BoleynWorkshop

Inside the Boleyn 2025

Jan 9th

Another new year has started in the Boleyn Workshop or would have done if I could actually get in to it. I've lost the keys and don't have spares. Two years ago I fitted a mortise lock to the solid oak door liberated by my mate from his local pub where it had been sat in storage gathering dust and longing to be fitted to a classic machinery workshop bedecked in the design of the 1970s away shirt worn by the likes of Bobby Moore and Clyde Best. And I never got around to getting a spare key cut for which I am now kicking myself, hard and in the backside. Fortunately though I had anticipated this in the heady days of the 2010s when I added the extension to the workshop and left the security trims off one of the new windows. This meant that in theory I could just pull out the shims holding the glazing panel in and just pop it out. When I put this plan into action it worked like a dream though I sprained my thumb in the process so I would just recommend get spare keys cut before you are reduced to entering your workshop as Russian politicians exit hotels. Fortunately though in a burst of most unBoleyn-like activity I had finished all the grandchildrens presents by the week before Christmas. I had made two flower presses, a wooden jet plane and a model herringbone style dairy parlour all using the Coronet Major and what an absolute pleasure it was as always. See the gallery below.

The plane was made out of oak and hardwood offcuts and finished with three coats of yacht varnish. The plane body was turned out of a piece of 10" x 2" x 2" and the wing section shaped from a piece of 12" x 2" x 1/4". As it was being made for a young child I felt that strength should override aesthetics so the wing section was made in one piece and fitted through a slot in the centre of the body and secured with a wood screw hidden under the cockpit. The tail fins were cut and glued to the tailpiece after shaping a flat section on the top for it to sit on securely. The missiles were turned singly out of 6" x 1/2" x 1/2" hardwood blanks and glued in position. The cockpit was turned as a cone shape and then run through the saw at an angle so it sloped towards the rear and the windscreen was shaped on the sanding wheel.

For each of the flower presses I used two pieces of 5 ply with an 1/8" hardwood laminate top to give a smarter finish. I used 4 x M6 coach bolts with a penny washer on each press but drilled out the top section to 8mm so as to make it easier for the children to put it on as it was obviously a tight fit at 6mm. The presses also had three coats of yacht varnish sanded down in between. With hindsight I should have sealed the ply before varnishing as it dried unevenly but three coats sorted that out. All the ply came from a job load of varied and quality ply offcuts offered for free from a vw van conversion workshop that was closing down near me.

Projects for 2025:

folding wooden shutters for a bedroom window (ongoing since 1996)

Approx 10 yards of picket fencing

a frame for some Basque ceramic tiles

Let's revisit this list in December and see what if anything has happened.

Priorities for 2025:

regaining proper access to the workshop

getting spare keys cut

Heimag A5 refurbishment

sale of surplus Coronet parts

restoration of at least one Coronet Minorette for workshop use

Let's revisit this list in December and I'm guessing at least 4 out of 5 will have been done.

Jan 19th

Workshop keys have turned up while I was away for a few days thanks to an excellent search and rescue mission carried out by my now favourite child. They were discovered under the sofa where I sit every day. Of course they were. I suspect sabotage and am currently reassessing my relationships with all family members.

Jan 31st.

Overall it's been a quiet month up at the Boleyn. Weekly crib games have been held in the house since Crimbo due to a lack of firewood for the stove and obviously the missing keys. One useful job I did yesterday was to board off the back of the Major cabinet to improve storage and fix the problem of stuff falling out the back and getting under the wheels. Don't know why it's taken four years oh yes I do, it's because we don't rush things in the Boleyn right?

Earlier in the month I had a visit from RC who was temporarily back home from studying earth domination plans or something like that at university. Although we couldn't access the workshop for a game of air pistol darts we drank tea and reminisced about the good old days and I was updated on the progress of AC who now works as a a chef. I knew that the tea making training and biscuit acquisition skills he learnt at the Boleyn would come in handy one day. Not to mention all those burgers he sampled in the name of research at local football grounds.

Feb 1st

I did have a quick look at the Heimag the other day and decided to remove the entire head off the column so I can clean up that and also access the on/off switch in the base. I'm going to remove the capacitor altogether and do away with all the extra wires. I want the cable to go down the inside of the column as it would have done originally and won't miss the instant stop/start that the capacitor gives. Nearly got a key cut the other day too but was out off by the size of the queue.

Feb 6th

This week has been taken up by a non Coronet machine, my Scheppach 260 planer/thicknesser. I have a lot of timber to rip down and prepare before making the bedroom shutters so for ease I will be traitorously using my Tyzack 10" cabinet saw and the Scheppach (Charles Parker please forgive me). But I will be using the Major for final cutting and trimming. When I removed the Scheppach from its 12+ month storage it became apparent that the roof had leaked directly above it and water had run through the machine causing surface rust on the thicknesser table and completely seizing its raising mechanism. Once off its trundle base and on the workbench I could remove the front planer table and blade guard and lay it on its side to look underneath. The table is raised by a mechanical cog and chain assembly and rust had built up mostly on the two cogs nearest the coupling attached to the winding handle. It's awkward to access the assembly as the motor and support sit directly below it but all five cogs are visible. I removed as much rust and gunk as I could before giving it a severe soaking in WD 40 (I will be buying a 5 litre can of DW-40 next time as it is much cheaper and apparently just as good). Removing the chain from the tensioning cog gave a bit more play on the chain overall when winding the handle to and fro to create movement. Next I took a hammer and long, thin cold chisel and gently tapped the chain away from where it sat on each individual cog tooth to ensure that nothing was rusted together. I then retreated for 24 hours before returning and washing off the remaining rust juice with more jets of WD40. After wiping it down I then coated the chain with with some standard 3 in 1 oil and let that work in. An hour later I began winding the handle to and fro and gradually gained movement either way before being able to raise and lower it freely. I then thoroughly cleaned and oiled the threaded bars the table travels on. On my first attempt to thickness a piece of 4x2 the drive roller belt broke. A Scheppach replacement belt was quoted as being over £35 + delivery but an internet search revealed that www.wychbearings.co.uk supply a fascimile at less than £2 plus p+p which was duly ordered and arrived on time. I would thoroughly recommend having a look at them for bearings and belts. As penance for working on a non Coronet machine in the Boleyn Workshop I said the Coronet prayer and muttered three Hail Charles's before I left. And that's a reference to Charles Parker not Charlie Sausage-Fingers of Windsor.

May 5th

Although there's been a two month gap since the last post it can't be assumed that nothing has been going on up the Boleyn and in fact it's quite the opposite. I just forget to post it these days. Firstly an update on the Coronet Classic 10 bandsaw which has been waiting for the casing to be welded, it's still waiting but I'm told the repair is imminent and I hope to have it back for rebuilding very soon.

I fitted the new belt to the Scheppach machine and it has been hard at work ever since. It will be interesting to see how long this cheaper option belt will last for but for now it is performing well.

Now regarding the Projects and Priorities lists above I can report that the picket fence can be removed from the Projects list and as for the Priorities list, proper access has been achieved but no spare keys cut yet. As for the mountain of Coronet spares this was duly collected by Edmund aka Ed the Wood from Blackpool. The scene is now set for fabrication of bedroom shutters now that my daughters excellent boyfriend sorted through my Would Store (named the Would Store as I would use the wood if only I could bloody find it) for me and located the hardwood planks needed for the job. I haven't personally seen them for around ten years so I expect they were probably pleased to see the light of day again after all that time. Even if they are going to be cut to pieces on some classic Coronet machinery but I think that's a good way to go if you're a bit of wood.

The exterior of the Boleyn is looking pretty sad in one place due to a leaking gutter and needs repainting. To be honest the appearance of the paint job probably matches the performance of the West Ham team this season. Very poor. But at least I can fix my workshop which unlike WHUFC doesn't need a new owner.

Two weeks ago I spent some time sharpening table saw blades some of which were bought new with the Coronet Major. As these are made from quality steel they take a well overdue sharpening very well and have been brought back to life and I have duly noted the importance of regular maintenance. Quotes for outsourcing the sharpening were understandably high enough to make me to decide to do it myself saving over £200 in the process. Next in line are the Minor saw blades. Doing my own sharpening was very fulfilling and I enjoyed the process with a pot of workshop tea and the tunes of Prince Buster for company.

On the toymaking front I have made a toy car on the Major with a young grandson and refurbished a 1995 Brushwood toy barn for a returning satisfied customer a very Young Farmer from North Dorset. I say satisfied but he did point out that I had forgotten to fit a gate on it as promised and I couldn't argue with him.

General enquiries re Coronet have been few and far between but when I spoke to Derek Pyatt last he said he was still sending out manuals and a few small spares. His manuals are top quality reprints and he has them for all Coronet machines, you can contact him at derekpyatt23@gmail.com. He is a great source of advice and always happy to help with enquiries.

I hope to report some progress with the shutters project soon so in the meantime keep it Coronet!

May 27th

My plans to start on the 30 year shutter project were thwarted by the need to make a birthday present for a friend. I made a garden table from some oak, teak and mahogany offcuts all cut and prepped on the Major. I used mortise and tenon joints for the frame utilising the saw table to cut the tenons as demonstrated in the Coronet bible sorry, brochure. As I didn't fancy setting up the mortise attachment on the Major due to time constraints I drilled them out on the Walker Turner DP900 drill press and finished them by hand. See below for finished job

June 1st

Another small job for the old Major and this time it's for my daughter. It's a frame for some ceramic alphabetical tiles she brought back from the Basque region of Spain that spell out the family name on her mother's side. There is a strong family connection to this area as my wife's father was a refugee from Franco's dictatorship and came to England on the SS Habana in 1937. He spent the last years of his life in Dorset amongst his large family so I chose some yew wood that had come from a local tree to make the frame. I rebated the edging strips with the wobble saw fitted to the Major and am waiting to mitre cut the strips to just above size before truing them on the sanding plate. Below you can see the rebated strips and the wobble saw attached to the Major. Note the wobble saw table insert in place. I cut the mitres on the Major and trued them up on the sanding plate before gluing and clamping together with the 5mm back board set in the rebated frame. To bring the frame up nice I used 400, 600 and 1000 (I'm showing off now) grade sandpaper before treating it with three or four coats of Osmo oil rubbed in with a lint free cloth. I used a two part resin glue to attach the tiles to the back board not trusting something so precious to some run of the mill tile adhesive.

Classic 10 news..

I had an email on the weekend from someone who turned out to have bought a Classic 10 bandsaw that I had seen on ebay some time previously. I recognised it from the likely washing machine motor that was powering it at the time. Gareth gave it a much needed refurb which included a paint job, replacement motor and new tyres on the wheels, pics have been added to the Classic 10 page. Pics of his Major are hopefully on the way soon.