Peter Brown's ShopTime

Welcome back to Couch Time, the monthly column where we show you unique and interesting projects from other makers on YouTube. Last month  we covered videos from David Gagné, Laura Kampf, Matt Cremona, Jimmy DiResta, and KRTWood. La Fabrique DIY – Making a Very French Birdhouse A birdhouse is possibly the archetypal woodworking project. Bill Lutes on the Reclaimed Audio Podcast even turned it into a joke — his first guess about every project is “a birdhouse.” In this video, La Fabrique DIY (an artist group that runs a French-language Instructables-type website of the same name) creates a birdhouse in the Basque style. It isn’t complicated, doesn’t require any special tools, and looks adorable. Stay until the end for some footage of the birds enjoying the house. Frank Howarth – Maple Clouds Frank Howarth has always been an exceptionally creative woodworker, but he took his work to an entirely new level after building his giant CNC router. This turned segmented bowl would be i...

This is my first cutting board. An interesting pattern emerges from the flowing "S" shape and works really well with the high contrast of maple and walnut. 

Turning cardboard on the lathe. I needed a quick project after a failed larger project. This started out as an experiment, but I have to say I really like the look of it! I not sure if another cardboard project is in my future but for now, I'm just happy to follow up a failure with a success!

 If you can make a picture frame, you can make this! Mitered maple frame accented with walnut keys and LED strip lighting with remote control. Sure it's a little modern, but you can change it easily to suit your needs.

A Thunder Tube, or Thunder Drum is a really fun noise instrument. I've seen many versions of this but they all used a traditional drum head, which can be expensive. I made this for $7

When you think about PVC, you're probably like me, and consider it as a tube. Well, it's pretty easy to get it into flat material for the shop. I flattened a 4" piece of schedule 40 PVC in about 20 minutes. You just need a heat gun and a flat surface.  Odds are, you've got loads of the stuff sitting around the house. Why not recycle it into something useful?

Prepare yourself for a sugar rush. I'm going to mix glue, cake sprinkles and cherry wood into a bonkers looking cake stand. I don't think I was quite prepared for how colorful this project would end up or how much of a mess it would leave in the shop! Still, I'm quite pleased with it. My daughter was the only one who protested... "Dad, you used ALL the sprinkles?!"

The kitchen spatula you need for your late night pre-crime fighting sandwich making. Made from a $1 spatula with a custom cut claro walnut handle and finished with boiled linseed oil. This is truly the utensil fit for a superhero...

HDPE is the plastic used in many household containers including gallon sized milk jugs. It's a dense and highly versitle material that can be easy processed and shaped without much trouble. Which makes it perfect for the hobbyist!

A Zoetrope is an animation toy that literally translates to "life turning." While I had many challenges on this build, I have to say is it easily one of my favorite creations. I have a particular fondness for toys....

I build a coin flipper catapult, so my daughter wouldn't keep destroying our game boards. She's not great at flipping the coin, so I thought I'd make her something to help out!  As of this point, I think I like flipping coins more than her! 

The original idea was born in Harbor Freight with the stretch wrap in my hand, so I needed to try it! I agree a better head would make a huge improvement, but it WORKED. I not going to pretend to be anything short of excited about that. It's fun to see a crazy idea come together....  

I first saw this toy demonstrated over on the Grand Illusions YouTube channel, and I knew I had to try my hand at it! Walnut Dropping Top with wipe on ploy finish

I recently melted down some milk jugs and bottle tops to make a colorful block of material. I began pondering what I could do with it! This was the first I idea that grabbed me. A HDPE wall clock!

After spending 2 hours cutting up a single milk bottle with kitchen shears, I knew I couldn't do it again.  I felt like a late night infomercial and may have actually uttered the phrase, "There has to be a better way!"

Just don't let the MCP know what you're up to, or might just find yourself fighting for your life on the game grid....

The Bell Systems three position stool was a mainstay of the central telecom office. It was typically constructed from red oak and 2 inch screws. It was a was a real workhorse, just what I need...

When I first approached with this idea it seemed like it would be a simple project. That should have been a warning sign right there, but my brain just thought, "Make a functional pint glass from discarded beer coasters? I wonder why no one has ever done anything like that before." I now know the answer to that rather naive question.    33 coasters and 5 pieces of scrap cherry

This is a radiant wall light, or I suppose, simply a Flash Light!

    Making a Super Mario Bros Mushroom Birdhouse turned from a log. This build was a lot of fun and I think it will make a geeky addition to my garden! Getting the last coat of lacquer This was turned from a pear tree that came down in a storm a couple winters back. It is easy wood to work with and turned easy. The trick was hollowing out the base.