the Record TS200C wanted to be. It looks better but I would like to see the set-up and adjustment of the sliding table before making any judgement - if it's the same as the Record then forget it. Brian

You need to look at the entire anatomy of the wood, not just the end grain. Never trust an expert who relies solely on a hand lens. Brian

Hi Norman Recommendations are a tricky thing as I can only comment on my own purchases. I was looking for a small CI saw that wasn't too heavy and like most things in life you get what you pay for? If you can make the space you could look at the 10" Axminster which has a better? sliding table...

Hi Norman I have the TS200C and the only good thing about it is the fact it is on wheels. The saw itself is very solidly built, heavy, powerful and quiet. However, I'm convinced this saw went straight from drawing board to production without ever being evaluated by a user. Record have tried...

I just tried it and when I used the DownThemAll option it cleared everything except the bookmarks I have on the line below the URL box. Do you have that URL bookmarked? Brian

Tools/Clear Private Data Brian

An excellent source of literature on the health effects of woods (plants) is the Botanical Dermatology Database. It's not the easiest to navigate as you need to be familiar with the scientific names (and families) of whatever you are looking for. That's not too much of a problem though -just...

It's on his blog - Dorset Custom Furniture Brian

As Mark said it is down to the knives being ever so slightly higher than they need to be in relation to the outfeed table. In theory the cutter block should be at the height of the outfeed table but in practise needs to be a fraction higher. If there is too much discrepancy once the front of the...

Maybe I'm missing something here? Is there a discrepancy in the height of either side of the outfeed table relative to the cutter block? If there isn't, whether the table is parallel or not is irrelevant - mine isn't but that's down to the casting not being square - not an issue. Brian