Swinging the cat.

**derekcohen** · 29th November 2022, 01:58 AM

The saying is "Not enough room to swing a cat". When working with long boards, as in bed rails, this really comes home.

When between projects and all is tidy and squared away, this is what the machine end of half of a double garage looks like (old photo) ...

But the reality is, when building ...

The router table fence (in the Hammer K3) is angled to create a line for the long boards (it just seemed like a good idea at the time to bevel the edges this way - might have been easier to hold the router) ...

This is the other side of the bandsaw, where the boards feed ...

And out the other end ... only just made it!

Planing edges ...

And faces ...

There have been negative comments about BU planes around the fori, and I thought that I might put them to bed (pun unintended). I use both BD (closed chipbreaker) and BU (high cutting angle) planes. Until the closed chipbreaker was resurrected, BU planes were my go-to to tame tearout in West Australian woods. I adopted BD planes because they do manage to work better in this regard, and have become my first choice. However, I very much doubt that many could tell this with most non-Australian woods. The BU planes worked well in the past, and continue to work well today. If one takes your fancy, use it.

Veritas Custom #4 with closed chipbreaker (70-80 degree leading edge) on a 42 degree frog ...

Veritas BU Smoother (modified appearance) with 62 degree cutting angle ...

The surface quality looks the same.

Regards from Perth

Derek

**GraemeCook** · 29th November 2022, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by derekcohen

... There have been negative comments about BU planes around the fori .....

Now where did you get that word from, Derek?

I usually use forums but was a little uncomfortable as I suspected fora might be the correct plural. So I just consulted the big Oxford English Dictionary - the twelve volume one - and, incredibly, it contains neither fora, fori nor forums - at least I could not find them.

PS: I have also been known to spell it forems.

... BU planes were my go-to to tame tearout in West Australian woods. I adopted BD planes because they do manage to work better in this regard, and have become my first choice. ...

The surface quality looks the same. ...

Interesting how we do these sorts of comparisons, Derek.

Increasingly, my goto smoother is a LN BU #5 over the traditional Stanley #4. I prefer the lower centre of gravity, the ease of adjusting the bevel for cantankerous timbers, the longer sole and it just feels nicer in the hand - the latter is crucial!

Nevertheless, I still very much prefer the ease of use of a Bailey adjuster to any derivative of the Norris adjuster.

**Optimark** · 30th November 2022, 11:32 AM

Still slightly off topic, my Macquarie Australian dictionary, second edition, uses forums and fora as the plural of forum.

I checked my Webster second edition unabridged dictionary (huge thing) it also has forums and fora as the plural.

Mick.

**GraemeCook** · 30th November 2022, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Optimark

... I checked my Webster second edition unabridged dictionary (huge thing) it also has forums and fora as the plural.

Mick.

Waste of time, Mick, everyone knows that Mr Webster cannot spell.

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