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As some of you already know, my husband, Brian, died suddenly at the end of March at Frimley Park Hospital, which is why you have not heard from him in a few months. I cannot tell you what caused his death exactly, as we are awaiting PMs and an inquest. I want you to know how much he enjoyed...

I'm a pretty computer-literate guy - I should be after 40 years in the industry - but I am being driven crazy by Windows Vista. I was running a nice wireless network at home for years using a mixture of Win2k and XP machines. Shared folders, shared printers, everything working fine and dandy...

My son-in-law has decided he wants to do this but is totally clueless! I can't offer him any advice other than 'be careful'. Does anyone in here have any experience or can recommend the best book for him to read for getting started? His idea is to buy old pieces at auction, fix them up and...

Today I received another litre of tung oil and it came with the now familiar warning that rags and cloths soaked in it can spontaneously combust. I've been using this oil for getting on for 20 years now and have had quite a lot of rags, both oily and dried out, lying around and none of them have...

Reading the discussion on oil finishing the Ikea tabletop (off topic forum) got me thinking about the problem I have with some woods, depending on grain pattern when oiling and rubbing out with 0000 wire wool. The iroko tabletop I just sanded down has this problem in a few spots - I removed all...

I'm working on my latest project - a request from my daughter for a jewelry box in which she can hang her necklaces. The design is simple - essentially a small tall cupboard - but she wanted an interesting wood with good figuring. Initially she asked for curly red birch (to match her wedding...

I have made a number of pieces using read wavy birch and now I've run out of boards. Does anyone know a source for this in the UK? I have an order for a jewelery chest made from this wood - to match another piece I made for the same customer about 15 years ago. The picture below shows the wood...

Now it's past the date I can put up the pics of the cherry chest I made for my grandson as part of his Christmas present this year. We filled it with small toys, some goodies and bits and pieces. It's based on a traditional oak chest simply scaled down. All the joints are mortice and tenon...

Most of my finishing has been either in oil/wax or varnish, usually water-based, but recently I've been experimenting with shellac and I just can't seem to get a good finish. I've tried on bare wood. Naturally it soaks in, and after a few coats builds up to a passable finish, but it's always...

I wanted to make a toy chest for my grandson for Christmas but his parents refused as they like IKEA :? So, I took the design and scaled it down by using inches to centimeters and am making a mini version. Not sure what I'll do with it yet. Instead of oak, I'm using some offcuts of cherry I had...

My pipeline of work is somewhat empty right now and I find myself with too much free time on my hands. Just thinking that if anyone in here needs someone, or their company does, or they know someone who is looking for help, I'm available. Based in the Surrey/Hants border but can travel (within...

This one took a while from start to finish but is finally done. It was raining at the weekend anyway so I finally got the painting finished :o The floor is Canadian strip maple and is lighter than it shows in the photo, all the woodwork is cherry. The small countertop is inlaid with grey...

Started this today from a piece of scrap black walnut - actually salvaged from an old shed where it was one of the wall 'planks' 36" long by 8" wide by 3/4" thick. By the time I'd cleaned it and surface planed it, it was 5/8" thick. Each side of the pentagon is 7" wide by 6 1/2" deep. Inside...

I actually cleaned up and tidied my workshop so it's time to brag a bit! I am extremely lucky to have some large buildings on our property that were easily converted. The main building was the old garage and the previous owner had built another similar-sized building on it's side. When we moved...

I am going to refinish our kitchen this autumn - strip everything out, skim the walls that are currently artex (yuck!), refit the cabinets put in new worktop, sink and fittings. The cabinets are good quality 'shaker' style and we like them so they will be kept - they cost over £1000 only 8...

These two were made mostly from recycled bits hanging around the workshop. The tops of both boxes came from resawing - one a piece of cherry and one an off-cut of black walnut. Both were ends of long boards that I couldn't use in the larger projects, and both box shapes were defined by the...

I did a search but couldn't find too much on this topic - except it's not advised and isn't strong! That's what my woodworking books say, too, particularly one I have called 'The Joint Book' by Noll. However, I have been glueing end grain to end grain a lot in order to get nice grain matches...

I've been away working on contract for almost 2 years and have hardly been in the workshop. Couldn't believe how damp it was in there in March this year when I opened it up! Fortunately April was hot and dry and I had the door and windows open and the warped pieces are now back to normal. The...