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This is a really fast, easy project that allows you to be both sloppy and clever. And making paint crack is way more fun than watching paint dry. It's a great technique to use on old stuff or new stuff, bare wood or finished wood, even painted surfaces.
This article from Lee Valley features a quiet, hand-built, easy to use lathe for those who'd rather do their woodturning old school. Build it yourself in a weekend using unfussy construction and basic materials.
The DIY Furniture Design Bank is a sketch collection of Euro stuff reminiscent of a Scandianvian design mega-distributor. You can take basic measurements and construction details from the Sketch-Up illustrations and exploded diagrams. (The irony is that it's probably more expensive to try to build these projects than it would be to go to IKEA.)
This is the coolest furniture. It's an actual chest of drawers by Cleveland designer Mark Moskovitz. What a mind.
I'm a huge fan of lithium-ion battery technology. Lithium-ion holds a full charge for up to 18 months without draining, it's quick to charge and doesn't have the 'memory' problem that NiCad batteries have (i.e. if you don't charge them fully, they forget that they have extra storage, so they just get lamer and lamer over time until they're barely taking a charge at all).
I wish some manufacturer would produce rechargeable AA and AAA lithium-ion batteries but until that happens, Ryobi has created the Tek 4 lithium-ion battery (which contains enough juice to match three regular AA batteries). And they've also developed a bunch of very cool accessories that run on Tek 4, including noise suppression headphones that rock your own tunes, cell phone chargers, cameras etc. Available at the Home Depot.
We're All In This Together
Based on four years of interviews with Steve Smith, Mag's unconventional biography reveals the personal stories, sorrows and joys that continue to inspire the man behind the Red Green legacy.
How Hard Can It Be?
Mag's quirky and entertaining book of home improvement projects for beginners.