Magazines

Peter Bishop’s donkey cart is also this month’s cover star

Welcome to the November issue, which, as always, is full of exciting content for you to enjoy. Peter Bishop’s donkey cart renovation appears on this month’s cover, and what a fine sight it is! Always a fan of restoration jobs, Peter took this one on not knowing just how much work it would involve, but the end result speaks for itself and he has definitely made it look even better than the original. In terms of other projects for you, we have Tony ‘Bodger’ Scott devising two simple phone supports for his partially sighted mother-in-law; Brian Barber uses his own open frame construction design to build an heirloom chest of drawers; Rick Wheaton’s bookcase and round table can be made using only basic kit, and if you fancy relaxing American style, then you’ll love Chris Finch’s late autumn Adirondack chair pair build.

Convoluted curls of a shaving from the drawknife, as shown in Robin Gates’ article

In terms of techniques, beginning with a froe and ending with a smoother, Robin Gates converts an ash log in his quest to become more self-sufficient in timber, and when preparing timber, Andy King says you should read what’s written in the grain’s small print, as we bring you part 1 of a series looking at timber indentification.

Ian Wilkie’s boxing clever

In turning and carving, Ian Wilkie takes you through the steps for producing a well-turned box with a lid before he looks at two brand-new woodturning books from Mark Baker. And finally, making use of a banksia nut, Colin Simpson shows you how to turn a decorative pomander complete with top cap and finial in a contrasting timber – or why not adapt the design to make a festive decoration for your tree?

Mark Cass takes a look at the Record Power air cleaner/dust extractor

In ‘kit & tools’ we kick off with the Editor’s review of the Record Power air cleaner/dust extractor - a two-stage workshop air filter from Record Power that provides filtration down to 1 micron. A definite fan of this piece of kit, he will be assessing its performance over the coming months and will report back with his findings in due course. It cannot be denied that wireless charging is definitely the way forward, and the Editor was again suitably impressive with the wireless base system and battery duo that he reviewed from Bosch, which he says are fantastic examples of this popular innovation. Andy King also puts the latest Bosch M480 Net abrasives and backing pad through their paces, which he found to work in perfect harmony with the other, producing increased efficiency and dust control, and finally, Ian Wilkie compares and contrasts three tools from the Proxxon cordless range.

Fancy winning a Hammer A3-26 planer/thicknesser worth over £3,000? See below for details!

There’s still plenty of time to get building a piece of furniture to enter into Felder’s 60th anniversary competition. Anyone can enter regardless of age or skill level; you just need to document the build of a project, take photos, write a short amount of text, then submit it to be in with the chance of winning 1 of 3 prizes, worth a combined total of over £4,000. Good luck!

As well as all this, we also have your usual favourite pages, including our timber suppliers directory, readers’ letters, AOB, archive and marketplace.

All this and much more in the November issue of The Woodworker, which is now on sale!