Putting together a tool kit for DIY in the home

Tools, Tools and More Tools Arguably, the old adage that only ‘bad workmen blame their tools for poor craftsmanship’ is not strictly true as it’s quite difficult to produce good quality work with inferior tools; especially if they are blunt! Fortunately, good quality hand tools are more affordable today because of mass production and modern manufacturing techniques. Putting Together a Tool Kit If you’re starting from scratch I recommend you start by looking at tools in the store to get an idea of what they look like, what they’re called …

Sugru comes in convenient sized mini packets so no waste.

SUGRU: the new wonder material for fixing, improving and hacking.

I’ve had a packet of SUGRU in my fridge (it lasts longer stored at 5 degrees) for a while just waiting for a reason to use it. Why so long? Well, SUGRU allows you to do stuff that was not easily done in the home workshop before, so it takes a while to include it in your mental inventory of ‘possible solutions’. So, this week when I picked up an old pair of secateurs and the broken, jagged edges on the plastic handles bit into my skin again, I eventually …

Easily dismantle pallets with this homemade pallet breaker

I love pallets. Because I see no point in buying new stuff for my garden projects when millions of single use pallets get thrown away every single day. Plus pallet wood oozes character and charm in my eyes. And recycling them is a result for the environment too. Oh, the price…don’t forget the price, yup, they are completely fabulously FREE! You can’t argue with that 🙂 One ‘small’ problem though. Even ‘single use’ pallets are tough to dismantle using normal tools (without breaking lots of planks!). So after being inspired …

Dangerous: loose clothing, power tools and DIY

When I looked down at my shredded glove I hesitated to take it off, because I couldn’t even feel my fingers and I was afraid of what I might find. We probably all remember from our school tech. classes not to wear a tie when using a lathe etc., but ties are not the only clothing you need to watch carefully when working with power tools. I was unfortunate enough to have an accident this week wearing gloves, yes the very same gloves I was wearing to protect my hands! I don’t …

DIY Patent application in the UK…

With some trepidation I opened a letter from the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) yesterday. I say trepidation because the last two letters I received from them requested mind bendingly difficult requests for re-wording of my patent claims (the sentences that ‘claim’ novelty etc). But this letter felt different, it was thinner and had a stiff cardboard in it. Oh oh, I thought, cardboard can mean only one thing…….a certificate of some kind and surely they don’t issue them for rejections! The letter announced, without preamble or mention of our …

Flip over saw goes to the mountains…

Back when the sun was shining we got the chance of a stay in a proper log cabin up in the Hemsedal mountains in central Norway. In exchange for all the fresh air we could manage, some pretty nice food and of course wine, we set about replacing a very worn out kitchen, opening up the walls a little in the process. It was a real joint effort with the four of us all contributing something different to the mix. Melding together to get everything done in a small space …