Thread: AJ's Projects

After the honey-do projects next up was one for me I subscribe heavily to the theory that he who dies with the most tools wins' and as my interests vary from metalworking to woodworking to car restoration I am getting quite a collection and storage of said tools in more than a little problematic. So a tool chest seemed like a good project. The frame is steel 50mm SHS the drawer carcasses from cheap plywood, the drawer fronts are Spotted Gum and the side and rear panels are marine ply. The drawers all slide on soft close drawer slides. The top is made from 2 layers of 16mm MDF with spotted Gum edging.

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I made adjustable feet for it to counter my ordinary floor and it is designed to be moved on a pallet trolley, though likely it will rarely get moved.

Cheers Andrew

Nice work. Do I detect a similarly inspired cupboard in one of the photos? Only problem you've got now is that if the wife works out she's only getting MDF and you're getting 'real' timber life may not be all you're hoping it will be.

Originally Posted by aldav

Nice work. Do I detect a similarly inspired cupboard in one of the photos? Only problem you've got now is that if the wife works out she's only getting MDF and you're getting 'real' timber life may not be all you're hoping it will be.

Yes a similar project in the background, that is my metal fabrication bench which I made years ago, the cupboards and drawers in it are recent but it’s not quite finished, I will post a picture when I get the last piece added. My wife likes painted MDF for reasons I can’t comprehend, she wants an apocethary / Map drawer style cabinet for her craft room, I told her I will only make it if it’s solid hardwood and no paint, so that will be a future project. I also recently made her a desk as she is working from home and her computer took up all the space on her craft table, the impressive bit is her decorations to the top.

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Cheers Andrew

Originally Posted by aldav

Do I detect a similarly inspired cupboard in one of the photos?

As promised here are the pictures of my metal fabrication / welding table now I have finished it. The table (steel part) I built maybe 8 years ago, the drawers on one side and the cupboards on the other are a recent addition. Cheap ply for the carcass of the cupboards and the drawers, and spotted gum for the drawer fronts and door frames with marine ply door inserts and end panels.

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Cheers Andrew

I am looking to have a go at some hand cut joinery in the future and a search for a reasonably priced back saw led me to Bunnings of all places. I watched a video that suggested a spear and Jackson backsaw could be upgraded to be a pretty decent saw, Bunnings had the best price at $66 so I ordered one.

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The main problem is the uncomfortable handle so after removing that I reshaped it to make it much more comfortable and better looking. The handle was attached with rivets, so I needed new screws to replace the handle. Decent saw handle screws were going to make this project a bit more expensive than I had hoped so i made my own I started with an old irrigation valve spindle that was well past its use by date and machined new screws and nuts from it.

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After reshaping the handle and adding some stain, i think it looks pretty decent, a quick test tells me it works OK as well. I don't have a high end saw to compare it too, but Reckon it will do to get me started.

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Cheers Andrew

The video, would that have been Rex Kruger?

And how has the saw been working out?

Originally Posted by alex789

The video, would that have been Rex Kruger?

And how has the saw been working out?

Yes that was the video. I haven't actually used the saw yet, working on another honey-do project that is just a painted MDF set of drawers, so not much call for hand cut joinery. Hopefully I will get into a good project to test it out in the not too distant future.

Cheers Andrew

Its been a while since I posted anything here. A lot of my recent time has involved building extensions to my shed. One new bay on the near end in the photo which was built to store a caravan we bought last year and whilst I was going I whacked another bay on the far end just because I could, which gives me now 25m x 9m at 3.6 high walls

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I also have started lining the inside of the shed, Corrugated Iron for the lower 1300mm, then 12MDF for the top section. The MDF has opposing rebates on each join so they overlap and the rebates are painted black. You were always going to be able to see the join so I figured best to highlight the join rather than try and hide it. I also added sisilation to the outer wall and a layer of wool insulation batts behind the inner layer. I will make some sort of trim to pretty up the join between the iron and MDF, still pondering the exact plan for that though.

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That has all kept me busy as I did it all on my own, including lifting the trusses that were 9 metres long x 3.6m into the air using only ropes and I mixed the 5.5 cubes of concrete for the new floors by myself by hand and then troweled it all. I did the original shed floor in exactly the same way many years ago when I was much younger, it didn't hurt as much back then! still one small section of concrete path to go. I have done a few other things that I will post below.

Cheers Andrew

I made this tallboy and finished it quite some time ago, just hadn't got around to posting it. Only MDF like a few of my other projects, so maybe not real woodworking, I promise the next post will be real woodworking.

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Cheers Andrew

I bought this set of Narex chisels from a forum member a while ago and they needed some storage, so I made the chisel holder below. This was my first attempt at dovetails and they went, not too badly. The fact that the material is only 6mm thick probably made them more challenging than needed for a novice, I suspect larger ones would have been easier. This was entirely made out of salvaged wood from a wardrobe that had fallen to pieces and friends of ours were going to throw away.

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Cheers Andrew

Nice work - good idea to put all your projects in one thread. We should probably all do some of that.

surprising what you can salvage from things people throw out I have salvaged a cedar bed and very old solid backs from cabinets that a widow was going to throw away.

A few more projects on the go and finished.

We have a 21 year old daughter who is severely intellectually and physically disabled, my wife wanted a toy box to store her toys. Once again MDF and made in a similar style as the tallboy I posted previously.

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Cheers Andrew

Back on to shed projects. I wanted some better storage for sheet goods rather than just leaning them up against the wall like I had been doing. I had a heap of strip offcuts of 12mm MDF from the lining the shed walls, Using my new Domino Jointer I was able to join them fairly easily to fashion this sheet goods rack. Like most of the things in my shed, it is designed to be shifted using a pallet jack.

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Just lay on your side to view the picture in the correct orientation I do intend to give it a coat of paint to tidy it up a bit, whether I ever get around to that or not is another story

Cheers Andrew