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 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 DerbyCharles 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 here. 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.