• 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!

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  1. Mike G

    Well, that day didn't go to plan.

    Yep. I'm very used to doing what the physio tells me, and the boring repetition of exercise. If you don't do the exercises, don't expect good results!
  2. Mike G

    Well, that day didn't go to plan.

    Very good, Andy.
  3. Mike G

    Well, that day didn't go to plan.

    I've been riding my bike for about 10 days now, and that's going well. My legs are weak just from not cycling for so long, but I have no issues at all with my achilles. I've just got back from seeing the physio, who said I can now start going out on my bike...:) She also got me running in the...
  4. Mike G

    Joint Practice

    It depends on the size. If it's a massive thing in a green oak beam, then an undersized hole. If It's small and set up to a chisel-width, then chop out with a chisel (actually, I'm perfectly happy to use any old bench chisel, and seldom use a mortice chisel). I can't recall ever drilling out...
  5. Mike G

    Joint Practice

    I've done hundreds of bridles, and they are definitely the most difficult of the standard joints. If I were setting a woodworking test for someone, it would be to make a bridle joint. And yeah, those dovetailed-all-round scarf joints are fun, aren't they. The first time I saw one I puzzled over...
  6. Mike G

    Clamps

    I have nothing good at all to say about those one handed bar clamps. I loathe them with a passion. If you want a decent one handed clamp, these things are superb (and they can be had for £5 or £6 if you keep your eyes open):
  7. Mike G

    Hardest part of hand planing for me is planing edge square to face. Tips?

    Check your planes for square, first. Many of them aren't!
  8. Mike G

    Hardest part of hand planing for me is planing edge square to face. Tips?

    You've been told the basic technique by enough people above for me not to repeat that. The thing I would emphasise, though, is to slow down. I mean, really slow. I've just been doing it for an hour or so and if anyone were watching they'd think I was being unnecessarily pedestrian. Well, so bit...
  9. Mike G

    Marmite

    I don't doubt you're right, Gill, but I'm struggling to work out how you add Marmite to mushrooms and walnuts.
  10. Mike G

    Favourite / Least Favourite Native & Imported Woods

    How far down the food chain do you want to go, Al? I mean, rubber wood, or eucalyptus, or some of the stuff from foreign pallets.......? No-one makes anything much with them, but they'd be far worse than bubinga or padauk to work with. My favourite imported wood would be teak.
  11. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    Right, I've cracked it. The mauve colour was a product of a reddy-brown layer on top of the black. A light rub and brush was enough to remove a reasonable amount of the stuff. I assume it is rust, and presumably from the broken-down steel wool. The way to prevent it accruing in the first place...
  12. Mike G

    Cereal shovel...

    Yep, I got some maths wrong. 187,000 tons is approx 9700 cubic metres.....or approaching 4 swimming pools-worth.
  13. Mike G

    Cereal shovel...

    I asked one AI thingamejig "how much gold has been mined in the history of the world in cubic metres" and was told 20 (cu.m). I knew this to be wrong, but I clicked on the "more information" button, and was told 900 cu.m . AI isn't that intelligent if it can't even spot that it has given...
  14. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    Spot on......and that's why the whole teardrop will be covered in 2 part varnish, with in-built UV filters.
  15. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    That's fuming, Pete. ........and I have made a new batch. It takes a few days to "mature", and doesn't solve the problem of the frame I've already done.
  16. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    That may well be worth trying. I already have some on hand to make the epoxy glue black, so I'll experiment with using it to augment the ebonising.
  17. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    I've got to be pretty careful here not only with compatability with oak and the ebonising mixture, but with the epoxy going over the piece. I just don't know enough about the latter to be confident with dyes or ink. Further, a quick internet search suggests that ink in particular, but dyes as...
  18. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    No, this is it. I'm not re-making this whole part. That's 3 days work. I'm stuck with making the best of the ebonising I've done.
  19. Mike G

    Marmite

    Love it! And I'm happy with it spread as thickly as that. However, if you want something which really is revolting, try the Australian attempt at Marmite, called Vegemite. It looks a little like used wheel bearing grease, and probably tastes about the same.
  20. Mike G

    Big problems ebonising.

    I wonder if anyone can help me with a problem I have ebonising oak. I've done it a number of times over the years and never run into this before. I prepared the oak by wiping it down with a very strong tea solution, but it's worth noting that the scrap pieces I've been testing since DIDN'T have...
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