Woodworking and house renovation forums

Strat_a_tat_tat

After a good few years' break, I'm about to get back into some DIY woodworking and house renovation. Wondered if there's a good UK based forum for advice on woodworking (re. use of powertools and larger machines such as spindle moulders and planer-thicknessers etc)... and a forum for advice on house renovation (maybe also small building/extension projects).

Thanks

historyisjunk

I don't know of any actual forums, but have seen some very good stuff on YouTube such as this guy-

It's possible that his theories are wrong, but I suspect he is correct. Certainly converted me to lime mortar for any of the small jobs I feel competent to tackle.
Have also seen quite a few good vids about things like safe use of circular saws, avoiding kick back etc.

I thought this one was very good-

There's a a channel called Essential Craftsman, & the guy has obviously been a really highly skilled very fast piece work joiner, I wouldn't feel confident following some of his "Pro Tips" which are mainly for speed, but he has some good basic stuff too.

Recently saw a young guy called Carl Rogers renovating a farm house in France, very good, but he clearly has people to help & a lot of expensive gear.

April Wilkerson has a lot of good videos too, aimed at ordinary people.

hope some of this is some help

octatonic

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

After a good few years' break, I'm about to get back into some DIY woodworking and house renovation. Wondered if there's a good UK based forum for advice on woodworking (re. use of powertools and larger machines such as spindle moulders and planer-thicknessers etc)... and a forum for advice on house renovation (maybe also small building/extension projects).

Thanks

How experienced are you?

IMHO watching videos is really not the way to learn how to do this- too many things can go wrong and I guess you want to keep all your fingers.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk is decent.

Roland

octatonic said:

IMHO watching videos is really not the way to learn how to do this- too many things can go wrong and I guess you want to keep all your fingers.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk is decent.

That’s the forum I visit. It’s got a range of amateur and professional woodworkers. You’ll find many members sceptical of YouTube channels. Some videos are downright dangerous. 

Corvus

UK Workshop is mostly good, there's some how-to stickied posts and all sorts of good stuff tucked away. If you're searching for reports of good/bad on a particular tool, like e.g. "bosch fandangler mk3 forum" type of thing, it often comes up with a few results. It's helped me filter out tools, like decide if a thing for sale is worth pouncing on or dodging, etc.

But if you want handbags at dawn worse than tonewood and resonance etc combined, go there and ask what's the best way to sharpen plane irons..

Kalimna

Corvus said:

UK Workshop is mostly good, there's some how-to stickied posts and all sorts of good stuff tucked away. If you're searching for reports of good/bad on a particular tool, like e.g. "bosch fandangler mk3 forum" type of thing, it often comes up with a few results. It's helped me filter out tools, like decide if a thing for sale is worth pouncing on or dodging, etc.

But if you want handbags at dawn worse than tonewood and resonance etc combined, go there and ask what's the best way to sharpen plane irons..

Ahhhh yes. Jacob. I miss the old (before they switched forum software and made it much less user-friendly) sharpening discussions
Still, learned a lot on there - some very knowledgeable (and free with sharing) folk.

Adam

Kilgore

There is no need to look elsewhere. The Fretboard has a broad range of expertise in just about everything and can Google the answer to any questions you may have. 

historyisjunk

Just to be clear, there are also all sorts of insane videos on YouTube, such as how to turn an angle grinder into a chainsaw (really) & bad advice about how it's OK taking guards off grinders etc. There are also videos showing why this is a terrible idea. It has to be used with caution.

Strat_a_tat_tat

octatonic said:

Strat_a_tat_tat said:

After a good few years' break, I'm about to get back into some DIY woodworking and house renovation. Wondered if there's a good UK based forum for advice on woodworking (re. use of powertools and larger machines such as spindle moulders and planer-thicknessers etc)... and a forum for advice on house renovation (maybe also small building/extension projects).

Thanks

How experienced are you?

IMHO watching videos is really not the way to learn how to do this- too many things can go wrong and I guess you want to keep all your fingers.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk is decent.

@octatonic Many thanks for the link.
Strange thing is my security software keeps flagging it as an unsafe site (out of date certificate, apparently).  That said... over the past few days, I've been getting a lot of unsafe site warnings... so maybe my security software has gotten a bit over sensitive in recent times.  So, I eventually ignored the warnings and went on the site... and, wow, lots of really useful threads.  So, thanks for that.

To answer your question re. my experience.  Absolutely no training in wood working... but a background in engineering.  In the distant past I've made the odd wardrobe, chest of drawers, welsh dresser, bed, cabinets etc. Starting with narrowish planks of softwood... planing and thicknessing them... glueing to form boards... then belt sanding the boards flat... then constructing via simple mortice and tenon or dowels joints (so nothing fancy or skilled!).  So I guess I did a bit with a very small saw bench, planer, thicknesser, spindle moulder... plus powertools inc. router etc... but it was so long ago and much has changed.  So I need to get my head around a few things (and get my confidence back).  I think the forum you recommended will help a lot.

Do you know of a similar sort of forum for building renovation.  I need to fit new windows... re render the outside... sort out damp (lower the outside floor level)... consider insulating the solid brick walls... etc etc.??

And thanks to @historyisjunk (I'll take a look at those vids)... and @Roland... @Corvus... and @Kalimna ;;

historyisjunk

From what you say you need to do I think you'll find those Peter Ward videos about damp etc very interesting. Like I say, he might be wrong, but he seems to make sense to me. Frankly, the stuff you did in the past sounds pretty advanced to me.

All the best.