• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

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  1. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    While stripping down my own RB, I found this cast tag on one side. "WR 6064" - I've been trying to figure out what it means/meant? In doing this research, conclusions are all very well, but I prefer actual evidence. I believe I've finally found proof that these RBs, and the twelve machines...
  2. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    During the second half of the 1920s New Zealand Railways embarked on a major reorganisation of their mechanical workshops. The four major workshops (small by UK comparison no doubt) were rebuilt - either on their original sites (Addington in Christchurch, and Hillside in Dunedin) or completely...
  3. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    While there, visiting my brother in Dunedin, I called in at the pattern shop of Bradken, an Australian firm who purchased the Foundry and Pattern Shop when KiwiRail closed the Hillside Railway Workshops in 2013. I asked if I could have a look around, and oohed and aahed at the old woodworking...
  4. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    In May, 2017, I had a holiday in the South Island (and had a rough crossing of Cook Strait on the way back ). At the Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch I came across another Wadkin RB. It sure looks like it. This one certainly is "Bench Type". The motor bracket in the picture is...
  5. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    That RB was unusual. It is missing it’s base stand; the main casting is different, and it has a fence that slides in a dovetail groove (a bit like the rip fence on my Wadkin PK saw) in the infeed table. There's a distinct arch at the bottom of the main casting; and the table adjustment handles...
  6. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    How did I become interested in the RB? I have a Makita 2030 thicknesser, with a 6" surface planer attachment that fits on the side. It has sheetmetal surfaces and is a PITA to put on and take off and store. and I wanted something more solid (like the machines I'd used during my apprenticeship)...
  7. V

    Development of the Wadkin RB Surface Planer.

    The purpose of this thread is to document the development of Wadkin's RB 9" surface planers. But first a little background: To the best of my knowledge, the first Wadkin and Co. 9" surface planer was the RC. It came in various widths: 9", 12", 16" and 22". I've not seen a 9" RC, but a few 12"...
  8. V

    Editing Times.

    Hi. What's the editing time here please. The reason I ask is I'd like to do an article on Wadkin RB surface planers, but the 24 hour editing time many sites have is too short. Any errors not picked up in that time end up being permanent. Cheers, Vann.
  9. V

    Wadkin RT Lathe restoration

    Thanks for the tag photo. I see yours is just 12 RTs after mine, and also made in 1951. I don't think that nut has been modified. Wadkin used nuts like that on many machines (there's one on the end of the spindle on my Wadkin RB 6" surface planer). Round, with two flats - a saw cut down one...
  10. V

    What do people use for crosscutting theese days?

    I don't have enough experience to know the best way, but if you think a radial arm saw might be the way to go - then a Wadkin CC or CD will do the job - and will be solid enough for the job. Hopefully a negative rake blade will overcome the tendency to want to climb out of the cut. The downside...
  11. V

    Planer guards

    I dislike the American pork chop guard - at least as supplied on my Makita surface planer (attachment to my thicknesser). When I did my apprenticeship with New Zealand Railways, all the buzzers ("surface planers" to you) were fitted with Australian "Ideal" guards, which are similar (if not...
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