Hello. Today I want to tell how a useful garden tool can be made from a piece of an old water pipe ..
I'll start in order. My wife loves to plant flowers. We have flowers all over the site! They constantly "step" on the beds, and every year the beds become smaller and smaller, and the flowers more and more !!!)))). (Now the ratio of "flowers / beds" in area is approximately 5/1 in favor of flowers)
The wife loves to "pick" flowers. She constantly plants them, replants them, transfers them from place to place, weeds, etc. ..... And she uses only a small "one-handed" tool for this. Big hoes and choppers are for cucumbers !!! Flowers, in her opinion, require just the same jewelry processing! ))))
And now, in early March, when the temperature outside the window changed to positive, all her thoughts, apparently, were rushing to how she would plant her favorite flowers .... I made such conclusions because my question is “What would you like a gift for March 8th? ", she replied:" A new chopper !! " (She calls “rippers” small rippers, or “weeders,” as they are also called) ...
The answer was, of course, a joke ...))) .... But, as they say, "You asked me a question - so I will ask you the answer !!!"
And I decided to answer the joke, and, in addition to the main gift, give her what she asked for! 
And, of course, I decided to make a chopper do it yourself (do not be a hardworking master)))) ... My wife’s preferences for the shape and size of instruments of this kind were known to me, and after a little thought, I decided to make this product from a water pipe DU-25. As far as I know, this pipe has a “normal” wall thickness of 3.2 millimeters. (There are also “light” (2.8 mm) and “reinforced” (4 mm)). And I decided that a metal of this thickness would turn out to be a fairly strong garden tool ...
In addition to a piece of pipe, I needed only a piece of wood for the handle, but ... "rules" are "rules", and therefore, I am writing a list! ))))
Materials required for the manufacture of a cultivator:
1. Steel water pipe DU-25.
2. A cut of a handle for a rake.
I started by finding in my “rubbish” a suitable piece of a steel water pipe DU-25, or “inch,” as they are called by the people ... Such a piece was found:
I cut a piece of the length I need. (I don’t know what length it is!))) Acted, as always, “on a hunch”. After all, in my head, I already roughly held the size of the future instrument ...So why should I convert it to millimeters?)))).
In a segment, I made a transverse inclined incision to a depth of approximately two-thirds of the diameter:
Then he made another incision, this time, longitudinal ... Like this:
And then, as marked out, I cut out the "excess":
After that, with a chisel, I “pushed” the pipe in a longitudinal slot:
This gave me the opportunity to deploy the pipe using two "levers", which were played by suitable sized lever tools:
After that, I completed the straightening using the "hammer-hammer method")))))
The result was a fairly wide area, about eight and a half centimeters wide. Indeed, contrary to a common misconception, the numbers “25” in the name of the pipe are not the inner diameter, but the so-called “conditional passage”, or “conditional diameter” (which is indicated by the letters “ДУ”). This designation has steel pipes with an outer diameter of 33.5 mm. And their inner diameter already depends on the wall thickness (in my case - 3.2 mm). Those. for my pipe, the inner diameter is 33.5 - 6.4 = 27.1 mm. Accordingly, the circumference will be at least 85.094 mm. (Diameter multiplied by pi). In practice - more, because deformation leads to stretching of the inner surface. But about a half millimeters the thickness of the cut “took”.
This width is quite enough for me!
I bent the resulting plane, giving it the shape of a future tool:
After that, he marked out future teeth with a marker:
And cut through them using angle grinder:
Next, I decided to form a "seat" under the stalk. To do this, I marked out such a triangular sector (again, "on a hunch")))):
Cut it out with a “BULGARIAN”:
And he riveted it with a hammer, squeezing the edges:
And he began to clean, using first a rough cleaning circle, then - an emery-petal:
In the process, it was found that, bending the product at the right angle and working with a hammer, I riveted the walls of the landing under the handle quite strongly:
I fixed this problem with a drill and a step drill:
It remains to drill a hole for the screw:
After spending half an hour on the futile search for a countersink (But it’s lying somewhere, zar-r-times !!!)))), I countered the hole with a large diameter drill:
With the "iron" for now! Let's proceed to the manufacture of the handle ... I made it from a ready-made purchased handle for a rake that I had in stock. (I always have stock cuttings of various diameters ... I use them both for their intended purpose and for homemade))).
I sawed off a piece of the handle of the length I needed:
Then with a knife he gave the desired shape to the end that will be hammered into the tool:
In the meantime, I had to interrupt and leave ... And so that time would not be wasted, I quickly painted the metal part with black enamel from a spray can ... Let it dry for now ...
Returning the next day, I started with .... making brushes!)))).
I will dwell on this process separately ... From time to time I need to apply glue, varnish, a primer ... and so on ... If every time I use a new brush for this .... it’s not camisole ... It's a pity for the sake of a few strokes spoil the brush ... And wash them - so let their Negroes on the plantations wash! )))). Therefore, I always use disposable homemade brushes for such “small strokes” ... For this, I trimmed composite reinforcement:
Having selected a piece of the required thickness, I set it on fire:
You can do this with a simple lighter ... But you need to burn for a long time, so I use a miniature gas burner.
When it burns out, to the length I need, I extinguish it ... And it turns out a brush. Indeed, composite reinforcement consists of fiberglass impregnated with an epoxy compound ... When the epoxy burns out, only fiberglass remains ... It does not burn, as you know. It remains to trim the side spiral winding with scissors and “rustle” the newly appeared brush on some surface so that the combustion products spill out ...(Glass fiber pile is very slippery and dry garbage does not linger in it - it easily gets enough sleep ...
That's all! Brush is ready:
A very good quality of such brushes is that they do not need to be washed!))). The next time you can either just burn it (if something fuel has dried), or cut it and burn it again ...
So ... I made a brush. Let's start applying the varnish ... Yes, yes, I didn’t make a reservation ... It’s applying the varnish ... We will discuss and process the stem with emery later ...
The fact is that tools of this kind constantly fall into damp earth. Moisture, falling into the wood, which is clogged in a metal pipe, can dry out with great difficulty. Therefore, it is necessary to protect this part of the handle.
I copiously applied varnish only to the part that will be clogged into metal:
And immediately planted the tool on the handle. (Climbed over the varnish, like clockwork!)))).
And only after that I processed the handle, rounded it on emery, and then cleaned it with sandpaper:
And then completely varnished:
Here is such a ripper I got ...
On March 8, I tied a large bow from the “golden” ribbon to him and solemnly presented it to my wife, pretending that this is the main gift! ))))
Well, what am I? !!! I as you asked !!
