Woodwork, writing, DIY and more!
Things I’ve been working on (whether it’s a piece of furniture or something useful for the workshop) and anything I’m currently making at the time of writing.
Since 2012, my collection of Ordnance Survey maps has steadily grown. They’d always lived within an unfashionable cardboard box, before I recently made an alternative solution from 12mm thick birch plywood.
This is a project that I completed in February of this year, although the official start date leaps back to the beginning of 2017, when I ‘sourced’ the materials from the off-cuts pile at the company I used to work for.
It’s been a fortnight since I uploaded this first video to YouTube and I had hoped that the second instalment would be ready to upload this evening… Well, it hasn’t quite worked out that way – and it has taken me this long to get around to writing about it!
Here it is, for those of you who haven’t already seen it across my social media sites.
Following on from the video highlighted in my previous post; let’s now take a closer look at the repairs I made to the hardwood serving tray.
Somehow, it’s been almost four complete months since I posted Part 2… It was in the following month (September) that I was able to complete the finishing touches to the shed and get the overdue finished photos (albeit, captured on my smart phone).
In this post, we’ll go over those final additions as the project draws to a close.
Over the weekend, I made my most recent trip to Ikea (twenty-four hours after ‘Black Friday’, no less) and obtained a final box of Lots mirror tiles (plus one spare pack, in case of any further breakages).
This post will tie up all the loose ends with regards to how the project came to a close.
For this window-mirror, I wanted to use rectangular glazing that would complement the functional window that this construction is likely to be situated across the room from. Looking around at various packs of glass tiles and they only appeared to come in square sizes. For a while, I was tempted to buy a pack of mirrored-acrylic tiles from a seller on eBay, knowing they can be cut with woodworking equipment.
Looking around some more and I found Ikea’s Lots mirror tiles and, for the quantity I required, they were set to work out at around half the cost of the acrylic, even before postage. So, after collecting three packs from Ikea in Bristol, I was left with the challenge of having to cut the glass myself – all of which is detailed below.
This is an idea I’ve been entertaining for a number of months, although not something I had cooked up entirely within my own skull.
My flat is lacking in light, being on the ground floor and with only window window fitted in each room. Instead of adding lamps and racking up the electricity bill, I came up with the idea to use mirrors. This is an alternative take on simply buying a ‘rectangular frame’. I like the thought of being able to add the impression of an extra window in my living room.
This is how I made it, away from a workshop.
So, I’ve been asked about fitting some kind of gate to fit on my mother’s decking. Naturally, whenever I’m asked about making something, the first question I ask myself is, ‘is this something I could make?‘.
It needs to be fairly lightweight as it’ll straddle a 1710mm gap between two newell posts, which are never going to be set like a pair of anchors. ‘Cheap’ is the word that, as often, if floating around as the main cause for these gates (it’ll have to be a double with that span) is to keep the dog from running off.
Olly Writes 