More “Muscle Rack” Shelves

 Making Stuff, Painting, Personal Updates  No Responses »
Nov 262017
 

The new Muscle Rack Shelves are looking amazing but the color was not what I wanted and the paint used, while about as durable as anything you’re gonna’ find at a big box store, is not up to the task of industrial shelving so its time to paint again.

Originally we decided on a bright, almost fluorescent green called Sherwin Williams Parakeet [SW 6711]. It is a soft tennis ball green color that reflects LED light very well, and somehow is not an eyesore (but be careful looking at it outside in direct sunlight! Total blindness). I got a few cans of Solo made up in this color and proceeded to prime the particle board shelves.

Solo goes on pretty thick and needed to be thinned about 30% before I could get an even light spray. It was applied in 3 thin coats to get good coverage but also because it just did not want to feed in my siphon gun. I love this old siphon gun, but its finicky and will fight you if you don’t get the paint and airflow just right.

 

Did you ever wonder what $1,120 in industrial enamel coatings looks like?

Well today is your lucky day because here is 3 gallons of Sherman Williams Sher-Cryl HPA, 3 gallons of Water-Based Industrial Enamel and 4 gallons of Solo (their home grade paint-plus-primer in an enamel base). That’s right 10 gallons of paint with the multi-gallon discount it still averages $110 per can.

But you know I’m a cheap bastard, so no way I paid that, not a chance.

Would you believe $11 dollars for all of it after tax? Well that’s what it cost.

This was definitely my lucky day.

 

Spraying took almost all day but I got them all coated and looking pretty good. They could actually use a sanding and second coat on the wear side just to make sure they hold up.

I’m really happy about the color, it’s a little bit lighter then the sample chip but it looks good in the LED lighting in the sweat-shop and garage.

 

If you interested in this project, and want to see the shelves in use, the first post about it can be found here: New “Muscle Rack” Shelving.

New “Muscle Rack” Shelving

 Making Stuff, Painting, Personal Updates  No Responses »
Oct 282017
 

My sewing projects require a very diverse assortment of narrow fabrics from Webbing to Velcro to Elastic and Binding tape. Since every pattern and color I add, increases the footprint by a significant margin, it was becoming a huge unwieldy mess.

The shelves already in the basement were mostly a hodgepodge of narrow plastic shelving and book shelves. None of which was cut out for the job. Not only was the narrow width cutting into usable space, but the weight of this fabric was taking a toll on the shelves. An upgrade was long over due. I was able to acquire 13 heavy duty “Muscle Racks” from the warehouse and set out to make them usable for my sewing supplies.

 

The first and most important thing to do was give everything a thorough cleaning. Then paint and seal the particle board shelf’s so they would hold up better in a slightly damp basement.

Jess and I spent way to much time looking at paint chips and trying to find a color that would be bright enough for the basement but wasn’t an eye sore. The color not only had to be bright, but hide dirt and scuffs, it must also blend in with the fabrics. Kind of a tall order, but we selected a color (Sherwin Williams Parakeet) and settled in their high end enamel paint.

Well long story short, it got cold, painting was delayed. The weather broke one weekend and I grabbed what paint I had on hand (Bahr Premium Plus ULTRA Exterior Enamel) and set off to paint.

The color on hand was a dull olive gray. A paint color that’s intentionally boring. I purchased it for painting structural items in the Hosta Prison and the intent was that would blend in regardless of season. Not exactly the color I wanted. Not exactly the toughest paint either, but it would have to do. All in all the color looks great. Sadly it doesn’t reflect the amount of light I hoped for, but its not bad either. The most important thing is they are sealed and ready for business.

 

Indian summer struck again and I was able to finally spray Parakeet.
Check out the update here: More “Muscle Rack” Shelves

Adaptable Messenger Bag Design – The Brown Bags Project

 Making Stuff, Personal Updates, Sewing  No Responses »
Sep 242017
 

Over the last few weeks stress has been high and I’ve gone looking for some of my old outlets for all that excess mental energy. Woodworking is probably my favorite, but sadly right now there is simply no space for that. Next would be sewing.

 

Brown bags project is now “mostly” complete!

(may add Pencott Badlands and some more Realtree options)
The bags are my standard Adaptable Messenger Bag design. In this case with the “office” internal design. And a removable carry lid (lid adds a grab-n-go handle, something the original design is missing).

The bag itself is pretty large, designed to carry my 17″ laptop. The front zippered pocket holds a file folder, pens, paper, flashlight, multi-tool, razor knife, spare mag and misc hygiene kit. The main pocket has a laptop \ file folder pocket. And two large divider pockets on the rear (holds a portable drive, battery backup, and a pair of gloves). The opposite side has three large pleated pockets with drawstring closures (holds glasses, body-spray, 2 pairs of flex-cuffs, first aid / boo-boo-kit, misc chargers, tools, and thumb drives). The lid has three zippered pockets and mainly holds small items (spare batteries, etc).

These bags are built like tanks! They are overbuilt in everyway possible. Yet, they are quite clean design-wise.

Color \ Pattern options in this build.

The brown part of this project includes 6 coyote brown, 2 Multicam (one with coyote accents, one with Multicam accents), 1 in Realtree Advantage Timber, 1 in Realtree Advantage Classic, 1 in Atacs (classic). The green part of the project is still on hold.

The Multicam bags are amazing looking, but honestly a little useless in the forest around here. Since they are intended to carry work home and back that shouldn’t be to much of a problem.

Why so many bags?

Originally the project started as a set of car kits. A grab and go bag I could keep in the car\Tahoe containing seasonally appropriate supplies. I like having a change of clothing, emergency supplies, gloves, etc. Coyote bag for fall\winter, camo green for spring/summer. 3 cars x 2 seasons, then I decided to expand the project to include a few EDC bags, then it continued to grow and suddenly it got out of control.

Out of control or not, I’m really happy with how it is coming along. A new pattern for every day of the week, hah.

Well onto the pictures, here ya go!

Driveway Madness! 60 Tons of Parking.

 Making Stuff, Personal Updates, Yard Work  No Responses »
Sep 172016
 

One problem in this old house is we have had a lack of parking, particularly in the winter months.

Plus, year round I have a Tahoe that gets parked on the lawn killing the grass (well weeds really). When the grass dies it turns into mud, when it rains the mud washes away and the cycle begins again. This is one of the many fun things you learn about when you live on the side of a mountain. Or as the locals say “in them there hills.”

What’s more, my secondary access driveway has started overgrowing with weeds again. And the 5 truckloads of shredded tree we used to keep it driveable has broken down enough that heavy rains are now washing it away yard by yard. Clearly, something needs to be done.

So one morning while leaving for work and thinking about the fact that they are grinding up the local Rt. 340 I gots me an idear. A few phone calls later I had scheduled 20 tons of asphalt millings on the way. 20 tons seems like enough to cover a little driveway and cover a landing for parking. Heck, if anything I may have too much. Well if you’re not on the side of a mountain that’s probably correct! But I wanted to level the landing and suddenly it needs to be 20 inches deep on one side. And that access driveway could be wider, so we leveled a slightly larger area and before you know it 40 tons is not nearly enough. As a matter of fact, as I type this another shipment is trucking its way to me!

Incomplete Asphalt Millings Parking Area: Before and After
Asphalt Millings Parking Area

Incomplete Asphalt Millings Driveway: Before and After
Asphalt Millings Drive Way

More Pictures from the Job:

Porch \ Yard Plant Racks

 Making Stuff, Wood Working, Yard Work  No Responses »
Jul 062016
 
Racks Stacked and Waiting for Paint.

While driving home a week ago I saw that my buddies work was throwing out a bunch of wood scraps. Mostly bits of plywood that are too small for them to use, but still big enough for a project so I loaded up the old Tahoe with what I could.

I always have woodworking projects waiting for me at home, so I figured it would be used up quickly. Turns out I was right.

We always have a lot of plants on the porch, hostas, peppers, etc. The problem is the pots ruin the deck and stain the wood. Plus its best to have the pots raised for better air flow and drainage so I have often built racks to keep the plants off the deck.

We have some racks I made a few years ago but they are looking ratty and are in need of replacement. Also, in the hosta prison the ground is not completely level and the pots occasionally fall with the help of squirrels looking for places to hide food.

PlantShelf

Seems like a good project for all this free wood. I drew out a plan to make the best use of the wood I had on hand and got to cutting. In the unlikely event that anyone wants to make a few the plans (drawings) are included below.

Jess helped me staple them all together and it took two weekends to get them painted (2 days of drying between coats).

I was going for a “moss” colored paint, but I’m pretty new to tinting paint so it came out a bit lighter then I had hoped.

We ended up making seven racks, and perhaps if I see more scrap wood I’ll make another seven.

I think they came out pretty good, don’t you?

-Brian

4th of July, 2016

 Everything Else, Making Stuff  No Responses »
Jul 042016
 
Bottle Rocket Racks

Another 4th of July has come and passed. This one brought with it a lot of fun little projects and new accomplishments.

This was also the first year that I have ever been able to legally buy flying fireworks in a state that I live in. Woohoo! About time.

I may be the worlds only bottle rocket enthusiast!

…A connoisseur of fine Chinese gunpowder.

So now that bottle rockets are finally legal I ordered up a few cases and we went a little crazy. For the last few weeks, we have been flying bottle rockets whenever time permits (even when time doesn’t permit, lol). This weekend we made up some nice little racks to fuse up a few hundred at a time and let them rip. I even dug out the old Crackerjacks tested bottle rocket racks (angry hornets nests. …because the rockets… oh never mind).

Jess and her firecrackers

Jess and Fwub with a big Firecracker

As you probably already know Jess is a fan of firecrackers so I ordered up a case of 28,000 crackers, and at the fireworks stand they had this really cool pack of 8,000 firecrackers so we had to pick that up also. Jess made a few impressive celebration strings that had the neighbors hooting and hollering for more.

Holly crap did we make a big mess.

The big finale this year was one of Jess’s cracker piles with 20 or so fountains fast fuses all around the fire pit. Somehow none of the fountains lit (Doh!) but the crackers went off with a bang (sorry.. how about they were a blast? .. wait where’s everyone going..)

All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good fourth!

Hope yours was a huge success also!

-Brian

The DOGE floor!

 Making Stuff, Painting, Personal Updates  No Responses »
Jul 042014
 

We’ve worked hard for years to find a comfortable bed that Fe! will not trash in an instant. Unfortunately, it seems that no matter how strong the materials she managed to claw through them if given enough time.

The most recent design features a plywood frame with a 1.5-Inch memory foam covered with 3 (or more) layers of 100D Cordura nylon. This has proved to be a workable solution though it needs to be reupholstered every few weeks/months.

So I think its time for a more long-lasting solution. My best idea, a hardwood floor. Well, actually a Pine floor to start, we will upgrade to Oak if she gets through it.

Because I wanted it to look at least as good as the old bed I opted for painting it and giving it an internet-themed “DOGE” paint job.  The pictures below are after the pain work was completed, but before polyurethane was applied.

What do you think?

My Little Pony Office Supply Cabinet

 Making Stuff, Painting, Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Dec 212013
 
My Little Pony Cabinet after Stenciling

My Little Pony Cabinet after Stenciling

At work last summer we decided to toss this old grungy cabinet that was once a table for the fax machine. This thing was nasty, but it was a metal cabinet so I took it home and added it to my “to do” list of projects.

Just before it got cold I gave it a good sanding and a few coats of paint. Berry Pink, or so the can said. It’s a bright bubble-gum pink with a good gloss. I hired an artist to convert some sketches into a cut-able vector graphic.

Unfortunately, it then got cold, very cold. So it’s been sitting, just waiting for me to find time to finish it up.

Perhaps it’s a freaking Christmas miracle but its 65F outside today so we fired up the old vinyl cutter. After an hour of Jess and I trying to pick what and where we carefully applied the paint-mask and taped it up real good. The metal has a nice “rolled” textured surface which made the masking all but impossible and unfortunately a lot of bleed through occurred. When the paint sets I’ll go over all of the lines by hand to clean it up.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that I will get another warm weekend for a while and there is a lot of work left to do.

The mane and tail are going to get a coat of sparkly purple paint and then a few coats of clear-coat. Then I have some lights to install inside and we are tossing around the idea of a purple shag “ceiling” just to push it over the top!

What do ya think?

Before anyone asks; I’ve not yet seen the show, but the design here was partly inspired by Eric, Jess’s sister’s son who is a fan and posts a lot of pictures to his facebook.

Tea / Herb Storage.

 Making Stuff, Painting, Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Nov 022013
 
Freshly painted bucket

Freshly painted bucket

Well, mom was pointing out that I do not update my blog (she calls it the moth site) so I thought I’d post a few pictures.

As of late, I have been getting interested in healing herbs (Catauba, Ashwagandha, Mucuna Pruriens, etc). So I figured it was a good idea to make a storage container for them.

I picked up a few old rusted buckets from work with the plan of refurbishing them a couple of weeks ago and they seemed like a good starting point (though a bit big). After sanding them down and neutralizing the rust I gave them a coat of primer. I decided to go with some bright colors for paint and gave them a few coats.

This weekend I cut some stencils and applied the wording. Next weekend I’ll give them a clear-coat treatment and clean up the stenciling some.

I think they came out pretty good. What do you think?

Visit to Hicksville Planing Mill

 Personal Updates, Wood Working  3 Responses »
Jun 152013
 

hicksville planing mill signWe first came across  Hicksville Planing Mill in March while looking for an alternative to overpriced scarps available at Woodcraft and this place looked like the most interesting option by a long shot. The first trip up there was so much fun that frankly, we forgot to snap a photo so we vowed to correct that mistake.

I’m working on a little project for the Mutts and needed some Black Walnut; no better place then Hicksville to get it.

OK, so back to the photos; I was not going to miss out on an opportunity to snap pictures of all the 4 story high stacks of lumber, no sir. I bought a camera phone, a camera, and a video camera.

There was only one problem, I kind of got excited again and forgot to take pictures. Ya, I can’t believe it either. but it gets better, much better!

See I was so excited that I forgot to take the car keys with me, yep left them in the ignition, I locked the car and went shopping. No lie, we were shopping for two hours before I realized that I didn’t have the keys.

Feeling like a fool, having locked my keys, phone, etc in the car I headed back to the office to beg for help. The Mennonites being the most helpful people on the planet offered to let me use their “car kit” to break in. Unfortunately, car thief is not on my list of expertise and I hacked away at it making little progress until the owners’ son, probably the most polite twenty-something you’ve ever met came to help.

Unfortunately, the Mennonites are not known for “grand theft auto” so he too made little progress.

Finally, we got the idea to try and push the window buttons. Is it down to open? No maybe its up to open, hmm, let’s try down again, nope nothings working. Then Jess yells over hey you put the window down. See in our excitement we did not notice that we had actually got the passenger window down and were in the process of putting it back up when she yelled… whoops… I mean YAY we are in.

I was so happy I grabbed my Mennonite partner in crime and gave him a big hug…

Holy crap you should have seen his face, I’ve never seen someone so scared and freaked out at the same time. He turned shades of white and red and you could see his fight and flight response fighting over what to do next.

It was a riot.

Well now, having access to my wood hauling chariot and having just embarrassed the heck out of my guide it was time to pay and go…

I left a big tip for him at the counter, hopefully, that will make up for the hug, lol.

Jess’s photos from the day:

Hicksville Planing Mill Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hicksville-Planing-Mill/135571949825888

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