Workshop

A Jewellery Box for Millie

An oak and walnut finger-joint jewellery box with lift-out internal trays, a mirror fitted into the lid and a poured resin panel top.

The finished box

Finished jewellery box outdoors — Finished box with the resin lid panel complete.

Open jewellery box showing mirror and tray inserts — Mirror in the lid and removable tray inserts inside.

Finished jewellery box in the workshop — I applied 4 coats of varnish on the outside.

Construction

The box sides were prepared from oak and walnut. The two hardwoods were about 40mm thick to begin with so needed resawing on a bandsaw then thicknessed down to a final size 12mm. After many finger joint test cuts on pine, I cut the fingers and slightly proud so I could creep up on the final size by sanding the finger joints flush.

Prepared timber stock for the jewellery box — Resawn stock for the box sides and lid components.

Sides and end pieces cut with stopped 'housing slot' (aka dado slot?) to accept the base.

Corner joint close-up during fitting — Test fitting the corner joints before final assembly.

Lid and resin panel

I used a router with a straight bit and bearing guide to recess the lid top to a depth of about 5mm. I used a two part epoxy (epoxy and hardner) that I split into 3 cups after mixing that would then be coloured with mica powders. Cup 1: this was the base colour of turquoise. Cup 2: Smaller volume of Emerald green and Cup 3: a tiny amount of silver.

The cups were poured into the lid recess in that order and swirled around with a lolly-stick to give the swirly effect. Some tips I found out the hard way:

Tip #0: Mess around and experiment with the resin and mica powder colouring before committing. I regret not including a white in my final colour choice.

Tip #1: ensure the the surface you are working on is flat and level

TIP #2: when mixing epoxy and hardener, stir SLOWLY to reduce bubbles forming in the mix

Tip #3:Seal any edges where you do NOT want the resin, in this case the perimeter of the recess

Tip #4: if pouring into a recess; slightly overfill it (hence tip #3). This ensures an even final flush height of the resin. It can be sanded back flush to the box lid once it has fully cured - otherwise you'll end up with a 'deep' and 'shallow' end

Tip #5 have something ready to use to cover the resin to keep dirt/dust out of the resin (removes the need for sanding out the 'nibs' later). An upturned cardboard box would be ideal.

Jewellery box lid with routed recess before resin pour — Lid recess routed out before the resin pour.

Finished resin lid panel close-up — The finished resin panel after sanding and finishing.

Internal trays and final assembly

Inside, the box is fitted with removable tray inserts to split the space into smaller compartments. I did cheat a bit here: to save time I made the inserts using a laser-cutter. There are lots of easy ways to make these inserts by hand - simple glued butt joints for example - if you want an entirely hand made box.

Finishing:

I used what I had available at the time, so the ironmongery is not very exotic, simple butt hinges and a latch mechanism with some sort of plating. I've use a length of black nylon string on the inside as a lid-stay (to stop the lid opening past 90 degrees.) Poor planning on my part, I didn't think about the room I'd need on the inside of the box between the trays and box wall to allow for a proper lid stay!

I applied Rustins quick dry varnish (about 5 coats total) to the outside of the box. This is very quick drying and little to no odour when applying so was ideal. Between coats I lightly sanded with a 400 grit paper before cleaning with a tack-cloth and re- applying varnish:

Some more tips.....

Tip #1 Follow the instruction on the tin! The stuff I used had a lot of sediment on the bottom - this needed to be mixed in as its some ingredient that stops the varnish drying overly glossy

Tip #2 I used an old strip of purple cast acrylic to stir the varnish up - im sure I saw traces of purple appearing in the mix; varnish degrading the acrylic? dunno? prob best to use wood - or your favourite screwdriver for mixing ;^)

Jewellery box components laid out before assembly — All the main parts laid out before final assembly.

Open jewellery box showing compartments — Lift-out trays fitted into the finished box.

Raleigh Nova Bicycle

Saved from the re-cycling bin (groan) and now my daily commuter to work, a Raleigh Nova from 1979. It is older than yours truly!

One man’s rubbish…

Despite its dilapidated state, I immediately loved the utility of it: an original rear cycle rack, proper mudguards front and back (with a built-in rear reflector no less), a full chain guard (complete with tetanus-inducing razor-sharp edges), and a Sturmey-Archer three-speed hub.

After handing the skip owner a few shekels (ten of ’em, to be exact), I dragged it out. He was kind enough to let me keep all of the shit that came out with it: grass clippings, straw, wet and rotten Mary-Rose-ish waney-edge fence panel wood firmly jammed in the rear spokes. Anyway, I tossed it in the boot on top of the weekly food shopping and drove it home, already wondering how I was going to explain this one to the wife.

Getting it moving again

Raleigh Nova as found — As found, complete but neglected

Rear carrier and mudguards — Original carrier and mudguards

To make this old speed machine go again required a bit of effort:

Freeing off a completely seized drivetrain
Salvaging and truing the original wheels
New chainring bearings
New crown bearings
New cotter pins (40+ years of galvanic corrosion)
New front wheel axle and bearings
Stripping, cleaning and re-greasing the Sturmey-Archer hub
New tyres and inner tubes throughout
The original white saddle had to go
New brake and gear cables
A new chain

Repair work

Cotter pin removal — 50 years of galvanic corrosion = heat and violence!

Bottom bracket, old grease dried out and bearings needed replacing

Dog quality control — Quality control on new bottom bearings!

Wheel truing — Both wheels were buckled. Green tape indicates loose spokes needing tightening

Front wheel bearings — New bearings and grease for the front wheel

Cleaned hub and flushed with light sewing machine oil

New chain fitted, the old one was too stretched

Headset service — Handlebars were grinding when turned due to degraded grease

Selector chain — New gear cable for selector chain

Trigger shifter — Second-hand trigger from eBay (£7)

Recabling — New brake and gear cable, I saved the outer cable housing

1979 catalogue listing, glade green and those tan slacks!

1979 invoice — £61.77 excl. VAT or £66.50 with VAT, looks like VAT was about 8% in ’79

Sturmey-Archer hub internals — Sturmey-Archer hub stripped for inspection

This old hub could have a page of its own. It is a Sturmey-Archer AW three-speed epicyclic (planetary) hub. The design dates back to the early 1900s. Mine is date-stamped “04 74”, meaning April 1974. It runs in an oil bath, which is why they wear so slowly. A clean and fresh oil was all it needed.

Catalogue, price list and hub schematic courtesy of icenicam.org.

Sub-Irrigation Planter (SIP)

Finished SIP planter in use — Finished planter in use.

A sub-irrigation planter (SIP) is a simple container with a water reservoir beneath the soil. Moisture wicks up through the soil from below, reducing evaporation, especially during summer.

I’ve added a simple calculator at the end of this section. Plug in your length, width and height and it’ll estimate compost, reservoir capacity and total weight when wet.

Worth saying: once these suckers are loaded, they can get heavy!

I made these planters using the following materials:

Pressure-treated 2×6 (38 × 140 mm) timber
Pressure-treated 45 × 45 mm timber battens
Polythene sheet liner
100 mm perforated drainage pipe
Aluminium tubing for the filler pipe
6 mm flexible overflow hose

Timber lengths — 2.4 m lengths of 2×6 timber

Offcuts for smaller planter — Offcuts used for smaller planter

Perforated pipe — Remaining perforated pipe

SIP planter capacity calculator

Enter the internal dimensions of the planter. The base reservoir is formed by a single layer of slotted 100 mm diameter pipes laid side-by-side. The overflow limits the maximum water level within these pipes.

mm cm

Dimensions

Length

Width

Height

Overflow

Overflow height

Water capacity is calculated from the internal volume of the slotted pipes that make the reservoir. Soil weight assumes a typical wet garden-soil bulk density of approximately 1.4 kg per litre. Initial filling assumes the overflow outlet can discharge water at least as quickly as it is added.

The SIP planter calculator is intended as a rough guide to help with planning and sizing. Always double-check measurements, capacities and material suitability to fit your project and materials.

Making a garden gate

I made this gate about eight years ago. I constructed the frame using lap joints and floating tongue-and-groove boards routed into the stiles and centre support. The floating boards allow for expansion and contraction. Although it was made from pressure-treated timber, I finished it with Sikkens Cetol 7 woodstain.

Tip learned the hard way: modern pressure-treated timber usually contains copper-based preservatives. Copper + moisture + steel screws = electrochemical corrosion. Bright zinc and cheap plated screws are a no-no. Hot-dip galvanised or stainless are better.

Old gate before replacement — Out with the old.

Wood waste offcuts — I recruited my then five-year-old daughter to bash these out.

Finished timber stile — Half and cross-lap joints ready for glue-up.

Half-lap joint close-up — The first finished half-lap joint.

Dry fitted gate frame — Dry fitting the frame to check for squareness.

Routing rebate joints — Some reprobate cutting rebate joints.

Completed gate reverse view — Three hook-and-band hinges. This thing is heavy.

Completed gate front view — View from the front.

Gate lock and latch — Last job was the lock and latch. RIP cheap screws.

Go-kart build

Once upon a time, in a land long before my eldest daughter (five years old at the time) knowing about computer games, she wanted a go-kart. I could have bought something ready-made, but where’s the fun in that? These plans originally came from Bosch Tools.

Body material — The body was made with 18mm birch faced plywood.

Steering wheel tests — Three steering wheel tests. The closest one won.

Parts cut — All components cut in birch ply, the neighbours must have thought I was building an Ark.

Front axle with wheels and central rod attachment.

Kart base — Base with relief holes cut for steering and brake cabling.

Frame — Basic frame with steering column dry fitted.

Brake blocks — Brake block test with return springs.

Underside of kart — Underside with blue acrylic glider layer to reduce steering effort.

Cables — Steering and brake cables. Slack taken out with turnbuckles.

Finished kart side view — Finished kart, painted white for lack of pink.

Finished kart interior — Millie was in charge of the Halloween stickers.

Christmas projects

Small seasonal decorations and gifts. I’m working on my own designs, possibly to sell for a few pennies if they’re good enough. The examples below are bandsaw reindeer, sleighs and elves made from plans by Nick Engler. His plans are available from workshopcompanion.com.

Wooden sleigh decoration — Can you name all twelve? Dasher, Vixen… Rudolph.

Wooden elves — Workshop critics group, checking the quality of the brew.

Projects