Woodworking Tips & Ideas

The making of a chicken coop

I was asked by a friend to make a chicken coop for a Christmas present for his wife; I enthusiastically accepted the challenge and then realised how little I knew about chickens.

I needed to do some research before I could progress so I used the Internet to find some great sites about coops of all shapes and sizes and draw some ideas from for the project.

Commissioning a bench plane

Whilst serving in the RAF many years ago I used to be in charge of the woodwork club on a particular station I was serving at.

The job consisted of several responsibilities one which was holding the inventory of tools, many of which were hand tools and all were of good quality, when the station closed due to cut backs I had cause to return the tools to stores only to be told by the store-man that they were what was termed 'c class stores' therefore consumable items and would be disposed of after use.

How to whittle a caricature cowboy

My first attempt at carving began at secondary school and was a somewhat short lived experience for although I enjoyed the little I learned of the process I soon lost interest when on taking my proud creation home at the end of term it was generally agreed by all my family that what was supposed to be a short eared owl looked more like a cat than a bird of prey.