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Thank you so much for your kind comments, I have had the site ready for over a week but was dubious of pressing the publish button in case folk thought it was poor. I have been a fan of the old Hobbies company since I was a small boy. I was absolutely delighted at the reply I got from the...

Thanks Adam, have done. Funny thing is that another of my sites Google will not list it even though they host it but Bing finds it fine.

After promising to create a website for several years I can now announce that I have just published it on Google sites. The main purpose of the site is to record the History of the Hobbies and handicraft companies and fretworking in general. There are pages on various saws through the ages...

That is a great shame. the Diamond is a well made saw and has no complex electronics to worry about as found in some of today's machines, because of this they are cheap and simple to repair. apart from the switch, speed control the motor and some wiring there is nowt complicated about the saw...

Have to agree with AES. The Diamond saw was fitted with an aquarium pump in the factory and it works very well. In my opinion the tiny bellows fitted to some cheaper saws are ineffective. :)

I am a Diamond owner and a biker (Honda ST1100 pan euro), and in my younger days before I had a car licence I used to carry around my tool box on the back of a Royal Enfield in my job repairing washing machines but I have to say that I would not fancy transporting a Diamond on any motor cycle...

Have you seen my series of youtube videos on a repair to this bandsaw? I think I have an original instruction manual which given time I could scan for you.

When my Diamond speed controller failed some years ago Doug Woodward (the manufacturer) sent me a free replacement tyristor to fit, Unfortunately Doug is no longer with us but you should find it easy to replace. As you can see from the pictures AJS posted it is very simple and if your saw works...

They do sell a few more expensive blades such as Olsen etc but normally Niqua come in yellow packets (packed for Hobbies) maybe the factory sent them in plain wrappers Sageblatter seems to be German for Sawblades. If you bought them from Hobbies they will be good, they are a reputable company. :)

Spot on on both counts, wood from these suppliers does work out quite expensive but as you say it is very good quality, We have a model railway shop near us (Cheltenham Model centre) and they sell small plywood panels inc the 1.00mm you mention.

I have both types of Diamond blade holders and I show both types in my video, but as no one here seems to watch my videos The holders for 5inch standard fretsaw blades are Type 7 holders whereas the all purpose quick action blade holders are called type 6. Unless requested at the time of...

I made this little letter rack from the oak sides of some drawers that were thrown out by a shop.

That''s a bit of a 'harsh' Obviously you choose decent wood from furniture rather than anything warped or with woodworm! Would you describe the little decorative cupboard below a 'rubbish'? I made this using wood from an old chest of drawers inc the fretted overlays. Wood from old furniture is...

You might find my videos covering the Diamond fretsaw of some interest, I do cover the subject of blades in the videos. The machine is unique in the variety of blades you can use, even lengths of old bandsaw blades can be utilised. Pehaps have a look at the videos for more info. Part one is here

Old furniture often offers excellent wood for fretwork, many people throw out good quality sets of drawers etc made from decent plywood and hardwood and purchase modern looking items made from MDF that are held together with plastic fittings. Old Drawers sides are often oak or an oak look-alike...

Another tip we use is to run normal wax candle up and down the blade frequently, his helps too. :)

A few years ago I did try some Olson blades, they cost quite a bit more but I did not find much difference using them than the cheaper Niqua blades, they also went rusty quite quickly, (maybe I just had a poor batch?) :)

I have purchased blades from many sources over the years, never had a problem with any of them except as I mentioned the Flying dutchman ones which for me were useless, they were probably a bad batch but it put me off buying them again and I ended up with lots of useless blades and hence wasted...

I hope they are better than the ones I bought off him, they all snapped within a few minutes of use, I haven't dared to buy any more from him and stick with the ones from Hobbies. Hopefully I was unlucky to have a bad production run. :)

As I mentioned in your other thread Hobbies UK have most Niqua blades marked as in stock from £2.45 to £3.30 per dozen with postage at £2.45 on any quantity. Or are you looking for a different brand of blade?