Making your own lathe

How many of your tools have reached the 10 year service mark? The other day I realised a number of the items on my workbench have hit this vintage. Some I can remember buying when I was still in highschool. That makes them at least 15 years old. Apart from a few cosmetic wrinkles, these tools are still going strong. Costing these purchases out over this sort of timeline makes the prices seem ridiculously cheap. 1) Dremel Multi-tool (1996) These have gone through several evolutions since, at least as far as the body design goes. The ability to cut tiny amounts of material at incredibly high speeds has proven useful in countless situations. The wafer thin abrasive cut-off wheels are just magic when you want a fine clean cut into hardened metals. Whatever it lacks in sheer grunt it makes up for in triplicate with precision. The tungsten-carbide cutters have also proven themselves in many tight spots. 2) Maglite - 3xD Cell Krypton Flashlight (1993) Its been dropped, lost, forgotten, mis...

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It began with a friend deciding his mother needed a basic timber step-stool. An offer of help by a friendly cabinet maker soon followed. What unfolded was one of the most enjoyable learning exercises I have taken part in. We ran well over-schedule, but we learnt a lot: 1) Improving on the basic design (aesthetics) Original design was just a box. But, it was argued, if we are going to go to all this trouble, why not make a nice looking box. This meant more than just polishing it up, it meant incorporating design elements that would be visually appealing. Clean lines, curves, and so forth. Drawings became necessary (we had no drawing to start with, as it was just going to be a box) ... soon measurements were being taken and pencilled in. Tape measures and rulers were being applied to timber and body parts. Ideas were forming. 2) Timber selection and preparation The timber had to be sound and dry. But as we would be joining boards side-on, what about matching the grain as closely as pos...

A reader pointed out the other day I had neglected to include silicone rubber in my list of low cost consumables for your toolbox . I have to confess it took me a while to warm up to this as a product. Probably for the same reason that I have since been taught to love it. This stuff is about as non-bio-degradeable as you can get. It is one of those mysterious products brought to us by modern science that can endure the extremes of weather, temperature and moisture and still hold a watertight seal for 20 years. It doesn`t react much with other chemicals, insects don`t like eating it and bacteria and other microbes are not terribly fond of it either. On the downside, even when it has eventually given out and you scrape it out of your shower recess and replace it with a fresh bead, the stuff you laid down 20 years ago isn`t going to disappear just because you want it to. Who knows how much of this stuff is in our garbage tips now but odds are its going to be hanging around the planet for ...

This week I was looking for a simple solution to keep a garage roller door track aligned. The brackets which keep the track aligned are adjustable and held in place by the tension of a coach screw. Unfortunately some of these had come loose and whilst a quick tighten seemed to correct the problem, I want to stop it from recurring. I suspect that over-tightening would only make make the problem worse. Parallel to the frame however is a brick wall, and really all I needed was something to maintain a bit of pressure on the frame. Distance between frame and wall is 70mm. My solution - a very simple expansion clamp made using 5/16 threaded rod, 2 mudguard washers, 2 split washers and 2 nuts. The nuts are tightened in opposite directions to push the clamp outwards. Pressure is applied to the mudguard washers so the threaded rod is not digging into the pine blocks. A very simple solution that can be built in 5 minutes. Easily adjusted and easily removed.

There is a huge variation in the way different timbers react to ebonizing fluids - which to my mind is a product of how deeply the fluid is absorbed and the different chemical makeup of the wood cells. The ebonizing fluid reacts with tannin and turns dark, so timbers with higher levels of tannin react better. I do not consider identifying different timbers as a skill I possess so apologies for being vague about timber types. Here are a few photos of different scraps I tested. 1) Hardwood garden peg Looking left to right on the photograph: Test 1 (written in permanent marker) is a single brushing of the ebonizing fluid. Test 2 shows a brushing of fluid which was allowed to dry, then a single brushing of strong black tea was added (to provide tannin for a darker reaction). Test 3 was only ebonizing fluid, showing 5 coats - each pass was allowed to dry before the next was added. 2) Radiata pine A few chips from an offcut of construction pine. Showing end-grain and side-grain. Test 1 was ...

For anyone interested in ebonizing timber I found this little kitchen experiment to be highly satisfying. Rather than telling half the story, here are the steps I followed. 1) The Rusty Brew The crust on top of the fluid is just foam that has been frothed by the gases given off as the reaction takes place. This rather horrible looking concoction in the first photograph is simply a variety of rusty items (steel wool and small nails) to which I have added about a litre of plain white vinegar. To check if its working, you can use the fluid as is after a few days, however your timber will get stained by the rust that is in suspension. Probably you don`t what to achieve a psychedelic swirly pattern on your work so some sort of filtering is required. 2) First filtering attempt The coffee filter I tried did not work well, the fluid ran through it too quickly and the remaining solution was still cloudy. Photograph indicates the rust sludge it did manage to extract. A funnel with a peice of or...