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If I've read your description right, you seem to be doing the right things. When doing the bevel side, I wouldn't bother polishing the whole bevel surface, just put the secondary bevel on at about 30 degrees or so, just until you can feel the burr across the whole edge, then back off. Narrower...

That's a bad case of rust - but there's good plane lurking under there! Certainly electrolysis is one method, but there are several others. Scrape the worst off, and attack with wire wool and white spirit is one, which works well on bigger bits. Bit fiddly for small screws and the like...

The usual advice is to start with a number 5 jack plane, use it to become familiar with the techniques of squaring up and finishing timber and the chore of keeping a sharp edge, then start to add other types as need arises, and depending on the type of work you end up doing. Perhaps the best...

Somebody explained that trick to me, too. However, no matter how I adjust the mask, I find it doesn't work consistently. Whatever I do, my glasses still steam up to some extent. I have to say I utterly detest the things. I go along with the instruction to wear them in shops just out of courtesy...

I recall a similar thought being raised on the forum some years ago, but can't find the thread, now. Someone explained it by saying the big manufacturers realised some time in the 1990s that many of the drills sold through the big DIY sheds in particular, were often bought as presents, tended to...

Ah - yes; so that's where I learned of the ali - autosol trick! Blimey, Andy - you have a good memory remembering threads from so long ago! I've used the technique, after removal of gross rust by scraping, and it works really well. I don't think there's any electrolytic problems because the ali...

There's an old trick using a piece of scrunched-up aluminium baking foil and a few small dabs of Autosol metal polish. The result is a smooth blade rather than a shiny one, but really smooth and slick is what you want for sawing - shiny is just nice cosmetically. There may be a problem with the...

That was my immediate reaction to the video, too - or something about half way between an adze and a paring chisel. Because I have no experience of either timber framing or shipwrighting, I have a rather sketchy knowledge of the equipment, but I did once hold a slick and could see how effective...

Talk to your makers and junior about what slows them down, frustrates them, and causes bottlenecks. Not just once - continuously and regularly. Making them a real part of the team could increase productivity significantly.

It's not that many decades ago that chemists used to make up many of the potions they sold, and that butchers used to grind their own spice mixes for pies and meat curing. Go back a few more years, and Victorian middle class kitchens would be catering to a large family with a household...

David - you've taken things said in good faith by more than one contributor on this thread, and misrepresented them on another forum (check what for yourself - I can't be bothered to set it out). You've denigrated people's knowledge and opinions on this forum - reference to cowpats, for example...

Well, I did say you probably wouldn't either like or accept my opinion. Got that right! I'm sticking with it (my opinion) though. You have four chisels, all made at different times, which have the same owner's mark. They all have the same bevel treatment because either the owner or the dealer...

You have four chisels, all with the same owner's mark. There are three laminated, and one solid. The maker's marks are all different, but all are by I&H Sorby. The different styles of the marks indicate different dates of manufacture; the solid steel suggests 20th century, and the sans-serif...

I've just posted several examples of I&H Sorby marks with serifed letters, so they are about. Rummaging about the web (search for "I&H Sorby" and click on "Images", or click on the links to their history) and there are many. The paring chisel shape dates it to later half of the nineteenth...

I came across this I&H Sorby paring chisel for sale on one of the dealers' websites. There's a good picture of the stamp, which has serifed letters and the hanging sheep mark. The shape of the chisel overall, and particularly it's shoulders, suggest a mid to late 19th century date...

Maybe, given that most of those items look to be fairly easy to identify by someone reasonably knowledgeable in the relevant field, it's something of a public relations exercise? I can't image any museum curator having the expertise themselves, but surely part of the job is maintaining a range...

Look, folks - could we debate without personal insults, please? If you don't like someone's opinion, post your own and let others make their own minds up, or demonstrate with facts and reason why an opinion is incomplete or misguided. A couple of weeks ago, maybe on a now-deleted thread...

Can't find the reference, now, but some time ago we had a discussion about Sheffield maker's marks. One snippet I recall is that the earlier ones tend to have letters with distinct serifs, but the serifs tended to disappear in the early 20th century. Looking at the photo of the mark above...

Two opposing views? 1) Do as we damn well tell you, or else. 2) Show me the evidence and let me make my own mind up. Authoritarian or libertarian. Which one are you? (OK - I know that might wind some people up, and it isn't really intended to. It's just an illustration of two distinct ways...

If I'd walked into my bank six months ago with my face covered, they'd have done their nuts and possibly had me arrested (assuming there was a policeman within ten miles). Now they won't let me in without a face covering. Weird old world, isn't it!