After struggling to hand plane timber to correct and precise dimensions, we have finally taken the plunge and got a planer thicknesser. The planer part should allow us to make two precise, flat surfaces at an exact angle to each other. And the thicknessing facility should, well, let us work a bunch of wood to a certain thickness.   So one of the latest e-bay adventures is this ‘over and under’ style Kity 439 planer thicknesser.  Like most tools it obviously required a bit of a strip down and rebuild before it’s fully accepted into the workshop.

The first little mods were ones …Continue reading »

What makes me want to make and create things, more than anything else, is that enchanting feeling when we turn some unvalued, ordinary and mundane into something special. Why exactly it feels good, I don’t know, but I guess it is somewhat universal for people to want to change and arrange things to their taste, all be it a culturally specific one.  As a unique and unruly thing, with its own vitality and ‘personality’, wood can surprise you.

And it has to be said, I am becoming a huge fan of being surprised by the process of transforming discarded timber, reclaiming it and giving it new life, making it special. This is a post about making that transformation (and making an oak bed along the way).

I had a bunch of these oak …Continue reading »

It’s been raining and grey here today, but the workshop has not been plunged into darkness by the closed doors. Not any more! This has been an interesting project for us- big triple glazed, composite oak double doors are certainly a little out of the ordinary on the DIY scene. You can get the condensed story/ step-by-step on the project pages.

One of the best things ever is when you can change the context of an object and make it live again.  There is something special about thinking up a new use for something other people have deemed worthless, and having it not just become useful, but actually excel at performing its new function.  The ongoing process of making the Dust Sniper (a silent cyclonic dust extraction system – the cyclonic part of which has just been added to the project pages), has had a load of moments like that.  The sound attenuation hardware is all devised from reclaimed materials, even one of the vacuums inside was a throw away job.  Let me just share one of the latest gems of this process.

This is an old science worktop, slung out – none to gently – from a university in favour of the fashionable new vinyl covered chipboard affairs.  My best estimation is that it is solid Teak wood, which fits, as my Handbook of Hardwoods (1972) informs me it has good resistance to …Continue reading »

You could call it getting “horribly sidetracked”, “cascading project proliferation” or “autonomous task sprawl”.  But on the other hand one could just as easily describe it as being gripped by a fortuitously unplanned and fascinating problem.

The oak double doors have been on the go for a while now.  In their process we also seem to be slowly equipping the workshop with what we need to do a good job of it.  For me, each new tool is a whole world of excitement and learning – as I don’t seem capable of just buying something without doing a whole lot of research and understanding it.  And if I can think up some ways to make, improve, modify, or find a broken one to repair, all for the good.

So I just thought I would share some of the latest diversions, oh I mean extra projects.

Aside from the plethora of wooden jigs and the like for the router, one of the more recent and most exciting additions has been a second hand bandsaw.   I had been considering different bandsaws for over a year, so it’s fair to say I didn’t rush into it. Hover the mouse over to check it out.

It is a five year old …Continue reading »

Here comes the sun, and for those of you with an interest in cycling I have just posted an Instructable about mountain bike grips (nice real leather ones too!).

Using some punches (made from old bike parts), it is possible to make nice grips, that will not get …Continue reading »

It has been some time since I mentioned the external french oak doors project, so I just thought I would post a little update and a few photos for you while some wood glue dries…

Well the frame is pretty much completed now, and I am on the doors themselves.  At this stage I am carefully trying to make all routing and drilling procedures easier for myself by …Continue reading »

The Festool OF1400 is the Rolls-Royce of hand held power routers let’s look at the magical insides.

This router is just about powerful enough to mount upside-down in a router table, and small enough to manoeuvre by hand (with the help of various fences and guide rails).   I have gotten my hands on one that needs fixing. Let’s have a good rummage round inside. …Continue reading »

A little later than expected, the adventures in steampunk have been documented… The Ambient Energy Aqua Purge Device Journal is finally live on the project pages.  Hope some of you find it useful. Enjoy.