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Bet that got your attention, huh? I'll come to that bit at the end...

I think - only think mind you - that all the saws currently in my possession are now clean. If we don't count the nest of saws that came in the toolchest and may be past recovery. Maybe they'd be a candidate for trying out citric acid on saws myself? Trouble is the dried on linseed oil would have to be scraped off first, and by the time I've done that might not the whole job have been done by hand? Anyway, should anyone want to see what sort of results you might get there's an informative post on WoodNet that may be helpful. I'll put aside the fact that Glen's "throwaway" would be my "plenty of use left yet". Either he's fussier or luckier in his saw purchases. :)

And I know what you're thinking. Just as soon as this blog transforms back into a woodworking one instead of tool cleaning I daresay the saw till doors will be right up there as a priority...

In the meantime, this morning I bought a pair of springs for the spokeshave more in hope than expectation but (as I secretly feared) they were too big and will have to go back. "Go back?!" I hear you ask? "A couple of tiny springs?" Folks, these things were 55p a piece! Unbelievable in itself, but ones ten times the size were the same price which just plain annoys me. So returning them and getting the money back is a matter of principle as much as anything. Cheap at the price if they'd fitted though, to be honest. Further to a comment elsewhere I can't help thinking maybe an ad in the local paper "woodworker seeks tame but adventurous model engineer, NS, GSOH" would probably solve three-quarters of my tool re-habbing issues if it resulted in a sensible answer (probably unlikely). Heigh ho.

What else...? Oh yeah, got me a Lee Valley catalogue by the cunning ruse of saying "yes, please" when asked if I wanted one. Actually more than one - so in the spirit of passing on such wallet-ish temptation I hereby announce a Free Prize Draw. Yes! You could already have won £10,000 in the Blog Readers'...

Ha hum, well you may have, but not here. Nope, strictly for a copy of the Lee Valley & Veritas 2007/8 catalogue to your (UK mainland-situated) door, free, gratis and for nothing, get your entry into my inbox (email address on the website) with "Drool" in the subject line and plenty of grovelling in the body of the text ;) and I'll draw two lucky recipients from the hat. Entries close at midnight on Thursday.

Don't thank me. If you think browsing the website is dangerous, having a catalogue at hand is much, much worse. Easier to circle certain items and leave it lying around in the run-up to Christmas though, to be fair... ;)