Innehållsförteckning för No 088 January-February 2020 från The Shed

Like nearly every farmer in New Zealand, Colin’s father Hector kept a diary. “He wrote only one line per day in a foolscap page dairy, hence there was not much detail,” says Colin. On 1 November 1938 Hector wrote: Wet night, went to town [Oamaru] and got 3 drums petrol & 4 kerosene, took Sole Bros elephant to town. The story of Dad and the elephant in the Chevy was one that Colin was fascinated by as a child. As he tells the tale: “Dad was driving the green 1934 Chev truck with seven empty 44-gallon drums on when he was stopped by the Sole Bros circus people, somewhere between Georgetown and Peebles. “Their truck, which was carting the elephant, had broken down and they needed to get the elephant…

The second Auckland Blade Show was held on the weekend of 12–13 October at the Parnell Community Centre and it was very well attended. There were just on 30 exhibitors from all over New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. Apart from knife displays, there were also stands selling a wide array of all knife-making materials, such as wood, steel, and leather, plus tools and dedicated knife-making belt grinders. Several makers were also offering knife-making classes. The standard of knives displayed this year was very high, and that certainly bodes well for knife-making and collecting in New Zealand. Door prizes were donated by Matt James, Colin Nicol, and Willie van Niekerk. Plans are already underway for next year’s show — stay tuned for details. For any further information, contact Brent Sandow on…

If necessity is the mother of invention, then high costs are her offspring. So when Des Thomson got a quote for $900 for vacuum moulding a shower base for a camper van he was building — even though he had already made all the necessary moulds — he declined and ultimately did it himself for $50. And that included setting up the necessary workstation from which he could make anything else that caught his eye. The result was a shower base that was not only as good as the one he avoided paying $900 for but also now reproducible for the equivalent of small change. And given that he is helping his local Menzshed build even more camper vans, he has saved a considerable amount of money in the long…

Aluminium alloys are used in so many different applications in our modern world, from motorbike frames and boats, big and small, to super yachts. The list is endless. So when it comes to building, manufacturing, and repairs, welding is often the best solution. Most aluminium alloys are weldable, but it is important to understand the special aspects and quirks of working and welding aluminium and to figure out the best welding technique. Clean it Easily the most overlooked problem in welding aluminium is not having a clean welding preparation. So first up, cleanliness is of the utmost importance. When faced with repairs in the shed or workshop, you will find that aluminium that is old, dirty, or with an oxidized surface will need to be cleaned. Clean it up so…

Albert used three 1300 car bodies: two to cut up for parts and one as the main car. He acquired the second motor 20 years ago and has been saving parts since then. He has seven engine blocks piled up that he salvaged for parts. A lot of the bits, especially linkages, he made himself. His metal lathe handled a lot of the work and he has gas and stick welders, a sand blaster, and a grinder. He mainly does stick welding. “I brought myself a TIG welder but TIG welding requires a steady hand and the onset of early Parkinson’s makes that a bit shaky,” he explains. “I stuck to the old-style arc welding with a rod for the big stuff and used oxyacetylene for the smaller jobs, including…

There are two phases for each team’s turn: Team A throws the six sticks, from their baseline, at their opponent’s lined-up kubbs (called ‘baseline kubbs’). Throws must be underhanded, and the sticks must spin end over end. Throwing sticks sideways or spinning them side-to-side is not allowed. Kubbs that are successfully knocked down are then thrown by Team B onto Team A’s half of the pitch and stood on end. These newly thrown kubbs are called ‘field kubbs’. Play then changes hands, and Team B throws the sticks at Team A’s kubbs but must first knock down any standing field kubbs. (Field kubbs that right themselves due to the momentum of the impact are considered knocked down.) Again, kubbs that are knocked down are thrown back over onto the opposite…

My niece Kathy is a Lord of the Rings (LOTR) tragic. She loves the books, films, and everything associated with LOTR. She has been a fan for decades, so much so she has converted a room in her Wellington house into a fan museum, showing off all the costumes, memorabilia, and stuff that she has collected over the years. She advertises it on social media and has a regular stream of visitors, all equally in thrall to the one ring. Among the stuff in her fan museum is a large collection of costumes, which her visitors love to put on, grasp a sword or a bow, roleplay their favourite story characters, and take selfies. The costumes are quite heavy, and she has gone through three racks that all collapsed under…

Best of The Shed Featuring 18 of the best projects from the last 10 years, The Best of The Shed includes all of our most popular projects. With step-by-step instructions, the 176-page book will take you through a variety of projects, including a pizza oven, a trailer, a rocking horse, and a knife. How to Weld Learn how to weld with this best-selling book on the subject. Suitable for beginners through to experienced welders, this 207-page book will help you to transform ordinary steel into a blank canvas for invention. Professional Sheet Metal Fabrication The most detailed sheet-metal book available, this 304-page paperback includes clear instructions on a variety of subjects — including directions for using pneumatic hammers, an English wheel, and more. Learn how to form door seams and…

Having a big shed is a start when you want to restore large farm vehicles, says Colin. But being prepared to spend all the time needed to complete the project is essential. Colin estimates that it takes him about two-and-a-half years to complete each tractor restoration and this is usually spread out over five years. His most useful tools are his collection of socket sets. He has several of these, each in a different size. The ones he gets most use out of are Whitworth, Standard American Engineers (SAE), National Course (NC), and National Fine (NF). Each has a standard size, and some refer to the thread sizes and diameter of the nut or bolt it is to be used for. The old ones are referred to in Imperial measures…

Vacuums are used extensively, and not just for manufacture. The printing industry uses them in conjunction with a very bright Xenon bulb to create printing plates for presses, the food industry uses them to seal meat prior to export, while the automobile industry uses them to manufacture complex shapes such as front ends and bumpers. If you look around your workshop, all the tools with a formed shape will have been vacuum moulded — an indicator of the strength of vacuum-moulded items. Closer to home, a vacuum can be used when gluing complex shapes by placing the item in a plastic bag that covers the same sort of frame described in this article. By removing all the air, the bag and vacuum provide a consistent pressure across the item while…

Kubb is a lawn game where the object is to knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Kubb (the vowel is pronounced similar to the ‘oo’ in ‘boob’) means ‘wooden block’ in Gutnish, a Swedish dialect. Kubb can be quickly described as a combination of bowling, horseshoes, and chess. Today’s version originated on Gotland island in the kingdom of Sweden. A kubb game consists of One King Ten kubbs Six round wooden batons Four pegs to mark out the field plus/minus two for the halfway line…

The aroma of wood smoke mingled with that of garlic, toasted cheese, tomatoes, and basil … a glass of wine and the company of good friends. What could possibly be better? When we originally published an article on how to make your own pizza oven, Shed readers enthusiastically took up the challenge. Several years later I wrote an update of that feature sharing the tweaks I’d made to the design and building process to make it easier after learning a few lessons building many pizza ovens for others. I have used some alternative materials that became available but the overall shape and design of the actual oven have not changed, just the way it is put together. We’ve had so many requests for the article that updated the original design…

Colin was born in 1940 and raised on the family’s sheep and cropping farm near Duntroon in North Otago. He and his brother Neville bought the neighbouring property in 1964 and farmed it in conjunction with the original property. When Colin married Catherine Peart in 1967 they lived in a house on the partnership farm for three years. “Then, later in 1967, just before the government-backed Lower Waitaki Irrigation Scheme was voted in, we bought a farm at Papakaio, at the Oamaru end of the Waitaki Valley,” says Colin. “Papakaio was a wealthy farming community of long-established families who made us welcome. We raised four children there: Anne; Karen; James; and John, who died at age 16 as a result of a motorbike accident. “The irrigation scheme meant more grass…

Sheddies don’t usually think of bandsaws as being particularly dangerous compared with table saws, or even notice the dust and noise, but in some industries where cutting speed is paramount, such as in freezing works, they have regularly caused serious injuries. Auckland bandsaw manufacturer Guardian Bandsaw’s solution was to make a saw that stops within milliseconds if the operator’s fingers get too close to the blade. The worker wears blue gloves and if the high-speed vision detection system sees blue near the blade, brakes are engaged, and the blade is halted, saving the person’s fingers. Kiwi made Guardian Bandsaw is an offshoot of the privately owned KanDO Innovation, which was established 12 years ago by ex-employees of a government organization researching the manufacture mussel-opening machines. Most parts of the stainless-steel…

Energy feedback I have to take issue with some points in Jude Woodside’s article in the November/December issue of The Shed. The first is that he claims road user charges on a car are now “$0.72 per kilometre”. This is incorrect by a factor of 10. It is $0.072 per kilometre, or 7.2 cents, up from 6.8 cents earlier in the year. Like for like, and with the much lower price of diesel, there is generally an overall cost advantage to using diesel, but it does favour larger and heavier vehicles rather than the very economical small diesel cars. The second is that electric cars and hybrids will not tow trailers. Many hybrids will do so — the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, for example, has the same rated towing capacity as…

Smootharc MIG 181 tackles aluminium The Smootharc 181 designed for light to medium industrial and maintenance jobs, offers the pulsing function needed for welding aluminium and thinner material. Get the Smootharc MIG 181 online at boc.co.nz or from your local BOC Gas & Gear for $988.69 incl. GST until 29 February or while stocks last For more information and to arrange a free demonstration contact a BOC Gas & Gear or BOC sales representative. Offer price does not include delivery charges. High time for high shine The world-famous Autosol Metal Polish is available in an easy-to-use liquid formulation. It’s perfect for cleaning and protecting all metal surfaces on cars, boats, bikes, and around the home. It removes corrosion, tarnishing, and discolouration, and it’s simple to apply. Autosol Metal Polish is…

The second engine is a 1300 GT that was also used in the Mini Cooper S. It varies from the standard 1300 engine in that it has twin SU carbs, high-compression pistons, lighter timing gears and con rods, and bigger inlet valves. “That front GT engine has 7hp [5kW] more than the standard 1300 engine in the rear, not that it makes a lot of difference in this machine,” Albert says. “When the 1300 GT car came out, it was a bit different — as well as the quick motor it had racing stripes, different wheels, and twin horns.” Albert overhauled both engines and gearboxes before starting the operation. “It’s not cheap to run the car. With both engines going it probably gets about 15 miles per gallon (19L/100km), same…

ALL-GRAIN RECIPE • 5.5kg New Zealand pilsner • 400g Carapils • Grains mashed at 62°C for 60min • 60 minutes’ boil with hop additions as follows: • 25g Green Bullet (60min) • 15g Green Bullet (15min) • 20g Green Bullet (10min) • 35g Riwaka dry hopped on day five for four days • Lallemand BRY-97 ale yeast EXTRACT RECIPE • Black Rock Lager beer kit • Black Rock Unhopped Blonde Malt • Lallemand BRY-97 ale yeast • 30g Green Bullet hops in a coffee plunger with boiling water for 15min and added before pitching yeast • 35g Riwaka hops dry hopped on day five for four days • Ferment at 18°C…

Kubb is typically played on a rectangular pitch approximately 5x8m. Although there are no official rules as to the size of the field, the dimensions can be altered for younger players or to accommodate faster games. Typically the pitch is grass, but kubb could also be played on sand, snow, or dirt. The pitch should always be level, with no more than a three-inch (8cm) drop from one end — or one side — to the other. Stakes are driven into the ground at the corners of the pitch. Two other markers may be used to demarcate the centre line. The narrow ends are called ‘baselines’. It is worth noting that in serious play, or in games where the players are skilled, or where there is betting involved, the use…

Mike Hobson is a bit of a legend in the lower North Island. For 32 years he has been rebuilding, regrinding, re-boring, and repowering engines for classic cars, motorbikes, and less classic makes throughout the area and beyond. His impressive shed contains everything he needs to perform any kind of precision surgery and there can’t be many things he can’t do or hasn’t done to an engine. Mike started his working life as a mechanic’s apprentice but soon tired of general mechanical work. When he was offered a job at the local engine reconditioner he leapt at the chance. “I spent a year just dismantling engines before they let me near the machinery,” he says. But he soon developed his skills working the machines to the point where he decided…

Riki Adamu used a machete to fashion his first ukulele out of a coconut shell as a 12-year-old boy growing up on a remote atoll in the northern Cook Islands. Making do with anything he could find on Rakahanga, the resourceful young instrument maker used birchwood sap for glue, cut nails in half with a hacksaw blade to make frets, sanded it down on raw concrete, and strung his ukarere (in Cook Islands Māori) with fishing line. Four decades on, and the finely crafted instruments made by Riki and now his son, Mahutaariki, grace the shelves of musical establishments such as New Zealand’s Rockshop, as well as being sought after by tourists and locals alike at Rarotonga’s Punanga Nui market. A career move A few years after making his original…

Visit www.menzshed.nz or email: secretary@menzshed.nz MENZSHED KAITAIA INC John Richardson 09 408 0042 cadfael@xtra.co.nz KERIKERI MEN’S SHED Wade Rowsell 09 407 8263 kkmensshed@outlook.co.nz WHANGAREI COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED Jeff Griggs 09 435 1759 chairman@mensshed.co.nz DARGAVILLE MENZ SHED Paul Witten 09 974 7685 or 0274 593098 pdub351@gmail.com MENZSHED WAIPU INC Gordon Walker 027 493 4030 menzshedwaipu@gmail.com HIBISCUS MENS SHED TRUST Maurice Browning 021 799414 hibiscusshed@outlook.com MEN’S SHED NORTH SHORE Larry Klassen 09 442 2145 or 021 311036 admin@mensshednorthshore.org.nz WAIHEKE COMMUNITY SHED John Meeuwsen 021 2424925 john.meeuwsen39@gmail.com DEVONPORT CLAY STORE COMMUNITY WORKSHOP Tom Murray 09 445 8786 tomandlily@xtra.co.nz MASSEY COMMUNITY MEN’S SHED Andrew Wilson 027 516 6415 masseyshednz@gmail.com WHITIANGA COMMUNITY MENZ SHED TRUST Kevin Robinson 021 336864 or 07 8660919 kevie.lyn@gmail.com MENS SHED AUCKLAND EAST Pete Montgomery 027 496 6901 mensshedaucklandeast@gmail.com AUCKLAND CENTRAL…

T’was the night before Xmas and all through the shedNot a spindle was turning, the place was quite dead,The sheddie, retired, was tucked up in bed,While the Minister for Finance snored by his head. As he slept, he was dreaming of vices he’d knownOf lathes and of grinders and powertools he’d owned.The sheddie was frugal, he’d scrimped and he’d scraped,In order to build up his craft to a peak. But alas he was restless he groaned in his sleep.There was one thing he needed to make it complete.A mill, a great big one with CNC scales,He knew just the one, he’d seen it in sales. In the shed all was quite quiet there was barely a whisper.Till the door opened, at first just a whisker.Some chap dressed in red with…