Work-Work-Work ????

I know it's a 4 letter word and I will try not to use it again. I should have mentioned this earlier. The picture on my home page is of my shop.

( 16' x 24' ) it should have been BIGGER. oh well. The flag on the front is made from a section of fence I found along my travels. It was already painted red so I just did the white and blue. And the stars?? Here I am trying to be very patriotic and get 50 on there. I know what your thinking  No way.Well along came my darling wife and suggested that I do some funky stars like the xmas one's I make. Oops we'll talk about those later!

Well this is 1 of my projects.I Got this idea from a gentleman along rt 104. He said if I built them I could place them on his site to sell and he would only take 30%.   NOT! 

It's a fire wood storage shed. Salt box design 4'D x 8' L x 6' L should hold a little more than a cord.

Also by putting in a floor ( 1 sheet of plywood ) It could be a cute little bus stop for the kiddos. 

This flock has kept me busy. I sell them to the general public ( craft fairs.  bloggers ??  ) At this time there in the finishing room or where ever there is room. They all get 2 coats of paint. These are a big hit! The red dowel is a handle so that they can be pushed along. The yellow wheels are about 3" dia. and have a black rubber foot attached to them, so as you walk along they go flop flop flop  CUTE. Miss B plays w/ hers every time she come to visit. When completed I'll try and get a better pic. Below them is wooden stars made from old wall lath. 3' x 3' roughly.

Many Many years ago when I was just a small lad. Ok I know get to the point. my dad would wrap a few blades in news paper and send them of to be sharpened. Occasionally when returned he would end up with other peoples blades. Some for the better and some  ?? Having run a construction  co. for many years I experienced the same from time to time, BUT it never failed I very seldom got my good blades back. Time consuming and not happy results, ( some blades cost upwards to $ 80.00. ) So again I know it,s not my idea I just fined tuned it to fit my needs.My name and phone numbers are written all over it and on the reverse side of the dull it says  :) They always seemed to loose my #.  I dis liked having to take that rubber coating off that they apply to protect the blade, so I have them eliminate that process and I put 2 flat washers between each blade,  much faster and just as good, the blade rack in my shop is set up the same way. 

( the white paper is covering my name & number. )  

OOPS this pic should be above, I guess I pushed the wrong key won't be the last time. I have a small utility trailer that I built the wood shed on. Much easier than trying to load it afterwards. I have ramps and it should slide off just fine when delivered, of course that's extra:)

The Dust Has Settled

Light up my LIFE.

These candle holders are made from railing balusters & from a bed headboard. I drilled a hole in the top for a brass ferrell that I purchased out of a catalog ( cherry tree ). COLOR  !!!  I normally am a plain type of guy. It just so happens that a while back the local hardware store was going to join forces with the lumber yard so they were cleaning up stock. There were about 2 dozen spray cans in a box. The deal was take all at $2.00 ea. What a steal,  but what I failed to see was the funky colors so beware ??? ( drip less candles work great ) 

 I been given liberty to return to my shop? ( medical reasons, a story for another time ) I was informed of how important small things such as dust particles could be to my recovery and every day health. I have a dust collection system that was mostly designed to collect chips and shavings. ( show me a woodworker that wants to spend time cleaning the shop. (not)  Most of the times I wore a cloth mask for finer dust. But now I have a respirator w/ dual filters that's fits much better than the other. One day as the sun was beaming through the window I could see all the fine dust particles still air born long after I had stopped cutting and removed my respirator. So out came the tool magazines. The systems they showed were awesome !!! ( pretty much take my shop ring it inside out and vacuum the floor LOL) The price tag almost put me into cardiac arrest. So a while later the D.F.D. room filtering system was designed. No patterns pending at this time lol.

As you can see it hangs from the ceiling. the fan came from ?? you guessed it, it had a plastic housing that was all cracked and had a switch with 3 settings low/ high & off. ( sweet ) So i took a chance not knowing if it would run and headed for the shop. I wasn't to worried they have a good return policy ??? Then off to the local hardware store ( that is still liquidating for the big merger) and purchased some furnace filters ( 12" x 20" @ .50 ea )

That was a determining factor in the size of the unit. 

The design stage had started, conclusion was. Build a box for the fan that would fit the size of 12" x 20" filters. ( dah)

I made it that 2 filters are used on both ends. WELL I had a good idea of the airborne dust but would never have thought I could catch this much!!! Take a close look at the filter. the edges L/R that are hidden behind the frame and are the original color ( blue ) well u know whats in the center. I feel better already, because of all that MONEY I saved.  LOL  

W S T  (weekly shop tip)

ORGANIZATION. 

Such a big word around most woodworking shops. Over time u just get tired of looking for that item. You know right where it was but yet u can't find it ???

So with a few scraps of wood  ( mahogany no less ) I made some racks to store some router and counter sink bits. Again keep in mind not my idea originally just passing along. This is my version.

Keep those wheels a turning, drop me a note, always looking for new ideas ????

For now. Keep those blades sharp and have fun !!! 

HELLO !!  all  I,m back. I was hopping to have posted sooner but got carried away in the shop, family camping trip, and of course a road trip. NO this is not me really although at times I feel that old !!!!  (lol) I came across this gentleman along my way. Very friendly guy ???  Knowing what I do for a past time a really good friend  of mine thought of me when she came across some various pieces of lumber, & some items made of wood. 

Christmas in July   :)

Prior to taking this pic there were a few items on top. Got excited could not wait to unload.

The wood varied in size and length.    Perfect!!    It's interesting how things come around in life. In the past at my former job we would save our scraps of wood from jobs we were doing, box them up and gave them away for kindling. Well you guessed it. The pieces are short but they will be great for smaller projects. ( bird houses ??? )

I wish I could say that my shop looked this organized and clean. Small picture lol.

In one of my previous post I had mentioned about leaving a shop tip. I can not take credit for all of these and yes I know ( I'm old ) you may have already seen or have done these. Just thought I would share. Dowels  at times are difficult to store as well as know what sizes you have. So I took some small lengths of  PVC pipe and drilled some holes. I started with the size of a drywall screw and drilled straight through. Then using a larger bit, I used one the would except my driver extension and drilled the front.  I hung them to not only store full lenght dowels but some short pieces. For real small pieces I cut the top of a plastic container and use that.

Well thats all for now. Keep those blades sharp and have a good time.  Dave.

This is for the BIRDS ?

These are some of the different bird house i,ve been working on.

I just recently started doing a craft fair locally. ( small, but a nice way to start )

I think I,m hooked. lol

These are the garden tool bird houses. They are the most popular.

 Over time I have put about seven or so about the yard and chickadees do move right in.

There a pleasure to watch as well as there song. 

This is one of a few I purchased  (Michaels)

Most times that is how I get a pattern. 

A work in progress, i,m in the prosess of putting a copper roof on.

 I found the copper pieces @ or dump YUP thats right love to dump pick.

We even have a little store where people leave unwanted items. :)

The challenging part is that all the seams have to be soldered.

This is also another type I purchased. The other has a red roof. Trying to capture that log cabin look w/ metal roof ????

Interesting the small adornment inside the feeder is a brass acorn.

The post is an old porch railing, w a piece of rebar in the bottom just stick it in.

The 4 post are from old ballasters the tops and bottoms are going to be candles  (pics are comin)

I thick I need to trim the collar that slides over the post n paint it green what do u think ?

The other is my creation. I have a bird house book w/ sizes for different types of birds.

The post is a dowel that looks like a rope 8' long, cut it half got 2. I yes u got it dump store !!!

Hello all, I,ve been in the workshop tinkering away. A pleasure by all means. Hopefully soon w/ the help of my ladies ( mom & daughter ) I will figure out to post pics and share some tid-bits w/ the world. lol     Talk soon..    DAVE!