No problem Stuart - I frequently go off-topic myself, usually in the middle of a sentence, or post...
Anyway; tool-holder time. I did say I wasn't going to do a build log of these, but I find I can't help myself... Oh well, at least you get to suffer too...
So, I scored a nice lump of tool-holder-style metal - 3"x2"x1 metre. Which is great, except I needed 3.5"x2"xmetre - damn! 3" doesn't leave enough meat around the root of the dovetail; so Plan A (cut long dovetails down the 3.5" side, then "part off" toolholders to the desired height using the hacksaw, as required; went straight out of the window. Instead, I had to cut the bar into 3.5" lengths, each of which is now 3" high & 2" thick. Hey ho, them's the rubs.
Poor old Manchester the Hacksaw has been working overtime today, although I did treat him to a new blade. Here's a bunch of freshly cut blocks:
Each one was then treated to a squaring cut:
The surface finish may be lousy, but when stood on a single parallel it pretty much guarantees that the bottom is dead nuts square to the back jaw face; so when I skim the top face, it'll be nicely square & true with the same face. So when I flip it over & properly skim this side, it'll also be square & true. That's the theory, at least...
By closing time tonight, I'd got this far:
2 rough, 5 with just the single true-ing cut, 2 with one face finished. There is the tiniest of ridges (can be heard when running a fingernail in one direction across the finish), so just a smidge out of tram. Nothing the file won't cure.
