In the October/ November Issue 86 of The Shed, we first head to Whanganui to meet blacksmith Josh Timmins.
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…

This piece was originally designed as a bit of fun: a simple carcase construction with a handle detail that would provide me with a challenge while satisfying my passion for curvy, organic forms. I made the original version in maple with a bloodwood veneer. The contrast in timber and the handle detail made for a striking piece and I was commissioned to make another in cherry with birdseye maple veneer.

It’s not my original idea. I used to live in Tutukaka and we’d go on 4WD rallies and claybird shoots in the backblocks where there was no power. It was a lot of fun. One time a guy turned up with a battery-driven spit and the idea stayed in my mind. You could take it where there was no power – I always said I would design something one day that worked with no power.

This may interest you if you’re a Shed subscriber.
Did you know that the plastic wrapping that acts as an envelope for your home-delivered  copy of The Shed is recyclable?

Good news for our Australian readers of The Shed.
The September/October 2019 issue is on sale from today at your favourite magazine retailer. Click on the link below to find your nearest store or head to https://magstore.nz/ to purchase a copy or to subscribe to a print or digital version of the magazine.
https://the-shed.nz/home/2018/9/5/find-your-local-australian-the-shed-retailer

Meet the knifemaker from The Shed Issue 86 and watch how he makes a fully forged knife in his Whanganui shed

An aspiring woodcarver who builds on a solid foundation of knowledge and technique will soon be creating impressive carvings. To demonstrate basic knowledge and techniques, we are going to follow the carving of a Tudor rose.

Aluminium alloys have one critical failing, for all their good qualities of lightness, conductivity and strength. They corrode. One way to guard against corrosion is to create a hard oxide film on an aluminium alloy by anodising

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.