DIY or DIE?

While not every DIYer is a woodworker, every woodworker I know is a DIYer — me included. But I might have to reconsider. Last weekend, I was faced with a pretty simple DIY project: replacing a leaky washer on my outdoor faucet (hose bib, spigot, hydrant…so many names). It’s not a difficult task — wrenches, pump pliers, elbow grease and a trip to the hardware store for a new washer. No problem.

Except in this case, it turned out that our lovely deck was built after the faucet was installed, so when I tried to remove the 12″-long stem, it bumped into the deck joist. Never fear, I grabbed a good-sized hole saw to bore a faucet-sized hole into the joist to give me clearance. But after crawling under the deck (crawlspace is 36″), I found that attached to the doubled-up stringer blocking the stem was another joist perfectly aligned with the faucet. Ding dang!

Don’t panic, I told myself. Surely, if I remove a hole from the 3″-thick stringer, that will give me enough room to get the faucet out. Nope. Hokey smokes!

So, after about three hours of nail removal, unscrewing about a thousand (just an estimate) deck screws, and crawling around in the mud, I was able to pull the stem out and fix the faucet. No worries!

Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal

Cabinet/Card Scrapers

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Premium Project: Cartographer’s Coffee Table

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Premium Project: Cherry Jewelry Box

If you’re looking for an easy-to-make jewelry box, this little project is perfect. It features a removable insert and capitalizes on the scroll saw’s ability to make internal cuts with ease.

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