Darbin Orvar

A neighbor was about to discard a Ryobi RM480EX riding mower, assuming it was only a dead battery issue. He demonstrated the blades still worked, but the drive wheels wouldn’t engage. I took the mower home and removed the stock lead-acid batteries. After testing, I found one cell well below voltage and opted to replace the entire pack with a 48 V lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄) battery.

YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/HhnOW3vln00

If you’ve ever sharpened a chisel or knife and found it didn’t quite hold its edge as long as you expected, there’s a good chance you’re missing one key step: stropping. Stropping is one of those techniques that quietly makes everything better. It doesn’t take much time, costs next to nothing, and extends the life of your edge significantly. I use it constantly—for woodworking tools, knives, even the occasional carving gouge—and I don’t know why it’s not more commonly talked about outside of professional shops.

Cutting small pieces of wood on a table saw is awkward at best and downright risky at worst. A purpose‑built sled changes that. I’ve put together a step‑by‑step plan—and a full build video—to show exactly how to make a compact small‑parts crosscut sled with an integrated clamp, plus a bonus bench hook, all from one 8‑foot 2×4.

If you love woodworking, boxes are the perfect project. They’re small enough to tackle in an afternoon, endlessly customizable, and—best of all—they don’t need hardware to work beautifully. In my latest video, I break down six ways to build boxes using nothing but wood, from friction fits to clever sliding lids and even Japanese-inspired wedge systems.

The Cyber Writer—our dedicated, writing-only machine—has been a great addition to my workflow lately. And today I published a new video where I go over all the details about this build: Why make a machine like this? How did I design and build it? What are the components like? What’s the software experience? And most importantly—what’s it like to actually work on?

In addition, I've also made a building plan with all the design .svg and .pdf files if anyone else wanted to build their own plywood computer case

If you've ever struggled to get clean, straight cuts on a book’s edge, you’re not alone. Trimming a book block can be tricky—guillotines aren’t always precise enough, and chisels take a lot of skill to get right. But there’s a tool that solves this problem beautifully: the book plough.