The satisfaction you get from doing this
project will be largely dependent on your
answer to the question: "Do I already have clothespins?" For me, that answer was "no" and so this project began.
That said, these pins are fast and easy to make, can be made larger or smaller, with more or less tension, and they work quite well.
The captions on the pictures describe the whole process, but I'll outline it quickly here as well:
- Find a stick with straight grain that is between 1/2" and 1" in diameter, and cut it to about 5" long
- Put a knife on the centerline of the stick and tap it through to split the stick into two roughly identical halves
- About an inch in from the top, make a perpendicular notch on each half for the axle to sit in later
- Taper the bottom inside edge of each half to make it easier to slide over the line/clothes later
- Find another straight stick, about 1/8" diameter, and lay it in the notches while pressing the two halves together
- Using some string (like jute or cotton), do a common whipping, as described in the pictures, about a half inch below the axle
- Since I only do about 3-5 wraps with the whipping, I tie the ends of the string off with a square knot as well for security
- Slide the string up or down the pin in small increments to adjust the opening force and maximum opening size of the pin
- Snap off the axle so it just sits a little proud of the pin sides
And that's it! After making a few of these, each one will only take a couple minutes. As mentioned above, you can customize these in all sorts of ways by varying the axle size, pin size, number of wraps, location of whipping, etc. They make great bag clips as well. Following the basic formula here you can also make cheater chopsticks or a
skillet handle, or a number of other pinchy things.
This is the second entry in the Month of
Permaculture Innovations at Dogstar (MoPID). Follow along here if you're interested:
https://permies.com/t/190433/permaculture-projects/MoPID-Month-Permaculture-Innovations-Dogstar#1569169
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