Archive for January, 2016
Learning a new skill – Welding

Perhaps you had a New Year’s resolution to learn a new skill such as welding, there’s a few courses and classes you can take. Once you have completed your welder training, you still have plenty to learn. Much of your
Chris Edwards on Wood Turning

Today’s guest interviewee is Chris Edwards a wood turner from my old home town of Bath. Chris makes furniture, lamps and candlesticks from a variety of woods, such as sustainably source English walnut, Burr Oak from the Stourhead estate and
Drills only used for 10 minutes

Whilst listening to the Restart Project podcast I heard a comment that the average drill is only used for 10 minutes in it’s lifetime and hence was a prime candidate for a sharing economy approach to tools. Given that I
Repoussé Medal

I’ve started reading on a new metalworking technique, new for me that is, the technique is a few thousand years old. That technique is “Repoussé” which is forming shapes in sheet metal by pushing from the reverse. It is often
Abandoned Projects?

A twitter discussion with Inderpreet Singh about an ever increasing pile of shelved projects lead me to ask: Question: When is it ok to abandon a project? Here were the responses: Boris Adryan …when the cost/benefit ratio is extremely skewed
A study in plywood, Obelisk #3

In the Summer of 2014, I was sorting some wood in the shed and noticed the lovely grain on some of the offcuts of plywood. One piece was a strange obelisk like shape and was not large enough to make
New tools

For Christmas I received a generous gift of a pocket hole jig, drill and clamp. Unfortunately the provided depth stop was the wrong size as it was intended for a much smaller drill. Rather than send that back I thought