diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 9113411b..1c9a2ff9 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 29/1/16 started 8.3
 - add vips_reduce*() ... a fast path for affine downsize
-- vips_resize() uses vips_reduce() with lanczos3 and better anti-alias
+- vips_resize() uses vips_reduce() with lanczos3 
 - bicubic is better on 32-bit int images
 - add pdfload, svgload, gifload for PDF, SVG and GIF rendering 
 - vipsthumbnail knows about pdfload and svgload
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 - vipsthumbnail knows about webp shrink-on-load
 - better behaviour for vips_cast() shift of non-int types (thanks apacheark)
 - python .bandrank() now works like .bandjoin()
-- vipsthumbnail --interpolator and --sharpen are deprecated
+- vipsthumbnail --interpolator and --sharpen switches are deprecated
 - switches to disable PPM, Rad and Analyze support
 
 27/1/16 started 8.2.3
diff --git a/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp b/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
index 1c009a10..a32412c5 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
+++ b/libvips/resample/reduceh.cpp
@@ -469,9 +469,6 @@ vips_reduceh_build( VipsObject *object )
 			"%s", _( "reduce factors should be >= 1" ) );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
-	if( reduceh->xshrink > 3 )  
-		vips_warn( object_class->nickname, 
-			"%s", _( "reduce factor greater than 3" ) );
 
 	if( reduceh->xshrink == 1 ) 
 		return( vips_image_write( in, resample->out ) );
@@ -480,6 +477,7 @@ vips_reduceh_build( VipsObject *object )
 	 */
 	reduceh->n_points = 
 		vips_reduce_get_points( reduceh->kernel, reduceh->xshrink ); 
+	vips_info( object_class->nickname, "%d point mask", reduceh->n_points );
 	if( reduceh->n_points > MAX_POINTS ) {
 		vips_error( object_class->nickname, 
 			"%s", _( "reduce factor too large" ) );
diff --git a/libvips/resample/reducev.cpp b/libvips/resample/reducev.cpp
index b865f1c1..9fd2f263 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/reducev.cpp
+++ b/libvips/resample/reducev.cpp
@@ -378,9 +378,6 @@ vips_reducev_build( VipsObject *object )
 			"%s", _( "reduce factor should be >= 1" ) );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
-	if( reducev->yshrink > 3 )  
-		vips_warn( object_class->nickname, 
-			"%s", _( "reduce factor greater than 3" ) );
 
 	if( reducev->yshrink == 1 ) 
 		return( vips_image_write( in, resample->out ) );
@@ -394,6 +391,7 @@ vips_reducev_build( VipsObject *object )
 			"%s", _( "reduce factor too large" ) );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
+	vips_info( object_class->nickname, "%d point mask", reducev->n_points );
 	for( int y = 0; y < VIPS_TRANSFORM_SCALE + 1; y++ ) {
 		reducev->matrixf[y] = 
 			VIPS_ARRAY( object, reducev->n_points, double ); 
diff --git a/libvips/resample/resize.c b/libvips/resample/resize.c
index bb36f5be..b77b587c 100644
--- a/libvips/resample/resize.c
+++ b/libvips/resample/resize.c
@@ -150,56 +150,6 @@ vips_resize_build( VipsObject *object )
 	hresidual = (double) target_width / in->Xsize;
 	vresidual = (double) target_height / in->Ysize;
 
-	/* We want to make sure we read the image sequentially.
-	 * However, the convolution we may be doing later will force us 
-	 * into SMALLTILE or maybe FATSTRIP mode and that will break
-	 * sequentiality.
-	 *
-	 * So ... read into a cache where tiles are scanlines, and make sure
-	 * we keep enough scanlines.
-	 *
-	 * We use a threaded tilecache to avoid a deadlock: suppose thread1,
-	 * evaluating the top block of the output, is delayed, and thread2, 
-	 * evaluating the second block, gets here first (this can happen on 
-	 * a heavily-loaded system). 
-	 *
-	 * With an unthreaded tilecache, thread2 will get
-	 * the cache lock and start evaling the second block of the shrink. 
-	 * When it reaches the png reader it will stall until the first block 
-	 * has been used ... but it never will, since thread1 will block on 
-	 * this cache lock. 
-	 *
-	 * Cache sizing: we double-buffer writes, so threads can be up to one 
-	 * line of tiles behind. For example, one thread could be allocated
-	 * tile (0,0) and then stall, the whole write system won't stall until
-	 * it tries to allocate tile (0, 2).
-	 *
-	 * We reduce down after this, which can be a scale of up to @residual, 
-	 * perhaps 0.5 or down as low as 0.3 depending on the interpolator. So
-	 * the number of scanlines we need to keep for the worst case is
-	 * 2 * @tile_height / @residual, plus a little extra.
-	 */
-	if( int_vshrink > 1 ) { 
-		int tile_width;
-		int tile_height;
-		int n_lines;
-
-		int need_lines;
-
-		vips_get_tile_size( in, 
-			&tile_width, &tile_height, &n_lines );
-		need_lines = 1.2 * n_lines / vresidual;
-		if( vips_tilecache( in, &t[6], 
-			"tile_width", in->Xsize,
-			"tile_height", 10,
-			"max_tiles", 1 + need_lines / 10,
-			"access", VIPS_ACCESS_SEQUENTIAL,
-			"threaded", TRUE, 
-			NULL ) )
-			return( -1 );
-		in = t[6];
-	}
-
 	/* Any downsizing.
 	 */
 	if( hresidual < 1.0 || 
@@ -226,21 +176,6 @@ vips_resize_build( VipsObject *object )
 		in = t[3];
 	}
 
-	/* If we are upsizing, don't sharpen. 
-	 */
-	if( int_hshrink >= 1 ) { 
-		vips_info( class->nickname, "final sharpen" );
-		t[4] = vips_image_new_matrixv( 3, 3,
-			-1.0, -1.0, -1.0,
-			-1.0, 32.0, -1.0,
-			-1.0, -1.0, -1.0 );
-		vips_image_set_double( t[4], "scale", 24 );
-
-		if( vips_conv( in, &t[5], t[4], NULL ) ) 
-			return( -1 );
-		in = t[5];
-	}
-
 	if( vips_image_write( in, resample->out ) )
 		return( -1 );