In Australia, the back shed is like a haven, somewhere to escape from the world and, well, just do your own thing. Some men set up their shed to play pool, darts, or old time Pinball machines, many even install a drinks bar so they can invite a few mates around and have some fun.

What do you do in your shed?

Let me tell you what the more industrious or creative types do in their sheds. There are many sheds around that have fantastic machinery installed where by all sorts of special projects can be created by retired engineers, professional trade workers, and semi-skilled self taught home handy man type of people. There has been some amazing home built creations that have emerged from the humble backyard shed.

A mans got to have a shed to relax, to create, to repair, to rebuild, or to just lose himself for a few hours. A mans shed is his castle.

Here is what some men build in their sheds: Woodturning is a widespread practical type of hobby that almost anyone can do, it is not hard to learn, and equipment & tools can be home built, and the main consumable material of "timber or wood" is plentiful. The skills to do woodturning can be mastered by anyone with the desire to learn.

Furniture making can also be undertaken by the home craft person, if you are skilled enough you could create furniture pieces that would be worth many thousands of dollars if you bought them in a furniture store. Reproduction antiques, modern, or classic design furniture can be made in the home shed if you have the skills and a good set of hand tools, think of the basic skills of the old time furniture makers, they did not have access to precision saws, routers, planners etc, basic skills and elbow grease were the secret to their success.

If you don't like working with wood or timber, then you could try your hand at working with metal, of

Metal Casting, I.E, the melting and pouring of molten metal into sand moulds is one of the fastest growing creative metal craft hobbies around the world. Some of the most amazing objects have been created in humble sheds, everything from simple doorknobs, to handles and levers for machines, to special parts for vintage car & motorcycles, even home built aeroplane engines for micro light aircraft. Or you can design and build things for special projects you may be working on.

You may think that this is just pie in the sky stuff, but it is not, it is happening at this very moment somewhere around the globe, it could be happening in a shed not very far from you, and you would be surprised at just how many people there might be in your neighbour hood that are busy creating all kinds of things. You could be one of these special breed of people to... all you need is a shed, some tools, a few basic skills, and a good dose of imagination, it wont cost you much to set up, and the satisfaction value returned to you will be multiplied tenfold in self esteem and personal rewards.

Col Croucher has a life long passion in creative hobbies, a firm believer in keeping old time skills alive and to pass them onto the next generation. Visit our metal casting web site: http://www.myhomefoundry.com to learn about hobby metal casting.

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