A Kreg Tip and an Organisational Project

  I found a quick  tip for an easy up grade to your Kreg Jig on  Pinterest  .  Being able to see the measurements and markings on a Kreg Pocket Hole jig is helpful for poor light and older eyes.

  We are doing our back from holiday/spring/every ten year cleaning and organising. We begin in our bedroom and bathroom.  

  A while ago I made a small box to hold my various bathroom tools, it was moderately successful.

  As you can see tall things fall over and small things fall to the bottom. It was time to make some small improvements.

  Now there is a place for everything, and every thing has its place.  This box is an up-cycled mandarin  orange box.  The added bits and pieces only require a bit of soft wood and glue.  I think this is one of those up-cycle craft type of project that could encourage people with a few tools to try or....a project for a young person.  

  Since I have a band saw I cut many of the shapes with rounded corners.  If I did not have a band saw the handle could have been cut with a back saw and just rounded with a chisel or sand paper.  

  In fact I have a box that I will up-cycle with only basic hand tools just to see what I can do.

  Successful up cycling is more about ideas and paint than it is about tools.

cheers ianw

Three Lids

 I began a lathe project a while ago and made a 'screw chuck'.  After some more quality grand kid time I was back into the shop to finish this up-cycle project.

  Having been too cheap to throw these yogurt jars away I now have three usable jars with lovely wooded lids.  It was a cheap lathe project given that all the wood is left overs from the scrap bin and the jars were from the recycling bin.

  I have one lid of oak with a wax finish.  The middle lid is made from a tree branch.

  I really liked the result.  I used hemp oil as the finish.

  And the third lid is Brazilian cherry. It chipped the easiest of the three woods but did give a nice result with an oil finish as well.

   Wood turning on the lathe is an artistic outlet for a wood worker.  Lathes aren't that costly, you can do many projects on smaller lathes. Chisels can be as basic as home made or as costly as custom made. The only place you shouldn't cut corners is on dust masks and eye protection.

  It is always nice to knock off a little project that turns out well.

cheers, ianw