Recent content by J-G

A very interesting read, you have a great way with words @Kittyhawk - as well as with your hands of course - as we've seen from your model aircraft. I'm now 82 and have never had a 'Bucket List' - - - Yes, naturally I have things I want to do but they change with whatever my current interest...

?? Have you ever looked at the shape of a Banjo? (the musical instrument?)

Now I see the finished article, I have the same resevations as @akirk about it being Padauk. The fact that sapwood is present will make a significant difference to both the colour and grain of any timber. The only piece that I've handled like this is Laburnum - and only one piece of that! Full...

No sense of smell can be quite disconcerting for many reasons :( - I understand that more than 50% of ones sense of 'taste' is affected by the nose. My father became anosmic after a serious accident at work (lost two fingers - - - two days after buying his first piano :( ). I was 'into'...

I've not seen any with sapwood but from the heartwood I suggest African Padauk. It has a very open grain but turns very well, creating clouds of red dust - which gets everywhere!

It is far too easy to devote a great deal of time trying to minimise material costs - and it's always a 'compromise'. As @johnnyb has pointed out, time is the most precious. We are each given 24 hours every day to use as we see fit - no one can 'carry over' any unused part to use the following...

I'll confirm that this is definitely a thing to be considered. I built one a couple of years ago - 850 x 1250 and the first time I used it I realized that 1250 was somewhat 'sparce'. It's no great inconvenience but less than that would certainly cause some problems.

It's a while since I spent time in my workshop but I had a call from a long standing Computing Customer asking for suggestions for an 80th birthday gift for her mother. After some discussion I learned that the 'gift' for an 80th should be Oak so I thought that this may be appropriate : A simple...

My days of shifting cwt bags of cement are long gone! Even though I'm now 11st+, at 82 I wouldn't consider taking on that sort of project 😆😖

For much of my life I was close :) - During my 'dancing days' I was 8st 4lb and IIRC a 3x2 was ~1cwt ie. 8st.

!! Standard old 2 X 2 pressed concrete slabs aren't 'heavy' --- Many years ago I bought an existing Garden Supplies shop and the previous owner left me a job to deliver 10 3 x 2 Slabs which he had sold (and been paid for!) - I'd previously been in an 'office' job. My weekly order for slabs...

They may well do the job. PM sent

I did something similar a while ago. Front & back covers are Olive and the spline is Pink Ivory (IIRC) The issues are less to do with the grain direction - I applied Gold Leaf to the 'page' faces - but more to do with the hinge. Here is a screen shot of the SketchUp...

I don't 'wait up' - 2 am is pretty much my usual time to retire but I still forget to re-set the oven clock until I make breakfast at 12 noon. I doubt the team of three who look after the Royal collection of over 1000 clocks wait up either :)

. . . the convension is that the clocks go forward at 1am - thus becoming 2am - when they go back it is at 2am making it 1am