Inside the Boleyn 2022

Jan 2nd

Happy New Year to all Boleyn Workshop regulars (yeah hello mum) and any first time visitors to this website dedicated to the machinery of the Coronet Tool Company.

Some good news is that the Coronet Capitol planer put up for offer last year has found a new home already and is therefore saved for future generations of enthusiasts.  Thanks to Phil for that kind offer and it's always good to know that at least one other person visits this website on occasion.

Jan 13th

The first cribbage game of the new year nearly ended in a 0-5 home drubbing up at the Boleyn last week but I just crept home on the last leg to lose 1-4 benefiting hugely from the first take.  A five nil 'whitewash' would have meant the trophy going home to live in Marnhull permanently and I would have had to make a new one.  The holly boughs for the next trophy provided by my mate and oppponent have been seasoning on in the outside wood store for nearly three years now. At 0-3 down I was already contemplating ripping them down into 1" strips for laminating and turning into a new trophy but for now I was spared the embarassment.  In contrast to my card skills the fish and chips from The Forum Frier were superb, some of the best I have experienced in all my 58 years of eating battered cod  and chipped potatoes.  The best themselves being either those from the Jingling Lane Chippy in Kirkby Lonsdale or from an unknown chippy in West Yorkshire (which used beef dripping for frying) that I visited regularly when I was a driver's mate in 1983.
Enquiries to the website are of seasonal levels ie few and far between but I have had a couple of promises of photos for Readers Machines in the future.  An interesting email came from Italy where the second generation owner of a Coronet Minor is still using the machine in his joiners workshop that his father took with him when he emigrated in the early 1960s.

January 16th

Photos added to Yet More Readers Machines are from Richard in Verese, Italy and Peter from Thurrock, Essex.

Photos for Readers Machines always welcome.

February 6th

Having previously joked about having the coronetvirus it was ironic that I found having the actual coronavirus to be no joke at all.  Despite having had the three jabs on offer I still felt as if a Mk1 Major had been droppped on me from a great height meaning I found it hard to get up again afterwards.  To be honest I think being crushed by 162lbs of quality maroon woodworking machine would have been preferable.  Especially if it was fitted with some decent attachments such as the belt sander or even the Holy Grail itself, a compound slide rest (CM506).  Though to be fair the morticing attachment might have stuck in a bit if it was in place.

In January Paul Taylor sent me pdfs of some Coronet literature that he found in his desk drawer while searching for something else.  He believes that he picked them up at an open day at the Derby Coronet showrooms while another piece is taken from Garner Tool News (of Barnsley) and is a fine edition review of the Coronet Major.  Many thanks Paul for taking the time to scan them and send them in and they can be viewed here in pdf form.  Any Coronet information no matter how small or unimportant seeming is always welcome and I can scan and return to sender myself if preferred.

Nothing has happened in the workshop due to my metaphorical laying underneath a heap of maroon machinery but a few enquiries have been coming in including a request for my opinion on a Coronet Major featured on F***b**k Marketplace in South Africa. I also had an often asked question about a thread converter from 7/8" x 16tpi to the modern 1" x 8tpi thread of an Axminster chuck.  I don't personally know of one and it is something I research regularly online for things like this.  I think the only option is to speak to a friendly engineer and see if he can knock one up for you at a reasonable cost.  If anyone knows differently could they pass that information on so I can do the same.

I hope to be back in the workshop soon so until then keep it Coronet.

February 16th

I was offered an Imp bandsaw attachment last week by Joe a fellow Coronet enthusiast and in true Boleyn Workshop style I bit his hand off.  It arrived yesterday and I was pleased to see it had the bracket for attaching to the Majors saddles.  No, I hadn't checked before in my haste to own this tasty little maroon morsel.  Owning this really speeds up my plans as I no longer have to convert an existing Imp into the attachment.  On first inspection the attachment is virtually the same as the motor driven Imp except there is no on/off switch fitted and it has a bracket for the saddles rather than footplates to attach it to a work surface or cabinet.  


February 23rd

I would like you all to join me in the Coronet prayer.  Hands together and eyes closed.

The Coronet Prayer.   P.Baker & A.Lister 2015

Our Parker who art in Derby

Charles be thy name

Thy Coronet comes

Thy work shall be done

In the workshop as it is in the showroom

Give us this day our Maroon and Red

Forgive and keep us from cheap imports

As we forgive those who cheap imports do offer

Lead us not into Machine Mart

But deliver to us from Alfreton a Coronet

For thine is the Major, the Minor and the Consort

The Majorette and Minorette

Amen.


February 25th


The Boleyn Workshop стенди з Україною


March 15th


There's a cracking pair on display on the MILFs page spotted on holiday in Luxor by the maroon loon himself.  


May 5th


Workshop time has been sadly limited recently due to one thing and another but the maroon flag is still flying here.  Just had time to list a Coronet Major speed reducer wheel, belts and pulleys for sale (SOLD)  which is a great opportunity to snap up a rare attachment at a good price inc postage.  I'm selling it for a workshop mate so message me in the first instance.  In the meanwhile Keep It Coronet.


July 20th


A couple of weeks ago my Coronet Major cabinet was hand delivered by the international man of mystery himself John Bradfast.  He was warmly welcomed into the Boleyn and he expressed surprise that everything on the website was not on display in the workshop.  That would need something the size of a small aircraft hanger.  I was delighted to finally have the cabinet in my workshop as I had been after one for my old Major for some time.  This one was in fair condition and was still fitted with it's original factory switch.  It needs prepping and repainting but no welding or filling.  It does however need a worktop making which won't be a problem.  I have just made a wooden dolly for it with the aid of the old Major.  It is mounted on castors to aid it's movement around the Boleyn.  John had also bought an Coronet bandsaw (photos to appear soon) for my perusal which I very nearly impulsively bought on the spot.  It was in complete condition and with a little t+c would have still done a job attached to the Minor set up.  But when you have two and half Imps already awaiting attention you have to be realistic about just how many bandsaws you can use at any one time.  I don't really believe what I just wrote in case you were wondering.  Of course I should have bought it and have been kicking myself ever so slightly since.


The Boleyn Workshop: a statement. My web host Yola have steadily been making life more and more difficult for me to continue with them.  The latest price increases are far beyond what the site generates in income which is actually nothing as I won't sell out to the advertising which is an unpleasant stain on society as a whole.  The last straw was my guestbook refusing to open again unless a monthly fee was paid.  Enough is enough.  This may be the last month of the Boleyn Workshop in it's current guise.  I am looking for another host and to hopefully migrate the whole shebang as one.  If I cannot do this then it will literally be a case of starting again from scratch or just letting it go down the pan. If anyone can recommend anything or even advise the best way it would be appreciated as I don't understand the tech.  As I have mentioned before I built this website aided by my then 6 year old daughter on a web host recommended by Cbeebies. (A BBC kids show)


In more encouraging news the Imp attachment I bought earlier this year has been stripped for cleaning and repainting and an engineer mate (thank you Mark!) has engineered some new parts for it using bits from another machine as patterns.  Once the old Major is mounted on the cabinet it will be rebuilt in position and the bench mounted Imp can be sold to create some more space.  The Major saw table performed admirably with the ripping and crosscutting of timber to make the dolly and some other little projects.  I'm looking forward to setting up the bowl turning attachment and making some shavings again.  I was given a speed reduction gearbox by a workshop mate (thanks Joe) which just needed rebuilding and a couple of small parts supplying.  Also the thread for the retaining screw was ruined and needed tapping out.  I spoke to Mr Coronet himself Derek Pyatt who was able to supply not just the necessary retaining screw complete with ball bearing, washer and spring but also the correct tap to restore the thread.  It was a simple job thanks to Derek's advice and loan of the tap so I now have a working speed reduction gearbox.  Derek was also able to supply the special nuts that replace the ones on the motor to allow the unit to be attached.  That was an unexpected bonus so a big thanks to Derek once again.


I hope to have some positive news about the Boleyn Workshop website soon.  In the meantime, keep it Coronet!



October 4th


Some positive news at last.  My website host has agreed to slash my fees by 40% which means that I will be able to keep the website going.  It's been a quiet year workshop-wise as I have been concentrating on an online training course which I have finally finished. I've been selling off surplus bits and pieces from years of workshop life and have met some interesting people including another Coronet Major owner who was suitably surprised and impressed when he saw my machine.  Another buyer revealed that he had the same model Walker Turner pillar drill but with the low speed pulley unit.  I somehow managed to reduce my slathering to a surreptitious level and I think I got away with it.    Workshop on Monday evenings with RC (AC's replacement) continue as does Crib Night on Wednesday.  Regarding AC my assistant from approx 2008 to 2018, he really did exist and still does.  Several people have questioned his existence thinking he was fictional to add some interest to the blog but no, AC was and still is real.  I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to another year of the Boleyn Workshop online.  Next up for sale are surplus woodturning chisels and some Coronet bits and attachments to be listed on the website.


November 15th


I have just renewed the Boleyn Workshop for another year so the future is looking decidedly marooner that it was.  Having spent the greater part of this year getting a TEFL (level 5 no less) qualification I am now looking forward to some more workshop time.  The only thing of note I have achieved recently workshop-wise was wiring in the Major cabinet switch without plunging the house into darkness.  Then there was the woodburner chimney fire caused I believe by an abandoned birds nest and dealt with by the Boleyn Workshop Fire Officer who was fortunately in attendance.  I was not amused to find that once having mounted the Major cabinet on a dolly that one of the caster wheels was wonky a la 1980s supermarket trolley.  That will have to be a project for the new year.


Andy Reynolds sent in some pictures of his 1967 Major having milled 300m (984 feet in old money) of 2x1 to have a 10 degree side for the construction of a geodome.  Please see the gallery below.  Thanks Andy it's always good to see a machine looking as it should ie covered in sawdust.  Not bad for a 55 year old machine.


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