A new waffle iron handle.

Waffles are delicious. In fact they have such an effect on the body and mind that I'm sure when we (inevitably) live in an "Equilibrium" sort of world, they will be regarded as contraband. So what does one do when their waffle iron breaks? This is a question that has puzzled many a great philosopher from Plato to Jesus Christ*.

*Unverified source

"Don't worry Craig, there will be others"

When the first handle broke, we sensed great hardship in the future, but when the second followed suit we were sure the end was near.

I guess most people just buy a new waffle iron when theirs dies, but not me! I decided to create my own handles out of wood to replace the broken ones.

First job was to remove the old handle stubbs which were held on by solid screws really rusted and burned in. I added some good ol' WD40 and it was smooth sailing.


I then found some 1' laminated pine and cut out some basic handle shapes using a jigsaw. I knew I had to make them pretty thick so that it'd be strong enough to use, but not too thick that you need two or three people to hold it.

I used my rotary multi-tool which is similar to a Dremel 4000 for the rest of the work. If you want to do any DIY work one of these can be really helpful! I used a wood routing bit and cut down into the wood to make seats for the handle bases. They fit really snugly and I was quite happy with my work.
Next thing to do was to drill holes for the two screws and then shape the handles into more ergonomic shapes...this is high quality product!
I used my rotary tool once again for the drilling and shaping of the wood. I had some nice 2' bolts which were a perfect fit in the holes but waaay too long, so once again I cut them using my multi-tool with a reinforced cutting disc. Work was quick and (thankfully) painless.

Finally I glued on a piece of wood between the two handles to give stabilitywhen held, and that was it!

Plato would be so proud

We're back in the game and eating like kings! Don't even pretend that you don't want some waffles right about now.

Planter boxes from discarded wood

Everybody loves a good wooden deck by their pool. Even if you don't have a pool, you still probably want a nice deck to tan and enjoy a few sun-downers on.We have a wooden deck around the bottom of our pool which covers the run-off reservoir, but some wood had been removed a year ago and had been sitting outside in a heap just taking in the sun and rain. I knew there had to be a better use for it then just being weed fodder! Coming home one day I saw that a fellow DIY'er had moved them into the garage, and I realized that most of the wood was actually still in pretty good condition. "Eureka" I thought. "Planter boxes!" We have heaps of plants and some ooooold pots that needed to be changed anyways, so this would kill four or five birds with one stone. We immediately got to work measuring and diagramming.

"Let the games begin."

       We originally tried to cut with a right angle square and handsaw but it was slow work and not very precise. Instead we thought to use the circular saw that had been gathering dust on a shelf, coupled with a wobbly & poorly designed work table. Attaching it to the table ended up being quite a mission, due to the archaic design which made it difficult to work with. Regardless of the shoddy quality, this made a huge difference precision and time wise.
However, after some slow going, a lot of smoke, and some blackened ends, we realized that the saw blade had been mounted backwards. We then had to undo all of the previous work, change the blade and re-do all our tedious work. After several attempts we finally managed to get it working!

Due to the table's limitations and the complete absence of any and all guides, cutting straight and getting even lengths proved...tricky. We had to do it all by sight and feel, so naturally some of the pieces ended up slightly different sizes. Thankfully precision wasn't a big concern and the difference was only millimeters, so not a big problem. After cutting all the lengths we started to assemble the pieces. We used a Bosch cordless drill and a mix of 60-75mm (what we found lying around) screws.

Staged photo of hard work, with troublesome table photo-bombing on the right

We had a few hardships along the way; We had to pull/push/bash out some old rusty screws that were embedded in the wood.  Also because of the length of exposure to the elements, some of the boards were a little warped. This ended up making the final product a bit less than a perfect 90° on the corners, but still pretty good for salvaged wood.

After assembly of the sides, we took a look at our work and decided on using 3 more planks of the same wood for the bottom.  We finished by screwing a support made of laminated pine on each of the insides to guarantee structural integrity.

Et Voila!

Top view

Front  view

The Jones's, before the ignoble rock raid.

Only thing left to was to fill them up. I thought of buying black plastic sheeting and filling the boxes with soil, but didn't want soil leaking onto the veranda, so instead I decided to borrow some smooth rocks from ol' mother nature which we have in abundance by the ocean, thanks to this being a volcanic island (I'm kidding, we just stole them from the neighbors yard).
 I got several loads, of rocks and bought six 7L plastic pots to make three in each box. I then found plants to go inside the pots and a made a mix of universal soil and compost. I ended up not having enough rocks in the end, so I've been looking for any other nearby houses who are willing to share their abundance :-) Regardless, here we have the finished product painted lovingly by Stephie and I to go with the white theme of the veranda. Observe and Admire.