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That's a bit of a tricky one, Moby, I remember lusting after a Durden combo machine in the late 60s. It was an 8" saw combined with a 4" buzzer driven by a common spindle. The price of a new one...

Jk - I imagine you turned that branch just to see what it's like and not with any finished object in mind, but I feel obliged to point out it is extremely unlikely to dry without major splitting -...

Depends on what you use, Chris. The chiffonier above is finished with a mix made from "orange flakes", which used to be the most common form available to amateurs. That will impart an orange tone...

JK, river oak, aka Allocasuarina cunninghamiana or hybrids thereof are certainly common urban trees. The handle Cklett showed is from an old tree that had "black-heart", a condition caused by a...

Tony, I've used perspex for router-bases & with all those wood chips & sawdust whizzing over it, it gets a pretty good electrostatic charge up on a dry day, which causes chips & sawdust to cling to...

IMO, cedar is one of those woods that cries out to be french-polished, especially if highly-figured. It's a tedious process & the finish isn't as resistant to spills or heat as some, but where it is...

OK, that's that then. Please PM me with an address to send your plane to & I'll get them away asap....

Ok, so my “big cull” is underway & there are a few planes that are excess to requirements which need to find new homes. Prices do not include postage.

1. English Stanley #4, circa 1960s. $80 ...

Crikey! Actually, I didn't mean to give you those bits - can I have them back?? :U :U

Just kidding, of course. You've done a great job on it. I hope you get as much use & pleasure out of your...

Wood storage is a problem for any of us who can't resist every windfall or bargain that comes along. When I had more restricted space than I do atm, I tried to be as selective as I could, and not...

Oh yes, there have been quite a few diversions from firewood pile to an alternative life for many bits of wood round here! I was busting a gut trying to split a chunk of unknown hardwood one day,...

Hmm, there's an interesting set of decisions to be made when deciding on what to put on a table top, methinks. One of the reasons I switched to the "pseudo oil-finish" technique is because I got...

Picko, as I keep sayin', "colour is the least reliable feature in wood identification!" There's often marked variation in the same tree, let alone between two different trees of the same species;...

You were quite right Lance, it was the way it was done. You simply discovered there are a few better ways. :U

I sure wish I could have a $ for each dumb thing I've done in my life, but I think I...

Yep, it could do with a bit of focus, but it does show what looks like some medullary rays on a pale wood, so I'd take a small bet on Beech, especially as it was about the only wood used post WW2.......

Just one small piece of Banksia, M.A. There are quite a few species & they vary a lot in density, colour & workability. As far as I know, they all have that ray-fleck grain typical of te proteacea...

Lance, there are so many species of Casuarinas all over the country & Tasmania has its share. The majority of species are small trees or even shrubs, but I'm pretty sure you have a couple of...

Mike, I was going to ut it in your '29' thread to complement your tote repair, but decided it would be better as a standalone thread - easier to look up in the future. You should have little trouble...

And so did a lot of blokes, Rusty - it was a popular flooring timber in N.Q. in the 60's. You didn't sand more than one floor without being MUCH more careful next time...
Cheers,

From there, it’s all ‘eyeball’-guided work. I like to copy the shape of the old pre-1930 totes, which involves a fair bit of wood removal. The old totes have a very gradual transition giving an...

A bit over a year ago (already) I tidied up an old type 11 #4.

It had its original rosewood woodwork, which I would have kept, but a bad break across the lower grip of the tote (the most common...

And when you perfect that feat, you can instruct ALL of us.....
:U :U

Mike, so long as you have the time & can afford it, just follow your whims & have fun. Some whims will come up empty, others may lead on to all sorts of discoveries - c'est la vie :U

Cgcc, do you...

Well, we can all find good reasons for being like we are, can't we? That's as it should be, you can find enough reasons for feeling inadequate in today's world without having your hobby...

Interesting, Bill - now you've raised it, I remember coming across the Gage planes in a book, a long time ago. There can't have been too many reached our shores, I've certainly not seen one here. ...

My bench is almost the same height as yours, Cgcc, and I'm a shade under 5' 10" in old money. It's perfect for me for hand-planing and jobs where I don't need to have my face in the work to see, but...

I think you may have a lot of fellow campers, Cgcc..... :U

Hear hear, Chris. I am lucky that in my day we had woodwork, metalwork or trade drawing one morning each week throughout grades 7 & 8. I was also lucky to have a teacher who was an ex cabinetmaker...

It's a sensitiser, Bob, you are unlikely to have have too many issues on the first exposure to a bit of dust from it, but subsequent exposure may set off a nasty allergic reaction, so don't treat it...

Definitely not an acacia I'd say - those are true leaves & the venation is not consistent with acacia "leaves" which are not actually leaves but flattened stems with parallel venation & don't have...

Ab-sol-utely! It's one of the worst sensitisers around. It's also straight-out toxic & can make you quite ill if you absorb enough of the dust. It was used in huge quantities in the 60s, both as...

Picko, you should've squarked-up - I'm sure I could find a scrap of real rosewood big enough to fix that horn. What wood is on your 4 1/2? Maybe I can help on that one? The scraps I have left are...

Looks good, Picko. As you say, it will greatly add to user comfort and I commend you for saving that lovely old handle.

I reckon the shape of those early rosewood handles is both aesthetically...

I think you should try it for yourself but I predict you will not find it a great idea. Adding a bevel to the flat side of a BU blade is not very practical for the reason Derek pointed out. Planes...

I could only suggest you try it & see, it's the best way to find out. But I will add that you need to be very careful adding a bevel to the flat side of a BU blade. If it's an "ultra low angle" job...

tt, it's a trap I've fallen into. By the time you've been making things for 35 years, you have reached a level of competence that you are unlikely to improve on materially; you have filled your...

Derek, I did sort of talk myself round to your way of thinking before I finished my post... :U

I do find far more use for my little 1/2" SP than I imagined I would. To be honest, I only made it...

Thanks Paul. That was nearly 30 years after the first "transitional" hit the stores. I realised from other posts that the two lines were contemporaneous, not an evolutionary development, as you...

Lance, I suspect your steel wool is to blame. You need to be sure it's "fresh" when you buy it & hasn't been exposed to moisture at any point. I keep the roll well-wrapped in plastic bags & only...

I'll second that. A bullnosed plane is a wonderful thing when you really, really need it, but that's about once or twice in a lifetime unless you have a penchant for making stuff with lowered...

Nah, that sort of stuff goes for kindling, Bob!
:D

Obviously, it depends on what sort of handles you want to make, Jk. Chisel & file handles for e.g., range in diameter from ~25-35mm. Twenty-five mm is on the small size, I use that on small files,...

There's a problem with planes, or at least I have a problem, not only do we have individual preferences for sizes & weights, but these can change over time, for all sorts of objective & subjective...

Paul, you've turned up something there! Do you know the dates for each of those catalogue pages? One would assume the lever-actuated depth adjuster & lack of lateral adjuster series preceded the...

With luck, we might have a Maleny wood show next year. There are usually a few sellers with woods like Hairy oak & other less common species like western rosewood (Acacia rhodoxylon). They are...

Lance, I just finished this chair for one of our grand daughters. The seat & back rail are Jacaranda and the legs & spindles are black wattle (not A. mearnsii, it's one of the several spp. round...

Sheoak, Bulloak, Hairy oak - all make excellent tool handles. Hairy oak is a favourite of mine when I can get hold of any. It's the least hard of that group to work, but still buffs up to a lovely...

Ayup! :D

But it's not too serious a problem.................yet!
:U

All good - you'll get it working nicely eventually, I'm sure. Some of my planes have taken (literally) years to fettle to the point where I'm satisfied with them. I'm referring to planes I've made...

Good point raff, and it looks like there is a strike button on the toe end of Mikes' plane. You can, of course tap either the top of the toe or the back to loosen/retract a blade so putting a knob...