Signs, signs, every wheres signs.

                          As you can see I have been busy this summer making signs & things and 

                                                              attending a few craft fairs.Also been ta Maine , New Yorrk, Massachewsit , Ney Hampshire, Then back home again.  Cross out the last one, I forgot I live there.

                                                Turned out to be not to bad of a summer.

       I got a little creative with this one. I cut old corks in half with the band saw.                               Used an  old board and attached them with my pin nailer.

           Then I started looking thru all the others ( bout 200 thanks to some friends) and took the longest ones and attached them from the back using coarse drywall screws. Note I did pre-drill and used a hand screwdriver not to over tighten them and strip them out, on the right you can see the stem of a glass hanging

The top sign and this one here  I used twigs ( beech works well) again used the pin nailer.



This is some closet maid shelving w/ brackets and a small pan full of screws and other stuff that goes with it.  

YUP  you guessed it ta da dump we went and tada. they will work out good in the shop cause it will let the dust fall thru.

There to nice to let go we"ll  make them fit some where.



Well the summer has come and gone again we managed to take a few kayak trips. This one was on a long narrow lake very nice. OHH  I tried to get in the kayak by my self only to go topsee-tervee and yup soaked my butt well. This is a marker the state puts in letting boaters know where the rocks are just below the surface. Kayak no problem skimmed right over them. As you can see the local lake people are very patriotic. The colors and stripes do mean something also but da_  if I know.

Yes this is the same lake and for a few minutes thought I was on the titanic.

This is for Ms. B. she loves to slide only problem she wants us to go down it as well.

Found the slide at _______ the 4x4 pressure treated I had on hand. The interesting thing was making some steps, so I used old tool handles attached them to the 4x4 using electrical conduit mounting brackets tad bit more painting n were done.

SHOP TIP

Again not my idea its old the only thing that has changed is they went from glass to plastic. There were a few coffee cans in between. I can remember seeing my dads now, a piece of wood about

1 1/2 " square with the lids hanging on all for sides. Only problem if you were not paying attention whack  glass n screws flying every  I took of running.  lol  

A little to big to be mounted so I just left them on the shelf.

This past summer we had a chance to have family reunion at my cousins place in Wells Me.

The gave us the grand tour very, very nice house.  And her baked beans are to die for. Anyways Its a small house but very cute ( there retired) I was in the basement in Mike's work shop. He was working on restoring a motorcycle. But the thing that put me in awe was that as I looked around everything was well organized and in its place, I am sure if I had asked for something he would of had it a second!!!  Hey Cousin I want that recipe.

Again its that time to say

Keep those saws sharp

Stay safe

And have fun.

 

 

 

Its for real.

YES this is a real street sign in town. As you can see they have welded this one in a frame to the post

and set the post into extra concrete. ( it keeps getting stolen.)

the next pictures should be together and in a different order.

yup I'm still learning. my wife says that over time I am trainable.

This is the seat board to the swing I made,

the bricks were already there and there was a small seat at the end.

there is an old set of fire boots to the left that my wife puts plants in.

This is a pic of the swing. We hope Miss B enjoys it as much as we do.

This is one of the ( 6 ) bureaus that I have and is complete and off to

market. A consignment shop called Boomerangs located in Ply. NH.

Making color choices and selecting hardware are the most difficult part.

Of course I chose from what paint I have in stock or I can purchase on the oops rack @ Lowe,s or other stores lol. I have three boxes of hardware  (pictures to follow) that I dig through to find what looks good and that is based on if I have the right amount. tough job.

This is IT the sign that is mounted over the swing. Imagine finding this in the scrap metal pine @

da dump. Also it had to do with WINE love it. Well out came a cheap can of black spay paint,  n tada.

As you can see I removed the sign part so that I could mount the vine part.to the frame of the swing.

Frame is rough saw 2x6 w/ coat of flat black. to hold the seat up I used good old rope 3/4" diameter for support . Looks pretty good huh. My wifes idea, she had one growin up I went to the pine's playground to swing.

Well its that time again we I must go. Happy woodworking, have fun,

and keep those saws sharp.  DFD

I heard many of excuses over the years and even used a few.lol

I have been busy this summer as you can see.

I went to a family reunion this past wknd and a cousin of mine commented that she liked my blog and whished that I would cont' so now that things have calmed down (rite)

Anyways this is one of the craft fairs/ market days that I attended. Yup I got the tent an all.

I not only sold the crafts that I made but a few old/odd pieces

I know its not to clear. I was told I had a nice display. Made me feel good.

On the left you can see some garden tool birdhouses, a bench i found ( @ da dump) are refurbished,

an interesting oak chair it had a place on the back so that the person sitting behind you could place a book or whatever I think it was in a church or meeting hall. On the right is a duck push toy.

And some black cats in 3 designs made to go atop window or door casings.   

I made a few signs out of wine corks it hard to see the glass hanging from the vino sign.

I know I need to learn how to zoom in. Just below is a piece of drift wood I found while walking with my lovely wife at Moody beach in Maine. It reminded me of the little sand pipers u see running around the beach all i had to do was add legs n feet so i used some copper wire and it worked great really looks good.

  

Choo choo trains, cars & trucks, wooden tulips, coat racks 

and to be posted at a later time the big boy toys!!!

In the center rear, a front end loader n Kenworth dump truck.

Well again its time to go so have fun be safe and keeps those saws sharp.

 

post 1

Over the years I have collected soup, coffee, and whatever other cans I could find.

I have spent more time looking into these can to figure out what was in them ?

So I decided to label them only to have the tags fall off. Sooo

I found these clear plastic container ( nope can't remember where or when I got them. )

 

So as you can see I have quite a few, and I have placed them in some planting trays I had.

The best part is I have already filled a lot of them and still have a few left.

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.