This week saw a little more progress on the magnetiser. My friend John at Blue Swallow Aircraft picked up on my struggle and sent me some information and pictures of the two magnetisers that he had built for his work - one to re-magnetise magnetos....

...and the other to magnetise the bars in the pot that sits atop these Creagh Osborne type compasses. The bars are adjustable to make corrections over time.

Most usefully, John sent me a spreadsheet with which to calculate the number of turns required for specific gauges of wire employed to create the coils. That's as far as I've got.

With the additional section added to the original dash, I was able to apply the veneer. I had just enough by a couple of inches.

The tricky part was cutting out the two glove box lids. I hadn't allowed enough width for a scalpel blade in some parts so I had to sight the line drilling from the reverse with a tiny carb jet drill.

An order for a stainless steel 'podger' filled in the time whilst the veneer settled. The podger is used to align the aluminium ROV frame hinges when assembled on deck - the clearances are necessarily tight which, in 40kts and heavy seas, can prove irksome. Providing something to hit with a hammer is always a bonus for the deckhand.

Stainless steel stone traps and 'T' pieces for animal feed units are in demand just now. I was ferreting in the farm scrap pile the other day and noticed that someone had slung in a perfectly good jack.

Welding the two halves of a trap's body always causes the sides to pull inwards making it difficult to weld in the base plate. I remembered the jack - it was still there and in excellent order - perfect.

In my enthusiasm, I forgot to preheat the work and heard this joint cracking as it cooled. You can see that one side was hotter than the other in this autogenous weld - I'm assuming this was the cause.

Two coffee tables are to be made from these Ferrari rear brake discs. I have to make the aluminium legs whose shape is based on the spokes of a classic Ferrari steering wheel. A hub will be bolted to the disc and a glass top will finish the job.

After a couple of weeks of soaking the studs, we've finally got the head off the 1932 Hillman Minx. The carbon deposits in the combustion chamber were very oily and sure enough, the valves were quite loose in their guides. Once the valves are removed we can see if their seats have worn eccentrically. If they haven't, we'll grind the valves, reassemble and test the compressions. If they're anything under 120psi it's engine out and we'll have a look at the bores whilst we're at it. In store are several sets of over-size pistons and more than enough NOS valves to quickly get the car back on the road.