The dresser rebuild is finally done. The finish work always feels like it takes forever but the outcome is normally worth the trouble. In this case almost anything would have looked better than what I started with.

I opted for Red Mahogany Danish oil for the stain and achieved the color I was looking for with one good coat and a light touch-up coat. A few days after the first coat went on it was time to start with the poly. I applied three coats of clear gloss poly to soften the color up a little and pop the grain. It produced a nice, soft shine and a good protective coat the piece never had in its painted days.

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This old dresser has been handed down through two generations of my family before I had it. It’s close to 50 years old and has been reworked more than once. It has no particular value save its clothes-holding properties. It has been in my bedroom for close to 30 years and it’s time for a change – preferably to something a little less Sgt. Pepper. It was time to overhaul this piece again.

As you can see this dresser has seen its share of beatings — admittedly some of them were at my hands — and the hardware has been replaced at least three times. The last time was my fault; when my mom asked what I wanted for new knobs, I answered brass because it was shiny (I was ten) and she dutifully stuck sixteen brass knobs on it to create what you see here. (more…)

This was an interesting problem I came up against the other week. I needed to determine the angle of some tiny dovetails used to secure the front sight of an air rifle. I used two methods: one, a graphical solution that leveraged the power of my CAD program, the other a purely mathematical one. (more…)

We dig reader Beano_t’s work because of pictures like this.  He doesn’t star in his own high-buck TV show; he just makes things better around the house –- a lot.  His latest project involved a little sanding in the dining room.

The large drum sander pictured on the left helped out with the mammoth task of taking the oak floor down to a refinishable state — Beano obviously had the system down pretty well to get a nice, uniform-looking floor. I’ve always been rather terrified of creating a hill-laden mess. I hear from others that the giant sanders aren’t really that hard to use once you get used to ‘em, but I’d say the jury’s still out on that if it’s me behind the drum.

The only thing left now is to seal/stain it, so we wonder if Beano is going dark or light in his treatment.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

If you’re looking for a good weekend project, Lowe’s website offers instructions on building your own backyard putting green. Using wood, sand, paver base, astroturf, PVC, and a few basic tools — plus some elbow grease/quality time spent with the kiddo — this looks like a project you could do even without the big box. In fact, one online magazine dedicates a whole section to building your own greens that go beyond the 8′ by 8′ square.

We see a few potential concerns, though:  warped wood over time, protecting the green in winter months, and drainage issues since the flat turf and raised border can retain water.  Do you have experience building a green or ideas about how to improve drainage?  Post in comments and let us know!

Weekend Projects [Lowe's]
DIY Backyard Putting Greens [Residential Putting Green Magazine]

A few months back reader Beano-t gave us a glimpse of his secret door project. This weekend it looks like he finished it. Here’s a look and a few words from Mr. Beano, running down the final steps of the project now that it’s trimmed and painted.

I incorporated a hidden magnetic latch. By embedding the magnet in a book or object I will keep on the shelf, the door will release when the object is moved to the correct location.

I used super-soft heavy-duty casters for support just in case of weight issues, keeping in mind i did not want to mark the floor in any way. Most of the weight is still on the heavy hinges.

Although I left the hinges visible (the hidden hinges I wanted to buy would’ve more than doubled my cost on this project), unless you are looking for them they are usually overlooked.

Totally fun and rewarding project.

Well, Beano, there’ll always be naysayers but this turned out great in our eyes. Not only did you manage to come in on a budget that you were obviously watching closely, but the trim work and caster idea look sweet. We also see what you mean about the door covering the hinges most of the time.  Fun and rewarding indeed!

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Many of the project sites we look at take a Julia Childs approach to their holiday wood projects — you know, using materials you don’t have, tools you can’t afford, and plans you couldn’t draw up even if you were a rocket scientist. So to combat this effect we put together a reindeer and accompanying sleigh that you can assemble with a few simple tools and under $15 worth of lumber — in under a day.

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Here’s a TM solution to the scarcity of $40,000 incubators in poor nations: build one from car parts. Utilizing the vehicle’s air filter, fan, headlights (for heat), door alarm, and more, a group of scientists at the Global Health Initiative commissioned this model for less than $1,000 — and say a similar low-buck solution could save thousands of lives each year.

Why car parts? The scientists note that they often visit places where incubators are rare but there always seems to be functioning motor transportation — in many cases a Toyota 4Runner. So they contacted nonprofit firm Design That Matters to design the product from just the Toyota parts. The kicker: they believe that the less-complicated junkyard incubators are more likely to survive the rigors of spotty third-world power and maintenance than high-buck models.

They’ve assembled car-part plans for other medical equipment, too, including pumps and a surgical aspirator.

Car Parts Incubator [bookofjoe]

A store-bought household product won’t always do what we want it to — it’s difficult to design a mass-market product that’ll 1) fit everyone’s house or setup, and 2) pull off all the jobs we can cook up for it — so we get creative.  Reader Vincent Ma has the concept down with his new baby gate mod.

So now that Horten’s crawling and standing, we need to fence out the stairs so he does not do the Humpty Dumpty.

Tyatt found these clear baby fence from Zellers and I’m happy to attach them.  However, our fence posts presents a number of problems. One, the height of the pressure pads on the opposite side of the hinge matches with the middle round part of the post, so it doesn’t pressure mount properly and the safety catch thingy cannot be properly attached and two, the wife insists that I do not drill into the post.

So, with a few pieces of leftover dimensional lumber, I quickly constructed a piece that wraps around the post and a sacrificial piece for the screws of the safety catch to mount on. The side flaps are there to prevent the main 2×4 from moving towards the stairs (sliding), and the cable ties prevents the piece from falling off the post. Since the gate should be closed most of the time the 2 cable ties should be sufficient.

This jig preserves the post, I think. I think I’ll attach foam around the edges of the lumber to prevent Horten from a royal bump in the head.

We dig that Vincent still managed to get it done even with the no-drilling handicap imposed by the other half.  Once again, a bunch of scrap wood and a few tools save the day.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

When I first glanced at longtime friend-of-Toolmonger Mike Haney’s new entertainment center, I was struck by the number of new entertainment center concepts I’ve seen in the past year or so.  It just makes sense — when the shape of your TV changes, so does the gear that holds it up.

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You may not notice your own subtle transition from self-taught beginner to intermediate craftsman, but it’s easy to spot some of the signs –- such as modifying your existing equipment to give it more functionality or high-end features.  Toolmonger reader Nick Johnson did just that with his lathe.

One major problem with mini-lathes — when making a cut, the tool holder may drift along the x or y axes. Nicer lathes include a locking mechanism to prevent this sort of drift, and so I’ve added them to my mini-lathe.

Not everyone would be able to do this mod, and not everyone would miss it — but Nick has progressed to the point where he can not only tell the difference but construct the proper mounts to rectify the issue.

Modding My Mini-lathe :: Adding Locks To The X-,Y-Axes [Cheap Hack]

If you subscribe to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), your service provider might tell you, “Regular old phones won’t work with VoIP,” and they’ll give you some hardware to make your computer a phone.  That setup could pass muster in a one-bedroom apartment — but not in a three-bedroom house, where a ringing phone could set the teenagers to stampeding, or where you might miss a call if the game’s on in the other room.

Of course, when you tell a tool guy, “It doesn’t work that way,” what he hears is, “It’s time to do some experimenting.”

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We stumbled across this fun-looking project from Skil and thought we’d pass it on. It’s a caboose-ish toybox, complete with top-mounted game board. The link below takes you to Skil’s site where you’ll find more pictures plus a link where you can download full plans and instructions via a PDF.

And if you’re not into the caboose theme (shame on you!) they also offer a simplified no-detail square version. Have fun!

Caboose-Inspired Toy Chest [Skil]

Skil’s website features a slick how-to on building a bookcase with pocket joinery.  The guys over at Extreme How-To magazine put the article together, and though they often do some pretty far-out projects, this one seems easy enough that even beginners could tackle it with a solid chance of success.

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Like most people who spend time in the shop, I’m constantly trying to find good places to put my stuff.   Lately, I got fed up with everything in the shop being coated with a thick coat of sawdust, so I figured a cabinet was in order.

I checked the local big boxes and office supply places to see what they had in the way of cabinets, but most of their units were either too small or way too expensive.  So I decided a home-brew approach would be the way to go.
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Buying up that must-have shop equipment can drain your wallet pretty quick.  Reader Hugo J Cardoso decided to build his own bead-blasting rig instead of shelling out for it — he built it to his own custom specs and wound up with a blasting box anyone could be proud of.  He gives us the word on how he went about it.

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Toys and Joys will help you build cool models of your favorite big tools: bulldozers, forklifts, cranes, and many others.  They offer accessory kits which include “some” parts, or you can just get the plans.  The models feature plenty of moving and articulating parts — turning wheels, moving tracks, lifting buckets, extending forks, lots of realistic motion.

This means there are a lot of parts, and though the project may not be complex, it could be a long one. But it also means I can afford to build Sean a bulldozer.

Construction Equipment Plans [Toys and Joys]