Recent content by amongoaks

it occurs to me that i should have pointed out the other issue with xenforo plugins: additional maintenance effort. every time the xenforo software is updated -- which occurs relatively often -- you have to check each of your plugins for compatibility with the new version. but plugin authors...

we've used xenforo for a few years now -- and it predecessor vBulletin for many years before that -- and i can attest to the fact that it is byzantine in its complexity. there are literally thousands of interlocking features that effectively prohibit "adding code" or any other such tweaks of the...

i've been managing forums as part of my professional activities for over 20 years. my observations are that: forums age and change over time as the membership as a whole goes through an inevitable churn. these are the winds of change and it's just part of forum life. sometimes the change is...

i thought a bit of follow-up might be appropriate. we did end up finding a place just East of the city which had a nice-sized shed/garage that has proven to be perfectly suitable for my needs. the feelers I had put out for a workspace toke several months to produce any results and none that i...

visited in May of 2019, stayed 5 days on the southern part in and around Vik. we did day hikes up into the foothills, visited the Troll Fingers, etc. Iceland is a very impressive place, especially when you get up into the hills away from the southern flats. the scenery is eerie and beautiful and...

my apologies, i forgot to answer that bit. Dundee, or somewhere in the area, will be home for the foreseeable future. at some point we'll be buying a house and obviously that might take us a bit further afield.

ah! thanks for that. i'd once chatted with some guys maintaining a council garage property and they seemed to think it was a requirement, but BTF they weren't sure either way.

wow! excellent suggestions guys, and thanks for the lingo tips! many thanks all around. as much as i'd like one of the council garage units -- i can see some from my study window here at the old place -- our new place is likely to be privately owned so that might squelch that idea. sounds like...

i'm hoping the good folks here can offer some advice regarding finding a workspace to rent in Dundee. the trouble is i'm Canadian and have only lived in the UK for a few years so I don't know the proper lingo to even ask the right questions. my situation is that i'm moving from a house and...

i certainly won't argue with tensioned blade bit, i suspect that's why i'm fond of these saws in the first place. not sure that tooth profile is a secondary issue though. at this point i have three blades for this saw, the two bodged from band saw blades and a Bahco greenwood blade that i...

great suggestion but TBH i haven't yet got a setup that i'd be willing to try this on. securing those 1/2-round or quarters enough to go at them with a circular saw is beyond what i have on hand. i can see doing this with the saw on rails with the wood secured below, or perhaps flipping the saw...

i thought i might add a wee update to my results on rip-cutting my seasoned hardwoods with various hand saws. as it happens i've always been rather fond of a good bow saw and/or bucksaw -- i know, various names are used but i'm talking about the thing where a blade is tensioned by a twisted rope...

air dried are obviously quite common, kiln dried not so much. i did stumble across at least one UK source that was offering all three options but thought nothing of it at the time (largely because i didn't know any better). i'll post the link if it turns up again. but i get the general message...

you can certainly buy green sleepers, but you can also get kiln or air dried as well. from what i've seen the green sleepers are actually more expensive. not sure how that works but there it is. so sleepers aside is there a basic reason oak isn't considered for workbench tops? cost? expected...

if you'll excuse a newbie question gents why has no one mentioned oak? from what i can tell a half dozen oak sleepers bought new could be shaped up to make a nice solid workbench for around £100-120, plus hardware. fwiw i found a fair example of what i'm thinking about here on the 'tube...