Around the Nail

18 tips: how to drive nails the right way

It would seem that driving a nail is about as simple as it gets. Still, even this seemingly straightforward operation requires a calculated approach and some experience. 1. Long nails are best driven with a 400—500 g hammer, and small ones with a hammer weighing up to 250 g. 2. To find nails driven deep Read more…

A ‘Hair Dryer’ for Welding

DIY hot-air gun for plastic welding at home

I offer home craftsmen (and not only them) a tool for welding plastics. However, it can also be used for a wide range of technical creativity tasks — for example, to blow solder off dismantled electronic boards. After all, the temperature of the air coming out of the nozzle tube will reach 300°C, and it Read more…

A Test for the House

Plot layout rules and dwelling house requirements

On his own land, the owner erected a two-storey shell of a “Canadian” house on a strip foundation. The adjacent plot had long been for sale. At last it found a new owner, who invited a surveyor for an accurate layout of the plot. During that procedure it turned out that the neighbour had built Read more…

Country House, Comfortable

DIY garden swing chair and round side table

We continue to introduce our readers — owners of garden and country plots — to nontraditional designs of cottage furniture published in the Polish magazine “Zrób sam”. SWING CHAIR There is probably no one who does not like a swing. However, while a rope and a piece of board are quite enough for children’s swings, Read more…

Sleds — ‘All-Terrain Vehicles’

DIY kids sled with a single wide runner

If you recall that cross-country racing skis are designed mainly for travel on a prepared track, while wide hunting skis handle any snow, it becomes clear how the proposed homemade sled design differs substantially from store-bought ones: above all, it does not require packed snow slopes. Even the fairly popular three-ski snow scooters “Chuck and Read more…

Bicycle Drive Without ‘Dead Spots’

Hinged-spring bicycle drive without pedal dead zones

Improving drive efficiency is a problem that concerns not only bicycle designers, but also the owners of these machines. Since the invention of the bicycle, the pedal drive has been brought, one might say, to perfection. Increasing its efficiency without complicating the mechanism is hardly possible. On sports and touring bicycles, for example, multi-speed transmissions Read more…

A ‘Mittens’ for a Shovel

DIY sheath for a Fiskars shovel blade

The times of treasure hunters are back. “Black” and “green” searchers look for artifacts of past eras, dedicating all their free time to this pursuit. All in the hope of finding a coin hoard or a weapons cache. One cannot condemn them — times are hard. Better, if possible, to help. One of the main Read more…

Wall Unit–Shelving

DIY modular wall shelving for home and cottage

When furnishing a country house — whether a small garden cottage or a solidly built dacha — many people bring there the furniture that has outlived its usefulness in a city apartment. And most often this makes the whole setting mismatched, bulky, and at odds with the idea of a place for rest. Meanwhile, it Read more…

And the Job Will Go Faster

Homemade universal workshop machine from an old table

This machine can indeed be made from an old table, and it really is a whole workshop: our reader, engineer B. Popov, who built it, provided for interchangeable working tools — here you will find a circular saw (1), a grinding stone (4), a planer rotor (3), and even a lathe setup (2). Replacing hand Read more…

Camper for Two

DIY enclosed camper trailer from VAZ-2104 bodies

A universal trailer for a passenger car. My wife and I often go on short trips in our car — sometimes fishing at a lake, sometimes into the woods for mushrooms. And on these trips we always lacked a trailer, a kind of compact camper where we could sleep peacefully and have a snack regardless Read more…