Reader Projects # 61

Canoe, By Mr Otto Glass

When Stephen’s wife turned out to be allergic to cedar, he got creative and used untreated 2×6 framing lumber to build their canoe. He milled the boards into strips himself and constructed a 14′ long, 40″ wide, 16″ deep custom canoe. Despite having no prior experience with canoe building or fiberglass, he praised the ease of WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy and the 300 Mini Pumps.

Vintage Wooden Screw Restoration, by Lou Yelgin

To restore a vintage wooden screw for a bench vise, Lou needed a custom nut with a rare 3½ TPI thread. Since machining wasn’t an option, he used the screw itself to mold the threads by coating it in petroleum jelly and casting WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy around it. The result was a perfect, functional epoxy nut.

Leveling Feet Castings, by Daryl Brunette

After moving into a new house, my workbench wobbled on the sloped garage floor, and I didn’t want winter water puddling around the shimmed wooden legs. As a longtime WEST SYSTEM^® user, I knew epoxy could help, but encapsulating the feet with thickened epoxy felt too complicated. Instead, I poured leftover epoxy into small cups and cast the heads of bolts into them, creating simple, custom leveling feet. It was a free, durable fix that put waste epoxy and spare parts to good use.

Windvane Rebuild, by John Mikolich

While winterizing his sailboat, John Mikolich accidentally crushed a plastic windvane with an 80-pound outboard. Over breakfast, he spotted a cereal box and used it to trace and cut a replacement, then saturated it with WEST SYSTEM^® Epoxy. By dinnertime, he had a durable, colorful new part—better than the original.