thetyreman
Established Member
my favourite simulator so far is goat simulator, lots of fun and laughs, it's mental.
Post a photo of the last thing you made
- Thread starter DTR
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Doug71
Established Member
My eldest sons Xbox seems to have migrated into the "posh" room and was all looking a bit messy so I have made a cabinet to tidy things up,
Birch ply, built with track saw and dominos. A bit of Van Dyck stain so it doesn't look too new and a couple of coats of varnish. No Sketch up or drawings involved, just made it up as I went along.
This is before (note the temporary MDF shelves, some of my finest work, you should see the sag in them!)
Things now looking a bit tidier
And the magic bit, you slide out the right hand side unit and lift up the top
, the main reason I wanted to make it was to get rid of the geriatric overbed table he was using for his keyboard and mouse.
There are a few bits I would do differently if I was making it again but that is often the case when you make things without much planning, least it's done for Christmas
Birch ply, built with track saw and dominos. A bit of Van Dyck stain so it doesn't look too new and a couple of coats of varnish. No Sketch up or drawings involved, just made it up as I went along.
This is before (note the temporary MDF shelves, some of my finest work, you should see the sag in them!)
Things now looking a bit tidier
And the magic bit, you slide out the right hand side unit and lift up the top
, the main reason I wanted to make it was to get rid of the geriatric overbed table he was using for his keyboard and mouse.
There are a few bits I would do differently if I was making it again but that is often the case when you make things without much planning, least it's done for Christmas
Chuckie Egg or Daredevil Dennis over Elite any day!
Here's my latest finished project: top cupboard for the original landing cupboard. I plan to post a WIP in due course, with all the pics I took along the way.
Designed to match the existing style and blend in. Colour is my own custom creation.
Designed to match the existing style and blend in. Colour is my own custom creation.
Attachments
NickDReed
Established Member
What wood and finish did you use for this?
The wood was c24 timber
The finish was a water based stain, 1 layer then a varnish 4 layers then 2 layers of wax.
I got the advice from Littlefair wood finishes
Search 'Woodcatz' on Instagram for more build pics in stories
Chuckie Egg! Now there's a blast from the past. What level did you get to?
sed9888
Established Member
Last of the Christmas presents finished (well except I will be putting a 'tin' roof on this before it goes outside). This is a Mason Bee hotel for my wife. Apart from the slots in the drawers, which were cut on my milling machine, everything was done with hand tools including dimensioning the timber. It has been physically very demanding 
. The block in the top is 140mm x 70mm x 170mm and the holes are 160mm deep, drilled with a brace and bit. That took me five hours!!!! My arms are now useless. I'm very pleased with the final result. A few obvious mistakes and flaws but heck it's going to hang on a wall in the garden.
The two drawers have clear tubes so that you can see the bee larvae. The top block has paper tubes lining the holes so they can be replaced each year to prevent pests. The roof space is for bits of reed, grass and other hollow vegetation to offer a home for some of the other solitary bee types that favour different sized holes. The roof overhang is 2 inches (50mm) to keep the tube openings dry.
When winter sets in the drawers are taken out and put in a cardboard box in an un-heated shed. Once the bees break out of the tubes they find their way out of the box and are on their way. Then the tubes get replaced or cleaned and the drawers go back into the hotel for another season.
I have to say I'm quite looking forward to seeing if we get any tenants.
. The block in the top is 140mm x 70mm x 170mm and the holes are 160mm deep, drilled with a brace and bit. That took me five hours!!!! My arms are now useless. I'm very pleased with the final result. A few obvious mistakes and flaws but heck it's going to hang on a wall in the garden.
The two drawers have clear tubes so that you can see the bee larvae. The top block has paper tubes lining the holes so they can be replaced each year to prevent pests. The roof space is for bits of reed, grass and other hollow vegetation to offer a home for some of the other solitary bee types that favour different sized holes. The roof overhang is 2 inches (50mm) to keep the tube openings dry.
When winter sets in the drawers are taken out and put in a cardboard box in an un-heated shed. Once the bees break out of the tubes they find their way out of the box and are on their way. Then the tubes get replaced or cleaned and the drawers go back into the hotel for another season.
I have to say I'm quite looking forward to seeing if we get any tenants.
MarkAW
Established Member
Is that a no-clearance insert? 
Dr Al
Established Member
Last of the Christmas presents finished (well except I will be putting a 'tin' roof on this before it goes outside). This is a Mason Bee hotel for my wife. Apart from the slots in the drawers, which were cut on my milling machine, everything was done with hand tools including dimensioning the timber. It has been physically very demanding
View attachment 98640View attachment 98641
The two drawers have clear tubes so that you can see the bee larvae. The top block has paper tubes lining the holes so they can be replaced each year to prevent pests. The roof space is for bits of reed, grass and other hollow vegetation to offer a home for some of the other solitary bee types that favour different sized holes. The roof overhang is 2 inches (50mm) to keep the tube openings dry.
When winter sets in the drawers are taken out and put in a cardboard box in an un-heated shed. Once the bees break out of the tubes they find their way out of the box and are on their way. Then the tubes get replaced or cleaned and the drawers go back into the hotel for another season.
I have to say I'm quite looking forward to seeing if we get any tenants.
Wow. That's beautiful.
Cabinetman
Established Member
Hi Paul I really like that, looks simple until you examine it a bit closer, a lot of work in that. Instead of spoiling it with a bit of tin, the last thing I made even remotely like it for outside, I used proper grey slates stuck on with black building adhesive (Think black, no nails or pink stuff) . It worked really well, and you could have the slates just overhanging slightly. IanLast of the Christmas presents finished (well except I will be putting a 'tin' roof on this before it goes outside). This is a Mason Bee hotel for my wife. Apart from the slots in the drawers, which were cut on my milling machine, everything was done with hand tools including dimensioning the timber. It has been physically very demanding
View attachment 98640View attachment 98641
The two drawers have clear tubes so that you can see the bee larvae. The top block has paper tubes lining the holes so they can be replaced each year to prevent pests. The roof space is for bits of reed, grass and other hollow vegetation to offer a home for some of the other solitary bee types that favour different sized holes. The roof overhang is 2 inches (50mm) to keep the tube openings dry.
When winter sets in the drawers are taken out and put in a cardboard box in an un-heated shed. Once the bees break out of the tubes they find their way out of the box and are on their way. Then the tubes get replaced or cleaned and the drawers go back into the hotel for another season.
I have to say I'm quite looking forward to seeing if we get any tenants.
That’s a great suggestion!
Benchwayze
Established Member
That bee was going at a lick!
John
John
Last of the Christmas presents finished (well except I will be putting a 'tin' roof on this before it goes outside). This is a Mason Bee hotel for my wife. Apart from the slots in the drawers, which were cut on my milling machine, everything was done with hand tools including dimensioning the timber. It has been physically very demanding
View attachment 98640View attachment 98641
The two drawers have clear tubes so that you can see the bee larvae. The top block has paper tubes lining the holes so they can be replaced each year to prevent pests. The roof space is for bits of reed, grass and other hollow vegetation to offer a home for some of the other solitary bee types that favour different sized holes. The roof overhang is 2 inches (50mm) to keep the tube openings dry.
When winter sets in the drawers are taken out and put in a cardboard box in an un-heated shed. Once the bees break out of the tubes they find their way out of the box and are on their way. Then the tubes get replaced or cleaned and the drawers go back into the hotel for another season.
I have to say I'm quite looking forward to seeing if we get any tenants.
Really lovely! A few questions if I may...
What wood is the upper section made from?
Are you using test tubes or similar in the lower section?
Where did you source the cardboard liners for the upper section?
I've been a beekeeper for 30+ years and our gardens are highly bee friendly and added-chemical free. We have a large number of types of bumble bee, including mason bees - they are a joy to watch.
I wish you luck in attracting them!
One of my honey bee (ApIs melifera melifera) queens this summer:
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It’s all oak. We had a coffee table that was basically two slabs of oak on legs. The bee hotel is made from one of those slabs. It was a lot of sawing...
Both the clear tubes and the paper tubes came from Amazon. I just did a search for mason bee tubes an dozens of different ones were available. I just selected the ones with a good diameter for mason bees, 8 to 10mm. The clear tubes are washable and the paper tubes disposable. I bought a box of 200 paper tubes as they were cheap. I now realise we have a 10 year supply... I read quite a bit before starting to get the best practice. The paper tubes are highly recommended to prevent parasites.
Bee keeping might be on the cards for the future for us but the mason bees will an enjoyable experience. We have a lot of different bees in our garden as it is very much designed to be wildlife friendly it just remains to be seen if any bees take up residence.
thetyreman
Established Member
I want to be re-born as a bee just so I can see inside and inspect the joints.
