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So it turned into an industrial history Easter weekend for us. Today we visited a water powered forge, Churchill Forge in Blakedown. Fascinating to see how things were made. The wheels were actually running and some of the machines and tools. Plus an awful lot more heavy, rusty, wrought iron...

Yes, he mentioned Monday hammers. Great picture, thank you. It makes me realise what that short cylinder is beside the smaller hammer in my picture; it's the center section in one of those big ole chain links. I'm sure they had a name for it.

So I was amazed to see these today. At the Black Country Museum, well worth a trip for anyone interested in old times, industrial history or just lots and lots of wrought iron! The smaller of these was 28lbs. The guy reckoned the behemoth was about 50lb. It was used by two men, hence the two...

Some is but an awful lot is plastic parcel tape. Or paper reinforced with plastic or glass fibres in the case of Amazon.

Thank makes sense. Thank you. I still think it would be easier to use less plastic tape. Mind you I do have a "bee in my bonnet" about the excessive use of plastic everywhere!

Here's a question that I've been pondering for a while. How do paper and card recycling facilities cope with plastic contamination? Cardboard packaging boxes seem to be secured with ever increasing amounts of plastic tape. Amazon being the worst offender, (as usual). Their tape now looks to be...

I like this company for books. https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/simon-winchester/exactly/9780008241773?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=1424181757&cq_con=64431947708&cq_med=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA84CvBhCaARIsAMkAvkKThwzWS1W1Srtnk293qmLhWwzOk1MtANuVXuY47tAnA72r1LTv5YUaAoOzEALw_wcB

Thanks, some food for thought there.

That looks really good. Thanks for sharing. Were you melting the Pewter in a saucepan, on a gas hob? I didn't realise that was possible.

Regarding fears over mould and stuff. I must have made a few gallons of jam and chutney over the years and can only ever remember a couple of jars that have had mould on top. Even then I just scraped it off and it was fine underneath. I never bother canning and don't keep jam in the fridge...

Thank you. That sounds like a broadly similar timescale to mine. It just seemed to take forever, but maybe just because I'm not familiar with making marmalade; there's an awful lot of prep work with other kinds of fruit jams that I make as well. (To be honest it turns out that I didn't cook it...

I feel slightly inadequate now! How long did that take you for each batch?

All done.

I'm not sure if my helper is making a long job quicker or even slower!

LLP Thanks for the inspiration. I've been out this evening and bought 3kg of Seville Oranges in preparation. I've long been a keen jam maker, but only ever made marmalade once before. My favorites are Quince and Medlar.

Good to know, thanks. It's very knotty, which is a sign of Spruce I think. Overgrown Christmas Trees!

Thank you. The short drying time of the shellac certainly sounds very tempting! The stuff I used takes 24 hours which is a bit of a pain. It talks about a high solid content on the can, I guess that's the suspended white pigment that you mentioned. This is it...

Hi. Thanks for coming back to this. I'm getting on well so far, with the Osmo Raw stuff. It seems to make the pine look a bit milky, but I'm happy with it anyway. Two shelves done, with two more to do. I've paused proceedings for now as I figure that this cold weather will not be good for the...

Thanks all. I'm going give the Osmo Raw stuff a go then, following recommendations. I've been curious about their products for a while anyway. What do people use to wash out brushes with? It says Osmo Brush Cleaner on the tin, but I'd rather do without that expense. Edit. Answered my own...

If possible. So I'm making some shelves from scaffold boards. I like the inherent strength from the thickness, the chunky look and the lower cost. They're obviously made from softwood, (pine of some type?), and I know that that always darkens, considerably over time. Is there a finish out there...