tips

Make: Projects – Hang a picture from a pull tab

Make: Projects – Hang a picture from a pull tab

When I was a teenager, we had a distinctly impolite name for a pull tab that had been removed from the can with the rivet ring still intact, said name being based on a persistent urban legend about the alleged redemption value of these relatively rare tabs. I can assure you, dear readers, that legend has nothing to do with the reason I am familiar with this handy trick for removing pull tabs with the ring intact every time. Turns out, a tab with an intact rivet ring is quite useful for mounting to wooden frames as a picture hanger. And I, you know, have to hang up lots of pictures. Seriously.

How-To:  Get screws to hold in end grain

How-To: Get screws to hold in end grain

I’m not a carpenter by training, but I have built a lot of simple furniture, and blogged about a lot of simple furniture, and one of the rules of thumb I’ve picked up from the pros is that threading screws into end grain is a big no-no. Wood is not an isotropic material, because of the grain, and is relatively weak in that direction. But sometimes putting screw in end-grain is the best/simplest way to do things, and until I saw this simple trick from woodgears.ca, the only way I knew to do it was to use a barrel nut or some other relatively unusual and expensive fastener designed for the purpose.