ANOTHER DIY PROJECT - KITCHEN UTENSILS CONTINUED

[Barbulus]

PART ONE ......of FOUR.......

Well the Coarse “Closed Season” is upon us so what to do......other than picking up the fly rod of course and the never-ending drama of painting the house.............Grrrrrrrrrrrr.................

Last year, some of you might recall the result of a chance visit to the local “Wilkinson’s” which, in addition to the inexpensive photograph frames which was the reason for the visit initially, resulted in my spotting a couple of hardwood kitchen “rolling pins” for the princely sum of 99 pence !




After separating the two “pin” ends and removing the centre metal rod plus a little “fettling” with a wood bit to bore and hollow out the centre of the “rolling pin” and then adding a little decorative feature or two, some “Piper’s” silk and a brass end cap....the result ....after some particularly heavy varnishing....was what could be described as a novel hardwood Rolling Pin “Float Safe” in which to keep some of the delightful “stepped reed” floats I have courtesy of the excellent Mr S (nee Mr BF) and Mr B.





However, TFF members might also recall that in addition to the 99 pence “man size” rolling pin was a selection of “kiddie” size “mini rolling pins” at the outrageous cost of 48 pence. I bought two of these as well ! Well done Wilkinsons – although I had no idea of what to do with them...





I forgot about the mini “Wilko Rolling Pins” over the last several months until reading the incredible exploits and marvelling at the skill of a couple of members recently in their own DIY projects. This coincided with a chance encounter last week with a plastic storage crate in my garage as part of the continuing clear out of stuff I really... really... should just throw away.....

In amongst the usual detritus was an old rod handle “button”.....this set me thinking........a dangerous occurrence normally........more of which to follow shortly as part of a small “Close Season” DIY Project in this several “Parts” TFF thread for those equally bored with the current Spring house decorating and garden tidy up chores..........you will need a few other bits....most are shown here....all easily obtainable from either the “come in handy box” we all have .....or a quick trip to the plumbing section of “Homebase”............the various brass bits are also a few pence only.......will it be a mini “Shot Tube”...well we will see.....more in Part Two..

[LuckyLuca]

Intriguing!

[Woodytia]

Intriguing indeed, I know if I tried any sort of that sort of woodwork there would be blood, swearing, firewood and metal for the scrap man.

[Barbulus]

Part Two of Four

In no particular order....take a spare old, broken, dirty, standard garden “runner bean” cane....perhaps 18 inches or so long.....slowly and gently ......hold the cane over the lit kitchen hob ......and rotate the cane .....gently heating the centre of the cane piece above the gas ring. As you rotate the cane....perhaps ten to fifteen seconds only.....exert gentle pressure to provide a slight bend at around the centre part of the cane length. Gentle is the key and I suggest not too great a bend. Set aside and leave to cool. Once cooled...take a hacksaw and cut the cane so that you then have two pieces some 9 inches long each with a slight curve to the one end. Set these aside.




Next take your 48 pence “mini “Wilko’s Rolling Pin”....snap off the two wooden handles that came with the main “Rolling Pin” body...then drill two small holes ...some 15-20 mm deep and the same diameter as brass inserts that Home Base sell in the Plumbing Section........see photo earlier in this thread...drill at a slight angle to the centreline of one end of the “Rolling Pin” body.....offer up the brass inserts and once happy they will slide into the drilled holes.....epoxy and insert the brass inserts and leave to dry overnight......








Next.....from the larger “Rolling Pin Float Safe” Project last year...and if you had saved the non-used parts of the pin because we never ever ever throw anything away do we..... ....you will have been left with a metal rod and two wooden handles – see the photograph earlier in the thread. Cut the metal rod with a hacksaw to provide two lengths of metal approx 4 – 6 cms in length.....take these and insert ...for a trial fit... into the main “Rolling Pin” wood body and the brass inserts that you had drilled and glued in place earlier......this photograph should make it clear......





Next take the two cane arms you had bent to shape and cut earlier and drill out a small hole in each end just sufficient to take the cut-down metal rods. Insert each rod approx “half way” and epoxy in place. Leave to dry overnight. This photograph should show what it should look like....

[Barbulus]

Part Two "A" of Four

And while waiting for that to dry....you might want to quickly make up this...a bit of Norfolk Reed...a quill insert and all epoxied into a brass insert and a brass olive...it will become clearer tomorrow if it is not already....

1

[Barbulus]

PART THREE OF FOUR

Now....”Home Base” sell for only a few pence.... a whole bunch of marvellous standard brass fitments for plumbing and the like. You could choose copper but I think brass is rather nice for this...so...trundle along and buy a couple of brass “end caps”....really inexpensive....58 pence (?)....

They are sold in a variety of diameters. Choose a couple that are more or less the same diameter as the two cane arms you already have. Take a 1 mm (or 2 mm) drill bit and drill a hole through the central point and end of each brass end cap. Next take a hacksaw and saw through each end cap at around the half way point of the end cap length. Saw through about half of the diameter of the cap only....perhaps slightly less than half way through even. Then...with a screwdriver...very gently prise the slot made by this saw cut and slide in one of the brass picture hanging “D” rings with the brass “tabs” that already have a pre-drilled hole. See the earlier photograph of this piece.

Next take a long’ish brass screw and screw through the brass end cap hole and then the brass “D” ring tab that you have slotted through the saw cut thereby effectively trapping – locking – the “D” ring in place. This is I think rather important as will be obvious later ! Once content, epoxy the inside and then slide the brass end cap ....with the “trapped” “D” ring ...onto the previously bent end of each of the two cane arms and epoxy in place. Screw down the brass screw...to the end of the cane shaft for additionally fixing security having previously dripped even more epoxy into the hole in the end of the cane to accept the brass screw..... Leave to dry overnight. Hopefully this photograph will make it clear......





Next...return to the “Rolling Pin” main wood body..... now nicely dried with the epoxy set for the two brass inserts. Take the opposite end of the pin wood body and drill a 13 mm diameter hole ...approx 1 cm deep.... in the centre of the pin body end. See below why I chose 13 mm for this hole !

Next drill out a circular rebate approx 2 mm deep and sufficiently wide in diameter to accommodate the hexagonal end of the threaded brass nut.....see earlier photograph in the thread for this part.

I happened to have a 3/8ths threaded brass end from an old rod rest that had a 13 mm diameter “stub” of alloy attached to the brass threaded end – hence why I drilled out a 13 mm hole ! I was able to then insert this broken off threaded brass boss into the 13 mm drilled hole and epoxy in place.

I then epoxied the larger diameter threaded brass nut into the rebated “pin body” diameter drilled end. That reads appallingly.... so the following photograph should make clear what you should now have.....add a little black “Piper’s” silk whipping and perhaps some Indian Ink representation of lake side “reeds” for decorative effect to match the “Float Safe” Project last year.....set aside and leave to dry overnight...........





Find the two cane arms from wherever you hid them to dry overnight.....add a couple of brass olives of the same diameter as the cane and glue in place as both decorative and additional strength ....add a little “Piper’s” silk whipping for decorative effect....and varnish....also set these aside to dry....



At this point.....perhaps you can then return to an unrelated “other project” simply to avoid having to pick up the Decorater’s house renovation paintbrush again.....so returning to my continuing scratch build 7mm scale - “O” Gauge - Model Railway engine shed construction project.........









......I digress.......the concluding part of this ridiculous DIY Project is tomorrow I think ....assuming everything has dried by then........

[KenSowerbutts]

Really looking forward to the next part .

[Barney]

Matt,brilliant,looking forward to seeing the finished article,nice work and self explanitary pics,
Barney

[Northern_Nomad]

Lateral thinking at its best

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Great stuff...