02 September
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So I decided to go ahead and shape the front curve today, since it was going to be awkward to cut and might be noisy so it’d have to be a weekend job really. Why is it awkward? Well, the plan is to make the first rough cut with the bandsaw and then to get down to the line with the compass plane and the board is long enough that swinging it around through the bandsaw inside the shed would be awkward and would probably need the door open and the plank sticking out at some point. See what I mean? There’s not enough roomRead More →

01 September
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Not much time in the shed today, but enough to make a start. First, new toys! So some catches to help with the mod to the Dewalt extraction hood (I think I have everything I need for that now, I’ll get to it soon), an incredibly cheap handplane ($4.30 from Aliexpress delivered) which is more to play with and laugh at than to seriously try to use as a tool, and two interesting tape measures. Both of those are small (1m and 2m) which is handy for using in the shed, and I’ve just wanted to play with them for a while now ever sinceRead More →

25 August
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So, been sick. Children, they’re basically walking petri dishes that deposit germs on you. Anyway, back to it today. And nothing fancy, nothing terribly skillful, just milling timber to rough thickness. Retrieved the mitre saw stand I bought from lidl a few weeks ago out of the attic, set it up, and mounted the Dewalt to it, spent a while faffing about with the mounting screws discovering that I’d fastened it down using the screws that are for adjusting the infeed and outfeed tables that are built into the thicknesser and had to re-mount it (turns out the thing won’t mount to the lidl standRead More →

25 August
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So I think I’ve gotten the pizza recipe down to “yeah, this’ll do” levels. Looks good after two minutes in the oven… And a good crumb structure and base. Grand. Recipe: I usually make enough for four pizzas at once. In the bowl of the stand mixer… 325g warm water (40C if you want to get all fussy about it, “not hot enough to kill yeast” if you don’t) 10g of yeast 20g of honey And give that a quick stir with the whisk and leave it sit for ten minutes so the yeast wakes up and starts its thing. Now add 500g flour madeRead More →

06 August
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So the walnut panel glueup went as well as I had hoped. The clamps did deform slightly – I need to do that trick of Paul Sellers and stuff them with wood – but the panel came together reasonably well. There’s a step in the middle where one of the boards bowed though, of just over a mm, so there was some flattening to do before worrying about the surface much. Ugly. Cross-grain planing required, so out with the #05… At least it’s easy to see where I’m planing… That proto-knot there in the back caused some issues with tearout that I’ll have to fixRead More →

05 August
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So it’s a weekend afternoon so if there’s a more civil time to use a planer, it involves taking a day off work. So to the shed! First up, fitted the DRO to the planer. Slightly fiddly, and it does still bind a little so I’m sure it needs tweaking – or I could just remember how this is for roughing work only and how it doesn’t matter all that much and never touch it again 😀 It’s within 0.1mm after a very quick calibration. That’s… rather impressive. Well past my abilities so maybe I really don’t need to do much to this. Have toRead More →

04 August
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Not done a tap in the shed in nearly two weeks now. Between work kicking up a notch and a short holiday away, not been near the place. You might wish you were here, but it’s hard to know where “here” is…   On the way back, I did get to browse around The Carpentry Store for a few minutes, but alas they don’t carry Ashley Iles so I couldn’t try out those dovetail chisels. Mind you, I almost bought a few other things (but I was good…)   One day… when I have a bigger shed… it shall be mine…   And then thereRead More →

15 July
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Long week. Lots of hours in the office and zero hours in the shed till the weekend. One of those weeks. But, the post kept coming in… Granted, the clamps were a lidl special (but I’ve been using some for the last year and they’re really quite handy – I could use a few more f-clamps and one wooden parallel clamp to help with morticing and I think I’m good after that). And the poppyseed oil is food grade from the local indian shop, so no drying agents, but for a light oil finish it might be useful. Worth a try at any rate. AsRead More →

08 July
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You know the five minute jobs I mean, the ones that take three hours and nearly set things on fire, like your hair, a pile of sawdust, solvent-based finishes, that sort of thing. Today was their day! Started off with a quick job I’d been meaning to do for a while. That panel saw is junk. Uncomfortable handle, not sharp, can’t be resharpened thanks to induction-hardened teeth… Basically, a waste of shed space. Blade was kinked as well. One of Spear&Jackson’s lesser models, that. So, out with the angle grinder, hack through the rivets (because who uses screws when attaching plates to handles, that’s soRead More →