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Bandit
This was the last job for my chain saw as it was sold the very next day. Initially, I was trying to use a reciprocating saw to make these cuts, but eventually, the tool of choice was something more violent, something that leaves deeper saw marks. Cutting and carving at the same time. I made a few straight cuts with and across the grain to get the shape I wanted. To add some character to the end grain sides I made a series of shallow cuts, more like carving with a chain saw. Next, I burnt the wood with a…
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Finger joint jig
This is just an attachment for my table saw sledge, it can’t be used on its own. It’s made of scrap, unused and upcycled materials. Very cheap to make and didn’t take much time. It was one of these jigs that had to be made sooner or later as it is quite essential addition to any shop. There will be a new way to join wood, strong joints that also look good. First I removed one corner from the timber block, and that was only done to get the same height as the backing fence it was going to be…
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Refreshment glasses
The 710 ml Corona beer bottle and the oil bottle were quite easy to cut and they cracked exactly along the scored lines. After they were cut in half I could say that their walls were uniformly thick and it looked like an easy project. I set up my drill press and started the sanding process, as always using all the grits from 40 to 3000. Of course, I set the drill press at a comfortable height and locked it in that position. I was holding the workpieces in my hands, pressing them against the rotating tools and not the…
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Saw-toothed skull
I had to download a template for this project and resize it to my needs. First I transferred the middle part to the board and only using a jigsaw I cut out the shape. Even the nose was entirely cut with a jigsaw. The only thing worth highlighting is that the selected blade had the teeth pointing down, so they cut on the downstroke producing a cleaner edge on the top. Once the middle parts were cut I spaced them apart a little and transferred the right-hand side part from the template to the board. Flipped over and traced to…
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Plant stand
A simple outdoor project, scrap timber, leftover wood oil and basic joinery. For me, it’s very satisfying that I turned something with no value into something pretty and functional. Learning new skills and having fun at the same time, that’s what I like. It is also a nice feeling to do outdoor projects in summer, proper projects at the proper time. I selected the timber for the project and cut off one side (rip cut) that was rough and had a lot of saw marks (from an industrial band saw I believe). I left one side rounded, just as it…
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Wooden bath mat
The top is made of construction timber (white deal aka spruce) and for the runners, I used some scrap, but better quality material. It’s generally an experiment, built to have some fan, practice skills and try new finishes. Of course, it serves another purpose – exiting a shower/bath with class. First I needed to plane the timber slats from all 4 sides. Due to moisture content (~12%) it needed some further sanding as the planed surface wasn’t perfectly smooth and it got some tear-out. But before that, I cut everything to length on my table saw. With my router and…
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Night light
It’s built with scrap and pallet wood, exactly the way I like to build. That hardwood timber was bought to make frame splines and the mild steel was rejected from another project, which was a mitre gauge bar replacement. The pallet wood came from a pallet I brought years ago. Nonetheless, all 3 pieces seemed to be perfect for this project. I had to use a 3-core cable because that was all I had on hand at the time. That worked OK and most importantly it was safe. The steel bar was clamped in 4 places and bent. Using a…
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Ash mobile tray
Less than 2 years ago I cut a couple of trees in my backyard and this piece comes from them. It’s thereby very special to me as I know its past and what it’s gone through. It’s also different from my last projects as this is hardwood. I started by flattening the piece with my router and the jig I built in the past. I fixed the wood to the bench with double-sided tape and slowly but surely removed the excess material. The double-sided tape worked fine with curved and uneven surfaces, shims and wedges were used to help stabilise…
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Map of Europe
I’ve always been charmed by the simplicity of halftone images and loved the optical illusion they make. There are many free online tools that you can use to convert any image to a halftone one. I got the best results by converting a low-resolution political map which gave me an inconsistent and irregular sequence of dots. The project was very challenging and drilling holes took 3 days! But I was happy that I finally upcycled that old piece of plastic and had an excuse to make a picture frame featuring very special reinforcements. First I squared the plastic sheet off…
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Floating shelf
It had to be done, sooner or later. I stared at the empty and unused space just above the radiator and realised I had some scrap material that would be perfect for a shelf. So I checked if there were any pipes or cables using my wall detector and moved to the shed to cut the timber. Using a 12 mm bit I drilled 2 holes for the bracket pins. I installed a fence to my router and cut grooves, perfectly parallel to each other and of course to the board edges. With the fence removed I routed out the…
