Making, Crafting, Creating... aka Whatcha workin' on?

Onto the next firewood bowl.

  1. Grab bit of wood from firewood pile.

  1. Chainsaw the mounting face roughly flat, then trim it square.

  1. Mark out the bowl.

  1. Nip off the corners with the chainsaw.

  1. Screw on the mounting plate.

  1. Ready to start turning.

  1. Rounded off, time to carve the mounting socket in the base.

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I was saving this one in case you had several in a row and needed some filler…I finally figured out a reliable no-cut, no-tape method for adding wings to wingless ponies from a sheet of origami paper…

(my 4yo retconned that Rarity is an expert tailor, so sewed herself wings, then used her levitation magic to make them work. I’m sold…)

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What, nobody else posting their home built Halloween costumes this year? For shame.

Anyway, here’s the completed dragon:


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Incredible! that is really awesome, and must’ve amplified the holiday for all you encountered. I went through a period as a kid of always dressing as a knight (mostly to feel safe from all the monsters…) and this would have put me right in it! Thanks for posting the build shots too.

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At any point, do you ever burn firewood?

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Hollowing out the bowl:

And we had a bit of an issue with the mounting socket:

But some quick work with the chisel and belt sander to clean it up:

Into the remounting jaws for a new socket:

Ready to go:

But now I have to wait for some glue to dry in order to fill the cracks:

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My CNC-router-carved sign is done!



The cutting took maybe 30 minutes, but the painting took a month.

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Using tinkercad and my 3d printer, I turned my led flame bulbs into lanterns for my Christmas decorations.

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All done:

I’m a bit over woodturning at the moment; I’d rather be getting into cabinetmaking and small-scale fine woodwork. Unfortunately, I can’t afford to buy any timber, and I don’t have the gear needed to mill precisely jointed boards from the scraps I can get for free. :confused:

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Christmas beer is contaminated with mold. Looks like 10 gallons will be a total loss. Even though I can kill the mold, the taste will have a hint of moldy-orange. I may have time to make another batch before Christmas, but since the wife got laid off funds are low. Thankfully I have a bunch of IPA and Scotch ale in reserve that i can give away as gifts.

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Aw, that sucks.
Or, I guess, technically it blew.

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There’s a brewing supply place near us that sells ingredients and instructions to replicate commercial and smaller brewery beers. Normally I’d be against the “make something as good as a factory!” attitude, but I figure it’ll never turn out the same, so I gave it a go. The one I tried is a mix of grain and extracts (I’m working up to all-grain) modelled on an APA called James Squire Hop Thief.

Having paid for hops rather than stealing them, we naturally dubbed it “Jimmy Squire, Hop Acquirer”. We opened one yesterday -it’s not as dry-hoppy as I was expecting, but definitely a win and well-suited to summer.
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Well done! Good luck on your future brewing endeavors!

One additional benefit of all-grain is you get to use the spent grain to bake bread. I typically make bread rolls. If you or your neighbors have cows or horses they go nuts for spent grain too.

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My spouse’s tapestry loom. Not something I’m making, it just looks cool.



She recently spent like 8 hours re-warping it.

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Keeping with my theme of downgrading perfectly good electronics, I hacked an old TV, removing the backlight for the LCD panel and putting the parts together in a wooden box. It is now illuminated by candlelight so that my wife can relax a bit about the kids’ exposure to too much unnatural blue light at night.

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Have you tried the “Superschmelz” variety of kohlrabi? It is what I grow, and can get enormous and remain crispy and tender. At least once you cut out the core at the root end. I have had them upwards of 6-7 pounds and still good quality.

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I have not, but I’ll keep a look out. Thanks!

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My brother recently did an extraordinarily generous thing; he offered to buy me a house (i.e. he buys a house, I pay him rent roughly equivalent to the mortgage repayments, once the mortgage is paid off he signs the house over to me). I’m a broke-as-hell disability pensioner; there is absolutely no chance that I could ever have bought a house on my own.

So, for his Christmas present this year, I decided to return the favour:

My house, 1/50th scale. Still some work to do, but it’s getting there.

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The model house involves a lot of fiddly detail work, and I was getting a sore back from standing bent over at the bench all day. And sitting on a sawhorse just transferred the problem to a sore arse instead.

So, I’m building a stool for the workshop. Just my usual cheap and easy 2x4 pine construction:

Should have it finished in a day or two; I just need to finish carving the mortices and plane the top smooth before assembly.

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