How to make a rustic pallet Christmas tree

I had some pallet wood laying around, and I decided to make a Christmas tree.

First of all I roughly sanded my pallet boards with my orbital sander, using 50 grit sandpaper.

I then cut off the edges of my tree’s main branch, using my cross cut sled, on my table saw. You can also do that with a regular saw and a jitter box.

I glued and screwed my center piece of the rest of the tree. I first pre drilled some pilot holes, before screwing my piece.

I added thee screws which I connected with string, in order to have the basic triangle, of my piece’s shape. I used a chalk to trace around that triangle, my tree’s shape.

I cut out the shape of my tree with my jigsaw.

I then cut the pieces of the tree’s base using my cross cut sled, on the table saw.

I glued and screwed them together.

I marked the positions of the screws of the base and drilled the holes. I also counter sinked them to the bottom of my base.

I clamped the tree on my vise upside down, used the screws of the bottom as marking pins and predrilled the holes on the tree. 

I didn’t glue the base to the body, because I wanted to be able to take the tree apart for storage. 

I finally screwed the bottom and the main body of the tree together.

I sanded again the piece and applied three coats of clear water based satin varnish with light sanding between coats.

I wanted to add Christmas lights to the back of my tree, in order to create a back light effect.

I added screws on the back and mounted the lights on the screws, using zip ties.

My tree is ready.

Merry Christmas to all!

How to make a case for your air pistol

The pistol came with a foam base. I used that as a mold for my box. 

First of all I cut the sides of the box to size, out of 8mm birch plywood, on my table saw.

I then set my table saw blade to 45 degrees and started cutting the side miters on my cross cut sled.

I glued the carcass of the box using wood glue and my picture frame clamp.

For the bottom and the top of the box I used 4mm plywood, which I roughly cut on my table saw.

I glued all the pieces together. 

I trimmed the caps flush with my router, using a flush trim bit. I used my router upside down as router table.

I cut the box in two pieces on my table saw. Before the last cut, I added a wooden shim on the upper side. The shim’s width matches the width of my saw blade. I did that to prevent the top of the box from moving while I made the last cut.

My CNC machine did a good job, on carving a decorative design on the top of my box.

I applied 4 coats of clear, water based varnish on my box, while lightly sanding between coats.

I added legs on the bottom of my case.

I added the hinges using screws. I also made pilot holes with my rotary tool, before adding the screws.

I used longer screws than I needed. So I trimmed the screws flush, using my rotary tool and a grinding disc.

My case was now ready. I added the foam base, the pistol and it’s accessories.

I hope you like it.

Experimental, DIY, floor lamp from a log

I had a sour orange tree log laying around and I decided to make a floor lamp with it.

I begun by cutting some extra branches with a hand saw. I then Trimmed a few parts of the log with an axe.

I removed the bark of the log with a sharp chisel and a mallet. 

The log was two old and had a few worms in it.

I wanted the cord of the lamp to go through the log. In order to to that I had to split the log in half.

I made a starting point with a hand saw. I then used wedges two split the log. I also used my axe as a hammer.

When the log was split, I used my router with a straight bit, to create a groove for the lamp’s wire.

I used a big carving gouge to clean up the groove a little bit.

I glued the log back together using clamps and glue. 

The hand saw created a gap. To fill that, I cut a few splines on my table saw. I fine tuned the splines with a chisel and glued them in place. I flush trimmed them using my flush trim saw.

I used my chisel to round over a few edges and carved out some worm marks. 

I used wood filler to fill the remaining gaps on the log.

I trimmed the legs with my circular saw and a hand saw.

I used a sanding disc on my angle grinder and sanded the log. I finished sanding with regular 120 grit sandpaper.

I marked the area for my lamp on the end grain of the log. I used my router to open up the hole.

I applied a coat of wood preservative to kill any remaining worms.

I then applied three coats of walnut wood stain while sanding between coats.

To create the lamp’s hat, I used a balloon as a mold. I mixed wood glue and water in a container and dipped a twine ball in it. I wrapped the twine around the balloon and when the glue was dry I had my hat. I was also careful not to cover the holes on the two ends of the balloon. This way I can add the lamp’s base and a light bulb when I have to.

For the electrical parts, I used wire, a socket with an on off switch and a light bulb base with two collars. I assembled everything with a screw driver. I have also soldered the wire with the on off switch end cable.

I glued the lamp’s hat with the log base with hot glue.

I really enjoyed this build. I learned many thing making that lamp. I will probably fine tune a few things on it in the future.

How to make a DIY serving tray with the cnc

I needed a serving tray and I decided to make one out of plywood using my cnc machine.

First of all I designed my tray in illustrator. I wanted the side pieces to be joined with finger joints. The bottom would slide in place through grooves.

After the design process was over, I imported my paths into easel, my cnc’s software.

The machine cut out all the side pieces out of 8mm plywood. The cmc leaves tabs behind. To clean those up I found that the best way, is using my 2/8 carving gauge. 

I then cut out the bottom piece on my table saw. I used my cross cut sled for the cross cut.

I wanted the bottom to be painted with a fluo green color. I masked the area I didn’t want to get painted, with paper tape. I wanted a simple triangle that comes from the diagonal of the bottom. I spray painted the piece, with a few light coats.

I sanded everything with 240 grit sandpaper.

I glued everything together with wood glue and my picture frame clamp.

To fill the gaps on some of my joints, I filled a syringe with wood glue. I applied the glue to the gap, wipe off the excess glue and sand over to fill the gap with wood dust.

My tray is ready. I think it is pretty strong, light weight and good looking! I hope you like it too!