AIR FILTER
The Builder: Kimani Strayhorn
@i_made_athing
Strayhorn, who works in corpo-
rate IT, is still new to woodworking,
but his hobby is already wreak-
ing havoc all over his house. When
it came time to pick a project for
this challenge, he chose to build a
DIY air filter “so I could stop cov-
ering my wife’s car in sawdust,” he
says. Plus, “anything that gives me
a chance to grow and push my cur-
rent limits intrigues me.”
For his filter, Strayhorn bought
a pair of 2x4s, swiped a three-
speed fan from a friend, and
scrounged together some screws,
a half sheet of ¾-inch plywood,
and a roll of vapor barrier tape.
Six bucks and two Saturdays later,
his filter was ready for action. “I
turned it on to suck up some of the
dust I was leaving on my daugh-
ter’s book bin,” he says. Success.
“It works as a table top, too, and
now it has a permanent home in my
garage.”
Strayhorn is watching for the
next challenge. “This is a great way
to inspire and motivate people,”
he says. “As well as reach out to a
community of future builders and
creators looking for an outlet.”JENGA TOWERThe Builder: Alex Lampert
@alex_lampertLampert rents out gear for private events. Sev-
eral of his clients recently asked him specifically
for a giant Jenga set for their parties. He looked
online for options and came away disappointed.
“The internet’s definition of ‘giant’ wasn’t the same
as mine,” he says. It was time to think bigger. So he
forked over $24 for eight 96-inch 2x4s, grabbed a
miter saw and belt sander, and built the blocks him-
self. (“No other materials were harmed during the
making of this project,” he jokes.)
Lampert hit one snag: He forgot that 2x4s
actually measure to be 1.5x3.5 inches, so he mis-
takenly started cutting the blocks to be 12 inches
long. When three blocks laid side by side in a row
didn’t add up to the length of the next block, he
realized he needed to cut them to be 10.5 inches
in length. But he still completed construction in
a mere 20 minutes. Now, when customers aren’t
renting the tower for their bashes, it sits in his com-
pany’s showroom, waiting to be toppled.
“Building things is just like painting,” says
Lampert. “You start with a blank canvas and when
it’s complete, it’s your masterpiece.” COURTESY28 May/June 2020
Pro Challenge
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