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Following a house move I’m looking to build, or have built, a workshop in my back garden. I’ve mulled over some options before but now that I’m actually planning to do it I’m discovering there are more options available than I’d realised. I’m having trouble comparing the various options though...

I'm looking to replace the external side swing gate of our house with something more functional. The existing crumbling gate has a bolt and padlock which, while it works, makes it a chore to unlock the gate from the outside. We use the gate all the time to get in and out with bicycles, so when...

The latest Axminster mail has prompted me to consider the Kreg Precision Bandsaw Fence as a replacement for the stock fence on my Jet JWBS-14. There are a few positive comments in past threads about this fence, but some comments that suggest that it may not be worth the investment. My dilemma is...

Firstly, hopefully this is a relevant topic for this forum. While attaching wooden shelves to a block-built internal wall recently I remembered my dread of trying to drill accurate holes in masonry. The drill bit often wanders off my mark - sometimes this is not a big problem but these shelves...

Having recently decided to get a new vacuum for my workshop, which would double as a vacuum for the house, I looked into some of the options available and narrowed down my choices to three products: the Festool CT22, the Nilfisk Alto Attix 360-21, and the Fein QA35E. My primary needs/wants...

Following on from Fecn's thread re the Nilfisk Alto 550-21 dust extractor, I have been looking around for (roughly) comparable dust extractors that can double up as vacuum cleaners. The three that I have been focusing on are the Nilfisk Alto 360-21, the Festool CT22, and the Fein QA35E. I have...

I recently bought myself a Festool TS55 and finally got to use it today. I bought it with an extra 1400mm rail, and one of the first things I did was to trim the splinter guard strip on both rails. Initially I thought it had gone well, but I noticed afterwards that the strips are not evenly...

I am currently considering buying a powered means of re-grinding the primary bevel on my chisels and plane irons. To date I have done this by hand on a diamond stone , and sometimes an oil stone, but I'd like to save myself some time in the future. For honing, I plan to continue to use my...

Hi all, Based on a spur of the moment decision (well, 2 days in advance, but that counts as spur of the moment for me usually!), I will be travelling to Warrington on Saturday. I am mainly going to IKEA, but as the local selection here is so poor I wondered whether there are any shops there that...

Jet sent me a set of these bandsaw bearing guides recently for my JWBS-14, as a result of the problems I was having with fitting blades sized according to their old (incorrect) manuals. The bearings are oriented so that the edge bears against the side of the blade (also the photo in the above...

Hi all, I am currently re-glazing an internal door with a single piece of laminated glass, with 16mm quadrant (rounded over) to hold the new glass in place. The top of the opening in the door is curved. The top section of the door was grooved to accept the previous glass (previous glass was 12...

Hi all, I finally got myself a bandsaw (Jet JWBS-14) a few months ago. The manual claims that it uses a 100.5" blade so I ordered a few of these from Dure-Edge. However, fitting the blades is a pain in the neck. I have to undo the wheel tension as far as it will go, and even then it is hard work...

Hi all, I am looking to buy a floor standing pillar drill, and the only ones I have found available locally are from Jet, SIP, Record, and Draper. I have tried to source a secondhand pillar drill locally, but every supplier I have spoken to does 3-phase ones only - according to them, people who...

I plan to hang the majority of my hand tools on the wall of my workshop, and I reckon that using boards suspended via french cleats makes the most sense. However, I have never used this method of hanging anything before, and I haven't been able to find any information online which answers some...

I have read through the archives here, in threads where the BS350 was discussed, and it gets a lot of praise (thanks in particular to gidon for a very informative review). Many of those threads are nearly 6 months old though, and I was wondering whether people still hold a high opinion of this...

Just thought I'd post a word of caution here to anyone looking to get hold of reclaimed timber. A few weeks ago I brought home some MDF from my workplace, which had been used as shelving units but which was destined for the skip. This was from an office building that had been unoccupied for a...

Hi all, I am currently considering trying to switch from an existing career, to a career in woodworking, and I would be very grateful for any advice or suggestions that people could offer based on their own experiences. From my reading of this forum, I get the impression that some people may...

Hi all, My current workshop is extremely limited in size (about 8' x 9' - it is a spare room within our house), and unfortunately that situation looks unlikely to change in the distant future. To date, I have managed to get by with a circular saw (plus cutting guide), routers (soon to include a...

I have some pipe clamp heads (specifically, these ones) that I am trying to source 3/4" steel pipes for (threaded on one end). Such pipes seem to be readily available in the US, but don't seem to be available on this side of the water, from what I have found so far. I am currently...

Hi, I am looking to build an enclosure for a Record DX4000 dust extractor, both to minimise the noise a little and to make it more easily moveable (I plan to put wheels on the base of the enclosure). I was thinking of making up a simple box, with a door to allow easy access for emptying the drum...