Turn Your Mistakes, Tool Slips or Accidents into Features

For my wife’s birthday the other day I made her a nice cheese board after seeing some in the store and thinking crikey, they’re expensive considering how easy it’d be to make one in the workshop… So I headed out and found a nice piece of old pallet wood with some interesting colours and set about cutting a heart-shaped hole in one corner (my signature move with anything I make for my wife, smooth huh?). So, kicking the snow away from the workshop door and firing up the old diesel heater I cleared …

Quick Tip: How to Caulk Before Painting

Caulking is a must in most houses, new and old before getting the paint out. But first, you should do all your preparation work, because you cannot sandpaper caulk in any way! Nope, don’t even try it. Get everything washed down with a well wrung out sponge and some pre-decorating cleaner (bedrooms etc. don’t need much, but kitchens and bathrooms, hallways etc., need a lot!). Wipe away the cleaner with a big microfiber cloth and a bucket of clean water. Change the water often. Once dry again, sandpaper everything down …

Honda Steering Rack ‘Slipper’ or Yoke Adjustment

My old Honda CRV’s steering has been a bit vague lately and with over 150,000 miles on the clock I replaced a few of the ‘starting-to-show-wear’ ball joints to start off with, but even then, it still tended to ‘tram-line’ when the wheels went over the centre line on the road, grabbing at them quite alarmingly if going at higher speeds. Obviously, this is a serious safety issue. There has also been a rattle when driving off-road that I’d never been able to trace. Turns out the rattle was the …

From the book, How to be Handy: What’s in it for me?

This post is the third in a long series as I release my latest book here online over the next few months… (use the search box at the top right of this page and search “How to be Handy” to read them all) or of course, you can head over to Amazon to grab a physical copy (or eBook) to read with your coffee or give to a significant other, (wink, wink!)… Today’s excerpt explains the differences between my book and regular DIY books plus some of the benefits of …

Introduction from the book How to be Handy

This post is the second in a long series as I release my latest book here online over the next few months…  (search for the category “How to be Handy” to read them all) or head over to Amazon to grab a physical copy (or eBook) to read with your coffee or give to a significant other!… Today’s excerpt is the introduction, to motivate and inspire you to have a go at this DIY lark…  Introduction  ‘Only a third of people actually feel confident in their ability to carry out DIY repairs …

The Preface for the book: How to be Handy

This post is the first in a long series as I release my latest book here online over the next few months…  Today’s excerpt is the preface to give you the thoughts behind the book…  Preface When this book was first suggested, I feared it would be impossible to write, because, after more than 30 years of looking at the world through practical eyes, it’s like breathing to me. How do I get down on paper this apparently intuitive process? Then it dawned on me; it wasn’t totally intuitive, because …

How to be Handy Book

How to be Handy the movie, sorry, I mean the book is finally here… Okay, I’ll admit it, I know it’s taken a while. But all worthwhile things do right? What with moving from New Zealand to Norway, fixing up a new house, raising a couple of kids, earning a living and just living life takes time, leaving precious little time for creative endeavours. But I persevered. And just like building a house, one brick, or in this case, one word at a time you get to the finish line …