Bandsaw Birthday

The bandsaw has been having a tough time of it and I'd noticed it wasn't cutting true.
When I came to change the blade I noticed the lower blade guide had skewed.
Time for a good strip down, it turned out that nothing was broken, but everything was out of adjustment or seized up. Oh the shame of it, I must keep a closer eye on it in future.
I think it was sawing all that fresh cut Yew that knocked everything out of kilter and gummed up the little bearings that act as blade guides. I was pushing the limits of the saw and should really have stripped it down then.
It only took a few minutes to soak the bearings in white spirit to free them up and give them an oiling. Everything was then reassembled and adjusted. I'm prob' a bit naughty in not readjusting when I go from my wider coarse (3 teeth per inch) to my narrower finer blade too.
Anyhow it's running sweet as a nut now.

The Tudorfication process has been carrying on. I've made a Tudor Stanley knife from a bit of old bandsaw blade with a riveted Ash handle. The bandsaw blade is great, it's thin enough to heat up for hardening/tempering very easily and they are actually made with the back and front edges hardened where the teeth are and the back blade bearing can make contact. The centre is soft, so can be drilled for rivets. A 2.5 mm drill makes a good hole for a bit of wire coathanger, which is nice soft steel for tapping over as a rivet.
The Tudorfication has also extended to my face!
I've grown a rather scruffy little 'tache and beard .
I'm no oil paining, but with the bald pate and fairly tight cropped hair on the sides, it adds a certain je ne sais quoi.
Ok it doesn't have the menace of Ray Winstone, but it looks better than last time I tried it... lank shoulder length hair and a scruffy beard... not a good look.