In the October/ November Issue 86 of The Shed, we first head to Whanganui to meet blacksmith Josh Timms.
Josh has his own way of making knives and axes and shows us how to make a Viking Knife starting with a piece of new steel right through to the finished product.
Then we head to…

Brought up in a family of artists, Rudi Buchanan-Strewe has tried to break the mould and, after work experience as a blacksmith, he completed a motorcycle apprenticeship at Classic Cycles in Upper Hutt. A move back to Auckland saw him working for Ken McIntosh on his Manx Nortons before deciding, about eight years ago, to give in to his genes and pursue his love of sculpture.

Shannon Jordan and Louise Simmons sold up in suburbia and bought a block of land in Ruakaka, Northland, three years ago. They planned to live in a caravan while planning and saving for their house. From this magazine’s point of view, they had their priorities right and decided to build a shed first.

I think most turners get frustrated with constantly having to stop the lathe and measure and re-measure the length along the bed as the work gets reduced.

Now with new, lower pricing
Honda’s inverter generators are famous for their reliability, fuel efficiency and portability but they also supply ‘clean’ power for phones, laptops and power tools. Older generators can produce power spikes or variable voltages that can damage modern appliances.

Tusk HRS drill bits, made from M2 high-speed steel also have a titanium nitride coating for longer life. Their 135-degree tip offers a faster drilling rate and lower feed pressure.

This brick forge is constructed from lightweight insulating firebrick. Known as a K26 brick it is available from Certec in Auckland.
These insulating fire bricks are rated to 1426°C and measure 230x115x75mm. They are commonly used to line foundry furnaces, forges, and kilns. These soft bricks can easily be cut to size with an ordinary wood saw, drilled to create burner openings, or routed to create channels.
Watch this video to see how we built this gas forge and an oil-powered version as well.
As featured in The Shed Issue 85

If this design was being made in an art school, it would be stuck to a sheet of silver and the basic shapes cut from there. If a design was made this way in, say, 18 carat gold and the wing outlines (as here) made from 2.5mm thick metal, the outlay and waste material would be considerable from a 2.5mm-thick sheet of 18 carat gold plate. But we will make it like a professional craftsman who has to live in the real world where costs matter.

The Word Clock is a project created by Doug Jackson using Open Source (www.dougswordclock.com) and has been evolving into the product you see here.
It is based on an Atmel 168 processor chip as used in Arduino, is programmed using Arduino and fitted into a custom-made printed circuit board (PCB).

The best timber for this kind of bowl is any fruit tree, the flowering cherry tree, olive tree or any tree with not too thick bark. Pohutukawa is a good wood, but the bark is fragile.
The secret to capturing this natural-edged look is to turn the bowl from a piece of timber that has not yet totally dried out.

The show features live bands, dancers, plus a new car hall full of classic, muscle and hot rod cars and military displays. There will of course be well as over 90 vendors on site selling a huge range of vintage, retro and rockabilly products. 

The first water ram was patented in 1772 by Englishman John Whitehurst. Designs have evolved since then and continue to do so particularly in Holland where, in the 1990s, one university was building 20 water rams a year for third-world projects.

There are times when you need DC (Direct Current) voltage for some project or other; it is mostly small applications—has to change the 230v AC mains into something else first, normally a low-voltage DC.

See this link to find your nearest Australian retailer https://www.theshedmag.co.nz/home/2018/9/5/find-your-local-australian-the-shed-retailer or head to https://magstore.nz/ to buy a copy or to subscribe for six months - two years, print and digital versions available.

Australia’s Lucas Mill celebrated its 25th year in the business of making portable sawmills. More than 18,500 Lucas Mill portable sawmills have been sold into more than 100 different countries, and the company says its first portable swing blade sawmill is still operating.

Over the last couple of decades I have made my share of braziers, fire pits, and pizza ovens out of anything from old truck rims to LPG cylinders. But my hands-down favourite for source material for fire containers is CNG cylinders.

Making a violin is a complex job involving around 40 pieces of wood of various types and sizes and plenty of patient, skilled woodworking. In Part One we chose the best maple for the back and spruce for the belly, shaped these plates and created the rib structure. Now it’s time to finish the construction.

As winter approaches and power outages become something of a given, we thought it might be useful to identify what you need to know about generators, safety, their uses, and how to connect them to your home.
A generator is a motor driving an alternator to produce power, and with the advent of these Inverter Generators (see my review of Honda inverter generators) the basics haven’t changed, but how they operate has.

When I decided to make a violin to take to a conference in America, I chose a beautiful example by Guarneri “del Gesu”—the “King” violin made in 1735—as a model.
Given the significance of the violins by the great makers, there is a respected tradition of making copies or instruments modelled on their work. I was quite happy for The Shed magazine to follow its progress but as there are books written in great detail about violin-making, this magazine article can only be a summary of what I did and some of the problems I encountered.

Honda’s inverter generators are famous for their reliability, fuel efficiency and portability but they also supply ‘clean’ power for phones, laptops and power tools. Older generators can produce power spikes or variable voltages that can damage modern appliances. The portable EU10i was the first generator of its size to feature a sine wave inverter assuring commercial-quality electricity.

Always wanted your own knife-makers forge? Well in the July/August Issue 85 of The Shed we show you how to make two differing styles, one using LPG power and one using used engine oil to create the heat. What a great way to dispose of old oil and both give great results without incurring huge build costs.

Then we…

Watch this video and be impressed at what these core bits can do
The drills have a vacuum-braised diamond cutting edges for longer life and strength. The range of Tusk VB core bits are for drilling, grinding and cutting using angle grinders for precision and control.

The answer came like a light bulb. In fact, it was a light bulb – one that fits snugly under the top of the drill press and shines on the complete work area below, with little or no chance of casting unwanted shadows. It’s easy to make, as you can see from the step-by-step pictures.

Good news, the Auckland Blade show is back on again this spring. Same location, 545 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland and this year it's on the weekend on 12 & 13 October. See their poster for more info.
The Shed will see you there.

First we checked to make sure that the there was in fact some play in the quill and indeed the dial gauge showed run-out of over 0.5 mm, quite a significant amount of wobble. I felt vindicated and quietly pleased that I hadn’t dragged Russell away from oiling and balancing the wheels of industry on false pretences.

Back when I was sharpening drills as part of my punishment, I discovered there were slow spiral and straight-fluted drills for brass and plastic. You may need a straight-fluted drill. You can create this by “backing off” the first 3 or 4 mm of a spiral-fluted drill.

Got some tiling to do? Need some best practice tips?
Well here are three videos from Selleys with advice on fixing tiles to a surface, grouting and finally sealing the tiles.
Its all done using Selleys products so you can be sure of a great result.
Enjoy.

For the centre, I had intended to use one-inch (25.4 mm) diameter stainless steel that I had left over from a previous job but the lamp we purchased came with a one-inch chrome-plated tube which I decided to use. It also came with a screwed insert in the top for attaching the lamp and this saved me from needing to make an insert.
If you use stock tube, you will need to make an insert to fit in the top of the tube to take the lamp you purchase. This could be a nut you can find with the same thread as the lamp and where you just need to have the outside diameter reduced or you can make an insert and thread it accordingly.

The latest issue of The Shed, Issue 84, is on-sale all around Australia this week. Click on this link for the latest retail outlets near you to pick up a copy
https://www.theshedmag.co.nz/home/2018/9/5/find-your-local-australian-the-shed-retailer
But wait, there’s more. For the final time, we also have a limited number of copies of our special edition publication Best of The Shed also on-sale in all Australian states. This is the last of our stock of our Best-of 10 years of The Shed.