Search results

I think you'll be perfectly safe using black walnut for napkin rings! All species of walnuts contain a compound called juglone, it's in the leaves, wood & nuts. The 'edible' walnut (Juglans regia) contains less than the American species (J. nigra) but we are not particularly sensitive to it &...

Andrew posted while I was typing. If you are nervous about drilling your plate bare, sandwiching it will certainly prevent any catching and having your saw blade turn into a ninja weapon, but it is highly unlikely to catch using a regular drill, they don't self-feed in steel like they do in...

I forgot about these. They will do better than ordinary HSS bits, but you will still only get a few holes out of them in saw plate if my own experience is anything to go by (the bits I tried may not have been 'Best British Quality'). The OP just wants two holes in a single saw with the least...

I've made something north of 100 saws so I've drilled a few holes through varying thicknesses of saw plate & chewed up various types of bits over the last dozen years or so & learnt a few lessons along the way. I think you are over-anticipating the difficulty, drilling the two holes in your saw...

How about "Tool Tragic"? :) I think a lot of us are afflicted by the same habit, Dan. I hate seeing good tools in a neglected or abused state & feel compelled to 'rescue' them, especially if they are going for pennies. Most I pass on either as a gift or certainly no more than I paid for them...

Could be, Phil - I was thinking of an article in Fine Woodworking where he made a low table using "twisted" dovetails to join top & legs. It was in the early 80s so I wouldn't trust my memory, but I thought that somewhere in that article, or maybe some other, he was extolling the virtues of the...

Best o luck Henniep, but I suspect a goodly number of such repairs will fail again in due course because it isn't the glue that's the problem, it's the design or construction of the chair that's the real issue. I constantly read that folks use "strong modern glues", with the implication that...

About the only topic that engenders more differences of opinion than sharpening is what plane should be used for which purpose! :D As others have pointed out, with enough patience & pig-headedness you can do just about anything with a #4, but given options, it's not the plane I'd choose for...

I'm not familiar with that designation - is it a 'block' plane? Some pics of the offending bits would help. In any case, my answer would probably be much the same - if both threads are stripped, you have a major problem. A die & tap or a thread chaser will only clean up what is left of the...

I think rationalization would be the most likely driving factor that led to Stanley switching from the 2 1/4" to 2 3/8" blades. What I've often wondered was why they chose that "in between" size in the first place? I can only think it was to make a clear distinction between the 5 1/2 & the #6...

I second Orraloon's advice - do only what is necessary to make the bench functional. I guess you can't tell for sure from pictures alone, but it looks in remarkably good shape for something that's probably a good deal older than I am (75). I'd be happy to leave the scars it has acquired knowing...

Adrian, 'backlash' is the fraction of a turn (or as much as several turns) where nothing is happening when you spin the thumbwheel the opposite way after advancing or retracting the blade. It's caused by two things, one being any 'slop' (aka 'clearance') in the fit of the adjuster yoke in its...

Jacob, you may be using "file" in a very loose sense, but if you can file a modern replacement blade down to fit then you must have some pretty magical files - they are hardened to just a couple of Rockwell points less than a typical file for their entire length. The blades of old were usually...

Don't beat yourself up, the change happened long before most of us were born & it's probably only common knowledge amongst those who've read Patrick Leach's "Blood & Gore" from cover to cover & remember every word, or had personal experience. I discovered this little bit of Stanley idiosyncrasy...

Hmm, it doesn't take all that much practice to learn to file/hone a 90 degree edge on your scraper. I agree that if you really, really can't do that then putting a slightly acute angle on is likely to get you a usable edge, but it's so much more economical of your time to be able to prepare 4...

As DW sez, a fine-grained wood & a nice tactile finish are probably the main criteria. A smooth handle is so much more pleasant to hang onto for a long planing session. It doesn't have to be especially strong, Beech is hardly the most robust wood in the world, after all. I think the most...

Much depends on what you are carving, of course. I think the lightly-faceted, off-tool finish is highly appropriate for some carving, less-so for others. My 'carving' is limited in scope & done sporadically over the years as required, so I haven't acquired a high level of skill. Most of what...

Aah, now I'm on the right page! I've not met or used those gadgets, I jumped to the conclusion you were using card scrapers (just an oblong piece of sawplate-like steel sans handles). And I have very limited experience of using scrapers on carvings, although making saw handles is a form of...

Phil, I presume you are talking about "card" scrapers? I don't know what you are using your scrapers for (because it can make a difference), but here is some advice from my own experience, from wich you can take what you will. To add to what DW has said & maybe help you to grasp the...

Dunno Ian - it does look pretty convincing, it even has the lines of genuine ivory, caused by lines of tiny pores. It's quite a bit softer & easier to turn than the real thing, but it's limitation is the small size of the pieces you can cut out of a nut. Quite ok for models & little stuff, & I...