That time we drove somewhere in something

A trip into the hills in Donald, and the Jeep (Did the Jeep have a name?) I’m pretty sure I took these photos with a cucumber or something similar… Small and mushy, but still, a memory.

One Person Tiny Woodwork and DIY Workshop must haves (imo!)

Starting a series, a quick read, quite visual, things that I find really very handy for a small shop DIY woodwork / jack of a few trades, most certainly not a master of many, might find really handy… This first set of right angle clamps have come in super handy! The first couple of times you use them, it can be tricky to get them into position on your own, but after a couple of turns you’ll be just fine.

What are they for?

If you’re screwing stuff together at right angles, these clamps clamp into place on your material and hold it steady! In this case below I was using pocket holes, the right angle clamps held the 15mm plywood sheets together perfectly while I got my stuff together and fixed them in place.

Get a set on Amazon.com.au

The other handy tool - though some will say it’s kinda cheating, but if you’re just making essentially ply boxes, it’s fiiiine… PocketHoles are GREAT - quick and easy.

Get a Kreg K5 kit… it’s a bit more expensive than just the jig on its own, but super handy to get your pocket holes done with one hand - like I said “One person” …you can see below I have a 900x400 long sheet of 15mm plywood standing up on its own in the K5 - Helps with handling while you drill the holes… I’ve used this thing so many times!

The Kreg K5 Master System kit is now available on Amazon for $451.44 and comes with the Kreg Jig, the wings (you can see out each side under my plywood) as well as the drill and driver bits, screws, plugs, the HD jig (You can use it standalone) and a clamp, too… Oh, and mine came in that carry case points up..

Get the Kreg K5 Master System Kit-a-ma-jig on Amazon

I get all my Robertson Square Drive screws from Screw It Screws - Check them out: https://www.screwit.com.au/

All of my general purpose screws come from the exceptionally good looking and talented crew at NPX Fasteners: https://npxfasteners.com.au/

Dear Diary...

It’s been 131 days since I looked at you, threw my hands in the air and wrote a blog post… (Yes…) but let’s not dwell on my inability to keep you up to date (bore you to tears) and write…

A lots happened, but the reason we’re here today is to celebrate this little challenge I found! It’s called the “Lunch Time Scrap” challenge, it’s for beginner wood-working enthusiasts… Basically you do what it says, Take a lunch break, use something from your scrap pile and make something functional.

I had a 15cm piece of 19mm (19’ish!) dowel that my friend Kate forgot to take back to kinder! I had a thin stick of maybe oak that I cut off a board about three years ago… it’s been sitting in my pile “just incase” - IYKYK. Annnd I had a small bit of older oak from a cupboard that my neighbour had in HIS “maybe i’ll use this one day!” pile, he messaged me about a year ago, maybe more, and said “Hey, you want to make something from this lot” …of course I did! (And it’s sat there ever since) ..anyway, this was a small off-cut from one of those boards.

Also, protective footwear…

So, I sat them on the desk and thought “Yeah, something to rest my little iPad on?”

Gear Used: (These are Amazon links - If you click them, your children will behave for two weeks!)

That was about it! I mostly hand-sanded the little contraption, and then finished it with my favourite, Collombatti Naturals Raw Linseed Oil with Bee’s Wax… (And a square of ripped up tee-shirt)

Get some, just to hold and sniff if that’s your thing… (click)

Anyways, Yes… Wood and Glue, no screws in this one, so most of the lunch break was the glue setting up, usually takes about half hour, so what I did was cut everything to size, give it a good hard, quick, sand and then glued it together - I didn’t clamp it, I let gravity help…then five minutes before the end of lunch (which when you work for yourself is a bit flexible) I put some Linseed oil on and left it alone to get dry - oil and glue.

My iPad is old, it’s handy for recipes and eBooks… That’s what this stand is for!

Main issue I had was that I only had a 20mm drill bit, the dowel was 19mm, so I just decided that I’d roll with it! Keep the sawdust from cutting the dowel and some of the sanding dust, mix it into the glue to form a bit of a filler slash paste slash glue and it turned it ALMOST fine… one leg was about half a mill offset to the other, so I had to sand a slight angle of the tip of one for it all to be steady and sit flat..

With a little more time, I reckon the sanding and finishing could be perfect, but it isn’t, it’s for me..

Anyways, Fun Challenge, beats scrolling Youtube while finishing off a sandwich I’d mostly dropped in my keyboard.