The Shed

Get on yer (electric) bike!

The thought of having an electric bike is very tempting and makes the idea of reaching that café far more appealing but the cost of replacing your bike has you thinking twice about making the jump.
Besides being a bit dusty you have a good bike that cost a few dollars in its day and it seems a shame to banish it to the corner of the shed forever. What if you could turn your bike into an electric bike without breaking the bank?

READ MORE »

Size matters, but so do good looks

Philip Solomon has years of experience putting up large sheds and his top tip is that shed aesthetics are important.“A lot of people just focus on what they want to put in the shed until it goes up and then they say, ‘Oh, I don’t like that’,” he says.

READ MORE »

The Shed January/February 2020, Issue 88, in shops now

For many of us Kiwis, summertime can mean it’s time to dig out the family tractor. Because summer means beach-holiday time and using that good-old-boy tractor to get the fishing boat in the water as often as possible. To celebrate our love of old tractors, we head south to meet a tractor restorer from Oamaru, one Colin Harvey, who has shedfuls of tractors and spends all his time tinkering with and restoring some great classic farming workhorses.

READ MORE »

High time for high shine

The world-famous Autosol Metal Polish is available in an easy-to-use liquid formulation. It’s perfect for cleaning and protecting all metal surfaces on cars, boats, bikes, and around the home.

READ MORE »

Different Tusks for different tasks

Tusk offers three ranges of drills made from different grades of high-speed steel. Tusks metal drill bits are made from M2 high-speed steel with a titanium nitride (TiN) coating. The 135-degree point offers faster drilling, lower feed pressure and they have a split point or self-centering tip.

READ MORE »

Autosol Metal Polish

If you haven’t heard of Autosol, you have to try it. This incomparable metal polish has won three international gold medals and is recommended by manufacturers and restoration experts around the world. Autosol Metal Polish safely and easily removes oxidation, corrosion, stains and rust

READ MORE »

Make your own Kontiki for fishing

There are several New Zealand-designed and created fishing kontikis on the market but when I thought about having one, I wasn’t going to buy it.
I had the ability, so I did what any good Kiwi would do, I decided I would make one myself.

READ MORE »

Refurbishing my bench plane

The metal-based hand plane must be one of the most enduring and useful tools in the kit of any aspiring woodworker.
Those of us who take the hobby a little more seriously will have several of them and we will probably argue that we use them all. I have six or seven but have never bought one.

READ MORE »

Build a tipping trailer

When I first looked at building a tipping trailer, I wondered whether I would be building a trailer with a hydraulic cylinder under it, or fitting a hydraulic cylinder under a trailer. After due consideration, I realised that a trailer is a trailer, regardless of the frills.

READ MORE »

Climate control

As a project, a weather station is a great one for beginners and advanced woodworkers alike. It can be as simple as taking a really attractive piece of timber, sanding and finishing it to a high degree (even leaving the edges natural) and attaching one or more brass instruments to the surface.

READ MORE »

Homemade bench holdfast

A bench needs clamps, a second pair of hands to hold the work still and stable.
Traditionally, woodworkers have used a holdfast and the most popular of these was the Record holdfast, now sadly out of production.

READ MORE »

Photos from the 2019 Auckland Blade Show

This years’ show was held at the same venue as last year in the historic Parnell Comunity Centre at 545 Parnell Road on the weekend of 12 and 13 October.
Here are over 50 photos of the amazing Kiwi knifemakers’ products on display at the show. Keep an eye out for a full show report in the next issue of the magazine on sale in December.

READ MORE »

Weaving willows

Of the scores of varieties of willow commonly used in basket weaving, six grow on a 1000-square metre plot at the back of Mike Lilian and Annemarie Liesbeth’s house in the coastal settlement of Kakanui, 15 minutes drive south of Oamaru.
Mike has been making and selling willow baskets in dozens of styles since 1985.

READ MORE »