DIY Life

There are many times when you need to drill a hole only so far -- and no deeper. Either it's a "break-through" issue, or you're doing some production holes that have to be the same equal depth. This is easy enough with a drill press fitted with a dial-in depth stop.

But what to do if you don't have a drill press, or just as bad, the workpiece won't fit in it? This can easily be the case with a tabletop drill press.

You just have to DIY. All you need is your hand-held drill, the proper drill bit, and a roll of tape: electrical tape, duct tape, or masking tape -- your choice.

Simply measure the depth of the desired hole from the tip of your drill bit, and make a couple of wraps of tape around the bit. When your drill bit is spinning, the tape will blur into a perfect line. All you have to do is drill slowly, and back off just as you approach it!

I find safety gates inexcusably ugly, so I don't use them. Just kidding: of course I use them! I curse their dreadful sight every time I pass, but I still use them.

With our older ones we had white plastic gates. These weren't just an eyesore, but were incredibly awkward to use. Now, we have wooden ones. They are much more convenient and attractive, but are hardly a compliment to interior design.

These homebrew safety gates might be just the answer, keeping your adventurous little ones safe without compromising your style. The design isn't available, but Joel lists the materials and method in his post comments. Looking through the pictures and reading the conversation following the post is probably all you need to reproduce this innovative safety gate.

If you're using the gates to keep animals to a designated area, these safety concerns don't apply, so you can build the basic design and enjoy your stylish gates. If you're using it to keep children off the stairs, you'll find the conversation in the comments about safety and the various solutions helpful.

It's hard to believe with all the trendy tot-type merchandise out there, nobody has developed a better baby gate. It just goes to show that if you want something done right, you'll have to do it yourself!

I've abandoned my office chair for a yoga ball. The hope is that I might get a little ab-action, while sitting around on the computer. For the most part, it's very comfortable, and it encourages better posture, which I could definitely use. Still, I find that over time I start to lose my balance and the ball becomes an awkward seat.

It looks like this balance chair might be just the right compromise for me. Essentially, it's working on the same principle, but designed to give you added balance when you need it. The best feature of all is that you can easily build one yourself.

Along with the recycled seat and back from an old office chair, you'll need 45x45mm wood x 2m and 45x65mm wood x 1m, wooden shims and a hinge. You could have rolling casters on the feet if you want to pivot and move around the office easily. Check out the full assembly instructions, and images to guide you through the simple construction process. The end results aren't widely adjustable, but as long as you're not sharing the seat with your entire household, it should work just fine.

If you ever make woodworking projects from store-bought plans, you know that to save space, the pieces are scaled down. For example, a curved chair arm has the right radius on paper but it's dollhouse size; no way you'll fit into it.

The perspective is preserved by using grid paper for the plans. The problem has always been finding a way to get that 1:10 scale to a 1:1 scale. One usual solution is to enlarge the plan on a copier or plotter and trace the project components onto your stock.

Thanks to this great tip, if you use a laser toner-type copier, you can make iron-on plan transfers. When you turn the copy over onto the wood, just use a hot dry iron on it. The toner will render a perfect image that you can now cut out with your jig saw or scroll saw.

One place where this technique is super-handy is when you're making a yard decoration that wants more than one sheet of plywood. Lay down the pieces, butt 'em up, iron on the plan, and the project will mate up just right!

There are many different wood joinery techniques such as tongue in groove, biscuits, dowels, etc. The more complex the joinery technique, the tighter the joining pieces of wood will interlock. In almost all cases, glue is used to further strengthen the joint.

The strength of the glued surface is dependent on the degree of contact on open grain surfaces. In many cases, it's easy enough to get a good spread because the surfaces are narrow. Just squiggle a bit of glue on both pieces, mate them, and that act will naturally distribute the glue evenly. Then just wipe off the squeeze-out.

But what if the pieces are wider? This is a bit more problematic. But a tip from Woodworker's Journal has come up with a very slick method to remedy the situation. Simply apply the glue in the typical snake pattern, and then use a threaded rod to roll it out to evenly coat the entire piece of stock evenly. Then mate, clamp it up, and let it dry.

Woodworking is one of my hobbies. I like to design my own projects rather than work from someone else's plans. Before my daughter was born I designed and built her crib. It turned into more work than I anticipated and I barely finished it in time. The picture here is a two drawer box I made out of poplar (sides, top, bottom), zebrawood (drawer faces), and rosewood (drawer handles).

But over the course of time I've picked up some pretty nice tricks. Like making my own wood putty. It amazes me when people buy putty when finishing their projects. There are a lot of colors on the shelf out there, but they're just close matches.

Here's what to do; when you're finish-sanding the project, or cutting the pieces initially, save the sawdust. Then when you get to putty time, use a putty knife to make a stiff mixture with sawdust and Elmer's white glue. The glue dries clear, gives your project a bit more strength, and all you see is matching wood color. Do the final sanding and the joints are virtually invisible. And it costs only pennies!

Every once in a while, a really neat digital clock comes along that makes us gaze over those red LED segments as if they were magical lights or something. Nothing beats the age-old LED clock by encasing it in solid wood and shining that ever-so-scarce time directly through it, right?

If you're handy with a drill press and have extreme precision when it comes to using it, this clock project is right up your alley. Now, you'll need some electronics expertise and quite a few red (or any color) LEDs to fit in quite a few holes that you'll be drilling into one of the wood planks used in this clock. If you have the patience, time and skills, though, this makes an excellent clock and would be perfect for ringing in the new year next Monday night.

So, round up some glue, sandpaper, some LEDs of multiple colors and some standard DIY tools and you'll be off and running. Hint: to geek out even further, this "clock" can even be used to play retro video games ala Atari 2600.

Say bye-bye to your boring, cookie-cutter front yard. Step one: add interest, diversity and texture with thoughtful landscaping. Step two: spice things up a bit (and express yourself too) with some fun yard art. Yes, you can buy yard art at hardware stores and plant nurseries. You can even buy high-priced yard art that is manufactured to look all rough-hewn and rustic, just like it was -- er -- homemade.

Suggestion: instead of parting with your precious cash, devote an afternoon this weekend to creating your very own yard art. I stumbled upon some terrific resources while surfing the Web today, in particular a site called Free Woodworking Plans. Here you'll find a bunch of easy DIY yard art ideas, complete with full instructions and patterns you can print out and trace onto whatever surface you're using.

Dust is a major problem in my shop and most home wood shops. My tiny shop has more dust than projects in it. Not only does my enormous "portable" wet/dry vac suck at sucking and is even worse at filtering, it's a major roadblock to sweeping up at the end of the day. I've long dreamed of buying one of those big suck-your-brains-out dust vacuums that they sell at tool centers. However, even those have bags for filters and I never liked the way the old household bag vacuums would billow dust every time you turned it on. I imagined that the big monsters probably did the same thing only more. That can't be good for the lungs!

Enter Bill Pentz, woodworker, geek, and DIYer extraordinaire. Bill designed and built his own dust collection system that out performs just about everything on the market. His system really sucks!!

Most manufactured dust collection systems available to the home woodworker provide miserably low air volume and static pressure. According to Bill, none of the dust collection systems available in retail outlets provide even half of the air flow necessary to actually keep the dust from escaping large tools like your table saw, planer, jointer, or router table. The dust that does get swallowed up is often just spit back out into the air. Many of the filters don't actually filter the size of particles they advertise. Of course, we all could have guessed that much of marketing departments! In addition, course sawdust and the inevitable chunks of debrit damage even the best cartridge filters. A cyclone seperator like Bill's keeps all but the tiniest particles from getting to the filter allowing it to last indefinitely.

Here's a quick DIY fix to get your deposit back when you move out of wood floored rental property or if you've invited everyone and their cousins over for a big party and realized that your wood floors look like ...well, you know. I came up with and have used this technique upon moving out of our last two rentals with great success. With this low cost, quick and genuine method, there'll be no need to completely refinish a gently worn wood floor by sanding and applying several coats finish just to get your money back (which would probably cost as much or more than your damage deposit in the first place).

All you need for this project is a small can of clear polyurethane (I prefer semi-gloss, but gloss could be appropriate too), a pair or two of nitrile gloves (I keep them stocked in the kitchen for handling meats), some clean smooth rags (that you will throw away), and your favorite mop (with a clean head). keeping a can of mineral spirits on hand is a good idea but hopefully you won't have to use it. A quart of polyurethane should be more than enough to do a two bedroom apartment with wood floors throughout.

Anyone who's ever been in the unfortunate position of having to plan a funeral knows that funerals are shockingly expensive, and that the coffin itself can be a large part of the cost. But if your wood shop skills are decent, it's totally possible to build your own coffin, to be used when necessary (even if "when necessary" means "at your next Halloween party").

Aside from that, there are some people out there -- who know who they are -- who think that coffins make smashing home decor. This kind of undertaking would be perfect for them as well. I realize that some of our readers will find this morbid: sorry about that. (Sunshine and kittens to resume soon!) Everyone else will find more details after the break.

When my father hears, "Woodworking project," he comes a-running, so I am lucky to have all the soap molds a girl could ever ask for. But if you love to make cold processed soaps and haven't figured out a good mold, you may want to try to build one yourself.

North Country Mercantile posts their ideas for making wooden soap molds, which are very similar to the ones my dad makes for me.

Need more details than North Mercantile gives? Try the directions for a Mitre Box soap mold at About, or RJ's instructions for making wooden soap molds.

The best thing about making your own molds? You can make them any size you'd like, based on the size bars you'd like to produce. North Country lines theirs with plastic wrap, I use plastic grocery bags (reduce, reuse, recycle, don't you know) but either one will keep your soap from sticking to the wooden mold.

For a small investment in lumber, you'll reap huge rewards when you use your completely customized wooden soap molds, made by you.

If you are a skilled chess or checkers player than you are probably careful and thorough enough to master this project. Or, maybe you are a hobby woodworker and your planning that perfect gift for a chess loving friend. Whatever the case, if you are looking to build an heirloom quality all-wood chess or checker board than this tutorial is all you'll need. Alex Franke walks you through step by step with loads of tips and pictures along the way.

This is not a hack, but a real piece of art, and you'd never guess by looking at the board that it could have been pulled together with quality scraps of leftover wood. If anybody tries this project, let us know how it goes.

Yesterday, I wrote about a great website that will help you figure out which glue is the best one you can use for a particular job. In the comments, a reader associated with home expert Danny Lipford's site noted that they'd also just posted a useful guide to glue, and because our readers are awesome, I thought the article deserved its own post.

Jerri Farris's article isn't a substitute for ThisToThat.com, and it doesn't really cover glues that would be used for most craft projects, only those you're likely to use in home construction and improvement. It doesn't go into great detail about the differences between specific brands of glue, either, or the differences in the chemical compositions of some of the glues it discusses. ("Instant Glue" may be a retail category and general name, but last time I checked, its formal name was cyanoacrylate glue. It's an acrylic resin. Leaving out this info makes an article user-friendly, but disappoints us geeky types.)

However, if you've ever wondered about the difference between two-part epoxy and contact cement, or where it might be appropriate to use Gorilla Glue, Farris's article is a helpful read. You'll learn to take care of your glue supply, and you'll never again try to use wood glue where you should be using Liquid Nails.

Welcome to day nineteen of Toolstravaganza, our 30-day giveaway of tools of all shapes and sizes. Today's prize is a simple bench vise, made of heavy-duty cast iron. The jaw width is 9" and the capacity is 10 1/4". This vise features sliding dogs for securing long workpieces to the bench. And while the vise will grip something tightly, the quick release gets you back to work in a jiffy.

To enter to win today's prize just leave a comment on this post. Be sure to check your email and validate the comment so it appears. Entry period is 5AM-11:59PM EST on August 4th. Full rules after the jump and on our Toolstravaganza contest page.