Waxing lyrical

Well once I'm in the groove there's no stopping me, is there? Do I mean Blogging? Nope. Woodworking! Yes, despite temperatures in the workshop of 90 degrees and more, I've managed the next step in the side tables; mortising the legs.



Ye gods, but it gets hot under the ear muffs; I really need to look into ear plugs again before I melt into a pool of molten normathal.

Talking of melting, I was thinking about waxing the soles of planes today (end of tenuous link). I've discovered the BUS needs some serious attention in that department, otherwise it turns into mighty hard going to push around. Not surprising you might think, given the weight. However, I found the largely aluminium Lewin also needed frequent waxing of skate and fence. Now that's a lot lighter, and it's not because the aluminium is "sticky", because the bearing surfaces are all steel or beech. So why? Reading Hack's Handplane Book in bed last night (as you do), I noticed he claims bronze planes need more wax, but I can't remember waxing my #103 more than once or twice in the 2 years I've had it. Okay, so it's not a heavy smoother, but then neither is the Lewin... Curious. I might have to take more notice of which planes I wax and how often. It certainly makes a load of difference to the amount of effort needed to make the bally things work; every neanderthal should wax regularly. ;~)