New Work Area

Today I had to plane some timber to the correct size for a little project I'm making.

In the old days that would involve going up the garden to my old workshop, cranking up the radio (and heater) and planning away. Now it involves fighting my way to the back of the container, pulling the planner to the front, rolling out an extension cable and doing all the work in the door way so I can see what I'm doing! I'm not complaining, but it does make me want to start to build my new workshop even sooner!Really glad all my machines are on rolling stands, with the smooth wooden floor of the container it makes them easy to drag to the front and then drag back again when I'm finished with them.

I'm also looking forward to building a chicken coop soon so I can get some chickens again - I've already got their first lot of bedding!

Moulding planes

I'll keep this post short, I had a rather good time at the car boot on Sunday and bought one or two planes...

You all warned me what would happen!

I'll do a post later on what I've been making or this will turn into just a tool blog! Still restoring this lot will keep me busy over the winter months.

Tool Addiction

They say the first part of getting over a problem is admitting you have a problem.

I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I don't drink much, but I do have a problem - I'm addicted to buying tools and whats worse is I love it.

I've got a job this weekend of putting in some wardrobes and altering doorways on a brand new house, I didn't want to damage any walls whilst doing the work so I decided that the best course of action would be to buy a tool I've been hankering after for quite a while - a Fein Multimaster. I used one on a job before Christmas to cut through some oak paneling which otherwise would have been impossible to keep in one piece and it was an excellent tool for this specialist work. So for cutting through skirting and architrave without wrecking the wall behind it should be perfect and the job should pay for it (well that's what I'm telling the wife!).

Joking aside this tool should soon pay for itself on any repair work I have to do when I give a price and it doubles as a great little detail sander.

My other purchase today was a Record No 8 jointing plane without a cap iron or blade. It's in lovely condition and for £20 I couldn't say no. It's not a plane I'll use very often in my line of work but for workshop projects, shooting boards it should be great. I'll wait a while to get the bits that are missing and see if I can pick them up second hand, it'll go nicely with my grandfathers old No 7 try plane (anyone ever use a No 6?).