UPCYCLING DESIGN CHALLENGE hall tree

 

 

Last week I worked on my top secret entry for the local

 

 

In honour of Earth Day, the Township of Langley and the Langley Arts Council are hosting an

  Upcycling Design Challenge. Langley residents are invited to submit an original and creative

piece made from found or recovered materials. Upcycling’ involves taking waste material that would

 otherwise end up in our landfills and turning it into something more valuable. The Upcycling Design

 Challenge aims to remind people that, with a little creativity, what was old can be new again—

perhaps even better than it once was!

This is my entry ......

 

 

This *Curbside to Coatrack* creation includes over 9 different pieces

from various discarded furniture items.

 

 

Can you tell me what items you can see?

Lets have some fun and I want to

see how far out of the box I have you guys really thinking.

Leave your guess in the comments below, send me an email, or even

write me over on the facebook page.

 

Click each photo below for a larger view.

 

 

  

 

 

 

The answers can be found here:

http://blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-cheque-is-in-mail-bedroom-hanger.html

 

 

Read More..

DIY Folding Sawhorses First Design

Sawhorses, every shop needs them, everyone probably needs another set. I know I do but I wanted something different, something that was easy to store, not to heavy, very sturdy, and all one piece. I have been wanting a set like these for a while and I have looked on the internet for different plans and different designs but I could never find anything I really liked.
(The following is a little story leading up to these sawhorses, feel free to skip down a bit)
Here recently I was working with my cousin who owns a construction company and he has an enclosed trailer that he hauls his tools around in. He also just recently had to let an employee of 6 years go due partly to the economy and partly to performance. One thing about the past employee is keeping things neat and organized (or so my cousin claims, but he doesnt have much room to talk). Anyways, the enclosed trailer is about a 14x8 I would guess and is full of tools, nails, hoses, chords and a bunch of other stuff that has no business being in there or either needs to be thrown out. One thing is a set crappy saw horses that are beyond their prime and are just thrown in on top of everything else. This situation got me thinking I need to give him a set of folding saw horses.
So with the sawhorses on my mind I was watching a video of a fellow woodworkers on Lumberjocks, where he was building a computer table out of plywood which somehow made a light bulb go on in my head.
The problem with alot of lightweight sawhorses is that they wobble, I hate when they wobble. So I thought I could make the legs on each side out of one piece of plywood that way they would not wobble. Then I got on Google Sketchup and came up with these versatile folding sawhorses.
Click on any image to make it larger.I have only built the one so far but its great. It took some time to work a few kinks out but here they are. They arent very heavy and you could easily carry two at one time, I think the leg frames could be made a bit narrower without any problem which would make them even lighter.
One thing I wanted which I have seen on a few other horses is a replaceable top board because they get cut up so easily after a while. You can also have different boards for different applications like a large clamping surface or a panel cutting jig.
They fold up nicely and are only about 4" wide. All you have to do is lift them up and they close right up, no block or pin to remove. They set up easily, just set them on the ground and ease out one leg and thats it.
They arent very complicated, just some plywood, hinges, and some rope.
I hope other people like them as much as I do. If people find it difficult to copy them then I would be happy to redraw them up in Sketchup or even make a video on them. So let me know what you think, feel free to comment!

Read More..