Beginner practical projects to build manly skills…

Due to limited space there’s only so much I can work on, but I made a nice bushcraft knife, and I’m enjoying looking around woods and hedgerows for suitable sticks to make walking sticks. There’s something very satisfying about making something that looks the way you want it to, and is actually useful. My left knee is getting rather painful these days, and having a good stick when walking where it’s muddy and slippery helps a great deal. I’ve just found what looks like the perfect branch on a yew tree to make an even better one than the one I’ve been slowly working on, just got to go and cut it this weekend, then let it dry for twelve months or so. 😀
They’re simple things, that require minimal tools and facilities, but easily worked on.

Countzero, do you not work it green?

I could have asked the same question myself, although more than my fair share of ineptitude generally prevents me from trying.

Not sure about power tools though, a nice big vice is what I would like. I need to build a wood store soon but have no concept of design (or where to get some pallets from).

Will watch this thread with interest.

This[/url] could be a useful and manly skill to learn (I’m assuming you don’t already know how to wrestle an alligator)

>Not sure I’ll get that purchase past the missus!<

I reckon your manliness is already holed below the waterline.

😉

A cheap way to build stuff without fear of wrecking your house.

I reckon the skill that would help me the most on my current house renovation and save me the most money would be to be able to plaster. How feasible is that to learn?

Nice smooth walls instead of crappy ones with stripped wall paper would be nice.

kayak23 – Member
Hi Stumpy01. I reckon the nearest centre offering similar to what we do is Moulton College. They’re a very good centre and we have good links with them.

Cheers. Yeah, it looks like they do part-time courses, but I can’t access the information page on either my phone or my work computer and I forgot to try last night at home; it looks like some kind of pop-up window that the ancient browser at work won’t cope with and my phone won’t play ball either.
It looks like it’s 45 miles from work and will then be about the same to get home; so perhaps do-able.
Shame there’s nowhere nearer though!

There are week-long courses for plastering all over the place, just takes practise to get good & able to do it quickly enough.
A friend did one so he could do bits of his Mum’s place, that was enough of a grounding to be competent enough to get acceptable (if not excellent) finishes.

My tip is build a rockery, as can be seen in my thread here:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-do-you-think-newbie-look-at-my-bike-content

Involved man handling huge rocks several times, even that giant beast in the middle, and driving a JCB, I don’t know if it gets any more manly than that for work in the garden, besides maybe having a fire………..

Insulate the inside of the outside walls with polystyrene backed plasterboard or wood, jfletch.

All done with a hand saw from Lidl.

The whole of my son’s room was done with tools costing about 70e: power drill, two screwdrivers, a saw, a 10e jig saw (which broke shortly after), a second-hand plane, a second-hand hammer, a wooden hammer, some chisels and a paint brush.

And looks like a massive fire hazard……….

Sorry to be a bore, but http://www.envirograf.com/category/coatings/index.html

All that pine too.. argh..!

You’re right and thanks for the link, core. The problem with fire retarders is that they are usually a health risk[/url]. Our homes are full of things with fire retarders that when you consider the risks objectively are greater than the risk of a fire.

It’s important to think through the potential causes of fire and how to evacuate. Smoke alarms and windows without locks that are easily climbed out of mean I’m not too worried. I hate visiting my in-laws where every external door or window requires a key that is usually hidden.

Edit: I have a wood fetish, Molgrips. You’ll note there is no radiator in the room, it doesn’t need heating. R3 floor, R3.5 walls, R7+ ceiling, triple glazing.

With decent (maind powered & interlinked) fire detection systems, and suitable escape windows it shouldn’t be too bad, but spread of flame over the surface would be fast, there are more ‘eco friendly’ building products coming into the market that use less nasty chemicals so there may be a product that doesn’t contain PBDEs…………

Wood is good

Edukator – So instead of nice clean smooth walls painted in a bright airy colour you are sugesting I live a log cabin out of the 70s?

Insulation is one thing but these things can go too far!

Mains powered fire detectors are a big no in France with differential breakers on every circuit, better to have a couple of battery powered ones. I stayed with friends in Arcachon over the summer and the coffee machine went up in flames in the kitchen. Both the circuit’s 30mA breaker and the 500mA breaker went cutting off power, and giving us an audible warning, at that point there wasn’t enough smoke to set off a smoke alarm in the main room.

The wood walls are some of the least inflammable things in that room which is now strew with paper. I could have painted the wood and might do if we fancy a change of colour, jfletch. I could also skim it with wood filler and then use a fiberglass renovation paper and paint.

Or use polystyrene backed plasterboard as I first suggested, it’ll give you a smooth surface you can paint any colour you want or paper, and insulate better than cavity wall filling ever will without humidity problems.

jfletch. I could also skim it with wood filler and then use a fiberglass renovation paper and paint.

Or use polystyrene backed plasterboard as I first suggested, it’ll give you a smooth surface you can paint any colour you want or paper, and insulate better than cavity wall filling ever will without humidity problems.

But even then I still need to skim the plaster board. Which doesn’t get me any closer to learning a new and useful man skill. I already know how to screw things to a wall. I don’t know how to make it all smooth and pretty. 😕

Plenty of vids on Youtube to help.

You really do have to work that fast with plaster. 😉