Holy Illustrations

Any reader(s) of this slightly irreverent missive will have to forgo their undoubted disappointment for a few days as I'm off on my travels again tomorrow...specifically we're off to Edinburgh for about a week to see Gareth's graduation from the university. He was hoping for a 2/1 but achieved a very creditable 2/2 in Mathematics. As I pointed out to him, the classification of the degree isn't really important, it's what it's in and where it came from that counts. Future employers won't be interested in whether it's a 2/1 or a 2/2...the mere fact that it's a BSc. Hons in Mathematics from one of the top universities in the country will be enough to open any future employment doors.

We hope to set off at around lunch time on Friday to stay with my brother overnight near Newalk-on-Trent, so no doubt we'll have a few scoops in the evening and then next morning it's up early as we need to get to Holy Island at Lindersfarne by about midday in order to catch the safe crossing times across the causeway. After that, it's only about 90min drive round the coast on the A1 to Edinburgh, so I'm hoping to arrive there sometime round about 1800hrs.

In the meantime, I've been beavering away in the 'shop...the pic shows the progress of Tony's new 'shute. For me, a decent shooting board is indispensable in the 'shop and this one is pretty standard, apart from a few uber-cunning improvements that make it almost impossible to use inaccurately,but also that make it easy to fix...always useful!

First and foremost, the 90deg fence pivots slightly...the hole at the runway end is a tight fit on the screw and the other end is a loose fit, the fence being tightened using a big screw and washer once 90deg has been set. The fence also has a piece of long grain timber biscuited into it so that if the 'shute plane be inadvertently tipped, it can be easily replaced by simply gluing on another small piece and planing it in.

Second and foremost, the runway has a wear strip of acrylic plastic which makes moving the LN No.9 along it almost child's play, but the really clever bit is the small additional wear strip down the side of the plastic which bears on the sole of the plane just underneath the cutter...so it's bloody hard to damage the side of the 'shute, even if you do manage to tip the plane. Cunning or what?

Should you happen to dip into future issues of Furniture and Cabinetmaking, you might notice the inclusion of one or two hand-tinted, colour washed illustrations. When Michael Hunltley was the editor I offered to do a couple, very much in the style of the drawings in FWW (which we both like a great deal, particulary the layout and graphics) so I did some and sent them off the mag. The response was positive and they seemed to like my 'colouring-in' renditions with the result that I've been asked to do a lot more...winner!

There are a couple of additional features that will be built into the 'shute when I return, so you're just going to have to curb your impatience and wait 'til I finished my wanderings...