Search results

Back in my photography days I used small glass marbles to top the chemical's bottles. Allways had about a couple kgs at home. Of course they had to be well washed and dried when changing reagents.

My (a long time ago...) own experience is that fine steel wool is bound to leave very small - not to call them microscopic - bits of metal imbeded in the wood. Almost impossible to remove all of them effectively, even if you re-polish the wood. In time these bits will rust, which will give the...

Please don't misunderstand me. I do respect Schwarz and all the research he has done about workbenches. I have both his books and I learnt a lot from them. What I don't like is his style of writing, either in books or in articles. On workbenches, he almost (almost!) managed to convey the idea...

Hi, Domingos May I ask why you feel the need for a Roubo-type bench? (did Chris Schwarz make another "victim"? ;)) Cheers

Hi, Sorry for my rather harsh post. I just can't stand people complaining they can't do or find, then asking for other people to solve their problems. I still say "look for ideas, not ready-made solutions". But Inspector is probably right, I may have become harsher with age :( On another note...

Easy, don't just complain, use your brains! 1 - You didn't think or look hard enough, or 2 - You want reay-made fixtures, which I agree may be expensive 3 - Just looking at some lighting tables won't solve your problem; here go a couple of links, anyway...

Hi As ALF (Alice Frampton), late of this forum, once wrote on an article on making of a shooting board that "it isn't rocket science". I still have some extracts from the text; unfortunatly the link http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/ seems to no longer work. I really miss her no-nonsense...

Hi Are not these bits case-hardened by chance? If so, they are probably made from low carbon (<1% C) steel, not susceptible to proper tempering/hardening In this case the way to go would be to grind through the hardened "skin" with a small abrasive rotary tool (Dremel-like), the underlying steel...

Hi, I gave up on keyless chucks as I had several instances when the bit slipped on the chuck when drilling hard materials. Tightening the chuck "just a bit more" most often was no cure, and moreover the shank of the bit would become scored by the chuck jaws. Some years ago I bought a keyed...

If a leg-vice suits your kind of work, you can simply build your own, like I did. You just need to buy a screw with its accessories. At most, if the screw is in really bad state, you may need to polish its threads - as I needed to. Although a leg-vice is conceptually simple, its building...

help-with-keyless-chuck-removal-t94868.html Cheers G.

HI I used to cut the dowel some mm above the surface with a Junior hacksaw, followed by carefully trimming with a chisel until close to the surface, then finishing with a plane. All the while being careful not to scuff the surface of the wood, which is rather easy to do. Too much troublesome and...

Hi, sorry for a late comment, only just read these posts. Judging from the pictures, this looks very much like IKEA worktops. Which, BTW, used to be 38 mm thick. I am not sure if they still sell this version.

Looks to me like a cleaning rod of some sort. A couple questions: Does anything else happen when the lever on the right is moved? Is the bit on the tip of the rod a screw head? Can it be removed from the rod? What is the small bit on he top of the handle - screw, plunger (spring loaded or not)?

Never saw one of these. I wonder if this might be a cutter for thick hard wire? There seems to be a notch (where the cutting edges would be), the curved "lip" on the end working just as a guide to prevent the cutter from "opening-up" from the effort. Does this make sense?

Thank you. A very nice top indeed.

Thank you very much, Derek. May I ask what that nice wood in your bench top is?

When I was a kid in the early 50's the street "sharpeners" were quite common, even in bigger towns. They used treadle powered polishing wheels, at first hand-pushed, barrow-like carts, later on bycicle carried ones. Earlier model would have probably been stationary all-wood, like in the...

Fascinating indeed! Besides being very instructional and highly entertaining, this puts to shame anyone who complains of not making things for not having the "proper tools"

Hi, You may find a lot of useful information in the HSE site. Namely: Woodworking Sheet (WIS No 30 - Revision 1). Just Google HSE toxic woods. I would post a link if I was sure this is allowed.