What Sweeties?

A week to go now to the hols and a lot do. The Landy's got to be scrubbed and polished ready for the 'off' next Friday and I'll need to get all the camping kit out of the loft at the weekend and give it a check over, grass will have to be cut I suppose before we go which is always a bit of a chore but doesn't take too long.

The refurb on the T5 is coming along nicely, still lots to do, but the main castings have started to clean up quite well so I'm hopeful that it will turn out to look very presentable. The person who has bought it has specified some English Walnut knobs and tote so I'm happy to do that.

I've just had an email from the Competition Moderator who has let me know that Philly is going to donate a prize instead of the original donor which is very generous, so many thanks indeed Phill.......any saw from that tool chest will do at a pinch, says me, backing out the door!

The article on the Teak Casket for F&C was finished yesterday. I've run off a draft copy and I'll need to now let my proof reader (Megs, my daughter) have a look at it for spelling errors and grammatical goofs, of which there will be many, no doubt. One thing I do have to do though is a decent A2 working drawing, so I need to get cracking on that if I'm to get it in the post next week.

I can hear you chundering now, what's all this about sweets? Driving sweeties for SWIMBO to be precise, probably one of the most important decisions on the forthcoming adventure. I personally favour the 'Curiously Strong Mints' from M&S, the ones in the little green tin, but I suppose Alyson will have her usual favourites for an outing like this........a big bag of Worthers sucky sweeties!

Slightly Concerned..........

The holiday is fast approaching now, just a couple of weeks to go. I voiced concern to SWIMBO a few days ago that our old tent (Vango Delta) was great for somewhere that had guaranteed sunshine but it had nowhere to shelter in the wet as it was only a little dome tent, so we went out and bought a much bigger tunnel tent from Blacks, which is where Alyson has a Saturday job incidently, so we were able to buy one at less than half-price, which is not too shabby! We look at the weather in Switzerland on these webcams each day at this site and its quite easy to see that the conditions change fairly rapidly in the mountains: http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/swisscams/cam_overview.cfm

I'm going to start another plane refurb today as well. I've got an old Record T5 jack plane which I'm going to give 'The Treatment'. I'll probably finish it to a decent standard with a Clifton blade from Axminster and make a new tote and knobs in mahogany or cherry (or whatevever I've got loafing about in the workshop which is suitable) and then flog it on the Bay. If sufficient is raised I hope to be able to put it towards the cost of a new LV 22" low angle try plane as I don't have a longer plane at the moment. Also in the pipeline for later will be a 28" woodie with a greenheart sole, double iron set at 50deg and adjustable mouth which should be very interesting to make.

I was hoping by now to have recieved my prize in the Competition, the design section having closed at the end of July. Nothing has yet appeared in the post and I have heard nothing from the person donating the prize, which is worrying and a situation that I find unacceptable. There is another person who also is owed a prize and who has not yet (I assume) recieved anything. I'm going to leave it another couple of weeks and then I may go public before I go on holiday........

Heavy Weight on my Back

Dad's funeral went off quite well last week really. A sad day as these things always are but really good to meet up with my brothers again after quite a while.


With the completion of the Teak Casket a few days ago, my daughter has taken quite a shine to it, in fact most things I make would end up in her bedroom stuffed full of clutter if she could get away with it, so to ease the burden on my aching shoulders I'm going to make her one and hopefully that will be the end of it....don't hold your breath though. SWIMBO's been giving me a bit of grief as well over it so it's a two pronged attack........ I'm not ever going to win, but then again do us blokes ever? A few weeks ago a visited a pal in Basingstoke who let me have (amongst some other timber) a few short boards of spalted sycamore, just enough to do a little box with a solid panel for a lid and hopefully enough left over to veneer some ply for the base, so I'm hoping it should turn out quite well.......trouble is I need some thin bandsaw blades to convert the wood and haven't been able to buy any yet as all available spondulicks is being chanelled towards our hols, I live in hope though!

We're counting down the days now for our trip abroad and have now decided that it will be Switzerland as we've bought a half-price rail card valid for all trains, buses and lake steamers as well as the motorway pass for the windscreen of the Landy. The bikes are also being taken this year so that adds an extra element to the proceedings. I've got a very busy itinerary planned though I'm not sure we'll be able to do all of it so we need to be flexible and make sure we can do as much as possible depending on the weather, which can always be variable in the mountains. Looking forward to it. Driving a Landrover down the Swiss mountain hairpins last year was something that needed a little bit of concentration......should be a great holiday.

It's Finished

I've finally finished the casket for the Competition. It's been very interesting to make but proved quite a challenge in many respects, not least 'cos of the curved surfaces and of course the secret mitre dovetails. I was speaking to the editor of F&C yesterday and he's very keen for an article with emphasis on the construction as it hasn't been covered in the mag for a number of years, so I'd better get busy on the keyboard....they don't call me 'fingers' (preceeded by a suitable adjective) at work for nothing! I thought I would put up a couple of sneaky pics of the finished project in the Blog.

On a more mundane note, we've got Dad's funeral in Guidford next Thursday which will be a bit of a trial for all concerned. I for one will be glad when it's over and I can get back to some semblance of normality

Surreal Sort of Day.....

Yesterday was a surreal and very odd sort of day. SWIMBO'S off to the South Atlantic so yesterday afternoon we packed her 'comfort box', a large cardboard box which anyone on an overseas posting can take, usually filled with all sorts of stuff and reminders of home to make life a little more tolerable when you're away. She's going to be away for about 6 months, could be longer so that's no to bad.........
........unlike my Dad who was visited by the old fella' with the big scythe at 5.30am yesterday. He'd had numerous small strokes over the years and was in a bad way, so this was a kindness I 'spose. Mustn't grumble tho', and least it's stopped raining and I've got the bloody grass cut!

Plan A or Plan B?

A fair bit has happened in the last few days. Swimbo had a very pleasant day with the RN on board HMS Bulwark, here's a pic of her suited and booted in the 'chopper (Sea King not a Chinook) looking ever so slightly apprehensive about the whole thing.
I had a really enjoyable day last Saturday with Paul (Chisel) who let me use his bandsaw to cut some walnut for a casket I'm making. I should have taken a few pics of his shop 'cos he's got the most impressive lathe that I've ever clapped eyes on.....very, very sexy (or whatever turns you on)

Very glad also to see that everyone had a great day out at the UK Workshop Woodworky Convention, or the Nottingham Bash as it's better known, looked a great day, not sure about Phill's T shirt, I think he needed something with a bit more presence for the day, if you know what I mean.
The casket as mentioned previously is coming on quite well now and is not far off being finished. There's still a lot of sanding and fiddling about with it as well as polishing but I think that when it's done it should be quite presentable so I'll email F&C and see if they are interested.....hope so.

May have Paul Chapman and Pete Newton coming over later in the week as Pete's just finished a plane that he wants me to have a look at.....'spect it will be a cracker if I know Pete.

Now I know what you're thinking, has Woodbloke finally lost it completely.....what's all this stuff about 'Plan A or Plan B'? Well it's all to do with our hols. We had a fantastic camping holiday in Switzerland last year and intend(ed) to go there again this year in early Sept. However SWIMBO came home a few days ago a bit doomy and gloomy having looked at the Beeb weather for central Europe.....they seem to have been clobbered as bad as us weather wise so being the bright and cheerful soul that I am I referred her to this weather pic which has remained fairly constant for the last couple of months.....I know, 'cos I've been looking 'occaisionaly'. This weekend then, SWIMBO's been hatching a cunning plan for a holiday to sunnier climes (South of France, roughly) known as Plan B. We intend to make the final 'go' decision in the 3rd week in August after consulting the runes, teacups, crystal balls and Auntie Beeb, probably in that order. Whatever happens we'll be taking the cycles abroad on the back of the Landy which is something else we've been organising .....a lighting board. Now that we've got that, it is truly staggering to see the number of motors with bikes on carriers where the number plate and lights are obscurred....it is an offence, the boys in blue WILL stop you and you WILL get a hefty fine and possibly points where you don't want 'em.

Hitting the Right Keys.......

Monday, 16 July 2007


As with most things, it's easy once youv'e figured out how to do something. I've just been playing around for the last three bloody hours trying to get a Hyperlink into the website text and hey presto....when you hit the keys in the right order it's all hunky doodly and everything works. I put a post on the General Forum about how to do it but the suggestions (and thanks everyone who had an input) didn't seem to work on Freewebs. It wasn't until I saw the Tutorial with a flow of idiot proof moving pics that the gloopy mud turned to sparkling clear water.......On a different note, SWIMBO's off on another jolly on the 'morrow. A couple of weeks ago she was surfing and throwing herself of cliffs in Cornwall (Alf country, Penhale) and this week she's being choppered out in a 'woka-woka' (that's a Chinook to those not in the know with military parlance) to HMS Bulwark in the English Channel for the day to see how the matelots do it.....should be fun. Oh what it is to work for the MOD.F&C's just dropped onto the mat with the last part of the Elm Chest which will make for pleasant reading at work tonight. My ugly mug's in there along with a line or two thanking Philly for the shoulder plane he made a while back....so if you read this Phill, many thanks again.Over the weekend, I managed to get the plinth partly done for the Casket. Most of the corners pulled up well tho' one is slightly out....perfection can never be achieved I suppose but precision is worth aiming for. Pic is shown below but I'll put a more detailed account on the forum shortly: