Picked up some Airpod Pro 2s yesterday. The extra small eartips are better, but not perfect. I shall try some 3rd party tips, see if they’re better. I can actually wear them for extended periods though.

Have to say, these new ones do sound pretty amazing. Spatial Sound can be used for all music, not just specially recorded stuff, and it’s fantastic. Sounds much more ‘open’ than standard stereo. Higher dynamic range. Big upgrade on my B+O headphones which I bricked anyway attempting to update.

The wood for all of these frames and both of the shelves and the table has cost me £45 so good for learning and making.

Money well spent! You simply can’t put a price on learning a skill.

I like Matt Estlea, because although he’s quite young, he has a pretty down to earth, relaxed and realistic approach to things, and his tool reviews seem pretty honest and objective. And for those wondering why one would pay many times for a tool over a cheap one, this is a great video:

TL;DW: it took him many hours of hard work, involving a lot of experience and knowledge, to get it anywhere near a decent plane. And even at his very reasonable £30ph rate, it still ended up costing not far off what a top quality plane would cost. And is still a bit crap. There’s nothing wrong with cheap tools (well, maybe this one is to be avoided!), and a bad workman and all that, but there’s a reason why good tools cost money, not least the bit about them not being made with exploited labour etc. I started out using cheap tools, like most people, and yes, sometimes you can get a cheap tool to perform extremely well, but as the OP of this thread has learned, moving up to better tools makes a big difference.

Speaking as a lapsed audiophile, I’d respectfully suggest that you’re overthinking it.

Whatever they have on offer in Tesco is likely of comparable audio quality to something top of the range from 30 years ago so long as it spits out digital audio. If the signal path is digital end-to-end then what goes in == what comes out, it’s just a media transport.

Yes. And no. But mostly yes.

This holds up in theory, no question. Cheap CD players now are using technology from the top of the range players 30 years ago. CDs are no longer so popular, so the sales of CD players has dropped off a cliff. Thus most manufacturers can no longer charge hundreds of pounds for products, because hardly anyone’s buying them. In real world use, a decent player from 30 years ago will probably have better quality components within, mechanical and electronic. So the transport mechanisms will be of better quality (the good ones were really quite heavy, indicating solid metal parts rather than flimsy plastic bits), and the electronic gubbins will deal with electrons better. Or something. But basically yes.

A decent second hand player will offer as good a sound as anything new, but cost a lot less. Plenty of the aforementioned Marantz CD63SE’s on Ebay from £40-60. I personally wouldn’t bother with the ‘KI Signature Edition’; you’ll pay a chunk extra for a gold coloured badge, and a few quids worth of upgraded electronic components which suited the ears of a middle aged man. Having heard both side by side, I can honestly say I couldn’t really tell the difference. Nothing that warranted the extra price tag anyway. I went for the cheapo standard option and I’ve been happy with it for getting on for 30 years.

But the one thing you can do which genuinely will make a significant difference, is to add a DAC. As a poster above says, current technology in this department is way better than it was 30 years ago. I bought a Bluesound Node digital streamer/DAC earlier this year, and having done a side by side comparison with the CD player direct into the amp, and via the Node, there is definitely a difference. Greater dynamic range, better rendition of actual sounds and frequencies etc. The Node is relatively expensive though, but cheaper DACS will do a similar job for less. Think of the different parts as a mechanical transport and a DAC; most CD players came with a bog standard Phillips transport, that you could buy as a PC CD player for about £20 or so (but without the write capabilities), about £10 worth of other electronics, and a power supply.

I went for the Node for its streaming capabilities. I am currently working through ripping all my CDs to lossless AIFF files, and the CD player will eventually be retired. I’ve done a comparison with both methods of delivery, and there’s no difference at all. So why continue using something that consumes extra power?

The CD Player is dead; long live the CD Player!

Whatever happened to Stewart GP? 🤔 I don’t think they were ever very big spenders…

All mine is taken from the scrap bin at the local wood mill and most starts of looking like the stuff below before I take it to the table saw. None of this buying fine wood for a poor bodger like me.

Using stuff like that is fine. See if you’ve got any wood reclamation yards near you; I used to live near one, and it was a great source of stuff like little bits of Teak, Oak and even Mahogany. A lot of it came from old railway carriages that had been stripped for scrap. Boatyards can be another source of small pieces. Some woods, such as proper Mahogany, you can’t get ‘new’ any more, so reclaimed stuff is pretty much you only source. But use the cheap free stuff to practice with; most people, myself included, start out by wanting to ‘build something’, but learning the basics, such as good sawing technique, is invaluable if you want to be able to make stuff that’s decent and looks good. That piece you’ve got there looks like a great planing practice piece. Give it a thorough check for any nails, screws, staples or other foreign bodies that can really ruin your tools though. There’s a reason most timber yards won’t even consider planing/jointing up anything other than ‘new’ wood.

…they have spent the most for years so have amazing facilities and great people that have been attracted by and contributed to that success.

What about McLaren? They were one of the biggest teams, and biggest spenders. They’ve really lost their way.

He was 8 points off being a five time champion

Was it really that little? Wow.

My uncle who is 68 has over £50k stashed around his bungalow! Been doing it all his adult life from what my mum says. Says he doesn’t trust the banks not to steal his money. This is despite him getting into trouble when the Council inspector came round and found £10k in the attic, not for having the cash there but that he didn’t declare it on his benefits form. When my nan passed away and he inherited another £50k he tried to get the solicitor to give it him in cash as he didn’t want it going near his bank account, that was quickly stopped by my mum but we know he has now taken it all out and it’s stashed somewhere. That’s in addition to the original £50k+ by the way. To make it worse he lives like a pauper, won’t out the heating on, wears the cheapes clothes he can find until they literally fall apart, always busy the discounted food etc. People locally think he’s struggling to get by and take him round food out of pity, he’s even had people think he’s homeless when out and about. Won’t see sense and will be like that until he drops dead.

I had a similar thing with my mum. Scruffy old carrier bag full of old banknotes, which we found when we helped her move. A significant sum of money. She secreted small bags of wads of notes, all around the house too. Funny, but also sad. She also had loads in her bank account, and also lived like a pauper. She’d routinely carry several hundred quid in her scruffy old handbag; I suppose any would be robbers would have discounted her as being penniless. 🤣 She’d walk half a mile further down the road cos the milk was 5p a pint cheaper there. Etc.

Old people can be odd, but we’ll all be old too, one day. And no-one will understand us, either. 😔

CLS isn’t great, but what I think it is actually good for, is beginners. Because as well as being cheap, it’s actually quite tricky to make anything decent from it. It’s easy to cut and shape, but the inevitable twists, warps and splits that occur present a good challenge. It’s hard to cut nice crisp clean dovetails with it, for example. But that can help hone skills; if you can make something useable with CLS, then moving to more expensive woods can actually be quite refreshing. Think of it as the hill you need to climb, before you can enjoy the descent.

And watch out for that **** resin. Gets everywhere, super sticky horrible stuff, gums up tools and machines, it’s a bastard.

Both Max and Lewis are by any measure; amazing at what they do, I have no doubt that Lewis has set the milestone by which every driver from now will be measured – in the same way the Fangio was before Senna and Prost, Schumacher after that, and Vettel, and so on.

+1. I’d include Alonso in that list as well, as he has a remarkable ability to drive a crap/damaged car extremely fast. His drive to keep Schuey behind him at Imola 2005, in a clearly inferior car, was one of the best races I’ve ever seen.

He also lost out on a few WCs by very small margins, not least in 2007 of course. Had major battles with the greatest; Schuey, Lewis and Vettel. I remember watching him in the Le Man 24 hours, forget which year; his laps were just so much quicker than anyone else. Definitely one of the greatest ever, imo.

Already live in North London, so no need to move. Plenty of cycling that I enjoy, right here. Not a massive fan of being in rural/wilderness places for too long, very much a city boy. The ‘outdoors’ is somewhere to go for a short break/holiday. If I had to move though, Bristol would be top choice int he UK. Having visited Marseille recently, I think I could be quite happy there; great weather, food, nice people, very mixed, lots do do and see, good links to lots of amazing outdoors. And just a few hours from London. I’m currently badgering my wife to seriously consider getting a place there; a friend is looking to move there anyway, so that could be two birds killed with one stone (she gets a place to live, we get somewhere to go regularly for trips).

Or New York. Because New York. Maybe Amsterdam. Not Warrington.

Lol! Or perhaps a popular brand of energy drink?

9 times out of ten the practice piece ends up being better than the real thing so I don’t bother any more…
If it’s good you’ve saved some time. If it’s shit you have some more scrap for ron…

Generally, my fears aren’t realised. It’s good to stress a little; keeps you sharp. My mistakes tend to come where I’ve not concentrated sufficiently. And if the success of a piece rests on one/final joint, then the penalty for failure can be quite high. Especially given the price of good timber these days. You wouldn’t want to have spent hundreds on some nice Walnut or something, only for the whole piece to be ruined by a lapse in concentration.

I’ve been looking at it for years but yet to have the courage/patience to actually try to cut one.

I can admire the skill involved, but again, that’s into that intense anal level that is way beyond any practicality. A nice dovetail looks good and serves a practical purpose. That above is just madness.

Edit doublepost.

We all have our like and dislikes but for me it’s certainly not “hate”.

So why the childish abuse of Verstappen, RB, Christian Horner etc?

So three instances where the team actually did cock up. How’s that relevant to the point which is Max was being a sarcastic little twart even though nobody had actually made a mistake?

Can you really not see just how stupid that looks?

edit- let’s forget this it’s pointless

Wasn’t there a sort of agreement earlier in this thread, that such behaviour is really quite silly anyway?

Imagine if last year’s result was reverse; imagine if it had been Hamilton needing to beat Max, and had benefitted form the stewards error. Do you really think people on here would be saying ‘oh that’s so unfair Max deserved the WC, Lewis and Mercedes and Toto Wolf are all mean and nasty wah wah wah’?

No. Of course they wouldn’t. They’d instead be going on about how Lewis won on the track, could only race according to what instructions he’d been given, etc etc etc. There’s nothing wrong with tribalism and partisanship, but the toxicity on this thread has almost all been from one direction. And it’s not Harry Styles’ fault either. So have a word with yourselves. Perhaps learn a bit of self awareness too. So the rest of us can enjoy a thread about F1 without all this constant whining and sniping and utterly blinkered nonsense. As for liking people or not; why not concentrate on the sport, rather than fixating on imagined aspects of someone’s personality, based on your own prejudices about people you’ve never met?

We should be discussing how the FIA have screwed up Alonso’s amazing recovery drive with ridiculous penalties!

We should. It seems grossly unfair for Alonso, but Haas do perhaps have a point. I think they should have deducted constructors points, rather than penalising a driver for actually doing what he’s paid for and providing great entertainment.

Yes I see what you mean, but I believe those are called a vee pointed edge. Double bevel is when the blade is given a ground angle on both sides.

The single bevel as with Kayaks knife allows that flat side to rest directly on the edge or the ruler/square.

The double edged knife only has bevels on one side of the actual metal. The other side is completely flat. So it’s like a single edged knife, but with two edges. You flip it over to use your other hand. The flat side is still flat to the workpiece.

every time ive cut a vaguely jointy joint, ive tried to avoid it being baggy, so ive cut it as precise as i can, but on offering it up its a bit too snug, but its also stuck.
Wont seat fully, but no possible way its coming apart without breaking either.

It takes quite a bit of practice to learn the ‘feel’ of a joint; if it’s too tight, look where it’s tight, and remove material at that point. Tiny tiny tiny. Of course, different woods behave differently; some may allow for a very tight fit, others might just crack. Also depends on which way the grain is oriented etc. Bear in mind pretty much all these videos showing perfect fit joints, are heavily edited, and a lot of work is done off camera to make it all look so perfect. You don’t see the outtakes and the mistakes. My fear when doing the ‘proper’ piece is, no matter how much I’ve practiced and done a trial run with scrap, this one could still go wrong. Particularly stressful if you’ve worked a lot on a piece of wood and it’s ‘too late’/impractical to start again. Yes, it’s great to get well-fitting joints first time, but to me, a really good woodworker can rescue a mistake too. Because shit happens. Wood is a natural material, every single piece, every tree, is unique and has its own properties. Even a piece that’s from the same tree, even an adjacent cut plank or board, that can be very different to the next.

And remember; if it’s too tight, you can always remove material. You can’t put it back…

Fuming Lewis Hamilton yells ‘I told you’ at Mercedes team as wrong call sees Max Verstappen regain Formula 1 championship lead, as Valtteri Bottas wins Turkish Grand Prix

‘I can’t believe you guys screwed me’: Hamilton fumes at team on radio after defeat

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/12689957/lewis-hamilton-fumes-as-he-misses-out-on-podium

Lovely. Saw some examples of such joints at a mini-exhibition at Japan House last week:

https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/whats-on/2022/the-carpenters-line-woodworking-heritage-in-hida-takayama/

Love Japanese woodwork. Some of it gets far too intensely anal for me though! It’s a whole different philosophy that perhaps we in the West don’t ‘get’ in the same way. Utterly fascinating though.

Hand sharpening stays with you forever the stance, hand movements nothing tops the feeling

It works for some, but not for others. I learned to sharpen freehand. Tbh I got quite good at it. But using the guide system gives me consistently better results. And I find I actually need to sharpen less, probably because the edges are honed more accurately. AndI find my stones wear more evenly. That said, I will sometimes quickly give a chisel a quick rub of the stone, freehand, if I’m just doing ‘rough’ work. To each, their own.

Well they do have an arrogant teenager, an endlessly moaning sanctemoneous prick and a spice girl all in one team.

Says the mature grown up…

Actually, on the subject of ‘workshop jewellery’, I have this:

https://www.axminstertools.com/veritas-deluxe-mk-ii-honing-guide-set-101262

Now, I know many people prefer to sharpen freehand, and it’s an expensive bit of kit, but I’ve actually found it to be a revelation. I get better results than with any other system; it has neat little tricks like being able to hone a secondary bevel just by turning a dial. The wide roller is much better than the little narrow wheel most other designs use. I’m sure lots of people would scoff at it, but it works for me.

It is amateurish, I am an amateur

This is irrelevant, whether or not you get paid for it. I’m an ‘amateur’ in that respect. ‘Amateurish’ is perhaps the wrong word in this context. It just looks a little ‘not done properly’, but then that’s entirely subjective anyway and probably wrapped up in convention and snobbery. So don’t take it to heart too much. I meant no offence, I was just trying to provide constructive criticism. Forgive me if it came out wrong. You know yourself, your next effort will be better. That’s all that matters. Crack on and have fun!

Double bevel knives dont cut right up to the edge of the ruler/square, so it isnt as accurate a set up

I think it means it’s got two bevels, but on one side of the blade, meaning you can use it left or right handed, no?

I cant see how bridge city can charge that for a plane, especially compared to LN, which makes expensive, but proper made tools that do see plenty of use.

It’s ridiculous. Use a nice Veritas, Lie Nielson, Clifton, or on a smaller budget, even the Axminster Rider and QuangSheng planes, over say a cheap Irwin Record job, and you can see and feel the difference. Nothing about Bridge City tools makes me want to buy them; they offer nothing the other brands don’t give you. A bit like Leica cameras; exquisitely made, sure, but they don’t take any better pictures than Canon, Nikon or Sony etc. I’d quite like it if someone bought me this though:

https://www.axminstertools.com/bridge-city-mt-1-multi-tool-104569

Seems too artisan like the low cut t shirt and no socks brigade.

And trousers that are too short; what are they doing, waiting for floods?? And little knitted hats that are a bit too small, like your nan used to make. Where do they even get such clobber from? Charity shops in Bethnal Green I think.

Ours (T6R) went funny when it was left in direct sunlight on one of the mega hot days, and the display was unreadable. I put it in the fridge to cool down, which helped. It was all back to normal after a few days.

I don’t think I could ever get on that well with a Japanese style plane that also cuts towards you.

I’ve tried those, and other wooden planes. All I can say is; thank heavens for modern technology. All that tap tap knock knock palaver. I’ve done my planing by the time someone has set one of those up.

I do actually agree with you and Kayak regarding this frame and if you look, it is not featured in the gallery. Just trying to recover what I could from some bad cuts.

Fairs.

But well worth the money!

Hmm. I’m not so sure, and that’s from someone who has spent a fair few quid on bits and pieces. That’s into workshop jewellery territory for me. A tool has to earn its keep; A Veritas or Lie Nielson plane, for example, is a good investment as it will give its value back in use. Knives like that are more ‘things I’d like if someone bought me one as a present’ type thing.

Speaking of planes:

https://www.axminstertools.com/bridge-city-hp-12-dual-angle-smoothing-plane-106529

🤯

Lol! Ok then. 🤣

For the price of more than four of them you could get a double bevelled o1 “David Charelsworth” marking knife from Philly Planes

FTFY. (£8.50 or less, v £39)

We’re not angry, we’re just disappointed

I’m not disappointed; I’m angry and upset. 😢

Doesn’t work for me, that. Just looks amateurish, in my honest opinion. Some of the others look good though. I like the top and bottom ‘rails’. I hung a large mirror in the kitchen using a similar tactic, although my rails are hidden behind. Used a ‘French Cleat’/split batten system. Gravity is your friend.

Dovetail saw is basically just a term for a fine-toothed saw, usually relatively small and with a back/spine.
Not exclusively for dovetails.

Yeah. A Dozuki can be used for dovetails, but the key is in having a relatively stiff blade for front to back accuracy, I find. And a good technique is to always knife cuts, then chisel out a groove on the waste side. This helps the blade to find its groove, literally, and you get a really nice clean edge. I use a Japanese marking knife, which has a bevel on only one side, which aids crisp clean accurate marking and cutlines.

These are available left and right handed.

I had to lol when Hamilton, having whinged about Max leaving the track, then got warned for exactly the same thing. 🤣 That was funny. ‘But sir, he did something naughty!’ No-one likes a grass… 🤫

A bit of filling required under that socket bigdaddy

I can’t not see that now. Plus that filthy shoe on the carpet. Nasty.

Good race. Hamilton benefitting greatly fro0m penalties to other drivers, but still a good drive. Max showing why he’s WC. 😎 I didn’t think he’d be able to rescue it after the pit stop error, but Max is Max. Equalled the record for wins in a season, every chance he can surpass even that now. What a driver. As for the others; Vettel and Alonso showing why they were WCs. Alonso finishing 7th after that crash was nothing short of incredible. He’s still one of the veery best in F1, shame he just hasn’t had cars to match his talent for much of his career. And F1 will be poorer without Vettel. I used to feel sorry for Mark Webber; imagine your team mate being so much better than you, all the time. It will be interesting to see if George Russell will be content to be Hamilton’s no 2, or whether he’ll emerge as the faster driver. Definitely got talent. Shame for Sainz, but I don’t think many people believed he would have won anyway, let’s be honest. LeClerc must just be wishing this season is over, and he can crack on next year. Ferrari need to sort themselves out and support him properly, they’ve let him down so many times this year. Poor bloke.

No you can’t. You can

Lol! You’re literally arguing with yourself. 🤣 Still; at least you’ve now become more knowledgeable about the CRA 2015 as a result of all this, so let’s take that as a win.

It’s very tricky having friends doing work for you- agreed

This is a good lesson in not employing friends.

True. Although tbh this has never been a problem before; our plumber/heating engineer is a good friend, and he’s never let us down, and always been excellent. We’re happy to recommend him to others, and he now does work for our neighbours who are also very happy with his work. Another friend previously did our decorating and some external works, and he was great. I’ve worked for friends/friends’ employers/companies many times, and people have been more than happy with what I’ve done. If you go in with a professional attitude from the beginning, then it’s can be absolutely fine. In this case though, it’s just unfortunate that it’s not worked out well. At the end of the day though, it really is a first world middle class problem, and ultimately not that big a deal. This thread’s given me the chance to get a bit more perspective on things, so I’m sure the issue can be resolved reasonably well. We’ll be laughing about it in years to come. Life’s too short.

As for dust and mess; always strive to keep this to a minimum. “Less clean up and less crap breathed in.” 100%. I’ve got a Bosch power sander that when connected to a vacuum, leaves an astonishingly small amount of dust. Pro level kit is now so good. The mark of a good worker is someone who cleans up after themselves.

Can’t be that much of a friend. Charges full market rate and goes missing after **** up job. Sounds like friends is past tense anyway.

He’s **** up. I’ve no idea why. It’s clearly very embarrassing for him. As for ‘full market rate’; I would never exploit a friendship to get a discount. Cos that’s shitty and disrespectful imo. If I’m asking someone to do some work for me, I’m paying full whack, end of. I’m not a cheapskate. I accept that other people have different morals.

I’m sure you’re not a nightmare

Oh I am. But I generally get good results. I’m most demanding of myself; I will always strive to do my very best with most things. Nobody’s perfect. But I think if someone has promised to deliver a ‘top dollar’ job, then that’s what you should get, 1st time. This guy is very experienced, has worked in the job for decades now. Which makes it all the more surprising (and embarrassing for him) that this job as substandard.

in the real world we all take these gambles

If I want you to gamble with my money, I’ll give you a tenner to go down the bookies and put it on Red Rum to win in the 3.15 at Ascot*. If I want you to paint my house to a good standard, I want you to do just that. Leave your gambling form someone/somewhere else.

*I know nothing about horse racing. Ask me anything; I won’t know it.

Is it?

Yes. Especially if you’ve cited ‘health reasons’ for not wanting to use oil-based paint. I do a fair bit of woodworking, repairs etc, and use all sorts of power tools. You don’t use a power sander without some sort of dust reduction/extraction. Especially not in a furnished home.

I’d say keeping the door closed is ‘basic stuff’

I’d say reading something properly is ‘basic stuff’: 😉

Dust was blowing under doors

Taping up keyholes is unusual but easily accommodated if agreed upon first

He’d assured me he would be using a dust extractor/vacuum. I had to get our Henry out as he’d not brought anything himself.

You sound like a nightmare tbh 🙂

We’ve actually been more than fair and patient with him. I am a nightmare though; I expect the best standards. Especially if I’m paying top dollar. Why wouldn’t you?

On the flip side he’s gambled on the water-based stuff having little experience with it. It’s not turned out well so now he needs to put it right.

We’re not paying for him to experiment; we stated what we wanted, were specific and clear. It’s down to him to get experience elsewhere; perhaps in his own home. Whatever.

But you won’t let him will you?

He’s had ample time to come and sort it. It’s been 6 months. He’s failed to do so, and hasn’t mentioned it since. It really is down to him to contact us, arrange times to come and do the work, etc.

No?

No.