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My daughter logged in to ChatGPT yesterday to show her ancient Mum & Dad (that's me) what it could do. It required her to respond to one of those "prove you are not a robot" requests. The irony ! :)

For most woodworking purposes, the cheap mass-produced digital callipers are accurate enough. The problem with most of them (I won't say all, as I only have experience of two or three) is that, as others have mentioned, the battery is being drained even when you turn them off; the design is...

I once had a cheap drill stand much like the one linked from the opening post. In my opinion they are a waste of money. The pillar itself is not very robust, so there is a lot of flexing as you apply pressure with the arm. There is slop in the slide mechanism, so hole doesn't end up where you...

Another possibility : you say you think the tongue on the adjuster yoke is long enough to engage. And it may well do so, but invevitably, since the QS blade is thicker, it will not engage so deeply into the slot in the cap iron. It may be that it initially engages sufficiently that turning...

I think you may have a problem with an iron that is 3.8mm thick : the cap iron screw may not be long enough to engage, nor the tongue of the depth adjuster Y-yoke (this is the main problem I have encountered when fitting a thicker blade, and it's not easily overcome). The latter problem may...

For power tools, I think Lidl's Parkside brand are often surprisingly good. I doubt they would stand up to constant use, but for the hobbyist they are great value for money and I haven't yet had a dud (I've got a selection of drills/drivers, sanders, a scroll saw, a CMS and a bench grinder)...

Thanks for your input everybody. Screws in the side is obviously the way to go. I think I'll put off glueing until I see the results of just using screws.

Thanks for replies so far. Here are a couple more shots. Hope these make it clearer.

I'd be very surprised to learn this seller would compromise by resorting to such tactics. As AndyT said earlier "It's a decent tool in usable condition from a very experienced seller with a rock solid reputation.". This seller's offerings are always well presented and honestly (as far as I can...

Hi folks, a few months ago I acquired a small infill smoother on ebay; the auction didn't go too high because there was damage to the metalwork at the heel, which you can see in the picture below. The same picture, in the background, shows the removed rear infilll; you should be able to make...

Thank you all for your input, and for the bonus discussion on humidity!

Hi everybody, my daughter has just had a small kitchen worktop intalled; the worktop is made of oak, 40mm thick x about 60cm deep, and is contructed in the typical way of 40mm square finger-jointed staves, glued side by side under pressure. The worktop is intalled between two chimney breasts...

I've found that oil-based (naptha) stains (I use Mylands/Fiddes) give much better penetration and depth of colour on MDF than do spirit-based dyes. I used several coats of dark oak Mylands naptha stain on some MDF winding sticks, and the result was a very solid black (definitely not simply a...

Mark - there should be absolutely no detectable vertical 'wobble'. The machine will never work properly with that much vertical movement. The wide-blade attachment (this...

custard - it's interesting you say start with the concave side upwards. Is that standard practice, or just personal preference? Any particular reason? In my (albeit limited) experience, I've found it easier to start on the convex side - perhaps because I find it easier to shim if it rocks a...

Lidl are re-offering these http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/SID-AF5D1D57-EE835A8A/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=10846 this coming Thursday, which might suit. I've got one, and I find the wooden handle very comfortable.

I don't think a jointer (No7) is the right to plane to start getting a cupped (arched across it's width, right?) board flat - too long, and probably tuned to take fairly thin shavings. You needed a shorter, coarser plane to start with - in other words a jack plane, but a No4 with a well...

Just to satisfy a curiosity - what is an 'uncut' iron (presumably as opposed to a 'cut' iron)? Is it jsut to do with the central slot?

Several people have said they use the offset fence method, so it must obviously work. But for the life of me I can't quite visualize how, unless we are assuming something - e.g that the edge to be squared is off-square by the same amount along its length & otherwise basically straight.

I've never found it a trivial exercise using a bench plane to get the edge of a board simultaneously both straight (to a line marked along its length) and square. If you have an existing guaranteed straight + square board of adequate length (e.g the manufactured edge on MDF) to act as a...