Frugal Sanding Jig

Here is a handy gadget to make life easier if you make toys and other stuff requiring you to sand many wheels at a time.

Whatjaneed:
Threaded rod as long as you need for about 4 x 19mm thickness wheels – I made a ¾’ threaded rod
3 nuts to match the rod
A couple of washers



Thread 2 nuts 25mm from one end of the rod.

Add a washer and feed the rod through your wheels. Add another washer and fasten the final nut.

Place the rod in your drill press and SET IT AT ITS SLOWEST RATE and carefully sand the wheels.



Enjoy,  Doc ;-)

Kenny gets a workout

Thought I’d give the Kenwood a workout by making some shortcrust pastry for a delicious apple and rhubarb pie.

I just pick the apples and rhubarb, Scarecrow grows them so check her blog site to find out how to grow rhubarb.

Anyhoo…

Whatjaneed
Pastry
1 cup plain flour
Pinch of salt
45g butter chopped
40g lard chopped
3 teaspoons caster sugar
45ml water

Bung everything except the water into the bowl and beat the mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.

Carefully add the water until the pastry looks like a dough.

On a lightly floured surface quickly create a flat ball, wrap in cling wrap and chuck it into the fridge for half an hour before you use it.



Whatjaneed
Apple and rhubarb
4 cooking apples sliced
Couple of stalks or rhubarb diced (optional)
2 cloves
4 tablespoons caster sugar



Layer apple and rhubarb and cloves with the sugar sprinkled over each layer.



Roll out the pastry flat you put in the fridge earlier. Make it thin enough to cover a 20cm pie tin/dish.

Cover the dish with the pastry.

Make a small hole in the top of the pastry to vent hot air.



Bake in a hot oven 220c for 30 minutes then 10 minutes on 180c or until nicely brown.



Serve with hot, runny custard.

Yummy, Doc ;-)

Frugal Massager

How easy is this?

Cut some scrap to form a handle and 2 wheels (I use 35mm pine for the wheels) and a piece of dowel.




Sand all edges. This can be done by hand, but I wanted to check out the ‘new’ router table.





Put it all together and apply a finish as desired.



Get your loved one to carefully roll the wheels over your aching muscles.

Aaaahhhh! Lovely

Regards, Doc ;-)

Frugal Router Table

Easy Router Table

I had an old table that I made a while back [check it out here] that I wanted to use as a small router table for my small router. I use a Triton Workcentre for my heavy, industrial unit and mainly wanted to use my smaller unit for rounding over the edges of the toys and puzzles I make.

This project had the potential to be as complicated or as easy as I wanted.

Being lazy as well as frugal, I stuck with the easy option!!!

Find the centre of the table and drill a clearance hole.



Flip the table over and measure and cut 2 strips of timber and attach the router to the underneath of the table.



Ensure the router bit has clearance around it.




Allow the amount of bit that you wish to use to stick up and voila…easy router table.



This is ideal for piloted and template routing but ensure you use appropriate safety equipment.

Regards, Doc ;-)

Best bartering

What a bargain!

Used to be in IT before semi-retired and still repair computers and supply tuition in exchange for things such as meat and straw from the local farmers, manure from the local abattoir and today, a Kenwood Chef Food Mixer.

Bartering at its best and easiest!!!



I gave it a going over and proceeded to give it a test drive by baking a coconut cake.

Me and the Kenwood are going to get on just fine.

Whatjaneed:
1¾ cup SR Flour
2 eggs
125g butter
1 cup castor sugar
½ cup of milk
2 tablespoons desiccated coconut

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and beat continuously for 5 minutes. This is where I am going to love this Kenwood!

Bake in a greased or papered bar tin or a round tin 35-45 minutes at 200 C (about 390f).

The picky shows the tiny bit of leftover cake. I wasn’t quick enough deciding to get a picture of the cake so it got eaten in the meantime LOL

Regards, Doc ;-)