• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Like the ocean under the moon

Another vote for Stop Loss Bags, I’ve been using them for a number of years now with the price of oils for me it’s a no brainer.
 
I've ordered some. I avoid Amazon if I can, but.....
 
I've ordered some. I avoid Amazon if I can, but.....
As I've got a few VacuVin stoppers surplus to requirements, I'll try the wine bottle approach first of all. The Stop Loss bags look intriguing though, but does each come with that stand up blue plastic base thingie as shown in the pics? - Rob
 
As I've got a few VacuVin stoppers surplus to requirements, I'll try the wine bottle approach first of all. The Stop Loss bags look intriguing though, but does each come with that stand up blue plastic base thingie as shown in the pics? - Rob
I don't know: mine (which look a bit different to the newer ones) didn't, but then I've never felt the lack: they stand up okay on they're own.
 
As I've got a few VacuVin stoppers surplus to requirements, I'll try the wine bottle approach first of all. The Stop Loss bags look intriguing though, but does each come with that stand up blue plastic base thingie as shown in the pics? - Rob
The only two blue bits on the woodworkers' workshop images are the foldable funnel and the printing on the bag itself. As Al says, they stand up fine once they have something in them. There isn't a stand AFAIK Rob
 
I've been away for a week so haven't done much with the plane. However, that does mean that the four coats of Mike's Magic Mix that I did before going away had plenty of time to dry properly.

The sun was shining when I got back today so I took the opportunity to go and take a few photos. I'm out for most of tomorrow so it'll probably be Saturday before I get a chance to give it a decent test (I still need to give the blades a bit of attention on the corners and a final strop), but it's nice to see it oiled and together.

First of all, all the pieces laid out in a mostly dismantled state (the lever cap doesn't come apart and I was too lazy to unscrew the Norris adjuster):

2026-04-30-01-plane-in-pieces_600.jpg


You may notice the addition of a small brass piece in the lever cap. I made that before going away but didn't take any photos. It's just a top-hat washer, glued in place with Loctite 603. It reduces the diameter of the hole (to account for the fact I swapped from an M8 mounting thread to an M6 one). The only pieces in that photo I didn't make were the shorter two of the three screws.

Partly assembled (and in the state it'll be when sharpening is happening) it looks like this:

2026-04-30-02-part-assembled_600.jpg


Right-hand side:

2026-04-30-03-plane-front-right_600.jpg


Left-hand side:

2026-04-30-04-plane-front-left_600.jpg
 
That's lovely, Al. Well done again. I don't like the Allen-key bolts on show on the knob and handle, but my aesthetics are based in an era 20 or 30 years before yours.
 
Thanks all

I don't like the Allen-key bolts on show on the knob and handle, but my aesthetics are based in an era 20 or 30 years before yours.

I'm not surprised that you don't like them; I've realised that my opinion of what looks good (e.g. the fact that I think slotted screws are ugly and that Torx and Allen heads look better) differs from a lot of people.
 
Very nice. I wish I had the skill.
Just one small point can we stop calling the finish Mike's Magic Mix. There are and have been several recipes around for many decades maybe even a century or more. I was given a version as an apprentice nearly 50 years ago. I have seen many variations on the theme from both sides of the pond. It is merely a form of rubbing oil or varnish. I am not sure it can be ascribed to any one individual.
 
Thanks all



I'm not surprised that you don't like them; I've realised that my opinion of what looks good (e.g. the fact that I think slotted screws are ugly and that Torx and Allen heads look better) differs from a lot of people.
Agreed, it's a matter of personal taste. In my very 'umble opinion, 'old skool' slot screws of the brass variety can look very classy, with a number of caveats; the hinge and screw heads need to be mirror polished, the slots of each screw must be in line ('clocked') and slots cannot, under any circumstances, be mangled, so the screw driver blade must be a perfect fit in the slot. Doing all that is time consuming and a faff, but well worth the effort...my 2 euros worth - Rob
 
Very nice. I wish I had the skill.
Just one small point can we stop calling the finish Mike's Magic Mix. There are and have been several recipes around for many decades maybe even a century or more. I was given a version as an apprentice nearly 50 years ago. I have seen many variations on the theme from both sides of the pond. It is merely a form of rubbing oil or varnish. I am not sure it can be ascribed to any one individual.
I made that point myself. There's a thread somewhere in the finishing sub-forum. In the US, it's sometimes called the Maloof (Part 1) mix...but even he didn't invent it. It's been around forever. I suppose using "MMM" as a name might at least point people to the right thread on the forum, where it is discussed in detail. It's a technique, really, rather than a formula.
 
I have a recipe for chocolate cake that is labelled and forever known in my family as Bob’s Chocolate Cake. It is the same as any other cake mix. What’s in a name? The important thing is that people know what is being spoken about and MMM is a lot easier to type than the actual recipe. My jar is labelled 3M but that moniker is already spoken for.
 
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