Recent content by ivan

Look at Stanley Corner Brace 02-716 - Review They call it a Stanley Corner brace; was made 1977-1992.

For a hand drill, there used to be a ratchet brace variant that had no crank, the knob just above the ratchet, and a lever instead to work back and forth. Quite quick when used withself feeding (short) auger bits. Some chippies like a standard impact driver, as these are both short and...

Ron Paulk (utube) shows a mft box to take full sheets, which splits in 2 (two 2x8s inold money) They stack in his van, he works on site in the US. Worth a look if you haven't seen.

If you have a 4 facet point there's no central web it's now a point! But a small pilot hole still helps. As often used, the pilot drill should be large enough in diameter to be easily sharpened.

I would not be surprised if the commercial low build stains are mainly linseed. They are slow to dry, and dry soft and flexible. My shed was painted with 2 coats of black (uv resistance) and 2 more after 15 years. the timber was fine after 30 yrs when next door took it for a pair of minature...

I need to invent a way of raising a heavy german washer and dryer up from the floor so they can be used without stooping (elderly persons). Say by 400 mm. The floor is supended and I imagined creating a raised floor /joists/bolts/studs and resin etc. just big enough for the appliances. However...

I thought a beetle was for hitting a wedge. The wedge would be smaller than the face, so not struck by the metal ring. Apart from felling, the main use of the wedges was to split the trunk along the grain much as a froe, but on a much larger scale. The resulting beams would be both stronger and...

It's probably not worth gilding up a small Faithful plane. However it could be with a No.7. My sample was well ground and badly painted, and it was both cheap and simple to adapt an old Record frog to fit, and there were several old blades and cap irons in the cupboard. It works as well as any...

Yup, it's a 10" saw. RAS are getting cheap now, worth looking for a 14" model with the 8 bearing roller head - much more rigid. I think even so, 14" is the max blade size, and in my humble opinion 12" suits it better.

A track saw with a second motor and scoring blade? £1000? Have Festool gone mad? At a Mafell demo about 20 years ago (when the saw plunges on columns like a router), the Mafell demonstrator laid down the track, made a 3mm deep climb cut towards himself (scoring cut), reset the depth for a full...

ACF 50 does work. Looks expensive but a little goes a long way. Once clean, an ACF50 wipe and then floor polish (not so easy to find these days, but silicone free is available). You could make your own with paraffin and or carnuba wax. Devon is damp! Regular use is probably best preventative...

Many years ago I had a cast iron room sealed gas boiler running a hot water cylinder and rads, 1/2 and 3/4 copper. We rigged up a system to take the cylinder out of circuit when up to temp., and the boiler temp (circulating water) controlled by exterior temp. We put an hours meter on the boiler...

Hi, I can reccomend a bagging coat to fill the pores of the blocks. Mix up a weak mix of fine sand (silver sand best) and cement, to the consistency of emulsion paint. Brush this on to fill pores with 6" brush. When part set rub surface over with a pad of hessian (best) or try a sponge (allways...

Just bought a second hand Axi trade air cleaning filter, a rebadged generic Chiwanese item. Thus I had cause to look at new prices on line. Axminster, 2pence under £400 ic VAT; Scott and Sargeant £282 inc VAT. Hmmm...

The router boss (USA) is a sort of redesign (rip off?) of the 'rat, for people who think joints should be cut with a milling machine - all digital scales and maths. I suppose the 'rat is a bit too Zen for the US? All you do on the 'rat is align pencil lines with either each other or the cutter...