Inside the Boleyn 2024

You may have been wondering just where the Boleyn Workshop has been for the last eight months. It all started when I forgot to renew my domain name and and it got hoovered up by some random domain pinching bot that trawls the internet remotely and holds the previous owners to ransom for its return.  Or so it seemed.  When I eventually found it, it was three times the price and once I showed interest the price doubled even from a different device.  There was only one solution and that was to change the name of the website to...The Boleyn Workshop.  It's only taken eight months but as you know, here at The Boleyn Workshop we don't believe in rushing things.

August 2024

Here we have the old Major resting quietly after completing a big order from a 4 year old farmer in North Dorset.  He had requested a load of railway sleepers and planks for his toy farm.  The job's a good'un and now this 75yr old beauty is enjoying the peace and quiet of The Boleyn Workshop.

 A reminder that Derek Pyatt of www.coronetwoodworking.co.uk is still supplying paper manuals for all makes of Coronet machines.  He also supplies drive belts and some small spare parts.  He is currently selling on ebay but you can contact him directly at derekpyatt23@gmail.com

Another good source for complete machines and spare parts is Edmund who sells on ebay as Ed the Wood.

If you would like your machine to feature in Readers Machines then send your pictures to me at dorsethammer@hotmail.co.uk

September 1st 2024

Below are pics of the 9" sanding disc and adjustable table fitted on the Major.  I found sanding discs that reflect the maroon experience of the machine thinking that blue or yellow ones just wouldn't look right and might actually be insulting.  This attachment was used to finish the toy railway sleepers and planks requested by my grandsons after being cut on the table saw for a toy farm.   The planks not the children that is.  This disc is a 180 grit.  For my granddaughters a traditional flower press and knickknack boxes are in the pipeline, 100% made on the Major.


Broken bandsaw alert.  A couple of weeks ago I opened up the workshop to find one of my electric motors, the blue one in the photo, stored on a shelf on the side wall, on it's side on the floor.  No idea how it happened.  After placing it back on the shelf I noticed that the table was missing off the Coronet Classic bandsaw and found it behind the cabinet on the floor fortunately undamaged.  I realised that the motor had fallen onto the table and broken the bracket where the table is clamped to the casting clean off.  Bad words were said.  Many bad words.  Have a look at the photos and you can see just what an awkward repair job it's going to be and I don't have the technology.  I need a magician, where's Paul Daniels when you need him eh? 

Last week the Boleyn Workshop welcomed a young lad who is the son of a friend.  He had shown interest in doing an afternoons carpentry so what better project to start on than a wooden tool box.  I asked him if he wanted to make one like mine and he replied, yes but bigger.  I liked his style.  As he was only 9 years old I couldn't let him loose on the Major so once we had decided on the size and marked out the different sections on scraps of plywood, I cut it to size for him.  I gave him a sanding block and showed him how to wrap sandpaper around it before he set to work on smoothing all the surfaces.  He worked really hard and soon got quite a sweat on.  This is hard work, he said.  Yeah, I replied, that's why they invented the electric sander!  Oh, he said a little forlornly.  I couldn't let him suffer any longer so got out a small palm sander and showed him how to use it.  I think you appreciate electric tools more if you have sweated over hand tools and besides we were on a time limit.  We had decided to glue it and screw it so I marked out the screw holes on the end panels and the base and he operated the Walker Turner DP900 while I held the pieces for him.  Every screw hole was countersunk.  His hand to eye coordination was impressive and he enjoyed using some classic machinery even if it wasn't Coronet.   Next we assembled the tool box and once again he impressed with his handling of a spiral ratchet screwdriver not an easy tool for a first timer.  We decided on a classic broom stick handle of which I had a small scrap section of.  He cut it to size and that was successfully fitted.  I thought that we would cut dowels to plug the countersunk screw holes but my young carpenter had an idea of his own.  Can't we just mix some sawdust and glue together to fill the holes, he asked.  In other words, he just invented the concept of wood filler.  He collected up a quantity of sawdust in a jam jar and added glue until it was a workable paste.  Next he filled the holes and scraped them level.  It dried quickly and he sanded them more or less flush with the surface to finish the job nicely.  I threw in some of my many excess tools to give him a basic carpentry kit and he went home happy and keen to return in the future for another project.  Hopefully that's another young person interested in using traditional hand tools and keeping woodwork and carpentry alive.  Looking at my toolbox now, it does seem a little small.  
Keep it Coronet people!

November 2nd 2024

It's time to strip the Classic 10 down to it's bare cast iron casing so that the welding job can be done on it.  

The saw table had already been kindly removed by the electric motor that fell on it last year so that was one less job to do.  It's an ill wind and all that.  Fortunately the table itself and the tilting mechanism were completely undamaged.  A workshop mate of mine had kindly volunteered to do the welding repairs so it was up to me to strip the bandsaw down entirely into its two casings and remove all bits and pieces from it.  I had intended to photo the different stages but forgot to take my phone up the workshop for the first session so I'll have to catalogue it going back together.
First jobs were to remove the guide and bearing assembly and then the tension/tilting apparatus from the top of the rear casing.  So far so good and fairly similar to process on a Coronet Imp.  The next step is to remove the front casing by locating the grubscrews on the hinge and removing the two pins.
November 29th

The bandsaw was duly delivered down to my mates in order for the welding to be done but as I informed him it was cast iron casing instead of cast aluminium (which I really should have remembered having a website dedicated to Coronet machinery) there is going to be a short delay while the correct welding rods were procured.  However it wasn't a wasted trip as I ended up bringing the Heimag A5 Tischbohrmaschine home with me as the new owner.  Although it's not Coronet it is an intriguing design with some interesting history and I am looking forward to cleaning it up and getting it back to working condition.  There is little to be done on it apart from a good clean and de-rust, a rewire and mounting on a mobile trolley.
In Coronet news a thicknesser/planer is currently winging its way up to Livingstone in Scotland to be become part of a Minor setup and I finally got a query about the Consort that had been on offer as free to taker in Ireland for over eighteen months.  However when I contacted the owner he advised me that earlier this year he had donated it  to a Workaid/TFSR type charity in Belfast who had sent it out to Africa where it will be no doubt earning a living for someone before long.  I was pleased to hear this as I know how much use a Coronet Minor setup was valued by its owner and user, Zak Muchina who lives in Embu Kenya and whose workshop is twinned with the Boleyn Workshop and features here.  Sorry about the small link I can't make it bigger and apparently size doesn't matter.

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