My Shed

The Shed March/April 2020, Issue 89, in shops now

Issue 89 of The Shed has a great mix of projects and sheddie talents to enjoy.
Nigel Young records the build of a mega-sized spit roast BBQ. Built by the team at the Halswell Menzshed as a fundraising project, this big trailer-mounted gas-burning beast of a cooker can take a full-sized pig for those big gatherings or fund-raising projects.

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Flying high

A video of Harry aboard his flying fox went viral and the story was viewed more than 164,000 times on the New Zealand Herald’s Facebook page, prompting hundreds of comments full of admiration for the “real Kiwi man”. Reporters trudged to his door and the phone rang red hot with people wanting his opinions on everything from sanity to the secret to happiness.

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Its hammer time

Making a hammer head is a project not really worth doing financially, given the cost of a handle alone vs. a new hammer and how easy it is to get an existing hammer and re-forge it to suit your special needs.
Having said that, mere project economics never stopped a true Sheddie.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The Shed, November/December 2019 issue no 87, in shops now

The November/December 2019 Issue 87 of The Shed, has a real electronics feel about it but there is also a lot here to keep all sheddies informed, entertained and well-skilled up.
Our cover story is about the goal of a Christchurch boat builder, architect, designer, sailor, Quentin Roake, to find a way to build waka in large numbers. He wants to recreate the appearance and characteristics of traditional craft in a modern version that is portable, durable, and economical to manufacture. Quentin has made it his mission to put Maori waka back on the water by marrying traditional knowledge with today’s technology

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The bronze age

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.

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Trade profile – Kiwispan

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.

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The Shed, September/October 2019 Issue 86, on sale now

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…

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AC/DC: converting simply

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.

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