Projects

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Sometimes you need stuff you just can't buy. This 35mm thick door porthole was made from two 8" stainless steel stove element rings from an upright electrical cooker at the tip. The screws were brass bookbinding mating screws. The rubber gasket was just lying about in the shed. I tried to make it look like a product. I have no particular workshop skills or talent and spend a bit too much time thinking.

MKI (left), MKII (right) I use the Porter Cable/Flex 7529 in my router table. It has a handy fine height adjuster which allows me to accurately set the bit height exactly where I want it. The trouble is the dial is small and when the router is inverted in the table, it’s working against gravity which makes it tricky and awkward to use. To get around this I made a simple ‘thingamajig widget’ which simply slips over the built-in fine height adjuster to give greater control. It’s simply a scrap piece of wood with the right diameter hole drilled in one end and shaped for comfort. Turning the peice on the lathe I made the first one a few years ago and as I didn’t have a lathe then I shaped it with just a block plane and sand paper. It’s...

Cutting List Job Title: Small Step Stool (all dimensions in mm) Member Material No/off Size L W T Top Pine 1 340 230 15 Ends Pine 2 200 200 20 Stretcher Pine 1 260 130 20 When I was reviewing the Miller Dowel system, I needed a simple project to try it on. I got the idea to make this step stool from the Miller Dowel leaflet itself and you can’t get a project any simpler to make than this. It can be made in less than a weekend and only requires a basic tool kit. I chose pine as that’s what I had in the workshop and I used the walnut dowels as I feel the contrasting timbers give a great effect. To read the Miller Dowel review and to find out where to buy it click here…...

The router table is one of my most favourite tools in the workshop. A lot of people don’t realise what a great job the router table does cutting tenons. Before I made this jig I used to use the standard mitre gauge to cut tenons then I saw this simple jig featured by Pat Warner in FineWoodworking magazine. As you can see from the photo it can’t be any simpler. All it is, is two small boards of plywood and pair of toggle clamps. It works great! Setting up a ‘stop block’ stops you from going to far and cutting into the jig and using a scrap of wood as a ‘back up’ piece helps prevent any tear out and again stops you from cutting into the jig. I really need to replace the toggle clamps with bigger/stronger clamps as the ones I currently...

Nearly two years ago now I drew some plans to build these garden planters and do a guide for UKW – but they never got made – until yesterday, with the help of Tom. I’m glad we’ve finally made them! They look good, are very strong, easy to build (as long as you have a router) and the woodwork can be done in a day. I’ve done a plan which includes a cutting list and you can download it by clicking here. Start by cutting the 45x45mm posts and rails to length. We’ve used the powered mitre saw and set up stop blocks to make the process go quicker and to make sure all the pieces are the same length. Cut the four...

Now that I am collecting new router bits, the drawer which I used to keep them in ran out of room, so I thought I’d build one. Remember that your router bits need to be stored safely as they cost a lot of money and you don’t want to damage them. If you haven’t got any storage for them then this project is ideal for you… If you have got Acrobat Reader then you can download the plans for this project here… You start off this project by cutting all the pieces. The cutting list is included in the plans so you can get all the measurements from that. Once all the pieces are cut to size…. Set your pencil gauge to 100mm and mark the outside faces on all the long 400mm base & top sides, at both ends. Then with a ruler or tape...