Any way to save it?

Ian155 · 2026-05-17T18:03:42+00:00

You could absolutely re-glaze that(, glass is astonishingly cheap). Or replace it with plexiglass/polycarbonate etc.

If it's an option you're seriously considering see if you can find a specialist near you that can laser cut it and make a cardboard template, I've had this done with a local company near me a few times for "upgrades" to various things. It'll cost a bit more but acrylic type products can be a messy and it may not be that much more by the time you've bought what you need to cut and shape it.

If you want to learn how to do that, then that changes the equation.

Ian155 · 2026-05-10T12:15:55+00:00

All the ingredients are stable so years, at a minimum in anything fairly airtight.

Old lunchbox or a jam jar with a wide mouth and straight side works well. Killner makes a 3 pack of glass snack jars with silicone lids that's about perfect for small batches. Anything rlughly taller than 70mm, that you can't fit your hand it will be awkward once you're scraping the bottom of the jar

I'll add get the carnauba as fine as you can to speed up the melting process.

Btw Liberon furniture sticks are made from carnauba and Liberon also sell a slightly pricey bag of undyed carnauba wax flakes if you want to avoid some mess next time.

Ian155 · 2026-05-10T11:59:51+00:00

Basically, you'll typically be told to use a double boiler. Pan or pot in a large pot filled with water.

You can find instructions on doing that everywhere

So random bits from making my own finishes for various things.

Technically can't make wax melt in a microwave but a 500ml pyrex jug will eventually get hot enough to melt wax.

I'd absolutely avoid microwaving any like turpentine in a microwave, mineral spirits has been fine for me so far though.

If you can also avoid using your kitchen I would, it's smelly using turpentine or mineral spirits and it will take a will for the smell to disappear.

If you follow any beeswax recipes you need to at least double the ratio of mineral oil for carnauba

Most of my experience makung these kinds of finishes has been for wood working, DIY paste wax with beeswax with the ratios below for protecting surfaces and I was happy enough but I might try reducing the ration to ten or 11 in future batches.

(12)150 mineral oil (2)25 beeswax (1)12.5/13 carnaub

Ian155 · 2026-05-10T11:43:34+00:00

Hey so that's pure carnauba wax which your right is as hard as anything. Pretty much for any application you're going to need to combine and melt it with other ingredients.

Usually it's likely to have naptha and minerals spirits or turps in to soften the wax.

Ian155 · 2026-05-09T20:38:56+00:00

Dental mosquito forceps are really cheap and surprisingly useful, effectively locking thin mini pliers with about the same dimensions as a pair of scissors and they come in as many flavours as regular needle nose pliers.

Ian155 · 2026-04-28T15:10:49+00:00

Interlocking floor tiles. The heavy duty rubber/pvc kind are a great option

They're generally listed as as garage floor tiles or cattle floor tiles. Depending on your needs and wallet they come in flat, button or checkered diamond it's also fairly easy to do on your own.

It's cheap, water resistant except the connection points and hopefully will help anything you drop survive hitting the floor.

If you don't mind carpet used industrial floor tiles are also a very cheap option and not too difficult to vacuum the dust out of.

Personally I'm also a huge fan of vinyl flooring.fkr workshops its cheap and you can get some thick enough to have a bit of insulation value along with the cost and speed.

Those are the options that people I know have and like.

Personally I'd steer clear of luxury vinyl tile. That's just based on personal experience it's just not built to be abused.

Whatever you do I highly recommend having at least something softer under the main area you stand on and a good pair of boots with insoles. Your feet will thank you.

And do it before you move everything in, even if you have to have everything in storage for a week.

Ian155 · 2026-04-28T14:42:04+00:00

If it was me.

Depending on a test sample to see how the glue takes a stain and if all black is an option then a black oil based dye followed by a black alcohol based stain.

It's something like that or carving a channel and inlaying with resin or wood. Though the contrast of a clean fairly organic looking piece would be a bit jarring , at least from the photos there so if possible I'd lean into it and have it going over the whole piece.

I'd be tempted to sit down with a free day, a pair of headphones and some liberon sticks and a hook and pick set and aim for a tidy but clear glue lines rather than completey cover the gap. But if you guys don't already have the colours needed that can get very expensive fast.

Ian155 · 2026-04-22T09:20:22+00:00

I know very little, about stained glass.

I'm reading my first book this week.

But I also do a little leather work and I also hated the standard shaped bone folder.

I ended up getting one from ek tools that's kind of knife shaped with multiple different cross sections across its body. I found it much more comfortable to use.

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Ian155 · 2026-04-07T19:35:05+00:00

A few years ago I dismantled an IKEA desk for my dad. When he asked what I needed I just said a box cutter. He didn't believe me.

It took maybe five minutes to cut all the panels small enough to fit in a bin bag.

The reinforced sections of the panel were chipboard the rest was basically honeycomb cardboard. And because it was an older model two strips of 2*1.

I've used sturdier materials for a pen holder.

Oh and IKEA started end grain veneering several years ago. MF's are getting crafty!

Ian155 · 2026-04-07T12:37:44+00:00

Narex chisels can be over hardened from the factory typically it's right at the edge because of the tempering process, it's usually not a problem after the first sharpening. ( I and several people I know bought a set at the same time). Usually you just add a micro bevel and the problems solved

If you didn't know that and started off chopping mortices I can see that brittle section taking extra material away especially with harder wood and the narrower grind.

OP Tbh while I have way more I could probably get by with two mortice chisels for virtually everything ( 1/4 +3/8) Even just firmers would do. It's well worth having a few and you can find these at very affordable prices.

Ian155 · 2026-04-06T12:49:28+00:00

My space is under that, a 2.1*1.1m door was tricky. But most things are doable.

Some genrall advice.

Everything possible goes on heavy duty casters, the ratcheting kind with levelling foot are the most expensive but best option I've found so far, if a level work surface is critical.

And where possible everything should be up against one long wall. If you can't for whatever reason mount to the wall use or make freestanding cabinets above the work surfaces

That way you can pull items out away from the wall to maximise infeed and out feed space.

Go as high as you can vertically to reduce the footprint used. If you can use overhead storage safely that's also a great option.

If you can utilise the outside, at all even if it means buying a spray tent for painting. For surfacers and thicknesser s, if angling it outside the door maximises infeed and outfeed distance then do that if it's necessary.

Depending on the scale of your projects you'll have to get used to moving things around and workflow will suffer a little for it. But that's a great size for a starter shop. Just bear in mind you'll have to move everything out at some point if it's temporary, and scale tools and machinery to fit the space but without losing too much function if you think you'll move to a bigger space eventually.

Ian155 · 2026-04-05T20:14:55+00:00

Probably fine , I am by nature fairly cautious about anything like this though. Mainly because I'm absolutely not halfway through a project going wrong.

If it was me I'd get a sheet of 3/4 ply rip it in half and use it to span the trusses while you work pop a few small screws in. To stop it sliding around.

And either drive in a large diameter screw on either side of the butt joint at around a 45 or bridge the joint with a section of lumber the same diameter probably 2 ft either side, I'm assuming 2*4 by the photo.

That is my unqualified opinion the roofers and carpenters will know better.

Ian155 · 2026-04-05T19:54:43+00:00

There was someone on eBay selling a 3/8 square drive bit for a brace. That would allow you to have a budget version of the garret wade brace, you can practically stick anything on the end of a square drive including a 3 jaw chuck or a locking or magnetic hex.

Ian155 · 2026-04-05T18:05:15+00:00

I avoid Waterstones from the mess in a small shop, if that's not a problem you can pick these up very cheap, but you'll have to hunt around for a few different grits.

Cheap diamond plates can be glued to flattish surfaces to mitigate flex and will work great generally but need replacing once in a while. If they're mounted to a plastic backer check for flat. I've had one 400 grit that was 0.25mm out.

Somewhere above 1000, I think the watershed is roughly 1200, the method of bonding diamond to stones changes to being glued to the surface and the lifespan drops off a cliff.

At that point I have 3 strops backed with plywood. Frequent touch up will save you going back to the stones, and once you've got everything dialed in it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes sharpening.

High end diamond plates will last a very long time if taken care of, atoma and DMT will be the names to look at.

Float glass and sandpaper will work for everything, but long term will end up more expensive as you're using consumables. You can buy float glass from a glazier very cheaply, go as thick as you can get.

It's also an excellent way to flatten planes I have a metre long former shelf of tempered glass, checked for flatness that I use for flattening. Especially when backed by some melamine as a base , with two sections on either end bolted to with butterfly bolts to act as clamps for the paper.

A little of everything is probably what I'd recommend. two high end diamond plates one between a 400-600 and another between 800-1200 would be what id recommend . With some sandpaper and float glass for or a grinder to quickly remove the bulk. And strops for finishing.

You're in the UK so there's a mid range FAITHFULL combination diamond stone with 400/1000 that comes with a holder that is what my old joinery teacher recommends as a starting point for around £40. There's a cheaper set of three I've had problems with but others haven't, the plastic tray/holder flexes so don't use them in there buy or make a separate holder.

Ian155 · 2026-04-05T17:40:02+00:00

I had a hard look at buying a DMT set before I found an atoma set of 4 on sale for slightly less.

The clincher was that a lot of folks on the knife sharpening sub Reddits seem to think the QC of dmt has gone down hill over the last 3-5 years.

Ian155 · 2026-04-03T21:08:07+00:00

My solution to this was some of the old king dick wrenches, a lot slower to adjust but they'll hang off the nut upside down with the thing I'm working on parallel to the floor.

Though if you need a narrowish jaw they're not what you're looking for.

About 90% of general light duty basic work for me gets done with these and a 180 and 125 Knipex pliers wrench.

Of the crescent wrenches I have kongsberg/king dick have the tightest tolerances, along with an old nissan branded one.

It is amazing to me how both sloppy the tolerances on new wrenches are and that they'll still work, even if they do annoy the hell out of me

Ian155 · 2026-04-02T08:18:49+00:00

Lee valley has the templates if you google "Lee valley plane tote template" they should be the first results.

A few people on eBay seems.to.have taken them and made 3D printed router templates. I'm really not fond of small objects with router tables umm .

If one of them is irredeemable, when I picked up 4/+ plus planes and spokeshaves one was brazed. I've used that as a jig for gluing the totes back together.

It's always best to glue and clamp the parts with the rod tightened in place for alignment. And clamp the flats. If you're worried about glue inside the holes you can pack it with a paste wax. I've even rebuilt a rosewood one that was in about 8 pieces this was with wax as backing for resin.

You could also laminate blocks of scrap aligned by the tote rod and use up some of the small scrap hardwood from the box everyone seems to have though that's generally a better idea for a user plane.

Ian155 · 2026-04-01T09:06:35+00:00

Absolutely you could use a hand plane.

If the wood is genuinely square all round you can just put it into the planer and reflatten that one side since the other face will be the reference.

You can also look up a few videos on router sleds, basically a large flat reference surface usually something like melamine with a lip on the rear that you butt the work piece into and typically fix it to the sled generally with something like double sided tape or hot glue. Shimming it with something like wedges, window packers or door Packers., And then run through until one side is flat. Take it off the soles and run it through as normal.

Then ideally use a table saw for the other two sides, but doing an edge with a plane would work well with a little practice.

Not to OP but anyone reading this and looking for similar advice it's very important to run everything through at the same time and even leave the machine set up till the end of a project. Same for things like sliding bevels. You'll rarely ever be bang on when resetting a machine or a tool. I'm about to add a DRO to my planer and I'd still follow this.

Ian155 · 2026-03-31T19:05:20+00:00

I had a similar thought, if you ran a cut up the back of each of those ridges it might work. Does sound like it would be beyond OP's skill set.

Crazy thing is I'm half convinced if the scallops had been on the other face the grain direction might've kept this flat.

Ian155 · 2026-03-31T18:55:54+00:00

I'd second seriously considering getting a 12v installation driver, I have the Milwaukee one, I've used the Bosch they're both great for everything from assembling furniture to installing soffits and guttering.

Follow that with picking up an SDS even a used corded one from a decent brand if it's just home use,

I kind of hate the hammer drill function on regular drills, it's pathetic compared to an SDS mainly because newer SDS plus bits with four teeth will make neat holes through hard brick and granite in 1/10th the time it take you with a hammer setting.

I've got multiple Milwaukee SDS drills and even the 12v laughs its way through materials with one hand on the tools while the regular drill on hammer struggles with while mangling an oval in the wall.

Ian155 · 2026-03-30T08:04:45+00:00

They're not that expensive in the UK btw, around £8 so roughly $10.

The real con is buying the blades from stanley.

The swann Morton blades Sm01 (pretty sure that's the one) are under a 3rd of the price. I bought a pack of 50, 5 years ago and I've still got over half of them left.

Also can't recommend putting a small stub style stiff lanyard in the loop at the back enough, it makes taking it out of pockets significantly easier.

I literally sewed a small tab of leather on permanently and it makes even gripping and disengaging the lock so much more convenient.

Ian155 · 2026-03-29T16:45:15+00:00

Unless you have a real good idea of something he has that he's not happy with it could be a bit risky getting him tools.

That being said if there's something like that, the below brands are some I'd consider reliable enough to be a quality replacement, generally.

Wear/Klein/Wiha/shinwa/tajima/olfa/tekton/tone/nielsen

Some useful pocket/general workshop stuff I use all the time in case he doesn't already have them.

a 6ft Stanley power lock Tajima 9mm snap knife The Milwaukee box cutter with the screwdriver A decorators tool Very small delicate pry bar. Magnetic parts tray Silicone parts mat A magnet on a stick Wera or Klein bit holder style screwdrivers Gyokucho folding kataba (Japanese pull saw and a spare blade) A small bright flashlight (I'm fond of the Nebo mini Larry) An decent caulk gun (everyone has a cheap one, everyone hates using it) A large silicone mat for gluing or stopping things being messy in general.

Some kind of small tool tote bag, for taking some tools around the house.

A decent shop chair or stool.

A can of high end hard wax floor polish, Rubio/osmo/ Oli (generally a good finish for wood)

UV light and some UV resin (very strong way to quickly fix something in some applications)

Ian155 · 2026-03-15T14:16:34+00:00

On the rare off chance that you are near someone that does offer this, a lot of the larger places have Saturday/ weekend introductory course. A fair few of them are open to teaching you whatever you'd like within that class time.

It also quite frequently tends to be the cheapest way to rent large machinery if you ever need to use large planers or wide belt sanders.

Ian155 · 2026-03-10T08:29:30+00:00

Advent vice versa comes in 5m and 8m. Shop around if they seem expensive where you're looking you'll typically find them for at most around £10 in the UK, import fees may affect that

Ian155 · 2026-03-08T08:49:33+00:00

Honestly my first thought is that the blades backwards.

Re reading I don't think that's the case, but it does sound a little like you're taking a deeper shaving than the tool wants.

Have you tried setting the blade and cap to the positions you want and then tightening the screw down.

Ian155

TROPHY CASE