So, picture this:

But with some benches around it that were falling apart because carpenter bees have eaten all the structural support. So I removed them, sanded the deck and replaced boards that were too worn to be usable.

The steps were each made of three boards that had warped and rotted, so I replaced them 2 x 12′s. Here you can see the building inspector checking my work:

It took three days to get to this stage:

But only one to get it to this:

I was a little worried about the dark spots I left behind. At the time, I thought I should go deeper and sand more to get a more uniform look. But in the end, I liked the dark spots and the way they came out.

I wasn’t done yes.

After a stern warning from the government of California:

I set about to make a pair of planters to replace the red plastic ones we were using.

I didn’t take any pictures of the process, but it wasn’t too exciting. I just cut construction lumber until it was what I needed.

But since there will be morning glories in the planters, I built an arbor:

The arbors were built to go around the planters and everything was stained with Behr outdoor deck stain. With any luck, it will last for a while. At least until we replace the whole deck.

It is OK, but I’ve always felt the phone doesn’t get a lot of support and I’ve never liked the look. So I thought it would be nice if I could make one that reminded me more of a vintage radio rather than white rectangle.

First thing I did was gather supplies:
-a Class T amplifier
-iPhone adapter
-Speakers
-Hemlock board

I was tempted to make the Amp and adapter myself. But to keep things easy, I just bought them. Maybe if I do another version, I’ll spend some time and build an Amp with charging circuit. But I wanted this up and running quickly.

The first thing I did was grab some scrap plywood and make speaker holders:

I taped them together to cut them both at the same time:

And put them on the board to work out the dimensions I needed:

After getting that set, I marked up the boards so I would know where I’d been:

So I clamped it to my workbench and got to making shavings:

Which, if you were wondering, is entirely too light for handplane work, so I put a bag of cement on it:

I have to build a workbench soon if I plan to keep on doing this. There is something very pleasantly zen about taking shavings off of a board. The lightness of the Workmate also made it hard to do any sort of fancy joinery, so the whole thing is just glue joints.

I didn’t take many pictures of the actual construction process, because it is really pretty simple. I didn’t draw up a plan, rather I followed what I saw it looking like in my head. I need to get better about drawings.

Anyway, here it is before staining:

I’ve rounded and eased most of the corners to take away the hard lines and make it a little softer looking.

After looking at the stain aisle at Home Depot, We decided the best color was called Gunstock. We wanted something a lighter brown with just a bit of red in it.

I put two coats of stain and two coats of a semi-gloss polyurethane coating for protection and to make it shine a little. I tried to make it less blotchy, but that is just what this wood does.

I mounted the speakers and installed the electrics:

And here is the almost finished final product:

The front has a vintage looking aluminum knob. I was going to wait until I was finished before I posted this, but I have to go away for a few weeks so that has put a stop to that. I need to build some speaker covers.

I ordered some grill cloth, a goldish yellow style to fit the design. I also want to make a decorative piece to cover the hole the iPhone wires come out of, but I’m going to do that in a way that matches the speaker covers.

Finally, I got home and coerced Margo into helping to make the shop workable. The garage was a storage area for the moving process. So we boxed and sorted and moved to the attic stuff for long term storage. We consolidated chemicals, got clear storage bins from Ikea to put in existing shelving units. And that led to the shop being workable.

It still has latticework were I want there to be walls, no climate control, lights or electricity… but it is moving slowly.

Part of the process of getting there is getting stands and carts for my tools so I’m not lifting them on and off of the Workmate as I need them.

So the first thing I built was a stand for my Jointer/Planer.

When you make furniture, you want the wood to be square, flat and to the proper thickness. That is what the Jointer and planer are for. In a small shop like mine, it is easier and cheaper to buy a multifunction tool that does both. The top part joints the board and makes one side flat. After that, I send it through the bottom of the machine that makes the opposite side coplanar.

I want to put shelves in the unit. I just haven’t gotten that far yet.

After that, I found some plans on the internet and made a stand for my scroll saw.

The scroll saw is for cutting intricate curves. It is sturdy and the carpet should cut down on the vibrations. It is made from 2×4 and 4×4 material.

Which brings me to my first project in the completed shop.

We used to use a cardboard box to hold kitchen supplies like Ziplocs:

Which looked bad, never worked right and mostly was a pain. So Margo got out a lengthometer and drew up a quick plan for me.

I got some 1/4″ and 1/2″ birch plywood from Lowes and some edge veneer to hide the plywood edges. And finished my day with this:

I’m not sure if I can justify the 650 dollars at this point. I need a new reciever first.

But Margo needs a computer to take to school and it is too noisey for he to use in class. So I decided to treat it like any other noisy machine. I put a little 3 in 1 oil on the fan bearings. So far, it smells like 3 in 1, but the squeak has stopped.  So, Mission Accomplished.

I want to get a netbook, butI can justify the expenditure at this point. So I will just see how this one works out before I get something new.

A decent idea. I cut the pieces to the size I wanted, drilled holes for the rods that would hold the plates and glued the bits together. Then I used my router to round the edges. It looked great. Until I put the rods in and it looked like I built it out of retarded tinkertoys.

I wasn’t too angry. It is failing of not having the proper tools. A drill press would have worked  better then my limp-wristed attempt to drill straight holes.

I’ve gotten some weird phone calls and had some weird conversations lately. The rumors are leaning towards them eliminating my globe trotting job. The really disturbing part is Margo and I were discussing it just last night.

I’m not too worried because there is plenty of work, and I could find a job within the company pretty quick. I just like being a gypsy. I’m not sure I could buckle down to being at just one camp. On the plus side, the manager here in Bakersfield is a friend of mine and has said he would rather me working here or rotating here then some of the other guys that do nothing but whine about being gone. Sure, I don’t want to be gone either, but incessantly whinging about being gone doesn’t help. It could be worse. I could be in Africa. Or the Middle East. Or most of Asia.

I wanted it to be half feeder and half house. So the part with the screwy hole is the house and the open part should let us put bird feed for them to eat. Or they can park their bird cars. Either one is good.

After researching, I got a Garmin Nuvi 360. It isn’t the most advanced, but it is does everything I want and it surpasses Tomtom in several ares. The text to speech engine is great and it even reads text messages to me. I think the mapping engine and maps are more advanced then what Tomtom has.

I think I’m going to see if I can fix Tomtom by changing his battery out. I’m sort of thinking it is a battery issue.

I like stop motion animation. Something about it appeals to me. I’d rather stop motion over the CG messes we have now. I have done a few silly little things when I had piles of Legos, but I felt silly the whole time. I think that has stopped me from doing a lot of my movie based things. I can’t shake the sillyness of the whole affair. Which is odd because I am pretty sure most of what I do falls under that same silly heading.

I don’t think it would be that hard to do. I know you can get buckets of G.I. Joe men off of Ebay and the tools needed are amazingly much more available then when I was a kid.

Eh…. I don’t have the patience for something like that.