Having moved into our new house, we NEEDed an outside postbox. I sketched up a design after checking a few design inspirations online and set to work. Hardwoods like beech come unplaned here so I bought a few boards and began milling them and gluing them with alternating grain so they remain stable and don't warp or cup.

This postbox is made from solid beech which I milled from rough stock into boards of the same thickness.

Another friend needs a garden gate! The front of this house has a gap in a high wall but no gate in it. The area can have high winds at times so this gate will need to be extra strong to withstand the weather. In this project I will design and build a gate to fit this space. Here's the process, plans and results!

First up was measuring the space available. The wall and pillars around this are fairly new so they're quite consistently sized. However, the walls and pillars are built with stone so securing the gate to the pillars will be a little tricky. The plan is to secure it directly into the masonry joints using either standard screws or stronger coach screws is needed. I'll be using a timber jamb between the gate and the pillars on both sides. That will allow me to fit the hinges in the workshop so I know they're squared up properly and on the opposite side I will be able to have the gate close against the jamb which will give it good support in very windy weather.

Using standard, easy to find 2 x 1 (44mm x 19mm planed) I constructed a freestanding clothes hanging rail so we can hang things up before we get as far as installing proper wardrobes and clothes storage. In this article I'll describe the process and show some images of manufacture.

This freestanding clothes rail is made almost entirely from planed 2 x 1 stock wood which is available in every builders providers. It's easily adjusted to the width you want. In this build I made it to match the width of the chrome rail I got for it. The rail was quite long so I also then added a 6 x 1 support to keep the structure rigid.

Every good workshop starts with a workshop bench. My design is simple and focussed on it being primarily used for wood. All I really need is a sturdy bench at the right height with a quick-release, woodworking vice integrated into it. I also plan on getting a bench morticer, so ideally that will find a home mounted on the end of this but not be in the way while working with lengths of timber on it. I may well build a bench just for the morticer later on indeed. In this article I begin with some SketchUps of the design so I can visualize it before deciding on which way to go.

First I had a look online for some reasonable dimensions in metric. One of the reasons I've started recording these projects is that the quality of content online for the types of things I'm going to be building isn't good and a lot of the ones you do find are in imperial measurements. So, if you find this and you like the designs, feel free to replicate or ask me questions if you run into issues. The rough dimensions I settled on are 150mm square for the legs; and 150mm x 75mm or 50mm for the cross members. Overall, I'm going for 750mm deep, 875mm high, and 1800mm long.

Some friends of mine bought a townhouse in Galway city and allowed us to stay with them while our own house was completing. The front of their house has a very rusty angle iron framed gate that is well beyond its best years, so I offered to design and make a nicer gate for them. Here's the process, plans and results!

First up was measuring the space available. As with most older builds, the pillars and space this gate is to fit into is not a consistent size. There's a difference between the width at the top and bottom and at the front and back. Here I'll be using a timber jamb between the gate and the pillars on both sides. That will also allow me to square the space where the gate will be and lose the 20mm odd difference between the pillars in the manufacturing of the jamb. Getting that part right will mean I can build the actual gate square and be sure it'll swing true and not fall open. After I measure up and checked a few design options online, I sketched out a design on paper, and then drew it up in SketchUp.