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seal the end grain with some old paint or glue or whatever's handy, and put it somewhere with enough airflow to prevent damp. Leave it there for a goodly while. Cheers, Dod

I have a Record Power DML36SH for sale, it is about two and a half years old and in excellent working order, complete with bench, bowl rest and RP3000 collet chuck system (with 4 sets of jaws and a variety of other work holding options). There is a picture of it here. I am asking £120 for it...

Doesn't seem like an unreasonable idea, but you need to be careful about not microwaving very much, short bursts on a low power setting with good rests in between. Why not just stick them in the airing cupboard or similar overnight? Cheers, Dod

The oak bowl looks nice, has it spalted in the sapwood? Cheers, Dod

I had some boards from an elm which was about 14 inches in diameter, and counted about 150 growth rings in it, although I expect that lots of factors contribute to the overall rate of girth increase. Cheers, Dod

faith in chemistry synthetic pyrethroid insecticides they really are as toxic as hell

Paul, I've got an extractor very similar to (if not th esame as) that axmonster one. I stuck it to the middle of one of the walls and with a 5m length of hose can connect just about anything in my workshop to it. I've toyed with the idea of putting a bit of fixed pipe in, but that was as far...

Morris, I've not had any aspen, but my experiences with poplar are very similar to Greybeards, although I didn't try spalting any. dried fairly easily without much splitting (I split the logs I had in half first) and turns easily, but is quite difficult to get a good finish (presumably due to...

Hi Chas, My experiences are limited, and I'm afraid that both times I've bought a bag of 10 pen kits which as far as I can recall had no brand name or other identifier of their origin. The first lot were from Turners Retreat (their stand at a show). Those that remain still don't seem to be...

Oldwood, you could try stabilising the timber with PEG (polyethylene glycol), although as I understand thsi needs to be done whilst the wood is still pretty wet. Apparently after the treatment it should be a good deal more dimensionally stable (i.e. it stands a fair chance of avoiding radial...

Mike, You could try to incorporate a means of letting the air circulate beneath and behind the cabinets, perhaps by spacing then a bit away from the floor and wall, although it might well need a small fan to keep the air moving though. Dod

Paul, My vote goes to no. 1, with the additional segment as suggested by WiZeR. Cheers, Dod

I think it's fantastic, but it needs to be outside furniture. I like the slightly enclosed feel of it, as though it might offer some shelter (although I doubt that it would :D ) Cheers, Dod

WiZeR, As far as timber for outside use is concenred I woudl follow the same philosophy that I have for interior wood. Store the wood in its intended resting environment at least until it has reached equilibrium with it (ignoring the fact that the environmental conditions will vary). If I was...

Richard, I'm sure you've already seen the light. I have the same saw and tend to use a 1kW extractor from Axmonster (WV1000?). If I use the extractor then extraction is excellent, although there still tends to be a fair accumulation around the lower guides. Without extraction I find that the...

Wizer, I think that in an ideal situation you should leave your timber indoors at least until it has come to equilibrium with its environment (which will take rather longer for thicker timber). Probably the simplest way of assessing this is to wait until it reaches a constant weight, although...

WiZeR, I tend to take all of the parts back into the house in between sessions (even just overnight) and everything so far has stayed nice and straight. I currently manage to keep quite a good dry wood supply under the spare bed :D Cheers, Dod

Robert, When I tackle soemthing like this I tend to attach the log with a power planer to give it a flat(ish) surface, then just cut freehand on the bandsaw. Cheers, Dod

Tom, I've been using one of those Record lathes for a couple of years and find it to be pretty good (it got a lot better when I built my own bench for it). You can often find a second hand one along with tools and a chuck (normally a collet chuck) for a reasonable price. The swivel head means...

Mr T, I'm with Chas, split the timber first down the middle if it's big enough (or quarters if you can, but it would need bigger timbers). I expect that it would greatly reduce the risk of splitting ater turning (assuming that you will turn them wet, or at least not dry). Cheers, Dod