The Shed, Author at The Shed

Getting floored

22 August 2024

After Christchurch’s 2011 earthquake many of the city’s brick structures were damaged beyond repair and were pulled down and almost every chimney in our part of town was demolished. Before the earthquake, clean red bricks were more than a dollar each; after, there were so many of them, they had no value. Many property owners left piles of bricks on the kerb in the hope that they would be taken away.
The carport of my shed was meant to have a concrete floor but because of the many free bricks and the unavailability of pre-mixed concrete for weeks, I decided to make the floor out of recycled “earthquake” bricks.
The original scheme to incorporate the numbers “2011” for the year in yellow glazed bricks was too complicated in the time available. But a paved floor can be relatively easily re-worked so the number may yet appear.

Along for the ride

16 August 2024

Every Wednesday and Saturday morning about 20 retired tradesmen leave their lunch boxes in the Oamaru Steam and Rail smoko room, shrug themselves into their overalls, and head for the old railway workshop to get on with the day’s tasks.
They might be restoring turn-of-the-20th century railway carriages, stripping down a locomotive or installing wiring systems. Each man brings a lifetime’s worth of skills and the willingness to learn something new.
They work out of the old New Zealand Rail wagon workshop, or lifting shop as it was called, at the back of Oamaru’s historic precinct. The Oamaru Steam and Rail Society Inc took over the building in 1989. Most of the tools and equipment needed to complete the volunteers’ first major project were on hand so they rebuilt the 60mx12m workshop which had been partially demolished by NZ Rail when they decamped.

Easy rider

9 August 2024

Simon Dew has a thing for Italian and English bikes – think Ducatis, BSAs and Royal Enfields. Over the years he has spent hours in his shed labouring over rebuilds and his passion for restoring bikes has been undimmed by the sometimes tortuous process.
“It’s all a bit nonsensical really,” he admits. “It would be much easier to go out and buy a bike that’s up and running and hit the road but for me it’s not about the bike itself but the process.”
Simon likens rebuilding bikes to herding cats. “Getting compliance so a bike can get back on the road is often long and arduous – and then you’ve got to keep it going.

Buckets of heat

2 August 2024

When a high wind-gust blew a tree onto the overhead cable on our Waikato property, one of the phase wires broke. In our home, the electric stove and half the lights stopped working. That night, it was just as well we had our clay-lined bucket stoves to cook on.
The observant traveller visiting Asia soon becomes aware that the clay-lined bucket stove is the prime means of cooking for families, street stalls and even for up-market restaurants. In heavy Bangkok traffic, we saw a family of five on a small motorbike. They were carrying a bamboo pole with bamboo trays suspended from each end. One tray was piled high with food for the market and balancing on the other end was a bucket stove (which had been lit and was hot).

Preserving the past

25 July 2024

It started with a teddy bear, then an American Greyhound bus, a wind-up Sherman tank and an aeroplane. Alastair Allan held on to his toys long after others would have put them aside. He’s still got them, along with several thousand other items that he has bought or acquired over the past 70 years or so. He declares he is holding on to the past for the future to tell the story of how people lived in North Otago as far back as 150 years ago.

The Shed magazine August/September 2024 issue 116 on sale now

21 July 2024

When life deals you lemons, make lemonade: a business collapse led John to build a new, bigger business based on his passion for motorcycles
“I really want an old dairy factory”– that’s what John thought when contemplating the move from Katikati to Taranaki a few years ago.
He sat down after his divorce and thought: “What do I need for the rest of my life?
“Well, I need a shed, a bed in the corner, and a place to stuff around with my motorbikes.”
John’s search took him all over the North Island; he was looking for something that was cheap enough. It didn’t have to be flash, as he wanted a few bob to help his kids to get on the property ladder as well as to be able to follow his passion for building and customising motorbikes – something that he had been doing for a long time.
An old garage in Patea came into the picture but, although it met all the criteria, it became too complicated to purchase. Then an acquaintance told him of a house he had for sale in a small town a little further up the coast. In the end, that turned out to be the perfect location.”

Kaizen in wood

12 July 2024

Kaizen is Japanese for a philosophy of continuous improvement, or working methodically seeking to achieve small, incremental changes in the process of improving. This term has been particularly championed by Toyota Motor Corporation as a process to facilitate change within that organisation.
For me, it epitomises my woodworking journey since retirement. I had dabbled in bigger stuff—from building and construction to boat-building (three launches) and fitting out—as sidelines and sanity savers during my years in corporate life.
But when I turned to small and delicate it necessitated a rethink. Thus “kaizen,” which seems to have been driving incremental changes in what and how my projects have evolved.

New life for old stuff

5 July 2024

Broken blades, tired tools, worn washers, grimy gears. These are sorry sights for most sheddies, but for Bruce Derrett they are the treasures of his trade. The Motueka metal artist combines his skill wielding a MIG welder with a highly fertile imagination to turn other people’s junk into quirky creatures, funky furniture, and striking sculptures.
Bruce, who ironically failed metal work at school, has always had an eye for mechanical bits and pieces. “As a kid I was always pulling things apart, like clocks and radios. It used to really frustrate my mum,” he says. Now he puts things back together again, albeit it in a very different form.

Ponoko—a cut above the rest

25 June 2024

While laser cutters are now practical for home-build projects, they are not something that everyone will want to run. They take up bench space, need care and feeding, get expensive in large calibres, and if you don’t use one that often you might well be better off letting a company like Wellington-based Ponoko cut things for you.
Ponoko stock a wide range of materials and are experienced with using their laser cutters on them. Handy, but scarcely unique given the number of engineering outfits that are out there that’ll do pretty much the same thing.

Bow making – take aim!

21 June 2024

Archery is a satisfying sport that has its roots fixed in the primal skill of hunting. As a woodworker it is an added bonus that you can make at least part of your own bow yourself. A bow like the one in this project is called a recurve and consists of a handle, or riser, two limbs (the flexible parts that bend), a string and an arrow rest.

Making a kayak anchor

13 June 2024

This simple and effective rebar anchor is perfect for small boats and kayaks and is the result of welding $30-40 worth of materials. If you are a small boat and kayak enthusiast, fabricator or just want to learn some new metalwork skills, this two-hour project will be great for you; it needs few welding skills. Remember that the construction is modular and can be made to fit your needs.
With a net weight of only 7 kg, the anchor will not weigh down a boat or kayak. Anyone can pull it up, but it will still catch the seabed.

Frozen in time

7 June 2024

I just love nosing around other people’s workshops to see what they are making and what gear they have, and I’ve just had the special opportunity to look at a manufacturing workshop that was about to be sold up and, as a bonus, learn about its history.
Macdonald Refrigeration surely has a place in Auckland’s heritage as a pioneer in its field. The factory has been closed for some time now and it has been hard for the family to let go of all the gear, but it is filling a lot of valuable space.

The Shed magazine June/July 2024 issue 115 on sale now

26 May 2024

A ministry of sound
An under-the-radar icon of New Zealand music history tells how it all happened
Larry Killip’s love of playing music dates back to 1966, when he first jammed rhythm and blues with schoolmates in a band called the Zarks.
Since then, he has played in various iterations of that band; performed solo at the Nambassa festival to a crowd of 30,000 right before the headline act, Little River Band; been featured on the compilation album 20 Studio One Hits Volume 2; released seven albums and plenty of singles of his own; made appearances on Happen Inn, Telethon, Shazam, Drop of Kulcha, and Radio with Pictures TV shows; mastered the first two albums by Indie rock darlings, The Beths; and performed a medley of his best-known advertising jingles on the TV show 7 Days. With more than 500 jingle writing credits to his name, Larry laughs when he says he is “Possibly the most famous person that you have never heard of”.

The world of model aircraft

23 May 2024

Over boats, cars, trains and everything else in scale-model construction, I have chosen aircraft. Flying is super-exciting and heart-stopping…for everyone. My flying skills move between non-existent and highly incompetent, but I manage to get by. I enjoy the winter days and summer nights in my workshop building them, either from a kit or from scratch from a plan. In summer, during the better flying months, I repair the ones that partly survive.
The first thing you need is a workshop, preferably with enough stud height to hang the planes up. You need plenty of light and you can’t have enough work benches. I have miles of small tools, all available from the big hardware stores, and I use a small drill press, bandsaw, coping saw, belt and disc combo sander, plus the various drills, rotary tools etc.

On the road

16 May 2024

When Des and Kath Thomson decided to take to the road in their retirement, they wanted a campervan that was comfortable. They didn’t want to be clambering up ladders, tangoing at tea-time in too-narrow aisles, or struggling to turn tables into beds at night. But nor did they want to trundle around the countryside in a cumbersome mobile mansion.
They wanted a small, manoeuvrable vehicle that had masses of space inside. Space for everything, including the kitchen sink plus another in the bathroom, a separate shower, toilet, cooker, microwave, barbecue, table and chairs, wardrobe, drawers, hot and cold water on tap, plenty of storage…oh, and a queen-size bed.

The Shed