| April 2009 |
Workshop reborn |
| Remaking a cluttered work area into a showpiece with metal pegboard, a heavy-duty workbench and rolling tool storage. |
When I first set up my basement workshop nearly 15 years ago, I didn’t have much time or money to invest, so I just banged together a workbench out of beams and plywood and mounted a sheet of... |more| |
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The Backyard Blacksmith |
| Men have been heating and hammering metal for 10 000 years. We figured it was high time we, too, learned how. |
If you want to work with metal, there’s one thing you have to confront: you need heat. With it, you can make the toughest metal submit to your will. Without it, you’ll never gain full mastery over... |more| |
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| March 2009 |
Homeowner's clinic |
| Of leaning sheds; entrance overhangs and sliding cupboards |
Making an entrance
Q Our house has no overhang or protection from the weather at the front door. We want to add a covered entry area. Can you offer some... |more| |
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| February 2009 |
Tough box |
| Give your tools a strong, sturdy home worthy of the work they do. |
Toolboxes these days look less and less like boxes. They’re bags, usually. You might go so far as to call them tool purses. No matter how tough the ballistic nylon, a sack just... |more| |
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The joy of welding |
| Laying the perfect bead is a delicate art. Master the craft and ordinary mild steel becomes a blank canvas for invention. |
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And around our Saturday Mechanic shop, beauty often takes the form of a perfectly laid welding bead - one that looks like a tall stack of coins laid on its... |more| |
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DIY Home Q&A |
| Concrete decisions and bouncy floors. |
Concrete decision Q My friends had a concrete counter installed in their new kitchen. I really like how it looks and was considering making one myself. It doesn’t... |more| |
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| January 2009 |
20 Minute solutions |
| Here are 20 quick fixes, easy upgrades and instant organisers that you can bang out before lunch. Grab your toolbox – and stopwatch – and get started |
Quick fixes
* Straighten sagging shelves
It seems every bookcase has a shelf sagging under the weight of too many volumes. A permanently bowed shelf is not only unattractive,... |more| |
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| December 2008 |
Hot seat |
| A small bench over an enclosed shelf makes a stylish seat with storage. |
I admit that I wasn’t really paying attention when my wife said, “Oh, I love this little bench. Wouldn’t it look great in our foyer or a child’s room?” She was looking at one of those furniture... |more| |
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| November 2008 |
Modern mystic |
| Stellenbosch swordsmith Marius Titus rediscovers a forgotten art - and gives purism a good name. |
On a quest to understand the finer points of ancient swordmaking technology, swordsmith Marius Titus goes to extraordinary lengths. Like the craftsmen of yore, he sweats over a crude forge,... |more| |
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Spacesaver - fold up tables |
| For much of the year, South Africa’s climate is ideal for outdoor entertaining: on the patio, in the garden or at a picnic site. Fold-up chairs are commonplace - what about fold-up tables to go with them? |
The simple yet elegant table featured in this article is equally at home as an extra side table in a formal lounge as it is in the garden. It folds up flat, so it doesn’t take up a lot of room... |more| |
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