Landscape restoration: Managing erosion

Today we had the fun and privilege of another Muckleford Landcare workshop run by the very talented leadership team.

The workshop focused on how water can erode a landscape and what actions we can take to control this powerful eroding force.

Water is destructive

Our visit to a member's property showed us several problems that have been caused historically by deforestation due to gold mining as well as stock grazing and general land clearing.

The lack of plants has one significant effect, erosion, which is caused by the inability of the terrain to slow down the water as it descends the natural catchment areas.

Water travelling at speed has two flow-on effects (grown... pun) - erosion and lack of ground penetration. Both prevent the germination of plants - our ideal warrior against this foe.

The signs of erosion to look for on your property are:

• Tunnelling - water concentrates its force and erodes a hole under the ground, similar to the effect a garden hose would have at high pressure
• Capping - where the ground is completely free of vegetation and therefore highly susceptible to erosion
• Blow-out - where an earth wall has been built to contain the water, such as in a dam, but where the engineering has failed when exposed to high water volumes
• Gullys - water has descended a hill or natural depression at high speed and eroded the ground to form a deep gully

Gully erosion in the Muckleford forest

Erosion prevents natural landscape recovery

Nearly all these problems prevent the resowing or germination of any plant species, including grasses, making this a continuous issue which, if left unmanaged, will result in dirt and sediment continuing to contaminate the existing waterways which feed the local drinking water and provide irrigation for farmers.

While major erosion, such as gullys, is an obvious symptom, the problem of "capping" is wide-spread across many properties and should be drawn to the attention of any conscientious land holder.

Capped area with preventative measures

Taking a whole-of-landscape approach

The natural tendency when looking to solve the problems of erosion is to tackle the obvious issues first, such as the gullys, however, these bigger symptoms are caused by the end result of water cascading down a catchment area and gathering speed, often over capped, bare ground.

To deal with downstream erosion we need to lift our gaze higher up the catchment area and observe the landscape to identify points which cause the water to speed up.

There can also be a tendency when dealing with major erosion to bring in earth moving equipment and attempt to address the issue (or symptom) by major reworking of the area.

By dealing with symptoms we can incur significant cost, disturb the ground causing even more erosion and, fundamentally, not address the core problems.

Slowing the water

To prevent water forming powerful channels and eroding our farms we need to disperse the flow. By spreading out the flow over a wider area we can address the two major issues of speed and ground penetration.

A cost-effective, although time-consuming approach that any landholder can apply is to use local materials to help disperse the water. Branches laid across the water's course, up-stream of capped areas, can disperse the water. As this process is repeated down a hill, the cumulative effect can be greatly enhanced.

Dispersing water with branches (and a native animal)

We are not trying to dam the water as solid structures will likely be washed away in the next big downpour. Instead a loose collection of twigs and branches is sufficient to break the flow of the water and create calm areas in which plants can self-sow and begin the restoration process.

Time and patience

The approach above does rely on a fair amount of work and then time to come to fruition. The above photo shows a treatment that took four hours a day for four months. Once stick at a time!

Over time the treated areas will naturally attract sediment and plant matter, creating ideal seeding zones for self-sown plants as well as the opportunity for tube-stock planting.

We would expect to wait approximately two years before assessing the effect of the treatment prior to any type of planting intervention. Many landscapes can recover by themselves once they are given the opportunity.

Key workshop take-aways

• Take a whole-of-landscape approach
• Tackle the sickness, not the symptom
• Don't jump straight on to the big problems first
• Start your treatments higher up the catchment zone and work down
• Expensive treatments are not always the best
• Do a little every day
• Be patient

Thanks again to everyone at the workshop for their time and energy. Happy landscaping!

Making a Recycled Wood Coffee Table

I need a coffee table for the house on the acreage, so what better way to make a rustic one than yourself out of recycled wood.

Step 1 - Source the wood

The best local-ish timber/lumber place is Urban Salvage in Spotswood, west of Melbourne. They sell both reclaimed timber as well as new, kiln-dried. I prefer the reclaimed, however you are restricted by size.

I'll be making this table from recycled Messmate, which has been the most common building timber in Victoria and therefore creates the most amount of recycled and remilled timber.

It comes in a variety of sizes, but I'll be using 80 x 40 mm for the legs and ends and 115 x 35 mm for the top. The bottom shelf is from 142 x 19 mm flooring, while the rails will be cut from 100 x 40 mm lengths.

Step 2 - Design

This design uses the 80 mm beams for every piece except the lower shelf, which has three pieces at 19 mm. Some pieces, such as the side rails, will need to be cut from the 100 mm pieces

I'm only using edge-gluing and biscuit joining in this piece to keep things simple.

Step 3 - The lower shelf and side rails

This is made from 3 pieces of 142 x 19 mm flooring where I have removed the tongues and grooves on the table saw.

I checked my edges for square (perfect!) and set up my jig for gluing.


I have decided not to use biscuits for the shelf and instead to use edge joints with sufficient clamping to create a flat surface.






The boards are sitting on strong rails that are taped over to prevent damage from any excess glue. The the boards are edge glued and aligned and a top rail is clamped down to level the boards.




Finally, the horizontal clamps are tightened to pull the boards together. I left the jig overnight to dry.






I also cut the two side rails at 40 mm high (to match the end rails) and biscuit joined them to the main piece.

Step 4 - The table top

I'm gluing up the table top in three separate stages to ensure it is as flat as possible. Without a thicknesser, I cannot guarantee that the boards will align, so I need to avoid as much sanding as possible but getting the boards to glue up as close as possible. I have used the table saw to get the edges square.

I'm starting with three boards. The middles board is not quite the same as the other two, so I'm using clamps to hold the pieces as close as possible while the glue sets.

Then I join the side pieces on with biscuits. This allows for some variation in the side pieces and gets them correctly aligned. This, in turn, reduces sanding.

Step 6 - Then end frames

The end frames are quite simple pieces, all biscuit joined together. I'm using double biscuits, well aware that these joints are not as strong as traditional mortise and tenon joins. But I don't have the equipment and can't justify the cost just yet. So its biscuits all the way!

To get the double biscuits aligned, I used the table top as the main edge, then used 6 mm MDF as well as 19 mm ply as spacers. This gave me consisted biscuit spacing with 6 mm between the biscuits. I was very happy with this process as it was really easy and the result as a frame that was easy to glue up.

Prior to gluing I did the all-important step of cutting additional biscuits to glue the bottom shelf in place, as well as biscuits for the top two side rails. This will make life a lot easier afterwards.

I also cut a 5 mm slot in all the top pieces to allow table z clips to be used to join the top on afterwards.

 After all this measuring and cutting, I finally had my two ends!

Step 7 - The crossed end pieces

While the crosses on the end are the hardest part, they really add an element of design to what is otherwise a pretty standard oblong table.

It was quite easy in the end. I simply lined up the cut pieces on the finished end-frames, drew a line with the pencil, then adjusted the drop-down mitre saw to cut at that angle. It went very well and I had the main cuts done in no time.

Then I repeated the process for the partial cuts to allow the crosses to interlock with each other. I set the depth of the mitre saw to 19 mm (halfway) and did a series of cuts to create the final groove in the timber. Then it all slotted together nicely.

I then drilled holes from the top and bottom of the frame to enable later screwing in of the crosses.

Step 8 - The big glue-up

Gluing takes two people, not because it is complicated but because you just need an extra pair of hands to hold things in place.

I don't have fancy woodworking clamps that can cover the length of the table, so instead I used ratchet tie-downs across the top and the bottom. This pulled the pieces together quite nicely.

After leaving this overnight, I was happy with the result.

Step 8 - Sanding and finishing

I sanded with the belt sander to from 40 then to 80 grit and finally with the orbital sander to 180. Then by hand to 240.

Cleaning up the dust is easiest with a Tack-Cloth. If you have never used one before, this is definitely recommended as it is a sticky cloth that can pick up the fine dust. It is especially good prior to painting, but I use it prior to oiling as well. You can pick them up from any hardware store. Just know what to ask for...

For this project I have opted to use Danish Oil with a satin urethane over the top. Danish Oil is a beautiful finish for any old timber as it soaks in and darkens the timber, but not too much. Just enough to bring out all the grain and texture. You can then paint over the top and a urethane is best for a table to give it some surface strength. I use Minwax Wipe-on Poly, oil based (because the water-based stuff is horrible). This produces a run-free finish, although it does require 3 to 4 coats. But it is good for getting in to small crevices, such as those created by the crosses.

I did end up finishing the crosses before final installation. This enabled me to apply furniture wax. I also finished the base prior to screwing the top on.

The final finish was done by using furniture wax and 0000 steel wool. Just rub the wax in with wool and plenty of elbow-grease, then get some clean wool and wipe up the excess, turning the clean wool several times to ensure all traces of excess wax are removed. This ensures that the surface will be free from smudges once used.

Step 9 - Attach the top

The top was attached by Z-Clips. These came from a woodworking supply shop and are easy to install with 8Gx20mm timber screws.

This gives us the finished product!

I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.

Dams to Wetlands: Part 2 - Planting around a dam

In this post, I'll cover some of the plant types that can go in to the various zones around a dam that I covered in the previous post - Part 1.

Planting around an old dam Sunday 23rd July 2017

The above photo shows the Sunday morning setup for a lesson on dam planting hosted by Dave and Beth from Muckleford Landcare. It was very informative and I thought it was worthwhile to reiterate some of the planting options here.

The best plants are ones that are indigenous. These are not to be confused with natives. Some natives are unsuitable and considered weeds. Consult your local nursery or Landcare group to find out which indigenous plants are right for your area. Below, I will cover those plants suited to the Victorian Goldfields, however, the basic theory of planting will be the same regardless of location.

Indigenous plants are good because they tend to establish well, tolerate the local conditions and require zero maintenance. If you need to water a plant once it has been planted (always water at planting time), then you have the wrong plant.

In the buffer zone plant trees and shrubs and, as mentioned in Part 1, place them to the North-West to provide shade and a wind break to minimise summer evaporation.

In addition to the trees and shrubs, it is vital to plant grasses to stabilise the soil and begin that water filtering process. In our area Poa labillardierei (Common Tussock Grass) is ideal.

In the batter zone and down in to the wetter parts, various species of Rushes (Juncus sp), Sedges (Carex sp), Spike Rushes (Eleocharis sp), Sea Club Rushes (Bolboschoenus sp), Flat Sedges (Cyperus sp) and for wetter areas, Jointed Twig Rush (Baumea articulata) are ideal. These plants are riparian, a term nurseries may know which means plants that live next to water.

In the permanent water zone, Water Ribbons (Triglochin sp), Water Milfoils (native Myriophyllum sp) and Ribbonweeds such as Vallisneria americana (Eel Grass) are suitable.

Once established, you will find that many additional plants will self-seed as a result of natural events such as flowering and transmission by birds.

You can even take Wallaby Grass slashings and lay them around the areas you want planted and natural reseeding will occur.

Here are some more photos from our planting day. Note that there are some additional very local plants here in addition to those mentioned above.

Tube-stock is best, resulting in stronger plants

Always protect plants unless you want them eaten...

Enjoy your planting!

Dams to Wetlands: Part 1 - What Makes a Good Dam?

Dams on farms have traditionally been used for farming practices - primarily stock watering and crop irrigation. As such, they were often placed on the land where these needs were best met or where they could easily be fed from a water source.

Nowadays, with a growing number of people looking for lifestyle improvement on their rural properties, dams have become a critical factor in both the aesthetics of the property and in supporting native flora and fauna. This means that health, position and appearance matter far more than in the past, but that traditional placement and management may be at odds with our new-found love for nature.

This is the first of many (I hope) blogs on the process of transforming dams to wetlands. In this edition, I want to cover some of the essential criteria of dams that make them well suited to being wetlands. However, I should point out that any dam can be a wetland if you want to make the effort!

Dam zones

A dam consists of several zones that each contribute differently to the ecology. Each zone requires a different approach to planting and maintenance with the goal of making the dam as healthy as possible.

Catchment zone

This is the surrounding paddock. The area where rain will fall and run in to the dam. This area needs to be grazed to a minimum, as the plant life and soil are critical for straining the run-off to keep chemical residue and sediment from running down in to the dam.

Buffer zone

This area is typically from the high-water mark out to 20 metres. From an ecology point of view, this is perhaps the most important area and needs to be fenced to exclude stock.

Once stock is excluded, this area will often naturally re-vegetate with plants that are well-suited, such as native trees, shrubs and grasses, however, some extra planting here can't hurt to give nature a helping hand.

One area of focus should be the north-west corner of the dam, which should be planted with groups of trees and shrubs to create both shade and a wind-break to protect the dam from evaporation on hot, summer days when the wind is blowing from the north west.

Another key function of this area is water filtration. Planting tussock-forming grasses in this area will help filter the sediment from the water, creating a cleaner dam, as well as stabilising the soil.

In this area, you can also add tree logs and other structural elements as habitat forming features that will help protect birds and and provide shelter for many animals.

Batter zone

This zone is between the low and high water marks. This area is nutrient rich and is best suited to planting native rushes, sedges and reeds. You will need to experiment with these plants as some might not survive water inundation when the dam is full, but this is dependent on your specific circumstances.

Permanent water zone

Fairly self-explanatory, this area is wet all year round.

Plants in this area can both filter the water and provide protection from wave action caused by the wind.

Location and permission

In Victoria, we can typically build dams and ponds up to 3 mega-litres without a permit, as long as they are not within a waterway or natural gully. A natural gully is not just a furrow on your land that feeds the dam, but a significant depression in the landscape that is part of the waterway system, even if it is dry most of the year. Check your local regulations.

The location for your dam depends on a number of factors determined by the use of the dam.

If your dam is for irrigation, then an elevated position is ideal as it allows gravity to feed the areas you want to irrigate, or at a minimum means minimal pumping heights.

You will need to consider how your dam is fed from the catchment zone. Some big dams are located in areas of minimal catchment and never fill, leaving a more unappealing view.

An alternative to a big dam might be a series of small, connected ponds. Tapping in to a catchment via a man-made "creek" can feed your ponds with the overflows connecting the chain. This can create a very aesthetically pleasing sequence of water-features that may be cheaper to create, fit the landscape better and provide a better habitat for the flora and fauna you are hoping to attract.

And again, this should be to be completed without a permit (but please get your own local advice on this).

Construction

One issue many landholders face is who will build their dam? Many contractors with diggers are great at digging holes, and may be able to construct the dam correctly in terms of sealing, overflow and overall soundness. However, not many will have the knowledge of where to place the dam and how that impacts on your usage, nor will they be able to make a proper dam, over just a hole in the ground

A key recommendation is to contact your local Landcare group, who should be able to put you in touch with an expert who can guide the process. They should be able to give advice on location, shape and size, based on your specific needs. They may also be able to connect you with an appropriate contractor that can do the job right. The consequences of a bad job are not worth considering.

The ideal dam

When it comes to the ideal dam for a wetland, we are looking for several key points.

The catchment, buffer and batter zones should have a gentle slope in to the water. This prevents rainfall from cascading down the hill at a high velocity, which in turn allows water penetration in to the soil and filtering to occur. This is, therefore, critical in preventing erosion and creating a healthy environment.

The gentle slope in to the dam creates the batter and buffer zones where the majority of wildlife will congregate, helping you achieve your goal of a wetland. Plants like rushes and sedges will grow in this area.

The dam should, in turn, not be a hole in the ground, like a pudding bowl, but be more like a... dam, with a wall on one side allowing water to naturally accumulate. Even dams in paddocks can be constructed with gentle sloping sides, even if they are on all sides.

While many dams are dug out like swimming pools to maximise water retention by minimising evaporation, many deep dams never fill as they are too big for the catchment area, leaving more of an eyesore than a wetland. Don't build your dam bigger than it needs to be - consider the cascading pond option instead.

If you want to swim in the dam, consider a floating pontoon to get out in to the water and avoid the shallow, muddy or planted areas.

Old dams and dam maintenance

If you have an old dam on your property that has been neglected, you might be faced with some issues that could cost you money in the future.

The number one issue is trees and shrubs growing on the dam wall. The roots of these trees can create air spaces around them, as they grow or die back, thereby creating escape paths for the water.

You can check if your dam is leaking by simply looking at the ground below the level of the dam. If it stays green during dry spells, you have a leak.

However, it is not advised to remove these trees as that will weaken the dam wall and may require completely rebuilding the dam.

To maintain the dam wall, simply pull out self-sown plants on the wall annually. There should be nothing more than ground cover on the wall.

There are some options to seal dams. New, high-tech, non-toxic polymers can be sprinkled on a full dam which then sink to the bottom and bind together. Products such as Watersave (I have no affiliation) are interesting options and there seem to be some success stories if you Google this.

Another issue is "guttering", where water is eroding the bare soil around the batter zone. Consider placing small rocks in the gutters that will help to minimise silt run-off while you get your plants established.


In the next blog, I'll talk about planting the dam and how we can get that wetland happening.

Smart Irrigation in Australia: Rainmachine vs Rachio vs SkyDrop vs Hydrawise

If you have limited water for irrigation, or want to save water and therefore money, then today it's a simple choice to go for a smart irrigation controller.

What is Smart Irrigation?

Smart irrigation controllers take information over the internet from weather stations nearest to your location and use an algorithm to calculate the need to water. They automatically adjust timing and schedules to minimise water usage during normal to hot weather, switch off the system if rain is anticipated or is in progress and prevent shock to plants in freezing conditions.

They claim that this technology saves approximately 35% to 50%. This will in turn save you money as well, particularly if you are on town water.

They are controlled via your smart phone or computer via a WiFi connection, thereby allowing them to both pull weather data from online, but also to interact with other smart devices in your home.

All of the smart controllers have simple, solenoid outputs that operate at the standard 24 V, meaning that they can control all the major valves available in Australia including: Pope, K-Rain, Toro and Holman.

The Candidates

The primary brands at this point are:

• Rachio
• Rainmachine
• Skydrop
• Hydrawise

These devices are nearly all manufactured for the US market with only the Skydrop being sold locally by Reece Plumbing Supplies. All the rest are available on Amazon.

There are other models that I have not included such as Lono and Spruce, however these are too immature to compare yet and Spruce requires Samsung SmartThings which is an additional cost and does not yet ship internatinally.

So the big question is - how would they perform in Australia?

To me, the biggest factor is weather data. I need data that is close to the property which is 150 kms away from Melbourne and therefore may or may not have very good weather data available.

Other factors include whether they display data in Celsius, integrate with other devices such as rain gauges or flow meters, how many zones they support and whether there are any ongoing costs associated with running them.

Feature Comparison

What features do an Australian gardener look for beyond all the website hype? We don't care that they are approved by the US EPA or that they use the American NOAA to obtain accurate data. What we need is a device that uses the best possible data for our locations and gets the watering right for our local conditions.

The software does basically the same thing so there is not a lot of point in comparing it. They all allow multiple schedules to be set up for each zone. They can be set up based on soil and planting type, such as sandy loam for vegetables, which makes them easy to set up. They all have smart phone apps and websites. The Rainmachine does have a touchable interface, but I doubt anyone would use this.

It should also be pointed out that all systems are in an active state of development and are going head-to-head to woo customers based on features. Just because they don't have support today does not mean they won't tomorrow.

They can all report back to your smartphone whether they have started or stopped, etc.

	Rachio	Rainmachine	Skydrop	Hydrawise
Price (AUD)	$258 (Amazon US)	$313 (Amazon US)	$375 (Reece)	$230 (Malvern Irrigation)
Zones	8 or 16	8, 12 or 16	8 or 16	6 or 12
Data Sources	Private system (Gladstone), PSW Weather	Weather Underground, Community Written	Weather Underground	BoM (paid)
Paid Subscription	No	No	No	Yes ($60 per year)
External Integration	Alexa, IFTTT, Nest, iControl, Control4, Crestron, Nexia, Wink	IFTTT, Alexa, Nest, and SmartThings	IFTTT	None
Celsius Support	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Rain Sensor Support	Yes	Yes via module	Yes via module	Yes
Flow Sensor Support	Yes	“Pipeline”	Yes via module	Yes

As you can see, they are all pretty close. I am not keen on paying for the Hydrawise account as this is the opposite of saving money and water. All the others use freely available data, even if it is not from the Bureau of Meteorology. In fact, Bureau data may not be relevant to me if the weather station is too far away.

One point of difference is the data, so let's take a closer look at the Rachio's data vs Weather Underground (used by both the Rainmachine and the Skydrop).

Weather Data Comparison

The Rachio uses data in Australia sourced from two possible locations, the Gladstone service and PWS Weather (Personal Weather Stations). The other two use data from Weather Underground, which includes Personal Weather Stations.

Rachio Weather Data Locations

The support team at Rachio were kind enough to enter my address in to a device and see where the closest stations are. They provided this screen shot:

This shows the location of the property as well as the five closest stations, according to their software. As you can see, the closest station is at Kyneton, 22.44 miles or 36 kms away. This is a PWS station which is collaborated on the PWS Weather website:

Weather Underground Locations (RainMachine and Skydrop)

By searching for my location on Weather Underground, I can see 25 weather stations within a similar range as the map for Rachio.

The closest station is at Yapeen, 3.2 kms away. 

This station is also listed as a Davis Vantage Vue (wireless) which is a top-of-the-range weather station.

This is a great result. There are 10 weather stations within the range of Kyneton, compared to just the one at Kyneton for the Rachio. This effectively knocks the Rachio out of the race, leaving the RainMachine and the Skydrop.

A two horse race: RainMachine or Skydrop?

Given that the models that support Weather Underground are the Rainmachine and the Skydrop, these are the only two realistic contenders for my location.

The Skydrop is more expensive and, at the point of writing this, does not support Celsius. This makes me worry that they are not interested in supporting the global market and tends to remove Skydrop as a candidate.

This leaves the Rainmachine.

I'll come back to you with a review of the Rainmachine once I get me hands on one...

Tool Review: Stihl HSA 66 Battery Hedge Trimmer

This purchase was for my suburban garden, a little under the old 1/4 acre but covered in trees and shrubs. I have a no-grass policy at home to minimise maintenance.

But, I also have the property outside Castlemaine, which means having to buy a range of tools that will help maintain that property as well.

At this point my list of garden tool requirements is:

• Hedge trimmer
• Blower
• Chainsaw
• Lawn mower
• Possibly an extendable pole trimmer

I looked at the Husqvarna, Stihl and Makita battery systems as well as the equivalent petrol systems.

In the end I bought the Stihl HSA 66 Battery Trimmer

Why Stihl?

In Australia, Stihl is just a bit more common than other brands and I felt that the support was there. I would have had no problems with Husqvarna or Makita, though.

The main issue is that these Stihl units are made in Austria. All the competitor units are made in China.  (The Stihl cheaper battery units that are about to be released will be made in China)

Why battery?

Battery systems have a number of advantages for both the home owner and the professional gardener. I would sit somewhere in between, as I have the current house as well as the need to manage and maintain a larger area. Battery tools are powerful, quiet, east to start/stop, low emissions, low maintenance (no oil, spark plugs, fuel lines, etc) and can be quite affordable once you have the right battery and charger.

I opted for the AP300 battery, which is the longest lasting of the three that Stihl offer. This will give me greater convenience with other tools I might purchase, versus a shorter run-time battery.

In fact, this tool is rated at 3 hours run-time with the battery I bought.

I also opted for the AL500 Quick Charger, as I want the convenience of fast charge in case I need spend more time on a task. The battery was $260 and the charger $150.

The battery charged up in about 30 minutes, clearly indicated on the charger unit. Once charged the charging system shut itself off automatically.

What does it cost?

The unit as $310. There is very little margin for dealers to move. The RRP is $319.

If you already had a battery, $310 for a powerful trimmer is good value. A Ryobi, Chinese made trimmer in Bunnings is $279 - good luck with that!

In contrast, the Stihl trimmer is made in Austria, the charger in Slovakia and the battery in Germany.

The HSA 66 Stihl Trimmer

Stihl offer three models in the normal trimmer segment (versus the pole trimmers): The HSA 25, 66 and 86.

The 25 comes with a battery, so it is good if this is the only piece of equipment that you will use. As I have the need to buy multiple tools, the HSA 66 gives me the option to have one battery used across the range. I didn't need the HSA 86, as the 50 mm blade on the 66 will be fine for my backyard needs.

The unit is not a light-weight. It weighs 4.8 kg including the AS300 battery. In fact, it's reasonably heavy and requires some muscles to get the job done. I found that after 20 minutes of trimming I was sweating plenty!

I really like the on/off system with this trimmer. The ergonomics beat my old corded trimmer hands-down. You really just pick this thing up and go. All the safety lockouts are immediately nullified by simply holding the unit. You can hold it horizontally or vertically, left or right-handed and it just works.

How does it cut?

Like a hot knife through butter!

It has very sharp blades that cut up to 23 mm, which is fine for most backyards. More than that and you will need a chain-driven trimmer or a specialist branch cutter. Not an issue for me.

It was so good at doing clean cuts that I had most plants trimmed with a single pass. Bushes that were about 1 m square were done in literally 10 seconds. Even plants standing higher than 6 foot were done so quickly I as looking for something else to cut.

The thing I liked most was that there was no slow down in the cutting action, even when I cut some larger diameter branches - up to 20 mm. It just sliced through them.

This has a very powerful motor and I think that this is where people might be interested when they compare this with a petrol, corded trimmer or other power tool.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, yes, yes.

I am yet to buy any other Stihl equipment, but I can tell you, based on my use of this trimmer, that I will have no hesitation in buying more.

I'll be saving money in servicing. I can start it and use it whenever I want to. It's powerful and well built.

Making a Clock from Recycled Wood

Here is a small, easy project to make a recycled timber clock.

I was thinking of buying a clock from a shop during the sales period, but the quality and look was very poor. So I thought - how hard can it be to make one? The answer - not very!

The tools I used for the project were: a table saw, a mini router, wood glue, a drill, some Danish Oil and various sandpaper grades. Note that depending on your timber, you might not need the table saw or the router if you can adapt the design to suit your timber.

Step 1 - Choose your timber

This is important because we are going to use recycled timber which is of an unknown size. Only once we have chosen the timber can we think about the design and an appropriate clock mechanism to fit.

The timber I am using is recycled Karri from Western Australia that had been used to facade a built-in BBQ. This is dense, heavy timber and soaks up finishes really well, giving a nice look. It is 15 mm thick and varying widths around 90 mm.

Step 2 - Design a clock face

The next step was to design a clock. I like to use Sketchup, which I have used for several projects. While I could draw this easily on paper, it is easier to share a 3D model online.

The final clock will be about 300 mm x 300 mm. I plan on using 2.80 mm nails as spacers giving an overall width of 293 mm. You can use whatever sizes you like - just adjust accordingly to get the look you want.

Step 3 - Choose a clock mechanism

My first step was researching the different mechanisms. While there were several web sites that sell mechanisms and watch hands, I found www.letsmaketime.com.au to be the most appropriate for me. Specifically, they sell mechanisms that are "continuous sweep".

This was important to me as I did not want a clock that ticked! I already have two clocks in our current house that click very loudly, so this was an important factor in choosing this type.

I chose the mechanism with a 12 mm shaft, as the timber I was going to use was 15 mm thick, so this was close enough for a rebate to be routed in order for the appropriate distances to be accurate.
It is difficult to find mechanisms over this size that are reasonably priced, so I was happy with this compromise.

The clock hands are up to 115 mm which should be comfortably inside the clock face dimensions.

Step 4 - Cut your timber

The Sketchup diagram gives me 9 pieces to cut, all 30 mm wide, then varying lengths with 20 mm difference between adjacent bars. Then I'll cut two rails that go behind the bars to hold everything in place.

I then sanded first with 180 grit, then with 240 and finally 320. This does not need further fine sanding as the finish goes on better at this level of roughness.

Step 5 - Route space for the clock mechanism

The next step is to route the back of the middle three pieces to enable the mechanism shaft thread to protrude 2 mm from the front of the clock.
I need a depth of timber of 12 mm which takes in to account the washers and nuts provided in the kit.

My timber is 15 mm deep, so I need to route a 3 mm deep area. This is easily done with the mini plunge router and a 12 mm straight cut bit. Ok! Let's see how the mechanism fits...

Well, good and bad. I didn't take in to account that there is a raised plastic ring around the base of the mechanism that holds it off the wood 2 mm. I should have routed out 1 mm overall, then another 2 mm of about 20 mm diameter around the based. Instead, I have used tape to pad the space out. This should be fine.

Step 6- Arrange and glue the timber

I arranged the pieces on my workbench using 2.8 mm nails as spacers.

Note that my back rails were beveled at 45 degrees to give a nicer final look. They are set back 5 mm from the edge and are 15 mm square (as they are off-cuts).

 The finished product prior to applying a finish.

Step 7 - Apply a finish

I decided to use Danish Oil for this project for a couple of reasons. One, it's quite easy to deal with, although the drying times are long (8 hours). Two, as this is not a piece of furniture that will be subject to wear and tear, the finish does not need to be durable. Three, I really like the way the oil brings up old timber as you can see from the photos.

Just brush on and wipe off after a few minutes. I applied a second coat after 8 hours using 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper to remove any imperfections and a give a better final appearance that is more professional.

Then finally I use 0000 steel wool to apply a paste furniture wax to bring out a nice satin sheen.

Step 8 - Add a hanger

The clock kit came with a hanger that could be attached to the mechanism. As this would not fit with my design, I decided to re-purpose the hanger and screw it to the frame instead.

I cut the hanger with some tin snips and drilled a 5 mm hole to accommodate a screw.

Step 9 - Colour the hands

The hands I bought came in black. The other options were white or gold. I would have preferred silver, so I have used a paint pen to colour the hands silver. Not a bad job and will not be noticeable from any distance.

Step 10 - Add hour marks

This is a bit of a challenge because I wanted silver marks and not numbers.

So I decided to make the marks myself from 2mm diameter nails.

I cut the nails to 25 mm in length using a pair of pliers and then marked out the positions using a protractor and some tape to draw on, not wanting to mark the surface.

I then created a template from this website that allowed me to create a clock face template with a diameter of 200 mm and with a hole diameter of 8 mm to match the size of the drilled centre hole.

I aligned the template and taped it in place. This will then allow me to epoxy the cut nails to the surface in the right positions.

The Finished Product

I'm very happy with the finised product. You can see that the extra pieces such as the hour marks and the silver hands really improve the overall look.

Where to from here? Build some more clocks from recycled wood. Why not?

Leather Chair Restoration

I recently purchased a leather lounge suit for $250 including two 2-seater couches and a single seat armchair. Originally by Moran about 30 years ago when they were in Tooronga Rd, so the quality was there and I hoped I could restore them to a reasonable level, having never attempted this before.

The couches were in very good condition while the single seater had quite a bit of wear as you can see from the photos.

So I Googled "leather repair" and came across www.leatherrestoration.com.au run by Pat Bates.

After visiting the workshop and discussing the process with Pat, I purchased a repair kit for $180 and set to work.

The process is essentially like woodwork - clean, fill, sand, paint, but with adhesives, colour and other products that are suitable for leather.

The picture below is of filling cracks with the "Leatha Menda" product prior to sanding.

The process was time consuming, but realistically took about four days on and off. The main issue was waiting for the glue to fully cure off before sanding.

The final product is here:

I think you will agree that for a complete amateur the end result is pretty good. I am very happy and this will be a great addition to the house.

I would thoroughly recommend Pat and his team.