Wooden Toy Sword

Wooden Toy Sword I Made For My Son

Painted with an Acadian flag for the heck of it :P

Anyone can make this as long as you have the tools around. Surprisingly simple but looks cool! This one is small (for my son) it's only about 15". But I've made others with the same method with up to 28" in length! So here we go.

What You'll Need:

-SafetyGlasses

-Work Gloves

-Face Mask (for sawdust...there will be plenty)

-Pine Board

-Jigsaw (or coping saw or band saw)

-Belt Sander (w.40grit, 80grit, 120grit & 220grit)

-Pencil

-Ruler

-Paint (optional)

-Shellac (recommended)

Step 1: Draw out your piece

I don't have a picture because I sortof jumped the gun on this one but basically just draw out whatever shape you want your sword/dagger to be. 

Step 2: Cut it out

Here you can still see the lines I had made to keep everything symmetrical. Most errors after cutting can still be fixed by sanding so don't worry too much about it if your cuts are a bit rough or a little wavy.

Step 3: Sanding it to your liking!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=668kBrSKj3c Is a great tutorial on how to sand this down.

Basically, all I did was turn my belt sander upside-down with 40grit and used it like a bench grinder. Take your time and go with the grain. Make sure to use safety equipement here. Lots of debris!

Step 4: Painting!

 

 I used painters tape to make sure everything was straight and looked nice. Wasn't 100% but turned out ok. I chose to put the Acadian flag on it cuz we're Acadian and just felt fitting :P

Step 5: Shellac

 

Applied basic clear shellac (3 coats) so seal everything up and avoid splinters, etc. Looks great, feels great and my Son has lots of fun with it =)

Stepstool with Storage!

DIY Childs Step Stool with Storage!

Cheap, sturdy and will last ages!

 

Something as simple as a step stool can open a whole new experience for children(or short adults lol). Things that seemed out of reach is now easily accessible with a simple build like this. Now, washing their hands, brushing their teeth or just watching us make food has never been easier and more fun for our little tykes. The storage compartment is just an added bonus. 

What You'll Need:

-Drill with 1/2" drill bit

-Jigsaw

-2" Wood Screws

-Medium-grit Sand Paper

-Wood Glue

-Clamps

-Circular/Table Saw

-2 Standard Hinges

-Paint (optional)

All this can be made with a 1"x12"x8' piece of pine board which around here is only $20.00

Pieces List: 

2 sides at natural width of board at 11-1/4" and cut length 14"
2 storage panel pieces (front and back) at 11-1/4" and width 12"
2 storage box bottoms and kick panel pieces at 11-1/4" and 5-1/4"
2 step stool tops 14" width and 7-1/2" length

Step 1: Mark the Cuts

Using a square mark all your cuts on the wood carefully including the holes for the handles and the decorative curves.

Step 2: Cut It All Up!

 If you're good with a jigsaw you should be able to cut everything out with just that. Sadly I am not so I used a circular saw for all my straight cuts and then used a jigsaw for the holes and curved pieces.

Note: To make the circles the easiest way I find is to drill a hole a bit bigger than the jogsaw blade so it'll fit and then just cut out your shape.

Step3: Time For Sanding!

Using a Medium grit sandpaper (I used an 80 grit) sand all your corners and edges. This will be used by children after all. After this is done, dry fit all the pieces together to make sure all is well. If you need to make adjustement, now is the time. If everything seems fine let's put this baby together!

Step 4: Assemble back, sides and base.

The first thing I suggest doing is attaching the back piece to the side pieces. I always pre-drill my holes to make sure the wood doesn't split so I would suggest the same practice. Place glue on both pieces(any surface that will be touching each other) and then screw them into place and clamp for at least an hour. Once the side are attached to the back, next assemble the base of the storage area.

Should look like this at that point

Step 5: Adding the Middle Wall and Kick Panel

This piece is exactly like the back piece but I suggest adding a curve to it just to make it easier to open and looks nice. Once it has been secured the next piece I would recommend is the kick panel on the front.

Step 6: Top Step with Hinges.

Mark your hinges on the wood to make sure they're even. Mine were spaced 2 1/2" away from the side and fit perfectly on the 3/4" surface. Follow instructions that come with hinges if you need help but basically, mark where they go and screw em in. Once they're in check for adjustments. (one of my hinges needed the be pushed back a bit because it was making the lid crooked)

Step 7: The Final Step!

Probably the most straight for piece in the build. Add, glue & screw. That's about it!

We're Done! 

Enjoy your new Step Stool! Your kids are sure to love it. If you want you can even sand, prime and paint cute stuff on it or what have you =)

Thanks for dropping by =)

Simple Wooden (Pine) Planter DIY

Simple Pine Planter (part 1)

Easy DIY project you can try on the cheap

 

What you'll need:

-Drill

-Circular or Table Saw

-1" Wood Screws

-Clamps (I have a 12", and two 24")

-Carpenters Glue

-1"x4" Pine Board (I had 4' of it)

-1"x6" Pine Board (I had 6' of it)

Alright so was using a 15" mud pan as a liner in this. So naturally the inside of the planter will be about 15 1/8" long and was 7" wide. The first thing we're gonna do it mark our cut lines. Let's do it step by step.

Bottom of the planter:

2 pieces of 1x4" measuring 15 1/8th" in length

Feet of the planter:

2 pieces of 1x4" at 5" in length

Long sides of the planter:

2 pieces of 1x6" measuring 15 1/8th" in length

Short sides of the planter:

2 pieces of 1x6" measuring 8 1/2" in length

Once everything is marked out go ahead and cut them out and try to be as precise as you can of course. Measure Twice, Cut once and Square lol I use my sawhorses to clamp down the wood and I use a square guide to for my circular to ensure straight cuts.

So with all that done you should be left with the following:

 

 

The first thing I assemble after this is the bottom. I put my 15" 1x4's side by side and attach them with the legs. I always recommend Countersinking* the holes if possible(makes it smoother and can fill with wood putty later if needed). Picture below is an example of coutersinking.

I then glued the two pieces together and then screw them together with the 1" screws in my presinked holes. I always clamp together anything I'm glueing at least 3 hours.

After the bottom was done I then attached my first short side. I made sure to leave 3/4" on each side of edges for the long pieces to fit.

 

My boards had a bit of a curve to it so as you can see I had clamped a square to make sure it dried nice and square (worked wonderfully). In this case because I wanted to make sure it stayed that way I let the glue dry overnight with 2 screws on the bottom (one in each base board).

I then glued n' screwed the first long side. Same principle, I used glue on all the connecting surfaces. Screwed 2 screws on the side panel to attach to long board and then 4 screws connecting long side with the base board.

Inside shot of it clamped and drying.

 

Then I moved along with the second long side. Same procedure as before but reversed of course. At this point the short side should be fully screwed into but sides and bottom boards.

 Only difference is this time I cut a 7" pieces of 1x6" to fit in between so I could make sure it was square which setting.

 

And here is the final clamping of it all. The last side piece. This one is an easy fit. Glue all connecting surfaces and put in all 4 screws so all is finally connected. Clamp it all and let the patience begin. I let this last step sit overnight as well.

Once everything had dried, step 1 of this planter is complete!

 You can really see how I screwed everything in here.

Next we will work on step 2: Sanding, Coating, Staining, Coating and finally Stencil Paints!

Out With The Old, In With The New!

New Toys for New Beginnings

So I decided to start the first day of Spring with a replacement of my power tools. They were basically from the 70's I believe so they needed an upgrade for both safety reasons and straight out ease of use.

 As you can probably tell by the photos below they were very old. But they mean the world to me.

My grandfather is the one who passed these down to me and I honor them for it. He could have given it to his son or even cousins, anyone at all really. But he chose me so that meant alot.

They have been very usefull thus far. The tools I believe are a 4-in-1 Black & Decker tool set from the 60's-70's era. They are incredibly well kept for their age and still work nicely. Alas, there are many security features that have been improved upon since then and it's starting to show its age quite a bit. My other main issue was that the circular saw blade was only I think a 4 1/2" blade meaning it couldn't go through a 2x4 on one cut, and had to turn the wood over to finish the cut or use a handsaw which was a pain.

But here we are in the present day and I could not be happier with my new tools! They look great, sound great and feel great in comparison to my old ones. These tools were all sold in one pack and have served me well since yesterday even.

 

We have the circular saw with a 5 1/2 blade (finally enough to cut 2x4's lol), a power drill...

...a multi-tool that includes 2 Flush blades, sanding attachement and saw attachement. As well as 2 Lithium Ion batteries that hold a charge very well I find and the fact they are cordless tools is a major bonus!

Showing here how they all fit very nicely into the duffel bag that came with it. Room for everything! Even some extra clamps and measures I had lying around!

I couldn't ask for more. This was a great buy and is the beginning building block of all future projects to come and will make it much easier and safer to do!

The old jigsaw might still come in handy though.

Handy Dandy Stackable Sawhorses

 DIY STACKABLE SAWHORSES

 I would just like to start off by saying thank you for visiting my blog all about woodworking! I will be posting tutorials, projects I'm currently working on, tips & tricks and all sorts of other things!

First I would like to start with my first project which in essence will lead to many more completed projects in the future. As far as I'm concerned EVERY work shop needs these...sawhorses!

This is sortof a DYI tutorial on how to make them as well as just showing my project. Here we go:

Exactly why I'm building these. Cutting wood out of a trunk in winter sucks lol

I used nine 8 foot 2x4's. -Take 5 of the 2x4's and cut them at 47". This should leave you with 5 47" pieces and 5 49" pieces (assuming your 8footers are very close to 96") -now you want to take 4 of your 8 footers and cut 8 32" pieces(you should be able to get 3 per piece but mine were about 1/8th" under 96" so only got 2 exact 32" per board with decent sized scraps)

Next, we'll assemble the I-Beam as shown above, starting with the three 49-inch boards. On the ends of two of the boards, mark a centerline across the short axis of each end. When those four marks are in place, mark a centerline down the long axis at each end of the third board, as shown by the center board in the diagram. Now, using the screws, attach the top board to the center board. Place a few screws down the length of the top board and into the center board, making certain to keep the centerlines on both ends aligned. When the top board is attached to the center board, flip the assembly over and attach the bottom board in the same manner. When complete, you should have a long I-Beam. *repeat same process for the 47" boards to make that Ibeam*

we'll work with the 49-inch assembly. Lay the I-Beam on it's side. Grab one of the legs and place the end just under the lip of the top board of the I-Beam. Making sure that the side of the board is flush with the end if the I-Beam, attach the leg to the I-Beam using two screws into the center board and two into the bottom board of the I-beam. Once one leg is done, repeat with the other leg on the same side of the I-Beam. Then, flip the entire assembly over and attach the legs to the other side of the I-Beam. 

When all four legs are attached, stand the assembly on it's legs and check for any wobble. The legs can be spread out slightly by hand if necessary for all legs to be on the floor evenly. Once the 49-inch I-Beam assembly is completed, perform the same steps on the 47-inch I-Beam. Once both units are standing on their own four feet, its time to stabilize the legs. Once again, we'll begin with the 49-inch assembly. Cut two 49-inch pieces from two 2x4's. (Save the cutoffs, as they'll be used in another step.) Using the tape measure, place a mark 10 inches up each of the four legs on their outsides. Square the mark using the Layout Square. Attach one of the two cut pieces to the two legs on one side of the assembly, aligning them just on top of the square marks and with the ends of the boards flush with the sides of the legs. Repeat on the other side. Two screws at each connection will suffice. 

Now that the 49-inch sawhorse assembly is completed, we'll turn our attention to the 47-inch assembly. Because the 49-inch assembly will stack on top of the 47-inch unit, we'll need to construct this one a bit differently. Notice, in the image above, that the side stringers for this unit are on the inside of the legs, as opposed to the outside on the other sawhorse. Otherwise, this step is the same. Make a mark 10-inches up each of the four legs, on the inside this time. Square the mark using the Layout Square. Trim the two cutoffs you retained from the last side stringers to 47-inches in length. Attach them as shown in the image, paying attention to stay on the top of the pencil lines and with the ends of the boards flush with the sides of the legs.

To finish the second sawhorse, we'll use a similar technique to the one we used on the first sawhorse. Notice the position of the end stringers in the image above. Place a piece of 2x4 on top of both side stringers overlapping the legs at the ends. Use the legs to scribe cut marks on the end stringers. Cut the two boards to the lines, and attach them to the legs with 2 screws on each attachment point.