u/Additional_Air779

For me, the thing that's made the biggest difference to the ease and quality of my work was getting a Veritas LA block plane. I have vintage planes and I have other new planes, but the Veritas is a real pleasure to use; especially when it comes to sharpening. I haven't had to flatten the back or anything other than polish it. Then every once in a while a few stokes on the diamond stone and a few on the leather strop and it's good to go.

So, I've decided to get a new iron for my cheap(ish) smoothing plane. I was going to get a PM-V11 as I'm so impressed with the one on the block plane. Any input for anyone?

So after almost two years of terrible broadband service with intermittent WiFi connections, slow to no internet, pages not loading properly, constant router reboots, I've eventually bought a Netgear Orbi system (over £1,000) which installed without a glitch. All the devices in the house installed first time and easily unlike when we had the EE hardware.

The result: true, reliable 1.6Gb speed on my hardwired PC, 1.6Gb speed on our iPhones etc, seamless coverage throughout the house and garden. 3ms pings. 300Mb connections where there was nothing. The difference is night and day.

So this tells me that the actual service that Openreach is providing has no issues and all the problems are EE's cheap hardware which obviously isn't fit for purpose with their super fast service.

My advice would be if anyone is considering EEs super fast service because they actually need it, just bear in mind that there's a good possibility that it won't give you what you are paying for unless you use someone else's hardware.

My 1.6GB connection is the worst I e ever experienced. I keep having to reboot the router every other day or so. It's the second router we've had off EE. I'm thinking of ditching the EE hardware and getting orbi instead, then maybe switching to another provider when my contract is up.

Anyone had any experience of the Netgear orbi?

I've just started a new job and I've been given a laptop. The thing is the laptop is pretty rubbish, refurbed one that is slow and the battery doesn't even last the day. I'm planning on getting a top of the line MacBook Air (I had one in my old job which was ideal for mobile use: light, no fans so it can sit on my lap in the car, battery easily lasts all day).

I don't mind spending the £1,500 it will cost, but it grates if I have to get it without getting tax relief on the purchase. It will be wholly and exclusively used for work, and I am a higher rate tax payer. Any advice on if and how I'd get tax relief?

(I'd prefer to own it: a year ago I got rid on my company phone and put the company eSIM on my personal phone which works much better than lugging two phones around)

Sigh. I haven't got a sweet tooth. And I don't eat cakes or biscuits etc. but I've just got a sudden and very powerful craving for chocolate or anything sweet. Stupid body.

Got a Harley Benton for my daughter. Makes me think I've been wasting my money on Fenders. To be clear, the American Tele I've got is much better, but not 20 x better which is what it cost.

I was shocked to find that after a week of basically not moving and quite frankly drinking too many cocktails and eating a sweet treat at every meal whilst on vacation in Jamaica, I've come back and I've actually lost weight.

I've just started Dapaglifiozin, so I'm assuming that has something to do with it. It would be interesting to hear people's thoughts/theories.

So .... I'm after a left handed, pink T style guitar for my daughter. Given the very specific nature of the goal, I've nearly come to the conclusion that getting a Harley Benton left handed pink T style is my best option and then spending maybe £150 plus upgrading it. If I could get a left handed, pink T style guitar for £400 I would buy one, but I can't.

Any input?

About a month ago I got made redundant as my employer became insolvent. Fortunately, I walked into a new job within a week. I'm due about £25,000 redundancy, notice pay and unpaid wages. I'm going to be using £15,000 of it to buy a car to be used in my new job.

Problem is

1. The directors have been extremely slow filing the paperwork and I'm not in a position to apply for the redundancy yet, let alone receive it.
2. I really could do with the car now

Any advice on the best way to bridge the gap between now and maybe 6 weeks time when I'll get the redundancy payout?

Edit: I want to avoid getting a cheap, temporary car for the sake of a few weeks, for various reasons.

Edit 2: I'm not after advice on redundancy pay; it's very straightforward. I will be getting just over £25,000 off the government. I'm not looking for advice on how to spend that payout. Thank you.

So the firm Im working for is insolvent. I've not been told anything, but we are on stop with all of our suppliers and sales have ceased for over 20 days. Me being in sales, I literally have nothing to do. I work from home so I'm making sure I'm available for work but actually doing DIY and gardening.

My question is, do the directors have some sort of obligation to tell the staff? Isn't continuing to make them work knowing they can't pay them at the end of the month some sort of breach in obligation like ordering goods that you know that you can't pay for?

I'm not looking for work because I want my redundancy and don't want to get sacked. But I can't help feeling that there should be some sort of communication.

The situation is that a few weeks ago the MD just went AWOL with no comms at all. The other shareholding director stopped all communication a little a week ago. Sales not being processed. Background of increasing delayed credits to customers and recently going on stop with suppliers.

From an HR point of view, do so continue to ignore and not mention anything, bring it up, stop work (as sales are not being processed anyway), sit and wait for what seems like inevitable redundancy?

Thoughts?

I've found myself looking for an excuse to buy more tools even though I don't need them.

🤨

Question about Custom Shop (more for general discussion rather than absolute answers)

So, ideally, I'd like to get myself a hardtail Strat. In Olympic White. With a modern C neck. And a compound radius fretboard. Make that a quarter sawn neck. Vintage single coil pickups with none of that fancy wiring etc.

From the casual web surfing, I think my only option is to get one made by either

1. A luthier
   2 Partscaster
   3 Fender Custom shop

I'm rolling 1 out as I can easily put a Fender together so I wouldn't need a luthier.

I'm actively considering a partscaster, but I'm not only finding the parts hard to come by (in the U.K.) but also I'm aware that partscasters will nosedive in value from the moment I press the "buy" button on the parts.

I'd like to get Fender to make one. It would give me a warm glow to have the name on the headstock.

So, what's the deal with Custom Shops? Do I have to get a quote from a Fender dealer? Am I looking at £3,000? £4,000? £5,000? What do these things sell for on the used market? They'll obviously keep their value better than a parts caster, but better than a standard MIA Strat?

Just interested to hear people's opinions.