Cool Stuff Interesting Stuff News

Home-made Pipe Bench – Easy to make this bench with a few basic materials

When I’m entertaining, especially in the spring and summer, I’m often looking for ways to add extra seating without it being intrusive and noticeable. Having to use chairs means there will be a lot of potential clutter, which is difficult if you want a free-flowing party with mingling, dancing, or games.

That’s where this homemade pipe bench comes in — it’s affordable, easy, and can seat more than one person. It can also be disassembled and put up for the next time you want to have a backyard BBQ, garden party, or evening soiree.

This type of furniture would also look good in a house with an industrial bent, or even in a cafe, coffee shop, or at special events such as weddings. If you have a catering company or own another small business where seating is required, this could potentially be a lot cheaper than trying to purchase a large amount of chairs.

To make one pipe bench, you’ll need a wooden board, the proper tools, and the following pipe materials: elbow fittings, T fittings, 10″ nipples, 12″ nipples, and end caps. You can have the wooden board measured and cut at the store to save you time, if you prefer.

If you’d like to learn more about making your own bench, you can see the tutorial as well as a supplies list on Homemade Modern.

How to build an underground bunker

Whether you’ve watched “A Quiet Place” and scoffed at the family’s setup, or laughed at Kimmy’s bunker experience on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, you can’t deny that in the back of our heads, we’re all a little concerned about where the world is heading. What if another world war begins? What if there’s a nuclear fallout? What if rioters, militarized police, or militia break into our homes in the middle of the night? There’s a lot to worry about these days, and some people are alleviating that worry by building bunkers.

There are many names for these enclosures, such as bomb shelter, apocalypse bunker, etc. There are practical uses for them (natural disasters come to mind, for instance), even if we don’t have to escape a government takeover or neighborhood massacre. If you’ve ever wondered about them, we’ve got some key information for you to think about prior to putting your own bunker in place.

First, there are a lot of warnings against using shipping containers as ‘pre-fab’ bunkers. There are concerns regarding ventilation, deterioration, and potential radiation. Second, there are laws and regulations about digging, even on your own property, as there may be gas and water lines where you want to place the bunker. Be sure you consult with professionals or the correct department before breaking ground. Third, you will want to do research into what materials are best, what equipment to use, and how to stock the bunker once it is complete.

Most information we read indicated that accessibility can be an issue – the workaround is either to connect your above ground dwelling to the bunker with a tunnel, or to put up a shed above the entrance to the bunker. Hiding it below a forested area is best, and waterproofing is a must. There are places where you can buy steel bunkers, but they of course are more costly.

Does the idea of building your own bunker intrigue you? You can find an excellent article with a breakdown of what to consider when building one here.

Make 8bit Wooden Reindeer

What about making reindeer out of readily-available wood to use as decorations outside the house this Christmas? We decided to make a basic plan for anyone out there to use to make an 8bit reindeer for their yard. The size is easy to adjust, and you could make it out of 2x6s (it would stand about 3 feet high or so when completed) or little pieces of plywood (for small foot high decorations). You can see from our blueprints we used equal-sized large squares as measurement-points, so you can simply divide or multiply to your chosen size. This reindeer shape was most influenced by a popular IKEA reindeer decoration that came out a few years back. We thought it might make a nice wooden DIY project, too!

DIRECTIONS for the large-size wooden 8bit reindeer:

• Get 2x6s and 2x4s (you could actually just use 2x4s exclusively by woodglueing them together)
• But the boards to the large rectangular shapes for each body part
• Notch and cut out the few adjustments to these large pieces. This involves the 3 leg pieces, as well as the angle-cut for the face
• Glue the 8bit reindeer together with wood glue
• Paint to desired color(s), and add any custom elements you want (We show one picture there where we colorized the design orange-brown, with white spraypaint around the edges, ears and face, and added a red nose and painted-on eyes
• We also show how to make antlers for those out there who want an adult-looking reindeer

If anyone makes one of these, big or small, please send us the photos so we can add them to this!

How come I never thought of that? Hanging cords and hoses 9 different ways

Which of these is the best way to hang electrical cords and hoses?

Any home owner who does yard work, or even washes their car, truck or RV, has to deal with hoses, and home repairs means electrical extension cords as well. What’s the best way to keep them hung up cleanly? Here are a few of the best ideas from around the world wide web.

As the Handyman suggests, one convenient and clean way is to use a rubberized metal chain (or just a plastic chain for light weight) in combination with a coat hook. You can cut off the excess of the chain when you know the size you need.

You can also use a bungee cord in the same way, which usually already has a hook on the end. And some people make loops with a short piece of rope and either a cork or wood handle or a small PVC pipe, with holes drilled through. You can also wind an electrical cord or hose around a bucket and keep your other tools and things inside it, or around an old tire rime. A similar method, but one that looks much prettier, is to wind the hose or cords around a cylendar placed inside a rope basket, which can be left on the ground almost as a decoration. For hanging ropes high, PVC rods work, and to keep cords from tangling, you can either buy a rope/hose rack, or you can make one DIY with a 2×4 and just notch out the places for the hose to be threaded into.

This compact chair unfolds – Store unlimited chairs in your cushions

Have you ever had the issue where people come over but you run out of chairs? But you can’t really get more chairs than you already have, because you just don’t have space. You can store these unfolding chairs though in basically unlimited numbers. I also wonder if these would work in the back of a pickup truck or in a travel van for RVing.

This one is called the “Oyster,” by studio design and architecture brand Kawamura Ganjavian, as a flexible and foldable chair. The original idea came from an idea about a paper casserole.

In case you’re wondering, the folded-down mode is also a thick comfortable cusion. Tiny home owners who drive compact cars, now you have tiny foldable compact chairs.

Mini WiFi digital video recorder camera with night vision

Though there are plenty of viral videos taken from iPhone and Android cameras, there are those moments when it’s best to have somewhat professional equipment. Especially if you’re going exploring, whether it’s at a graveyard, the woods, or an abandoned building. If you’ve seen any paranormal investigation reality TV shows, it’s highly likely you’ve seen one of these pieces of equipment used.

There are plenty of options in varying price ranges for mini wif digital video recorders, some with the addition of night vision. You’ll have to find what works for you regarding format, video frame rate, storage, and image ratio, but mostly you’ll find the digital video recorders come with the following:

AVI formatting, with a video frame rate of 15fps, 1/3″ color sensor, miniSD card for storage, an image ratio of 4:3, with a way to charge the battery. Sometimes they’ll include items like a USB cable, a card reader, and a camera holder, but depending on what you’re doing with the equipment, you may need to make a few extra purchases.

If you’re looking to add a digital video recorder to your tech collection, you can find a wide range (in price, size, and brand) online at such places like Amazon. You can also check for sales during Cyber Monday to maximize savings.