Tips and tricks from my courses (with sub-titles)

We have tools that give us 90 degrees, but what if we want something larger to be more accurate like setting out a raised bed in our garden or a base for a shed, don't let the name Pythagoras tense you up, it's an easy formula and I go through it step by step and then give you an example of how to use it squaring up the tongue and groove boards for a door.

This is taken from my course on making and fitting a  Yard Gate.

Here I am constructing a new balcony which I know is level but the existing ground floor I know is way out of level. Instinct may take you to measure from the top landing, but the correct place to measure is from the balcony floor, down to where the stairs finish (bottom tread). If you measure from the landing and then construct your stairs there will be a problem at the bottom step or all the treads will be out of level (if the ground floor is out of level). On this location the ground floor is running down from left to right. But if both floors are level then you can measure anywhere.

Yes we have all done this haven't we, decided to do a job because we want to get it done quickly and out of the way.

I start by showing you a respirator, this is vital if you are cutting materials that produce a lot of dust like concrete, plaster etc.

Eye protection I think is the most important, they come in different forms like a facial visor, goggles, or safety glasses.

We sometimes neglect head protection if we are working alone thinking nothing will fall from above, but you can be working alone, something can fall on your head or you can turn around and hit your head.

Shoes or boots with a hardened steel toe cap are a consideration.

When we use power tools we don't realize how much noise they generate and how much damage can be done to our ears over a long period I can tell you that I suffer from hearing loss and this may be due to working in the construction industry over a lifetime and then the early days safety equipment just wasn't available.

There is one other item to consider in safely equipment and that is a mobile phone or cell phone, If you get injured and you're working alone you can call for help.

This is taken from my course - Create a Room

Do you have a door that does this? isn't it frustrating, the problem is usually on the side where the hinges are.

Take a sheet of paper and push it through the gap in the door, close the door and pull the paper through if the paper pulls through, then the gap is okay, try this all the way along, up and down the door, if the paper traps that's where the problem is so you need to either plane some of the edge of the door or make adjustments at the hinges, either the screw heads are too big or hinge needs some shaving out.

On the handle side if the paper won't pull through then make adjustments to the striker plate, here now there is clearance and all round and we've cured binding door problem.

This is taken from my course - Create a Room

When I decided to make the brackets of wood with joints or made it easier for myself by just using butt joints or  using bought metal brackets. But there is a huge satisfaction in doing it this way, it's a pity the dovetail joint won't be seen after because it will be against the wall and will have the shelf on top.

But it is a joint that you can use in many other applications and that's the idea of me doing it like this.

There's another thing, I wanted to demonstrate the power of just a little geometry in joints can pay huge dividends, I assemble this joint without fixing with any nails, screws or glue and show just how strong this kind of a bracket is. So I put a plane and mallet on top, so that is now is a complete load-bearing bracket, but we will use some fixings in some nails or screws just to keep it all together, but that's the idea in principle and why I did these brackets like I did.

This is taken from my course - Make a Shaker Style Pine Shelf

I explain to function of a rebate plane. You can create a rebate from a square section piece of timber or to make adjustments to an existing rebate.

Sometimes we need to make adjustments for a door with a smoothing plane but sometimes if a door is not fitting well we need to take some timber off the door frame. occasionally when you take wood off a rebate it you need to get right into the corner of a frame so I demonstrate how to do that.

This rebate plane comes with two attachments. It comes with a fence, the fence is so you can create a rebate from a square section of timber.

The other attachment is a depth stop and again we can have a predetermined depth it might be 5mm or half an inch or whatever.

This is taken from my course - Woodworking Tools, Sharpening & Buying Wood

Here I show you an option for fitting both jambs (gate posts) to which you can fit the gate. This method is more traditional but has been replaced by  using power tools, plastic plugs and screws. Depending on your location you may have difficulty buying a plugging chisel, but there are other means of removing the mortar from joint from brickwork, but you then have the option of using a drill and screws. Included in the video lecture is an animation showing how to achieve the correct shape of the wood plugs.

When are you fit a door frame that's going to be painted it doesn't really matter where the fixings are, because they will be covered up with paint.

But the frame and the door here they are both pre-finished as they're meant to look like hardwood but they are in fact vinyl wrapped, so with this type of door frame you want to try and conceal the fixings wherever you can and the best place is in the rebate so that when the door is closed you can't see any of the fixings.

There are two concealed fixings at the bottom and there are two at the top but I've also included an intermediate one in the middle and that's hidden behind the striker plate which is where the door latch is.

This is taken from my course; Create a new Room, with a Partition Wall