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Fruit crate
This project is a classic approach to making crates, just a couple of boards, simple joinery and a quick finish. These crates are widely used for storing fruits, but not only. A traditional look was something I needed for this project, nothing over-engineered and easy to make. I made a couple of mistakes during this build, but I fixed them all. That makes me even more satisfied because making and fixing things needs more skills than just making alone. I had a couple of cupped boards lying around, and they seemed to be perfect for this project. I had to…
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Garden sink
A plastic bucket, a short piece of garden hose and a wooden base create a garden sink, a thing that I urgently needed to stop wasting water. Plumbing and woodworking skills were used to make this project. Preparing the bucket was more challenging than the woodworking part, as plumbing isn’t my favourite thing, and usually, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing. On the other hand, all the wood joints I was going to cut were previously used and tested in the other project (a plant stand), so I had a clear idea of what to do. This sink was…
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Ammo box
I’ve always wanted to make one of these, they have a classic, timeless look and can be used for anything. The bottom of this box is attached flat to the sides, using screws. I’ve never liked that and most of my projects use a different approach – bottoms are secured from the sides or rest on rails. This box, however, is a replica of many other projects and if that works for other people including the Army – it’ll work for me too. Most of the screws used in this box don’t go into end grain – it’s usually edge…
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Cranberry lamp
Indeed, it looks like cranberries in a bottle, it’s even a cranberry liqueur bottle. Coincidence? – I don’t think so. The contents determined the LED string colour, it could be anything, but for this project, I used red lights. I simply drilled a hole for the LED string, installed a grommet and plugged the lamp in. Power consumption is very low, as this is a USB string, it also doesn’t generate heat. It’s a great present idea or a beautiful decoration for any table/shelf. Here’s the How-It’s-Made part: Drilling the hole was easy and done with the bottle completely submerged.…
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Toilet sign
Using a scroll saw was never easy for me. I find it complicated and tricky, but I don’t give up and do some practising from time to time. MDF scraps seem to be the best for this purpose. I printed out a template and fixed it on the board with contact adhesive. It’s always easy to peel it off after use. Following the line, on my scroll saw, was the most challenging part. I have already learned that drilling holes for the blade has to be done from the other side, just to keep the backside flat and easy to…
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Wooden doormat
It’s nice to have a doormat, especially at the back door, where some mud can be carried into the house from the garden. It creates a barrier between the wet and dry surfaces. Hardwood would be ideal for this project, but I only had some pressure-treated softwood on hand. Also, some decking stain could be the best finish for this, but again – I used what I had. It’s OK to do some experiments from time to time, am I right? I started by ripping the 2×3 in half and cutting to length 6 equal pieces. The only trick I…
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Large planter
I liked the look of the small rustic planter and simply couldn’t resist making another one, bigger and probably stronger too. Same as the small one, this one too is built of 1x7s, I also ripped some 2x3s in half for the legs and the bottom rails. I used screws instead of nails and drainage slots instead of drilled holes. Very heavy and deep box, ideal for plants with longer roots. It’s supposed to last 3 years, maybe longer. The first thing to do was to rip the 2x3s in half and next cut them to length. Then I cut…
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Small rustic planter
Made of pressure-treated wood, cut with a hand saw and put together with nails and butt joints. Simple and quick project, but quite enjoyable as it involved woodworking and gardening. It’s just this time of the year, perfect for combining these two. There was a need for another planter and there was leftover wood, so I measured the board, marked the cut lines and cut the pieces I needed. A sharp hand saw did the job in no time. I used the simplest approach to join the boards together, and that was nails and butt joints. To give some structural…
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Post on runners, a stand
Simple construction and the look that matches my other projects in the room, i.e. my pedestal table and the cascade shelf. I used scraps to build this platform, some of them were even pre-finished with lacquer. I didn’t want to remove that finish from them but also wanted to treat the charred wood with oil. The top coat on both of them had to be glossy lacquer. Luckily, a combination of oil and lacquer is completely fine, as long as the oil has fully dried first. I started the build by removing the twist from the post, I clamped it…
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Handy-dandy box
The box is made from a 1 x 9 pine board and a 6 mm MDF. Large and sturdy, good for storing anything and everything. I wanted to try out 2 router bits to cut self-locking corners, I had used them in the past with rather bad results and this time I just double made sure that they were not going to work for me. Before throwing them away I had to give them a last chance, or at least one of them as the other one works using the same principle. I started by cutting the 1 x 9…
