#HTE

Top Five Hand Tools, Fixing Vintage Power Tools, DIY Desk Lamps and More

Penny + Soda Can = Popcorn Stove

Here’s a short, fun one from La Fabrique DIY. They turn a soda can, a penny, some cotton balls and lighter fluid into a popcorn stove:

LED Desk Lamp

Darbin Orvar’s Linn uses her well-rounded skillset to create a dimmable, remote-controlled LED desk lamp. This one is designed not only to cast task lighting, but also to illuminate and highlight the wood of the lamp:

Samurai Carpenter’s Top Five Hand Tools (Actually Six)

This week Jesse de Geest runs down his Top Five Hand Tools. The impatient among you should skip ahead to the 6-minute mark, when the rundown actually starts; prior to that he explains his publishing schedule, and shows off two new tools that are the fruits of his recent Makita sponsorship. I ordinarily blaze past the sponsored talk, but his new Makita toys happen to be really freakin’ cool!

Dropping Wood Knowledge

In this second video from de Geest, he runs down some natural science basics that will be of value for those of you who work with wood. What’s the difference between heartwood and sapwood, and what are those little holes in your timbers?

Plywood 4-Jaw Lathe Chuck

For someone who didn’t want to make a DIY lathe in the first place, Matthias Wandel is certainly going whole hog with it. This week he figures out how to add a freaking 4-jaw chuck made out of plywood!

Adding a Hinged Bed to the CNC Mill

In earlier episodes we saw Frank Howarth build his CNC mill. Now he adds an innovative, useful component: A hinged section of the bed that can tilt 90 degrees, or anywhere in between, allowing him to work on the edges of boards.

Fixing Up a Vintage Radial Arm Saw

The other Howarth video from this week combines two of our favorite things: Vintage tools and problem solving. Frank scoops up an old, monstrous DeWalt GE radial arm saw at an auction, and after getting it into his shop, discovers it’s got some serious issues. He then demonstrates that research, the internet, persistence, and keeping an open mind–being willing to abandon one solution in exchange for another–can all pay off.

Quiet, Next-Door Dust Collection

A utilitarian build from April Wilkerson this week, as she installs a dust collector in her shop. Or more accurately, next door to her shop. Wilkerson has opted for a through-the-wall system, and her choice seems awful smart when she fires it up for the first time–listen to how quiet it is!

Optimizing the Charging Station

Ron Paulk has begun a series of videos detailing the process of optimizing his Awesome Rolling Toolbox, the most recent box trailer that he’s converted into a mobile shop. Here we see Paulk’s signature organizational thinking as he takes stock of his charging station and what can be done to make it more efficient.