It Augers Well

It's not that I've been neglecting the blogging; I was already to do some, honest. it's just I've been suffering from a nasty case of the Little Green Light Twitch. That is the, hah, "always on" broadband internet connection has been largely off. Well intermittent, anyway. I sit here with one eye on the little green light on the router telling me if I'm still connected or not, hence the Twitch. It comes on just long enough to start to load a page, but not long enough to complete the job. Uploading pics or Blog postings has been impossible. Heck, I've only just managed to download all the spam to my inbox... It's particularly bad PM, which is when I usually blog, so I thought I'd try and snatch a window of opportunity now instead.

Workshop time has been as intermittent as the connection, but I did start off on a task I was meant to have started about 6 months ago... The delay isn't all my fault, to be fair, but still the guilt has been building just a leetle. Anyway, sooner than find myself awash with meaningless bits of scrap with joints and mouldings on them I thought I might as well make a functional, but hideous, tote for my sharpening gear out of meaningless bits of scrap...



Not my finest work, huh? I also played with some cut nails (all the wrong size for the job, but the smallest I can find) inspired by a certain article and DVD. I got the nails a while back, but this seemed a good moment to actually have a go. The finished look is ghastly, 'cos the heads are far too big, but the principle seems reasonable enough, Trouble is it's going to take an awful lot to get away from the "nails are bad" philosophy I've grown up with.

Next step is really going to be meaningless scrap territory, but it might be fun once I get started. It's getting started again that's the trouble.

However, that may be delayed while I return to The Chair. Remember that? The birthday it's due for is this Friday and I've broken the news it's not done yet in the birthday card. Not my fault though, remember? I was waiting for something. Look what the postie brought this morning:



Whoohoo!

But I still don't know who the Generous Galootish Benefactor actually is. I mean I have suspicions, but too many to be sure. I've asked the seller if he's willing to divulge and once I hear back I shall express my thanks on the list, whether I know the answer or not. No Good Deed shall go unpunished...

There's just one tiny cloud on the horizon. I'm not sure if it's going to solve my problem after all that. Ack. But then I often look at something and think "that's not gonna work" and it turns out I've totally mis-judged dimensions or something, so I have confidence that I'm just being my usual alarmist self. It's a dead cool bit of kit anyway; very clever "chuck" system, simple but ingenious. And hey, it did get here in time. Kind of...

Say cheese

Having just sworn in the comments that I wouldn't bore blog readers with 'puter-related stuff, I couldn't resist trying out the built-in camera in this fancy thing. Naturally I don't want to put visitor numbers into a downward spiral by taking a picture of yours truly, so instead I give you the Marples 6821 Improved Beechwood Mitre Box (#1 for mouldings 3x2 inches) with Adjustable Saw Guides that I got on Sunday. 3/9 in the 1934 Marples catalogue, fyi.



At the car boot sale in 2006? 50 new pence. Plus added free rust that wasn't included 60 years ago. Not that it's probably that old anyway, but hey, can't be bad, huh? Yeah okay, so I'm a neandermite/normathal with a Bosch mitre saw, but it's cool... Worst comes to worst I can always move the guides to the unused Crown mitre box I got last year - I think that was 50p too.

I do love looking through that old Marples catalogue mind you, and this is a nice excuse to get it out again. Interesting thing. The Tall Scotsman was lamenting the move from leather ends on socket chisels' handles to steel hoops and we both assumed it was an accountant thing. But not here it ain't. The #845 Bevel-edge Socket Cabinet Chisels, Beech Handled, with Leather Tips are exactly the same price as the otherwise identical #845a Bevel-edge Socket Cabinet Chisels, Beech Handled, with bright Steel Hoops. So there you are.

Incidentally, at the bottom of every page there's some sound advice for 1934: Ask for MARPLES TOOLS - They're BRITISH.

How things change...

An Apple a Day...

... is guranteed to give a long-term Windoze user a headache!



Yes, I've made the switch, emmigrated to another country and it's proving hard work. Even Blogger is different, for heaven's sakes. It took me about ten years to find out how to do a degree sign in Windows - and now it doesn't work! Arrrrrgh. But I knew it'd be like this; to be fair every time I've had a new 'puter there's been a learning curve even going from Windows to Windows, so I shouldn't be surprised. But at least I've managed to get the old Dell to recognise the existence of the Mac on my mini network and transfer across my music, pics and docs, and email seems to be working. Too bad I can't get the Mac to recognise the Dell...

Tomorrow I think I may take a break and devote myself to some woodworking; too much of this techie stuff rots a neanderthal's brain.

What else? Oh yes, found Mike Hancock at Classic Handtools is now stocking Chris Schwarz's DVDs and instead of going "Oooo, I'd like those, maybe for Christmas..." I found myself just ordering them without a moment's hesitation. Dunno what got into me really. I think Forgotten Hand Tools appeals to me a bit more than Coarse, Medium and Fine; nice to finally see someone give handsaws the "plane treatment" and seeing the drawboring actually done instead of just reading about it is very helpful. Nice that the PDFs of the relevant PWW/Woodworking articles are included on the disc. Curiously Chris reminds me of a combination of Jimmy Stewart and Loyd Grossman - and that's definitely not as bad as it sounds! Now where can I get some drift pins...

Finally, a moan; be grateful, I edited itdown from a rant... Why is it every time I venture into FWW's Knots forum I find a certain wooden planemaker yet again airing the enormous chip on his shoulder about metal planes. You won't get converts to woodies from Stanleys and such if you essentially suggest that they don't know the first thing about what they're doing with those metal planes, IMO.

Spring must have sprung

I know this because I was moved to tidy the workshop. I mean really tidy it, so you can see the floor and everything. It was so clear I was finally able to put down the anti-fatigue matting I got cheaply back in January. The old man swiped the other pack for the garage. Anyway, it doesn't link up with Axminster's old style matting that I already have, but I think doubled-up in front of the bench might prove most beneficial anyway.


Colourful, ain't it? If it gets too much I can always flip it over to the black side. One unexpected benefit is it comes provided with straight bits to fill in the jigsaw-ish edges. As there are more than needed for the mats in this configuration I've managed to get them to fit "well enough" at strategic points round the old black matting. Viz: below the over-hanging Woodrat and mitre saw handle. A visual guide to know when not to stand up in a hurry and thus avoid cracking your head. Clever, no?

But better, and more time-consuming than that - I've done my bi-annual chuckout of off-cuts. The three plastic boxes under the bench were full to over-flowing, but no longer. However the kindling pile should be proportionately larger now.

It pains me to do it, mind you. If I could find a way of stowing it so I could find the bit I wanted when I needed it, I'd probably have kept the lot.

Now to mess it all up again with shavings and sawdust...