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The Things People Do

Broken eyelet Moving into a house always means repairs. I do most of my own repairs because I can. It never ceases to amaze me how people repair things. We have a balcony across the front of the house which has balustrades using tensioned stainless steel wire . Most of the wire is anchored to timber with stainless steel eyelets. One of the eyelets failed and much to my surprise it had been repaired with epoxy! This was never going to work! I managed to get the broken part of the eyelet using a plug cutter. I drilled through the post and removed the plug. I found some dowel at the local hardware store almost the right size and glued it in with some shims. A bit of filler and paint and you wouldn't know the hole had been filled. I still cant believe that someone tried to repair this with epoxy. I subsequently discovered another broken eyelet and followed the same repair process.

By |October 22nd, 2022|Categories: News|Tags: |0 Comments

Strange Photo Behaviour

Duck's at work I'm having some strange Photo behaviour. I store most of my photos on Google Photos for convenience and up until recently I could easily insert them directly from WordPress. However this has changed , certainly since WordPress version 6.0. I now experience what seems to be an endless loop and eventually I get a json error, whatever that is. Not all I'd lost as the images have turned up in the WordPress media library without being inserted in post. I can insert the photos directly from the library without issue. I took me quite some time to discover this. Not really seamless as sometimes I can't directly upload to the media library. Photos are an important part of blogs so this is a little annoying. I have tried this from several computers and a couple of android devices. I have two self hosted blogs with the same issue. Strange Photo Behaviour indeed.

By |July 13th, 2022|Categories: News|0 Comments

New Workshop Slow Progress

We are now nearly three months into the relocation. The new workshop has a brand new concrete floor but that's about it . There have been all sorts of delays; some of it COVID related. I managed to lay some cable underneath the mesh prior to the floor being laid so at least I can get power to the far wall. The list of things to do is quite long and doesn't only include the workshop. The workshop aside we are still unpacking, my wife has had surgery and not able to weight bear on her left foot for six weeks. We still have rooms that resemble a a warehouse! The new floor in the workshop worked out well. Because there has been such a delay in using it some four weeks now it is very hard. This is a good thing. I am adapting what was originally an open carport to a workshop. The previous owners has started enclosing the carport and added a sidewall and roller doors front and back. We have added the concrete floor with a retaining wall at the far end. The rear roller will have to be removed as it stops about 300mm from the floor. My plan is to build a stud wall with an access door and a window. The side wall away from the house will also get a stud wall and insulation. I have already bought LED strip lights for the ceiling.

By |May 30th, 2022|Categories: News|0 Comments

Workshop Update January 2022

The joys of storage A small update on the site and projects. I am currently in the process of moving house. This of course means that I am packing up my little workshop. My woodworking efforts have come to a temporary halt. I have already started packing up some of my tools and put them in storage. Ona positive note I will have a larger workshop at the new hose. The first tentative steps towards retirement and more workshop time I have lots projects planned and in progress. I started reupholstering and repairing a pair of lounge chairs. One is almost complete and I wanted to finish them both at the same time to better use the final fabric at the same time. I am also planning to venture into box making with a Gifkins dovetail jig. I am looking forward to getting back into woodturning at the new workshop. All my woodturning timber is currently in a paddock as I had to clear it out for the pesky open inspections. All part of the exhausting business of moving house. I started writing this with the intention of writing about the sort of YouTube channels that I like to watch but it did drift in to the hassles of moving house. It will be some time i.e. month before I get back to a workshop as such. On the positive side of things our new new residence has views of the sea. I will be able to enjoy sea breezes as I whittle away.

By |January 20th, 2022|Categories: Woodworking|0 Comments

Major 8 Radiogram Repair

We have in our possession a Major 8 radiogram which was originally purchased by my in-laws around 1960s. It hasn't been used for years and kept largely for sentimental reasons. When I first saw it a very modern (for its day) stereo cassette player had been patched in not sure how but it worked. I have not been able to find any information online about this or any other radiogram. I did find a website that that does repairs Resurrection Radiograms. They hadn't heard of a Major 8 either. They did however suggest that it could be a rebranded Astor 8. I visited another website bakeliteradio it lists the Astor brand but doesn't really help my cause. The radiogram is now part of history as cassette players, 8 track cartridges and compact disks. The radio still works but it only has AM as this unit predates FM radio and there is little call for short wave theses days. So there it sits the AM band works but doesn't cover the full bandwidth that is available today. I can tune in some stations the sound is a bit crackly befitting such an on old radio. Sadly the turntable is no longer functional too hared to fix. The cabinet is made from veneered plywood which needed repair. That however is a story for another post. Major 8 RadiogramMajor 8 tuning on light

Warm still with the life of forgotten men

I have seen part of this poem used a signature block. Apparently DH Lawrence was troubled by modernity. Things men Have Made Things men have made with wakened hands, and put soft life into Are awake through years with transferred touch, and go on glowing For long years. And for this reason, some old things are lovely Warm still with the life of forgotten men who made them. DH Lawrence

By |August 5th, 2021|Categories: News|0 Comments

Repairs Repairs Nothing but Repairs

I keep thinking I'm going to make little creative projects but I never seem to shake off repairing things. Currently I have been fixing a garden seat which had a broken slat. The likely culprit is the dog. Then I discovered that it had a rotten back rest. This meant that I had to remake part of the backrest. In reality the repair is worth more than the bench. But management wanted it preserved as it was a gift from our son. I'm am also fixing an old radiogram so that it can be sold. The problem with this is that the veneer on the cabinet is lifting. It is so damaged that it could probably be thrown out. However it belonged to my inlaws so my wife wants it fixed and sold. Im not even sure that any of the electrics work anymore. The record player hasn't been used in years and the radio frequencies are no longer in use. I'm not game to plug it in as it might blow a fuse!The unit predates FM radio and we won't evenmention DAB+. Then there is a chair waiting renovation , another ready to re-upholster (since 2019) and a dining table that could be refinished for sale. Somewhere in the middle I made a stand for a prot barrel sadly not my port barrel. So it's all repairs at the moment and we are downsizing. Garden Seat Back Garden Seat BackPort BarellRadiogramRadiogram VeneerChair FrameAssembled Chair FrameWaiting to be finishedRepairs Repairs

Upgrades to the A’van

Upgrades to the van We have a A'Van Cruiseliner campervan which I seem to be endlessly upgrading or modifying. The photos in the attached gallery show the installation of an Ikea fold down table and a shelf above the sink. We found that the original table takes up too much space inside the van particularly when its cold and we spend in the van. I have of course kept the original table. I fitted the new Ikea table in such a way that if I decide to reverse the fitting you wouldn't notice. Although the table would benefit from having the right front corner as you look at lopped of. We have been away a couple of times with the additions in place and all seems to work well. most recently oy the Eyre Peninsula.

By |July 23rd, 2021|Categories: Renovating|0 Comments

Welcome to the Gutenberg Editor

Of Mountains & Printing Presses The goal of this new editor is to make adding rich content to WordPress simple and enjoyable. This whole post is composed of pieces of content—somewhat similar to LEGO bricks—that you can move around and interact with. Move your cursor around and you’ll notice the different blocks light up with outlines and arrows. Press the arrows to reposition blocks quickly, without fearing about losing things in the process of copying and pasting. What you are reading now is a text block the most basic block of all. The text block has its own controls to be moved freely around the post... ... like this one, which is right aligned. Headings are separate blocks as well, which helps with the outline and organization of your content. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Handling images and media with the utmost care is a primary focus of the new editor. Hopefully, you’ll find aspects of adding captions or going full-width with your pictures much easier and robust than before. If your theme supports it, you’ll see the "wide" button on the image toolbar. Give it a try. Try selecting and removing or editing the caption, now you don’t have to be careful about selecting the image or other text by mistake and ruining the presentation. The Inserter Tool Imagine everything that WordPress can do is available to you quickly and in the same place on the interface. No need to figure out HTML tags, classes, or remember complicated shortcode syntax. That’s the spirit behind the inserter—the (+) button you’ll see around the editor—which allows you to browse all available content blocks and add them into your post. Plugins and themes are able [...]

By |July 23rd, 2021|Categories: News|0 Comments

A Little Tension

More TensionTemporary FixReplacement Tension WheelTension Wheel I have an old Stanley 110 block plane which used to belong to my father. I can remember him buying it in the early 1970s. With house moves and things over the years parts of it got lost. Importantly the blade and tension wheel went missing. The blade was fairly easy to replace but the the tension wheel was another matter. I have tried to order the part from Stanley but never had any luck. In fact ordering spare parts for tools can be a cause of tension as they often do not follow up on orders. In the interim I managed to make a tension wheel from a large flat washer and a quarter twenty bolt secured with a couple of square nuts. The old adage of temporary becoming permanent comes into focus. This has in fact served me well for quite a number of years. However I always wanted to replace the temporary repair with a real one. As is often the case you get a bee in your bonnet, so I decided to see if I could order a tension wheel online. It came as quite a shock that I would have to pay over $50 Australian dollars for the part from the US. Luckily I am a member of the Australian woodworking forums which has an active buy and sell section. There is a guy who regularly sells s lot of planes so I sent him a direct message asking where I might buy the part. He very generously offered to send me the part for postage only. The Stanley No 110 and the tension wheel are now happily working together. In the end my [...]

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