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We all like to make things and repair things and we have brilliant threads for those, but being more specific, what have you recycled, up-cycled or repurposed as something beyond which it was originally intended?
The more out of original context the better.
I'll start with definitely not the last thing I repurposed, but it's still going strong about 6.5 years later.
Washing machine doors on my allotment shed.
What you got?
Various bits around the house made from an MX5 engine:
Crikey, that brings back memories - I once made a lamp from a snapped mini Cooper 997 crankshaft. Wish I still had that 1963 Cooper!
Bird (Blue Tit) nesting box made from a ground drain silt trap, topped with a nose cone for for guiding flue liners. Oh, and the supporting bracket is a foot mounting for a Hydromec worm gearbox.
I am nowhere near the level being shown above, but I do currently have an old spice rack being used to keep various bike lubes and things nice and tidy.
Posted this on the "last you made" thread, but seems relevant here - rack made from a pair of old Speedplay Drillium pedals:
All brilliant so far ^^^ 😊
Love those details Geforcejunky!
Currently using an old trouser press "grip" (off the bar you close it with) for servicing forks, the bar itself is in the spares bin having previously been used to make a missing dowel for my daughters cot bed.
Velcro mattress carrying strap to hold the loft ladders out the way when something big needs to go up or down.
Old photography backdrop holder as a shelf for lubes/tapes etc.
Used an old 21" CRT TV stand (the OEM ones with room for a VCR below) to make tyre hangers.
I've the drive shaft from a tractor that I'm pretty sure could be made in to some sort of lamp - I'll need a proper look and have a think about how to do it as I reckon an electric cable added (somehow) to a wifi-enabled bulb and it could almost look like it doesn't need power to work (assuming I can hide the power cable).
From a while back. Sold now and converting broken engine blocks into tables has become trendy so doubt I will pick up another for £20
Nothing of any asthenic merit but I made a mini pond from a burst yoga ball. Just need frogs to come find it.
Does keeping hold of old 1Kg peanut butter tubs to use as food containers for coffee/sugar etc. count? 😆
thats some Allotment shed! awesome.
Back when we had an allotment, my Mrs wanted me to make a shed from "old doors", cause it was trendy. She bought (BOUGHT!) a load of old doors, which i then had the misfortune of trying to make into a shed. It was crap.
Old doors are old because they are rotten or broken.
They were different heights, thicknesses.
She ended up with a stack of old rotten doors that she had paid for, to take to the tip.
My 18month old cant stand over her balance bike yet, (12" wheels i think?)
Had an old mountain board kicking about the shed.
o used some threaded rod to convert it to a trike using the old wheels.
From a while back. Sold now and converting broken engine blocks into tables has become trendy so doubt I will pick up another for £20
Looks like a promising start to a TARDIS console.
That trike is mint Olly 😊👏
Reinforced the frame that goes underneath the cushions of an aging fold up sofa bed. I used some wood from some basic stand alone shelves I made maybe ten years ago. Was wondering what all the tiny holes in the wood were, then spotted my initials on the wood. Took a moment to realise the shelves were constructed from a canvas support I made at University around twenty years ago, all the holes being where I'd stapled the canvas to it.
Fire pit. I’ve got some charcoal stove spray paint to apply to the outside to tone it down.
Currently in the beginning stages of an extension that involves knocking the garage down. Planning to repurpose the current flat roof osb board, felt and rafters to make a temporary shelter in the garden for the childrens bikes and scooters so they can still have access to them throughout the summer. The current tarpauling I'm using isn't a usable solution as it just gets ragged about everytime they want to get a bike out.
I'm also repurposing a wardrobe we dismantled at the weekend to use the furniture board to line out the old airing cupboard and make it in to a usable built-in wardbrobe space. Therefore repurposing a wardrobe in to a, er, different wardrobe.
A couple of other recent things I realised fit the bill...
Made my old snowboard into a shelf for the garage by bolting some brackets into the binding mounts:
Made walls for my new shed with a load (literally a shedload at least) of old tongue and groove that was being ripped out of a flat that was being renovated, via Freecycle. The back is still open while I find time to process the rest (with less intact tongues/grooves) to be usable.
Those are awesome thenorthwind. Love the snowboard shelf 👏
Nowhere near as inventive as any of these, but my last repurposing was using a garden sprayer as a pressure bleeder.
I have an old cotic Solaris that used to be called a mountain bike but would now be called a flat bared gravel bike 🙂 does that count
Pallet into "ladder shelves"
I have an old cotic Solaris that used to be called a mountain bike but would now be called a flat bared gravel bike 🙂 does that count
Of course, particularly if photos are included.
Pallet into “ladder shelves”
That's really nice 👍
I'm turning my back on the camper trend and am planning to turn my unconverted Sprinter back into a van.
We made a garden bench 10 years ago from some old snowboards dumped in a skip in the Alps.
Still going strong
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Also made a fold away wall mounted bike stand from an old TV wall mounting and a Park stand head. Strong enough to hold an emtb
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My Samsung washing machine drum gives a good heat but no longer plays a tune when it's done
That's genius that tv arm mounted bike stand Tracey 👏
Does popping a gondola in my garden to use as a summer house count?
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it’s been there 2 years but I can’t think of anything else I’ve repurposed since 🤔
Pallet into “ladder shelves”
That’s really nice 👍
Cheers, I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I copied it from an instructible guide.
The uprights are the only bit not made from pallet wood and they're the worst wood on there (bit of a warp) - damn you Wickes!
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Compression fitting seat post clamp 🙂
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^^^ Is that a Kirk!? 🙂
It comes out once a year for Christmas cx - one of the guys at Cross also thought it was a Kirk. Slightly more ferrous than magnesium 🙂
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That's ace, 28mm seat 'collar' shimmed down to 27.2? Did you use inhibitor to stop it rusting?
Std 28.6 Columbus seat tube (so 27.2 bore once reamed). 28mm compression fitting skimmed out to 28.6 in a lathe. Hacksaw cut through the olive so it springs open to fit the slightly bigger tube.
I had considered taking the label off a bottle of Fernox and putting it on a bike bottle 🙂
No need to paint it, just have a fire, they're a lot less bright after you've got the sides glowing red.
Got a pair of 10 foot 1960's surfboards in the shed as shelves in the roof. No re-purposed as such as I could use them should I ever want to. Ditto snow boardband old skis.
More modified is the huge amount of decking next door threw out. Apart from shelves I have made planter boxs and have just finished a over sized compsoting toilet cubicle attached to the BBQ shed /bunkhouse in my dads wood. Not a new thing used apart from the battery power in the drill and the chainsaw fuel. Even the screws were re-used. Roof is old laminate flooring with felt on top. |Door posts are 8' x 6" pine filched from a stack of timber in the woods. Bog seat was a damaged new one not wanted back by the supplier.
Repurposed the kids old bike trailer. Removed the cover and sides, cot some slats from some off cuts of oak, screwed down with some stainless self tappers and a couple of coats of Osmo. The best thing was that I had everything needed in the shed.
Edit, im truly amazed! I used Kayak’s guide and managed to post a picture. My weekend is complete already.😀
I sprayed the washing machine drum fire pit. I think it looks a bit tidier.
Spot of decorative woodwork to do, making a curved brace for the annex porch so used the outdoor table as a radius
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Then after hacking that other with a jigsaw needed a bench sander so redeployed my bike stand and a plant pot. There isn't an inch of level ground around our house so it took a bit of levelling.
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And lastly the piece in situ. Kindo of. Need to router and edge finish on the posts before fitting but you get the idea
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Bodgetastic
The belt sander bike stand holder is genius @thestabiliser 😂
More shed stuff from me.
An old hammer head as a shed door handle.
Then we have an old galvanised bucket, bottom cut out and a Pyrex bowl bonded in as a porthole/window. The stained glass surround was also repurposed glass scraps from the waste bin of a stained glass course at the college. It's laid between acrylic sheets with grout inbetween.
I'm just here to steal kayak's ideas 🙂
Always liked the washing machine portholes.
Any more details on how to do the stained glass without the grout splurging through? Is it acrylic - glass - grout & clean from one side - acrylic - flip over - remove original acrylic and clean?
That bike looks Rad!
Any more details on how to do the stained glass without the grout splurging through?
All I did was create the wooden frame, lay in my sheet of acrylic, then if I remember, I bonded each little piece of glass to the acrylic with clear silicone, then just grouted it. Acrylic stays. Would be way too fragile without it.
It ain't Westminster Abbey, but it looks pretty nice when the sunlight comes through.
You could probably do the same with a resin pour which might be easier and would probably look better. Wasn't on my radar at the time really.
Was quite sketchy grouting with so many razor sharp edges.
If you used resin, you could probably use broken bottles and stuff which might be quite cool.
Loving all of this.
@phil5556 if you ever want rid of that gondola I'll take it, can be gone same day! How did you manage to get it anyway? Would also work as a mini greenhouse.
The V8 wine rack is also fantastic, if you wanted to go next level you could reinstate the coolant system and use it as a chiller as well.
That bike is Far Rad!
A piece of old innertube is now working as the flap valve in the bathroom toilet
galvanised bucket, bottom cut out and a Pyrex bowl bonded in as a porthole/window. The stained glass surround
A view from the other side, also showing the stove. The top was made with an old frying pan welded in so you can warm food up on it (I didn't do the stove)
All of the actual cladding on the shed is made from painted panels from a defunct painting and decorating course. The students used to try out techniques on moulded panels and I cut them all up and used them as cladding. They don't really get wet because of the roof overhang.
The floor is scaffold boards.
Hadn't noticed 2old land rover windows before 👍
I honestly can't tell the difference.
Hadn’t noticed 2old land rover windows before 👍
Forgot about them. They're off a narrowboat as it goes.
@squirrelking there’s a company (maybe in Sussex somewhere?) that buys them up when the lift companies sell them and then sells them on over here.
I could have bought one directly from the 3 Vals but the logistics of bringing it back up to Scotland would’ve been a bit of hassle and expense.
And sorry but it’s staying, I don’t fancy getting it back out of the garden 🤣
@bigblackshed it'll tone down over time.
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Ah, Alpine Accessories?
£2k is a bit pricey but still pretty damn cool.
Yeah Alpine Accessories - couldn’t remember their name earlier.
Wasn’t cheap you’re right, but we wanted one 🙂
Cheaper than the place in Taninges that sells them.
Made a new allotment fruit cage for my partner's birthday.
She made the old one with Wilko garden arches which rusted through fairly quick and has been falling down for quite a while.
I made this one using metal electrical conduit pipe and the obligatory allotment perennial, blue water pipe.
It looked enormous when I was building it in the workshop, but having put it up on her plot today, it doesn't cover all the fruit bushes.
Oh well, she'll have to kill some...
Measure twice, cut once was it? 😂
Netting to come later.
I started off with this monstrosity that somebody gave me - an Iggle-Piggle thing:
And with a bit of hacksawing, wood, zip-ties and copper pipe made something that my 16 month grandson can learn his life skills on
Big improvement!
Excellent job of the balance bike. 😀
Has he just ridden down the slide? Rad Skilzzz
That's some creative jigging @thestabiliser - I'll probably be stealing the belt sander in a bike stand trick at some point.
Love the bucket window @kayak23 (and everything else about the shed). I've got an old hammer head that's been sitting in a drawer waiting to be repurposed for probably several years now - I was thinking a hook, but a door handle is a great idea, and I do have a new shed...
It's not pretty. but chopped old pallets are stopping my dog getting down the side of the shed and garage these days, saves building an actual fence!
My small saucepan used to tip over on the gas hob as it wasn't properly supported. I thought of getting a proper heat diffuser...
...but this works fine. I'm surprised how much it warps though.
I read quite a lot of car magazines and it seems a shame to just throw them away. So I started making a magazine table.
My man maths on the resin was a bit out. This is the second kilo of glass resin. It will still need some more when this lot sets and I add the thin wooden surround. Not the cheap magazine table I first envisaged. 🙁
Update - Spider ruins table. Poor sod died doing it too.
Right in the middle of the sodding table. What are the chances of polishing him out?
Could you sand and polish it and re pour a small puddle?
[i]Could you sand and polish it and re pour a small puddle?[/i] - That is my hope. I am not sure how deep he sank.
I will be adding a wooden surround to edge the tabletop so will need to pour a final coat, just not what I wanted to find yesterday evening.
just put a new layer over the top of the spider - immortalise him/her.
Parasol base made from 2” pipe and flange and a couple of concrete blocks.
Ugly? Yes
Free? Yes 😄
We need some coat hooks so I raided a box of hoarded one removed from other places, added to an old shelf from the garage and asked the painting expert in the house to paint the desired colour (boring white this time).
All ready for coats.
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Old chainrings make decent trivets.
Needed an I.G.E system....
So a shit monitor stand screwed upside down, a TV screwed to an old bathroom vanity unit door as a reducer screwed to the mount.
The TV stand screwed to a peice of ply and the amp fastened with some bookshelf wall brackets to hang underneath and a old amp and speakers.
TV donated by terrahawk of this parish....
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Only new thing was a refurbished fire stick....
Oh and an old advertisement board pinched from work
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