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Don't really see how this is particularly relevant. North Sea oil windfall was one factor among many in the recovery from the nadir of the '70s, and the challenges we face now (and consequently the opportunities) are completely different to the problems the UK faced then.

A lot of clever beggars wrote off the UK economy in the 1970s, too ("managed decline", and all that). Turned out that wasn't the case. Nobody can forecast the future accurately, but challenges bring opportunities. I wouldn't mind taking a small bet that the UK economy outperforms a few of it's...

I think this question has arisen a time or two before. From memory, the thread OD and pitch give a long-discontinued thread from the American standard threads that preceded the adoption of UNF standards. For some reason, Record copied them directly when they started making Bailey planes in the...

Fortunately, they don't. The thought of that lot in mini skirts and blazers just makes me shudder. :shock:

Those are the cutting irons for a wooden plough plane (plane for making grooves). They often came in a set of 8, the smallest being for 1/8" grooves and the largest for 9/16" grooves. They were often numbered at the 'sneck' end, number 1 being the 1/8", 2 being 3/16", 3 being 1/4", and so on up...

Ah! With you now - I think. "Sorted" as they say!

Now I REALLY wish I hadn't bothered .... :cry:

Well, I don't want a fight over it, Mike.

Sorry, Lons. I shouldn't have snapped at you - you did make a fair point. My interpretation of building practice wasn't as clear as it should have been. No offence taken on my part!

Well .... whatever. I thought I'd try to give some thoughts on why some people talk about 'spot on' and some people get very picky about accuracy and tolerances. I clearly didn't do a very good job of it, and I wish I hadn't bothered, now.

Maybe I should have worded that a bit better - yes, in theory, perfection is possible, but in practice, it doesn't happen. Thus, you quantify the degree of imperfection that is acceptable in a particular situation. A calibration grade square has a smaller degree of acceptable imperfection than...

Words like "accuracy", "tolerance" and "spot on" seem to mean different things to different people, depending on the trade or profession with which they are most familiar. For someone brought up in a precision engineering environment, "spot on" is a meaningless term, because they are taught...

Thank you, Clive. That adds a little flesh to the bones, and explains why Forgebrook Fine Tools disappeared so soon after it's birth. I hope David Sealey found adequately remunerated employment, but it's good to know that he left at least one satisfied plane customer.

Nice one, Pete - not bad for a fiver! When I was still involved in heritage railways, an old chap walked into the mess room one day and gave us a brand, spanking new Moore and Wright 12" engineer's square, still with the manufacturer's grease on it, in the manufacturer's box, with the...

I suspect that most pub outdoor tables don't really tend to have a very long life, so I wonder if it's worth finishing them at all. After all, applying finish to a full complement of tables would be a fair old job, especially as they will probably have to be refinished annually. Besides...

I remember reading somewhere (and I'm damned if I can remember where, now - so don't necessarily take this as gospel!) that a reliable method of making drawn tubes wasn't perfected until about the 1840s, so chisels tended to be unferruled before then. Chisels were made with larger bolsters to...

I'd say that was good enough for garden decking but nowhere near good enough for joinery or furniture work - you're doing the right thing wielding the file!

If most of them are showing about the same error, it might be the checking instrument that's not quite right .... Maybe it could pay to double-check by using the old trick of finding a board or piece of thick card with a nice, straight edge, placing the squares' stocks against the straight...

They're certainly not common, but they do exist. Vintage 'firmer' chisels were made down to 1/16" (nominal), and Bristol Design used to offer a 2mm chisel when they still supplied their own make of bevel-edged chisels. Ashley Iles currently offer a 1/16" 'dovetail chisel' - and a fine and...