Search results

Blimey I find mitres hard enough let alone coping with coping joints on this stuff!

I’ve got about sixty mitres to cut in ogee mouldings for my boat cabin. They’re chunky (28x16mm max) mouldings but I’m still concerned about getting neat cuts on my admittedly rather mediocre chop saw. Would I maybe get a better result hand cutting with a jig? The only boxes and hand saw jigs I...

We blagged a couple of those pallet style boxes that paving slabs and the like are delivered to building sites in. Stood on edge they are perfect for neatly stacking up to 10-12 inch logs. The missus has even put an attractive sedum roof over ours.

I like my Ryobi One + battery one (especially after they replaced it v quickly under the 3 year warranty) but only goes up to about 32mm.

I’ve got one and I don’t really like it. It’s not rail-guided; it will plunge cut - sort of - but I found it could easily snatch and jump back at you if you started to veer off line: a combination of using it one handed and the small blade maybe. I only use mine with a guide now - and as I...

Packs of brushes from Lidl and Aldi have always proved surprisingly decent for regular painting says the painting dept here (Mrs G).

Someone I know has fitted a urinal in his widebeam!

The only poo on our boat roof comes from pigeons. I’m far from convinced about composting toilets.

Yes length is limited on northern canals but width is the main restriction - there’s no way from south to north in a widebeam except via The Wash. And, yes, the Polish built Aqualines were v good - steelwork in Gdańsk shipyard and woodwork using redundant machinery from the UK. PS we looked at...

Store them in bags on the roof :( The Canal & River Trust has recently banned them from the canal rubbish bins because too many were arriving in, er, pre compost state. The rubbish bins are sorted manually to separate recycling at the Biffa depots. Yuk!

I’m sure you realise but there is a massive difference between a hire boat - built to be simple and sturdy - and a top end bespoke boat. The joinery and technical sophistication of some of these is stunning. They are a great challenge for the joiner (especially a rubbish one like me). Nothing is...

Most villages have their own Facebook ‘Village Group’ and generally these allow local businesses to promote themselves. You should get likes and shares and comments from other users.

We have an old bureau as well with about six of these ‘secret’ drawers. I’ll probably find another soon!

Inland waterways boat so no salty stuff except on the chips.

The boat I’m rebuilding was put together with slotted brass screws. Nearly 30 years later I was able to unscrew almost all of them with relative ease leaving the wood undamaged beyond the screw holes. Says a lot for a) the quality of old brass and b) the merits of hand screwdrivering. Pozi and...

My Lidl battery drill has lasted me three plus years of pretty much daily drilling of wood, thick steel etc. Drill and battery life is still as new. And Ryobi have a three year tool warranty - which got me a replacement nail gun within a week of the old one failing. Personally I can’t afford a...

Not sure that’s entirely fair: The vehicle always been a big part of the equation in all forms of motorsport (opting to drive for British teams was one reason S Moss never won a world title). If it was just the car then Bottas would be equal in results to Hamilton not out-driven by him on most...

My One+ nailer stopped working a couple of weeks ago. Just over a year old so no warranty there I thought. Then I found it was two years and even three if I registered it with Ryobi EU. Suffice proof of purchase was my on-line invoice from SGS. Seemingly I could send it back to Ryobi to be...

I’d rather watch football than Eastenders, Coronation Street, The One Show and all the other usual early evening junk. But, as they say, other channels are available - more than ever these days - so it’s a pretty tired old grumble really.

Some years ago we came upon ‘Venus’, a 1933 Broads cruiser built by H C Banham. ‘Don’t let your hearts rule your heads’ said the surveyor. We did and there followed a few years of agony and ecstasy - the most beautiful boat on the river but an agony of constant losing battles against age and...