Garden Brazier from an Old Bin

Everybody likes a good fire don’t they? But sometimes they are a little dangerous and even against the law at certain times of the year. So the easiest way to ensure fire safety is to contain your fires by having them inside something that allows you to control it and prevent it from spreading. This is a scaled down version of a 200L (40 gallon) old oil drum that we used at work to burn diseased wood from house demolitions. I do apologize, but many wood worm were harmed in …

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 …

sparrows on a wire

Build this sparrow nest box out of old boots and pallet wood.

An easy to make, simple nest box that’s made from free materials Sparrows are often over shadowed by their more colourful brethren, but it’s the sparrows lively chirping that often cheers us up throughout the day. Sparrows are friendly little birds who like to nest near one another, so I designed this nest box just for them… You’ll need an old pair of work boots and a couple of lengths of pallet wood or similar, 125mm x 15mm (5″ x 5/8″) is ideal. Around 1.5m (5′) should do it although you’ll …