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…
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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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.
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…
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.
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 sound of that Pearse wing destroying itself in a matter of seconds as it tore itself apart in a chain reaction fashion on the 14th September in 2012 at Whenuapai Air Base is a sound that I don’t think any of us will forget for a long while.” Retired Air New Zealand captain, Neville Hay as test pilot was not apprehensive but noted, “You have to think about everything you do. You can’t rely on memory of flying the plane.”
In the May/June 2019 Issue 84 of The Shed we share the amazing skills on one Daniel Strekier who built himself his own extraordinary bicycle… almost entirely out of wood!
It really is something to behold and you just have to sit back and admire the skills that went into making this incredible piece of usable art.
Jude Woodside sits down with Brent Sandow and gets all the background on this, NZ’s most accomplished knifemaker, who shares his inspirations and skills with us.
Start me up is the world’s first car show based on the phenomenon of “cold starting” – an online craze where cars that haven’t run for years or more – typically decades have their engines fired up or “cold stated”.
Screening now on TVNZ On Demand and soon on the Duke channel. Click ‘Read more” to get the full rundown on the show.
Tusk, a brand offering a range of ‘cutting solutions’ — including demolition-grade blades which go through nails and even stainless bolts — also markets a 185 mm ‘reduced noise emission’ circular saw blade they are calling the Tusk Silent Timber Blade. Reduced noise emission, yeah, but silent?
Back in the early ‘70s, an Auckland bloke gets hold of a 25 hp Sea Horse Johnson outboard motor – it’s knackered but it has potential.
He takes it all to pieces, orders all the bits to get it up and running again then wraps it up, bits and all, in a New Zealand Herald newspaper and packs it in a box, presumably as a rainy day project. For reference, the outboard is from 1970 and the Herald is from December 1975.
First off, we had to come up with a basic design under the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) rule, keeping in mind the fact that the kids are getting older and harder on the gear. So I decided that easily replaced components were a key at this stage. Number One son is only going to get taller and no doubt half the neighbourhood would want to have a crack at setting the fastest lap around the street, so we had to include an adjustable one-size-fits-all seat in the design.
The Shed magazine is eclectic, informed, and always fascinating. Aimed at those with a few tools and perhaps a few clues: this is the magazine for real sheddies.
Packed with ideas, projects, advice, and peeks into other people’s sheds providing inspiration, ideas, and techniques, or just for the sheer enjoyment of the sheddie’s endless inventiveness, The Shed is the project enthusiast’s bible.
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