The Shed

This issue of The Shed has its usual collection of extraordinary sheddies, showing readers how to create useful stuff or sharing how they have full lives just doing what they enjoy. It must be apparent to all that I am very much in awe of all of the

The cost of running a Menzshed far outweighs the income from annual membership fees. Even with minimal overhead and administrative costs, the annual fee times the number of members is clearly not enough, particularly given the capital outlay, ongoing

A warm southern welcome awaits sheddies at the 2020 Menzshed National Conference to be held in Dunedin over 17–19 April. Registration is now open, and the theme is Communities and Wellbeing Bring Sheddies Together, with the event set to feature speak

Dr Shen Hin Lim is well on the way to developing the first effective asparagus harvesting machine. He can’t claim to have held a lifelong fascination with the tasty vegetable spears but when you turn up at the University of Waikato’s robotics enginee

I’ve been reading your great magazine for over 10 years, and I hate to be ‘that guy’ but I was a little concerned about one of the articles in this month’s issue [The Shed Issue No. 88]. In the music box, a mains-powered light was added, operated by

What’s the difference between a pipe organ and a chest of drawers? Nothing at all, according to Eldon Peters of New Plymouth. Few people head into their shed to play tunes on their chest of drawers but Eldon does just that, having made a functioning

I get so many people asking me what is the best way to weld stainless steel. There are many different versions of the best way. Hopefully this article will give you Sheddies a few helpful hints on welding stainless. For the sake of simplicity, I will

Harley Coombe didn’t want a steel shed. “I’m a wooden-shed man,” he says. “It’s easier to modify and hang stuff on the walls.” But after getting a couple of quotes he thought he’d better get a couple of quotes from steel shed suppliers too. “Even the

If you’re a sheddie like me you will be torn between the desire to build, and the space to put your creations. One solution, of course, is to make things as gifts for family, friends, or work colleagues. A perfect gift, which is often sold as an exec

In this issue we show how to upcycle a rotary phone from the end of the ’60s, which with the help of a Raspberry Pi and a few other electronic components will become a ‘Pi rotary smartphone’. In the next issue we will look at how many projects can be

I often hear from home brewers: “I’ve been making beer for a while now but I’m still not happy with the taste … it’s good but not great. How can I make a beer like that craft beer I tasted last week?” There is no easy answer, as it depends on how you

Visit any city waterfront and you’d be forgiven for assuming that boatbuilding is the high-priced preserve of the playboy. A visit to an anonymous warehouse in the backwater Auckland suburb of Te Atatu Peninsula tells a different story. Restoration p

Reflecting the finer points and the practicalities of boatbuilding, the NZTBS workshops and lectures truly advocate for craftsmanship. The workshops are certainly slanted towards vintage tools, techniques, and timber, but the school is not wedded to

Often handicraft is an encounter with history. One such example was a recent NZTBS course in steam bending timber, a skill found historically in architecture, craft, and furniture making, and a feature in hull construction throughout the world. This

Starting in this issue I will write about some two-part projects based on the micro:bit using more advanced features of this versatile device. Created for educational applications to introduce kids to the world of microcontrollers and learning coding

Let’s face it, e-bikes are everywhere and they are here to stay. If the thought of extra complications and potential breakdowns are putting you off buying one then you’re not alone. Would you like an e-bike that you can build and maintain yourself? S

Japanese tools are well thought of because of their time-tested designs and the high quality of the steels used to make them. During a recent two-week holiday in Tokyo, tool shopping was one of the things we made sure we did. The problem was locating

That means between 20–25°C. The worst thing that can happen to a lithium-ion battery is to have a full charge and be subjected to elevated temperatures. So don’t leave or charge any lithium-ion battery in your bike if it’s hot out or in direct heat.

One of the perennial arguments in biology is why living things turn out the way they do. Is it a matter of inheritance or environment? In humans, for instance, which is more important — nature or nurture? Bob Hayes is firmly of the belief that his sk

“Bushman’s curse” is John Hickey’s blessing. The Whanganui sheddie makes furniture out of the dreaded supplejack vine that makes parts of the New Zealand bush impenetrable to all but the most determined. John is not only determined; he also actively

It’s a new year and I’ve been cleaning. Specifically, I thought it was time to get the mess in the workshop tidied away and finally sort out my electronics workshop which has things still scrambled in boxes after three years. I recently built a box f