This week, five projects worth sharing — making the most of what was already on hand.
Allen Key: An Unexpected Use
Allen keys come with so much flat-pack furniture that you end up with a drawer full of spares.
This time I put one to use as another marking gauge. Allen keys are hard steel, so the tip holds its edge well — a great material for this kind of tool. Since the key poked out the back when stored, I added a dowel for it to sit flush in. I scored a thin sheet of plywood from both sides and snapped it by hand.
The cut came out really clean.
Plans for the floating router table seen in this video →
A different marking gauge design, but plans are available here →
Making a Japanese Compass Plane
This time I made a nankin-ganna (Japanese compass plane) — only my second one. I wanted a different bed angle than before, so I built another as practice.
Smaller planes are harder to make than larger ones, and a compass plane is trickier still, since its body grain runs differently than a standard plane. This one isn't perfect, but it came together. You only improve by building more, so I'll keep at it.
Saw and chisels used: @templetoolco
My Favorite Wood Joint… with Screws?
I've made this joint before — a favorite, since it's simple and holds up with real strength.
I usually fix it with a long driven dowel, but this time I used a countersink and plug cutter to secure it with screws instead. Screws really are strong, and effective when you want strength without much fuss. Since you can always back one out later if needed, I've come to feel it's better not to overthink it — a simple approach, and enjoying the process, matters more.
How to Attach Legs Almost Anywhere
In DIY projects, you often want to attach legs to a tabletop, a box, all kinds of things. But it's not so simple once you need real strength, slender legs, or an angled attachment.
This is especially true with a thin tabletop, where a round tenon alone often can't get enough depth for strength. A stool can use a through-tenon, but on a side table you don't want it showing on top. So I fixed a round tenon into a wood block with a wedge, cut the block to the angle I needed, then screwed it to the underside. This works even with a thinner top than this one.
Plans for the floating router table seen in this video →
A Surprisingly Useful DIY Tool
I spotted a shaft-mounted flap sander at the home center — I'd known these existed but never used one, and they're surprisingly pricey.
So I made my own from a partly-used sheet of cloth-backed sandpaper and a plywood offcut from hole-sawing. Paper-backed sandpaper tears too easily here, so cloth-backed is the way to go. Once bonded firmly with instant adhesive, it turned out really easy to use, flexing softly against curves and the insides of circles. It's especially handy for removing rust from a lathe tool's surface.
A Note from Taku
Looking back, three of this week's five builds started not from buying something new, but from a second look at what I already had — a leftover Allen key, a half-used sheet of sandpaper, an offcut of plywood. You don't need special materials to come up with a new jig; sometimes a shift in perspective is all it takes. This week reminded me of that.
— Taku and Masa
0件のコメント