Lawn, garden and DIY cupboards projects - What are you guys doing ?

LMSC Can that be used to cut tiles and thin metals, of course it may require a special blade.

I don’t think so. I’ve only ever used it to cut wood. Get a quote for a carpenter to make you something, then it’ll seem a whole load cheaper 🤣. The tracks are what make the big difference as you get perfect cuts. The precision is amazing. If something is slightly too large you don’t get out the sander or plane, you just take a mm off with the saw, and I do mean a mm. You can easily cut within the width of the blade.

Probably the big question on whether it is worth it is how much are you going to do? I’m nearly 40, and have already fitted a kitchen, utility room, made a fitted desk, built a desk and chairs for the kids, boarded the loft, decked a garden playhouse … the list goes on. The quality and ease of use make the initial outlay negligible compared to the value I’ve got from it, and I expect many more projects for it in the future. If I was only doing one job it might be better to rent the tools you need rather than buy.

LMSC I can recommend the hunter pop ups with rotator nozzles. The best irrigation I think there is for borders is netafin pressure compensated hose. It gets the water direct into the soil. I like easy-irrigation.co.uk as supplier. Small but helpful. Do you have a proper irrigation controller? Once thing to be careful with on lawns is your pressure, especially in summer when water company can turn pressure down. My 2 popups worked beautifully until June and then didn’t. I now need to move them onto separate zones as well as add in a third this summer.

@LMSC I’ve got the Bosch GKT55 and have been really pleased with it. Very similar to the Mafell (rumour was Mafell make it for them).

My dad has the festool TS55F. It is very nice, but a jump in price. Interestingly we both prefer the bosch guide rails. They’re easier to put together and the join feels sturdier.

I’ve also got the GOF1600 router which has never disappointed. Easy to use, bags of power. The big benefit with festool routers is the dust extraction - second to none for ease of use.

I’d also go for the festool domino jointer if you need something like that. Makes things so easy.

LMSC ah I meant to ask about whether you meant shrub or tree root zone. That looks nice if you can dig or they are new trees.

I use these with drip hose in the top as I put into existing tree root balls and couldn’t dig.

https://deepdrip.co.uk/index.php?p=contact

LMSC

Look at these.

https://www.easy-irrigation.co.uk/mp-rotator-nozzles-c-240_65_98

With regard to routers I would agree for most work you do not need a. ½′' router, they are heavy and cumbersome.

They come into their own when jointing worktops with a jig, for general projects routers with 8 and 10 mm collets are fine, soft start and variable speed are beneficial.

I have a Makita biscuit jointer, the head /face plate are very adjustable to suit all manner of work .

Think about the projects you wish to do and prioritise the use for the tools you buy.

Check the suitability of the blade for your saw, the general purpose one that comes with the saw is just that, if you are cutting sheet material and more teeth are beneficial, ripping softwood less teeth / bigger gullets are better.

Compost bin project. Will finish over Easter.

LMSC What do guys do for the extractor? They cost the same, if not more.

If cutting outside, still use decent protection - I recommend the JSP Force 8. Sheet material especially is bloody horrible - don’t want it in your lungs.

Extraction helps a lot with routing in terms of seeing what’s going on.

If you don’t need power pass-through I’d recommend CamVac.

If you want another DIY project you could mock up a master/slave using the Kemo module - decent rating - for convenience.

One more recommendation for Festool - not just the plunge saw, but the OF1400 router. I haven’t used the Bosch (which by all accounts is excellent too), but I found an open-box OF1400 on eBay at a great price, and I haven’t looked back. It’s an excellent tool, and as long as it’s connected to a shop vac (not the Festool mortgage-requiring type) there is practically no dust, even when working on MDF.

On the ¼ vs. ½″ collet, I would go diametrically (!) opposite - unless you are planning to use the router only as a trim router. You can fit a ¼″ collet on a ½″ capable router body, but you can’t do the reverse, and any shaping/moulding capability is severely restricted if you only have ¼″ bits.

LMSC Take a look at Axminster Tools to view variety of makes / models.

About 28 years ago I totally transformed our sloping back garden from this…

to this…

At the time I chose to use wood to make a decked area and a product called Woodblox for the beds due to cost. It was cheaper then than building retaining walls and backfiling and laying slabs and stone steps. Now though, I wish I had waited and saved up a bit and gone down the brick/patio slab route, as even though everything was pressure treated and looked after every year, it has rotted in places. Because it was built so long ago I can no longer get the same size decking, which means replacing the whole lot and as we all know, the price of wood now is rediculous.

So, I am now thinking brick retaining walls and slabs will at least see me out. Trouble is, I’m 30 years older and no way can I do it. Also, we have some major work being done in the house replacing all the lower ground joists and floors throughout (cowboy house builders say no more) back end of September, so it’s going to have to wait another year or two at least.

Wood decking looks good, but if I had my time again, I wouldn’t.

LMSC We have a gardena 6 zones digital timer controlled irrigation along with 6 zones distributor. At the moment, We are using only one; plan to use 3 more of these for the lawn, front and split the watering for plants. We will still have 2 spares. 😊

What is your pressure like? You might find if you want to run 2 pop ups at the same time, that you would need larger supply hose than this would take, or you would have to run 2 hoses all the way from this to each pop up, does depend a bit on size of garden and how easy it is to hide them. At the very least you will be burying pipe for the pop ups and the tree irrigation and you will need to make sure the hose you use and connectors are up to the job. I wouldn’t want to bury a normal garden hose and click connector as I know how often they leak above the ground as bits become loose. Hopefully you will be able to connect MDPE supply pipe to this controller.

If not, you will be looking at solenoid valves (all easy to do) and a 12v controller (and might be able to help you out there).

@LMSC You may have done this already, but I highly recommend a programme of removing the thatch from your lawn(s) on a regular basis, I started doing this two years ago on a very tired, run-down lawn and it makes a world of difference. Use an electric powered “scarifier” rather than a manual scarifying rake. The lawn will look pretty roughed up to begin with but will soon recover.