ToughButterCup

Using your post as a starting point , Clive, I found this resource : the training resources of the concrete coutner top institute (all free )

Faye would look good in resin hot pants methinks. She's make you proud(er) ?

Coward. ? Where's your sense of advencha man? Says I to the only person who has actually flown around in my kitchen ..... Remember that?

I did ask them.....? Looks like a call to Talis is on the cards then..... Thanks Pete.

Toby: that's the one @scottishjohn : I'll try mine - but in doing so - because the key is so long, I'll need to cross the road , wait for the traffic to die down, and try fitting it from there. Or I suppose I could try cutting it down, and welding the handle back on . That should provide @Declan52 with a laugh....

Two very nice young men came to fit my water meter yesterday yesterday . Very very nice men. They even set the meter to 00000 . That was good of them wannit? But there was a hiccup They didn't have a stop-valve key for this meter : an Atlantic Plastics Intex 2 - the key fits this part of the assembly The key looks as if it fits in the groove on the black plastic. I've tried to source a spare key online, but can't find a supplier. The people I bought the meter from aren't interested (Berrys at Leyland ?) I have a feeling that a pair of mole grips will do the job, but with my extra-special hands I doubt I'd be able to turn a pair of grips in that confined space. Anyone know where to source Intex 2 spares online? The sharper eyed among you will notice a pond of water under the meter. Should I get the water Board back to fix that, or just ignore it? Thanks Ian

Yes. Here you are.

I'm going to enjoy this soooooooooo bloody much .... wait for it ......wwwwaaaait .... Stop over thinking it ...... Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, Get in !

After thinking about it - I realise that I have the perfect tool already (Shaadup @Onoff) An angle grinder guard with mm graduation settings on it. Now all I need is to screw a temporary guide to the wall and run the grinder along it for the requisite distance. ?

Apologies ; into plaster....

I'm wondering if there is a tool for cutting slots for LED tracking. Made a right pigs lug'ol for a 2 meter track yesterday. Needs to be no more than 5mm deep....

Got it in one @Adrian Walker

Yes. Going skip wombling today on the way back from the gym - for waste melamine surfaces ...

Benching mix? Wassat then?

In this sector, that is both true and very sad.

I'll go and take a photo of my stacks and get back to you .....?

Wood: sizes, weights, grades - nightmare. So much shared Internet-based ignorance. I've almost given up because if I do some due diligence before I go and buy, and then talk to the seller about the wood grade, the most common response is " ... Visss iz wot we sell son ... " The only thing to trust is the stamp on the wood itself. I went to see our producer ( ProWood near Wigan) and saw the stacks of wood ready for delivery to us. An order for a couple of thousand merits a visit, I recon. 25 x 150mm FSC Mix 70% US Larch KD 922.67 2,975.61 20.00 595.12 Mach to 18 x 144mm PAR. I asked for that to be de-coded, and was perfectly satisfied with the answer. Here's my Internet search to try and sort stuff out for myself....

Thats good to hear, John.

Yer a star @Nick1c - ??

You going to video it Ed? Please would you ?

Naaaah mate, I'll be using less re-bar ....far less re-bar. Ich werde viel weniger re-bar verwenden. Vorsprung durch Beton Jungs! Well, Technik anyway.

Exactly my plan, @SteamyTea ... I've already had a go at a pure cement and water mix: but it's soft ... scratches easily. I'll try some 10mm stone next

A lifetime ago (2016), SWMBO and I had a palpitation or two ? - Settle down , settle down, the palpitations were about polished concrete floors. Well, that rush of blood to the withers soon died down. We posted about polishing concrete here Too expensive. But, the idea (lust?) for concrete has never died. I know they are heavy, need effort, need maintenance, need care. I've viewed endless videos about them. Loads of German videos about them - surprising that innit? Somewhat against my better judgement, I'm eyeing the prospect of building some worktops in my spare time ? But there's not one online resource about the practicality of a concrete worktop. For example, what happens when a heavy shopping bag is dumped on the worktop, and then dragged across it? someone chops food without using a cutting board? leaves a cut lemon on the concrete surface overnight? someone too full of vim and vigour decides to use wire wool to get rid of a stain? uses a blunt knife to scrape off dried out egg stains? spills bleach on it? Are they more maintenance trouble than they are worth? Anyone got a concrete worktop and care to share their experience? Give me some good reasons NOT to give it go please.

@zoothorn, please take a bit more care in formulating your questions. For example, 1) above. You write '.... So a 500 mm exposed area ...' A reader could be forgiven for thinking - is that problem or not? And if it is a problem, then how much of a problem is it? Its a good idea -where possible - to begin the discussion by suggesting answers to your own problem, thus Members can evaluate your answer, or suggest their own answers to the problem. When people see that you have done a bit of thinking of your own, it oils the wheels a bit. Reading through some of your other threads, I got the strong impression that some of the confusion could have been avoided entirely if you had provided some carefully composed images. Its as if you rush to the keyboard to contact BH rather than sit, suck your teeth a bit, look at the issue, think and then after a while write your post. Slow down.

I seem to remember that an impact driver sorted it all out OK ...