A what? It's halfway between a bowl and a basket, usually made of wood. Traditionally used in British gardens to carry the harvest in.
Here's the Oxford English Dictionary definition:
trug |trYg| (also trug basket)
noun Brit.
a shallow oblong basket made of strips of wood, traditionally used for carrying garden flowers and produce, not to mention a ready-made, and re-usable Halloween candy carrier! You can see that I planned ahead and made on in orange and black. Those plastic Jack-O-Lanterns will never carry your tools! ;-)
ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting a basin): perhaps a dialect variant of trough.
I've always liked a good trug, have coveted many. They were beautiful, simple, and made to last. Not to mention expensive, made in England, by Old World craftsmen, copper rivets and all.
My original trug, made about 15 years ago served well as a banana bowl for many years, and was a fairly accurate gauge of people's levels of acceptance and creativity. It seemed they either loved or hated my banana trug of humble origins. I'll leave it to you do decide which people I liked better. ;-)
Last year, I got tired of hauling my tool bucket around (never liked the idea much anyway), when I really only needed a half-dozen or so tools, fasteners and tidbits. I decided it was time for an updated banana bowl, this time with a handle.
It's tough, it's black and you won't find one at the hardware store. It works great for toting and keeping track of the just the tools you need when you're roaming about the house or yard. It serves admirably in the traditional way too, for harvesting flowers and vegetables.
It's green because used tires are one of the most difficult waste-disposal problems we have. There are many tire dumps that are literal mountains of tires. One of them caught fire a few months ago, sending huge clouds of very toxic smoke into the air.
A small fraction of the used tire 'inventory' is ground and used in asphalt paving or flooring material (popular in gyms), but it takes a huge capital investment, and barely makes a dent. Here's a low-tech, low-cost way for you to make a difference, and help yourself at the same time.
On to the making... Do your part to reduce the mind-boggling number of used tires piling up waiting for a new life. If you use my measurements, you'll get 5 trugs per tire. I think this one is from a 15" rim.
Pay close attention to the photo notes!
I've tried to include the tools needed in each step's photos.
- Thanks to all for the positive comments so far. If you like it, please rate it, and yes, I this instructable is entered in the Epilog Challenge Contest. Please come back on or after April 19th and vote for me! If the gods are smiling on me, I'll have a monopod entered as well.
Thanks
Here's the Oxford English Dictionary definition:
trug |trYg| (also trug basket)
noun Brit.
a shallow oblong basket made of strips of wood, traditionally used for carrying garden flowers and produce, not to mention a ready-made, and re-usable Halloween candy carrier! You can see that I planned ahead and made on in orange and black. Those plastic Jack-O-Lanterns will never carry your tools! ;-)
ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting a basin): perhaps a dialect variant of trough.
I've always liked a good trug, have coveted many. They were beautiful, simple, and made to last. Not to mention expensive, made in England, by Old World craftsmen, copper rivets and all.
My original trug, made about 15 years ago served well as a banana bowl for many years, and was a fairly accurate gauge of people's levels of acceptance and creativity. It seemed they either loved or hated my banana trug of humble origins. I'll leave it to you do decide which people I liked better. ;-)
Last year, I got tired of hauling my tool bucket around (never liked the idea much anyway), when I really only needed a half-dozen or so tools, fasteners and tidbits. I decided it was time for an updated banana bowl, this time with a handle.
It's tough, it's black and you won't find one at the hardware store. It works great for toting and keeping track of the just the tools you need when you're roaming about the house or yard. It serves admirably in the traditional way too, for harvesting flowers and vegetables.
It's green because used tires are one of the most difficult waste-disposal problems we have. There are many tire dumps that are literal mountains of tires. One of them caught fire a few months ago, sending huge clouds of very toxic smoke into the air.
A small fraction of the used tire 'inventory' is ground and used in asphalt paving or flooring material (popular in gyms), but it takes a huge capital investment, and barely makes a dent. Here's a low-tech, low-cost way for you to make a difference, and help yourself at the same time.
On to the making... Do your part to reduce the mind-boggling number of used tires piling up waiting for a new life. If you use my measurements, you'll get 5 trugs per tire. I think this one is from a 15" rim.
Pay close attention to the photo notes!
I've tried to include the tools needed in each step's photos.
- Thanks to all for the positive comments so far. If you like it, please rate it, and yes, I this instructable is entered in the Epilog Challenge Contest. Please come back on or after April 19th and vote for me! If the gods are smiling on me, I'll have a monopod entered as well.
Thanks
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Signing UpStep 1: Tools and Materials
Obviously, you'll need a tire. I pulled a couple out of a dumpster. Michelin, in this case. This way, I'll get at least 70,000 miles out of my trug.
I was a little surprised to find that brand, and probably more so, size of the tire makes a big difference in the final result. This tire is wider, and less rounded, and not as attractive visually as my original trug. (sorry, no pics of the original, it's in storage.)
The list:
Materials:
- 1 tire (makes 5 trugs), Any tire (tyre, for you Brits ;-) dealer will probably be glad to give you one or more.
- about 2 feet (per trug) of rope (preferably scavenged), about 3/8" diameter, if you want a handle.
Pleased don't use polypropylene rope, as it won't hold a at the end well.
- Water (and soap if desired), to clean up the tire.
Tools:
- A scrub brush, if you really want it clean.
- An tired (don't use a good one for this!) flat-blade screwdriver or some other small tool,
If you're fussy, you'll want to clean the pebbles and grit out of the tire treads.
- A power saw, to cut the tire with. If you're lucky enough to have access to a big band saw, use it.
I used a reciprocating saw, aka "Sawzall."
- Bolt cutters,
If the tire has a steel cable in the bead (the part the touches the rim), you'll need to cut through it, or cut it out entirely.
- Drill bits, about 3/8", depending on what size your rope is.
- a razor knife, to cut the rope and trim stray rubber bits.
- A propane torch, or a lighter to flame (synthetic) rope ends.
- A file or a pair of side cutters, to trim off any stray wires.
I was a little surprised to find that brand, and probably more so, size of the tire makes a big difference in the final result. This tire is wider, and less rounded, and not as attractive visually as my original trug. (sorry, no pics of the original, it's in storage.)
The list:
Materials:
- 1 tire (makes 5 trugs), Any tire (tyre, for you Brits ;-) dealer will probably be glad to give you one or more.
- about 2 feet (per trug) of rope (preferably scavenged), about 3/8" diameter, if you want a handle.
Pleased don't use polypropylene rope, as it won't hold a at the end well.
- Water (and soap if desired), to clean up the tire.
Tools:
- A scrub brush, if you really want it clean.
- An tired (don't use a good one for this!) flat-blade screwdriver or some other small tool,
If you're fussy, you'll want to clean the pebbles and grit out of the tire treads.
- A power saw, to cut the tire with. If you're lucky enough to have access to a big band saw, use it.
I used a reciprocating saw, aka "Sawzall."
- Bolt cutters,
If the tire has a steel cable in the bead (the part the touches the rim), you'll need to cut through it, or cut it out entirely.
- Drill bits, about 3/8", depending on what size your rope is.
- a razor knife, to cut the rope and trim stray rubber bits.
- A propane torch, or a lighter to flame (synthetic) rope ends.
- A file or a pair of side cutters, to trim off any stray wires.
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See pics here http://theolivebranch.blogspot.com/2009/05/trugs-from-old-tyre.html
I am changing the handles so I have one on each side to meet in the middle, and I may close the ends of one to make a hanging basket for my wife and our porch!
The actor Dennis Weaver, played McCloud in the 70's, cowboy detective in NYC. He lives in Joplin, MO where I used to live. He roofed his house with used tires kinda like this, that was back in 1979, his roof is still there, no hail damage either! To keep it from dry rotting, he goes up when needed to spray it with vegetable oil. Wonder if water repellant for fences or decks would work also? Prevent dry rot.
This is a nice use for old tyres, if you find yourself bored with something like a bobcat tyre or one from a tractor, cut it once, lay it flat with something heavy for the day then put one hole for a rope in it, tie it to a vehicle and play somewhere safe, good for the beach and gravel...
I used to be a tyre fitter and we did see people come in for some interesting uses, including one guy that took a really big tractor tyre and made a hammock for his kids out of it...