Using scraps to make nice things.

The Covid-19 Lockdown in the UK has thrown up some interesting challenges.  If I catch the disease I'm likely to show severe symptoms, so I've been advised not to leave the house until July.  This is a real pain, but at least we have a decent sized garden.

I'm still working full time - from home, thanks to modern technology, but evenings and weekends need filled.

I've been trying to use things that we'd normally discard, and turn them into something new and interesting.  Mostly wood - pallets of course; logs that are too big for the fire and too hard or knotty to split; sticks and branches that we've coppiced or that fell over the winter; old planks that have been in the shed for years.

I also have an old filing cabinet where I throw old door hinges, plugs salvaged from redundant electrical equipment, handles and other hardware that I'm sure will come in useful in the future.

I'm not a complete hoarder, but if there was ever a time to use all those bits and pieces, it's now.

I've a few great big logs that I use as a base for splitting wood. Too many to use, so I rolled one of them out for a closer look.

Using an 18mm spade bit I drilled a couple of dozen holes into the top in two concentric rings.

I spent £3 on a 10W LED outdoor floodlight from an electrical wholesaler and screwed that into the middle.  I used salvaged plug and cable to get power to it.  I am qualified to work with electric, but if you're sensible this is something anybody can do.

When I first turned it on the light was pure cold day bright white which isn't what I was looking for at all, so I spent another £2 buying a CT Orange stage lighting colour correction filter.  I only used a few centimetres so I have loads left for another similar project in the future.

Finally I stuck branches into all the holes and tied them into a sort of pyramid shape, creating a very simple effective garden light.