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I thought fan heaters weren't recommended around wood dust because of the exposed heating elements possibly getting dust on them. And they blow dust around. I went for oil filled with thermostat

Like Chas says, stop over thinking it. It's not rocket science and the best thing you can do is practice the turning. Forget the oilstone for sharpening - the tools should be plenty sharp enough straight from the grinding wheel. Probably the best thing you could do is find another turner nearby...

yes, you'll need ppe for the course and the assessment. The course may provide them but if you're buying a saw then buy all the ppe and wear it every time you run the saw. It's likely to cost more than a small saw. You can save some money by buying chaps - they're ok for occasional use or if you...

The other downside to battery saws for conservation work (or at least the consevation work I do) is that you've often in remote or difficult to reach locations and usually working all day. Carrying enough batteries to last all day might be an issue. Petrol cans can be shared between everyone...

Usually recommend NPTC. Try to do basic cross cutting and maintenance and small felling at the same time. From memory it takes around 5 days. I think that's CS30 and 31 Small trees should get you to 350mm diameter. You're probably looking at upwards of £600 for both including the assessment -...

Do they really need sharpening that often that you ned to consider the lengevity of the handle? Make a wood and brass ferrule one for now and if/when you need to replace the auger you may be able to extract the auger and reuse the handle. If not then it's 10 minutes of a job to make a new one.

The flap pockets are great when you want to have nails or other sharp pointy things easy to hand but also have the option of sitting down. If you put those items in regular pockets they tend to dig in or make holes. For woodturning I wouldn't wear them as they'd get filled with shavings.

Probably. Look out for sticky sap. It'll probably make your workshop smell lovely

I got one in a job lot of second hand tools. Used it 2 or 3 times and came to the same conclusion as you - tool is at 90 degrees and leaves a rough finish. Haven't used it in years

Another vote here for Ashley Iles handle-less tools. It's pretty much all I buy now. I also have some from Sorby and Hamlet. I had a Hamlet Cryo 1/2" bowl gouge and it maintained an edge slightly longer than my other gouges but probably not worth paying the extra for. Sorby tools come with a...

Got a link? We have an Alaskan mill at work with a 30" bar but we've got a couple of trees coming up which are wider than that...

Speed: as long as the piece is secure I tend to turn as fast as possible. If it's not secure then stop and find a better way to hold it. If you're worried about a secure hold you can always hold it as best you can between centres, turn a chucking point at the end, reverse it and hold it in the...

Sorry I can't help, but VM are well known for having an appalling help line which regularly will try to get customers to pay money for 'Gadget Help', which themselves don't have a good reputation. The best place to get help might be their support forum. It mainly seems to be run by other...

Like phil said - bandsaw and chainsaw (plus safety gear). I started with a bench mounted bandsaw and quickly replaced it for a floor standing one from Axminster. Can't remember the exact model, but it's now maybe 10 years old and still going strong. 20cmish depth of cut.

You could probably cobble something together using an old bike frame mounted vertically to save space: wheel below a seat, arms use the peddles. I seem to remember you can buy extra length cranks for the peddles. You can probably get a bike for free off freecycle. You could play about with...

Unless I'm turning wet wood I generally don't bother doing anything to the bed - the smoother and shinier it is the I effort I need to put into tightening the banjo so stop it from moving, particularly when turning with it extended to it's maximum out from the bed. Admittedly, this as much of an...

Our woodturning club seems to prefer the method of using a set of jaw slides for each set of jaws. From watching them get changed a during plenty of demos I'm not convinced it's any faster, and probably quite a bit slower. If you're finding that you're rounding the screw head: make sure that...

To all these people buying cheap chainsaws - I hope you're spending the money that you're saving on decent PPE: trousers, boots, gloves and head protection. Particularly if you're not using the saw regularly and haven't been trained in the best/safest way to use one. As for why not have a...

Beech

Here's a couple of photos of an Aspen tree from work today: Note the variation in bark even though it's the same tree (first pic faces west, the other faces east). The diamond markings are typical. No photos of the timber as we haven't cut any down this year. Here's some Alder, cut yesterday...