There are many ways to cut circles, but if the circles you want are larger than you can cut with a hole saw, you need to make other tools either go around a centre point, or make your wood follow a centre point.With a band saw the easiest is to clamp a piece of plywood to the saw table with a...
One of the great power tools for kids to work with are the rotary tools, like Wizard or Dremel. You can get vices that will hold the motor fixed, allowing you to either bring the project to the tool, or attach a flexible shaft. The flexible shaft is even easier for a kid to handle than the tool...
Some things that are glued can slip with time, especially if they are glued with contact cement or similar adhesives. This can apply to trim on the edges of doors and counters as well as some self-adhesive floor tiles. In fact when something glued slips with time; it is probably an indication t...
When you need to clamp strange shapes that don't let you use large heavy clamps you need something that you can wrap around and tighten up. Just using tape or string won't put even pressure on the glue joints.The first photo shows a web clamp, made out of canvas with a ratchet mechanism. Cor...
For some people, it is a mystery how to measure out the hole you need to cut in a carpet for the spindles or balusters on a stairway. Actually the key is to not measure at all. I recommend that you first practice with a piece of paper. Of course the real rug will be harder to deal with, be...
Laying out one large piece of sheet flooring to fit into a room that is not square is not always easy. I like to first find the wall that is the straightest, or the one that will be the most visible if there is a pattern on the flooring that will look crooked against an odd angled wall. Tha...
One viewer asked how to bend the wood for garden arches. The reality is that most walkway arches are not bent wood, but wood glued together and cut out to the curve. But you can bend wood.If you really want to bend thick pieces of wood, that is usually done by steaming it first. You could t...
When the mortar on your brick is breaking up a bit, or scaling off, you cannot simply put a skim coat of new mortar over the old, it will not hold. If someone has done that before on your house you know it doesn't hold, that is why you are redoing the job now.Mortar sticks to the brick, not t...
As with most trades, when a tradesperson lays a brick, it looks so easy, and when you (or I ) try it, it doesn't work so easily. So I went to the trades training section of George Brown College in Toronto, Ontario to pick up some of those little tricks that make it all so easy.First trick I l...
Here are two quick tips for moving heavy furniture by yourself without scratching the floor.You can tip a chair or sofa back and slide a rug under, tip it forward and finish unrolling the rug. That puts all four feet on the rug. Then you can simply pull it to where you want with ease and withou...
