Recent content by Robert

Plum / Damson with silver leaf (fungi) stain?

This is on my long term to do list and a few attempts have joined the firewood pile. Recorders etc are normaly turned to round and pilot bored then left to dry/relax before more boring and reaming the wind column. Step bore to near size and then ream. Flat steel reamers are said to work, the...

It's a very useful tool and one of the easiest tools to hurt yourself and others with. The lump of unpredicable and probably rotten wood is another way to get hospitalised. Get some formal training, you will then be able to ask stupid questions and have clear up to date advise. Our local Agric...

Cutting several big, 1 1/2"*8 through 7" larch that wasn't being helpful, I wished for a robust mortice chisel. The fimer I used did not fare well and I had blisters from the job for some time. I like the guide that the sides give. The mortice chisels in my kit have only the edge square and...

I've ticked hobbiest. Not a word I like much as is covers a huge spectrum. I'm mostly repairing windmills and recusitating broken things. Latest is repairing ( read total rebuild) to a 200 year old spinning wheel. Robert

Almost always grafted onto a normal stem. There are two forms too. One make a very big tree but is not so droopy as the other which is often found in older graveyards. I cannot remember the variety names though. Robert

I make simple d bits for deep holes. For a one of in wood hardening proably isn't needed and you bolackage may be soft enough to get away without. This link may help http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/d-bit.html Robert

Nice prezzies, I like laburnum, polishes well and make nice handles. The dust is horrible though as is the sawdust, the plant is poisonous after all. I've not had it crumble but it can be brittle. Robert

I have done a little backyard casting, mostly aluminium and some brass, for a mill restoration project. This is a good place to start: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metalcasting-Cr ... pd_sim_b_5 although there are several books around. A well made pattern and cast should reduce the finishing work to...

We were given a Panasonic for our 25th wedding anniversary. Its really useful for normal bread ( almost always wholemeal but sometimes exotic fooled around with loaf). But it is slow. Not longer than you should leave it to rise etc but I am impatient at this sort of thing. The result is we use...

Trees in Britain, Europe and North America, Roger Philips, Sheila Grant etc. and "Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe" by Alan Mitchell are the two books I reference frequently. But I am a gardener and have a lot of trees to look after. They have good, different...

http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/

Depending upon the date, I would be interested in joining this. Robert

I remember my Dad doing this with a steel( he was a Master butcher). The steel he used was around 18 inches long, with a brass ferrule made with a diameter of an inch and a half as a guard. Held in the left hand( he was left handed) he would "steel" a knife, small boning knifes and long steak...

Thanks MrJay, I will get the hang of this soon. Robert