Our very own East Linton Tool Library volunteer, Chris Chapman, has been making the most of our wide array of tools over the last couple of months.
Many thanks to Chris for this post....
Outdoor Log Shed
Lots of work for the Compound Mitre Saw (165): turning reclaimed fence posts and planks into an outdoor log store.
More than 75 planks means more than 150 cuts to get everything the right length - a nightmare if done by hand, but all completed in a morning with the right saw. Pilot holes were drilled into the soft wood using a Cordless Drill (39) that made working outside easy, and then everything screwed together with a Cordless Impact Driver (290) (electric screwdriver). All cut and put together in a single day, a couple of hours of which was painting it to be able to survive the winter!
Bespoke Fitted Bookshelves
Stage one: stripping off masses of nasty old textured wallpaper, using the Wallpaper Stripper(239) and Stripping Knife (131).
Stage two (after getting someone in to re-skim the walls with plaster): adding framing to the wall to form the backbone of the shelves. Measuring up with the Laser Distance Metre (139), then cutting lots of 2x4 to the right lengths with the big Compound Mitre Saw (165). That saw was the workhorse of the project, as there were a lot of cuts to be made!
Stage three: taking down all the timber back off the wall again, and then using the Rafter Square (14) to make sure it’s actually all at right angles to each other, which turns out to be super important and hard when your house is all wonky.
Stage four: Table Saw (164) and Circular Saw (150) making short work of massive plywood sheets to make the panels that form the carcasses of the bookcase. Thick thermal insulation gets added behind the sheets to minimise heat loss through the cold solid stone walls.
Stage five: jointing together nice oak planks to make shelves deep enough to be useful. Using the older Doweling Jig (147) to begin with, then the slightly easier to use Doweling Jig (289), to drill holes into the edges of the planks for dowels. Then lots of wood glue, and all the clamps the library had to offer, to hold the planks together while the glue dried. Finally the Orbit Sander (45) then gets used to smooth out any remaining seams until you can’t tell where one plank ends and the other begins.
Base shelf (prior to sanding so the seams are still visible)
Stage six: add lighting, hide the exposed plywood edges with decorative trim, and then prime everything.
Stage seven: oil all the shelves, paint all the carcasses, and finally assemble everything!
The two cabinets and lighting were all sourced from Ikea. The only other tools needed to make this happen were the basics: a power drill, handsaw, chisels, hand-plane, and an electric screwdriver; all of which are available in the library. Professionals were brought in to re-plaster the room, and to fit the power sockets, but the rest was all tackled with amateur skills and Tool Library tools. Hopefully this serves to show that big projects are possible, and don’t need professional skills or fancy tools.
Comments