Stylish DIY Garden Tool Rack Made from Scrap Wood

 Personal Updates  No Responses »
Apr 082018
 

This weekend I built a spiffy… DIY Garden Tool Rack out of scrap wood.

It was an unexpected project that started because I wanted to make something else altogether but couldn’t get to my drill press due to all of the garden tools being stacked in front of it.

It’s pretty simple. Designed to be columns of tools. The columns are spaced to allow for large items such as pickaxes and tall items such as hoes. The design is not optimal for rakes and shovels…but that’s another project. It needed to be on wheels (casters) and be able to easily hold 500lbs AND needed to be small enough to not increase the footprint the tools are already taking up.

Here’s what I came up with:

DIY - Garden Tool Rack

— Click to see full-size pic —

I really rushed this project trying to get it done in a weekend and honestly, it suffered because of my lack of time. I was painting in 40-degree weather, and applying topcoats over paint that wasn’t completely dry.  Even stenciled over wood that was not yet clear coated.

While it came out OK, it could have been better if I was able to take my time. I was hell-bent on getting it complete in the single weekend so I could move on to projects I actually wanted to work on. I definitely have ideas of how I can do it better next time and there will be a version two eventually. this one is good enough for what I need right now.

Materials: Made completely from 2×4 and 2×3 cut offs and some scraps of 3/4″ oak plywood. 2 of the 2x4s were actually rescued from the outside burn pile, lol.

If anyone wants to copy the design let me know I can provide drawings and stencils. Here are some shots of the assembly. you can probably get everything you need from the pics.

Experimenting with the finish on custom tool handles.

 Personal Updates  No Responses »
Apr 012018
 

With all of the old hammers and hatchets, I have in progress, I have been making handles when I have time. It’s a fun and satisfying project but also a long slow process. Each handle takes about 2-3 weeks to finish. It’s not that they actually take weeks to make, its that I can only dedicate a couple of hours here and there.

This weekend we have two nice days back to back and I was able to get a little time to apply some stain. I saw some pictures of an ax handle finished with colored stain and really wanted to give it a try.

Because I was fooling around a little too much I ended up with glue from electrical tape on the unfinished wood of two handles. It looked pretty bad and I couldn’t get it off without taking off the stain. …and generally making a heck of a mess. So I got this idea, what if I hide it under some fake age… I could just rub charcoal over the area making a cool looking smudge and the ugly tape would be hard to see.

Well, it didn’t work like I expected, but I’d say I accidentally discovered a nice way to really make the grain POP. I’m going to try some other materials and see if I can get some other interesting effects.

Anyhow without further ado here are a couple of items I worked on this weekend showing off their charcoal rubbed goodness.

First a nice old Blacksmithing hammer.
A 24 oz. Plumb Ball Pein Hammer, with a stout, squared off handle.

Plumb 24oz Ball Pein with Green Handle

Plumb 24oz Ball Pein with Green Handle

Next up is a simple and well worn half hatchet. It had a little bend in the bit but since it’s the older style eye, it seemed worthwhile to restore and put back into use.

Craftsman 15 oz.  Carpenters Half hatchet with a contoured rounded handle. 

Craftsman 15 oz. Half-Hatchet w/Green Handle

Craftsman 15 oz. Half-Hatchet w/Green Handle

Craftsman 15 oz. Half-Hatchet w/Green Handle

Craftsman 15 oz. Half-Hatchet w/Green Handle

Tweet about it: https://twitter.com/BrianPaonessa/status/980568765313306624

Huge Birthday Hammer and Hatchet Haul

 Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Mar 202018
 

WOW, got to say thanks to Jess and the Ralphs! You all outdid yourselves!

Lately, my obsession has been cleaning up old tools. Particularly old rusty axes, hatchets, and hammers. Jess and I have been keeping our eyes on eBay watching for cheap auctions to snatch up and put back into service. I’m sure I have said it here before, but I’m always excited to daydream about what an old tool may have been through over the years.

An old mushroomed hammer or chips in a bit are all markers of work that was done long in the past. Every few weekends I’ll fix up another and Jess and I will go out and chop up a fallen tree or stump to check them out. It’s been fun and I’m getting a small collection. I now have a few items that are around 100 years old, keeping them in service seems important to me.

Well, my birthday was on the way and Jess and her parents conspired to overload me with fun work. …And they succeeded in spades.

Considering that I’ve had some eBay luck recently too my backlog of projects is impressive.

Below are some pictures of the take to help me track what’s still left to finish. As always I’ll post links to the finished tools as they are completed. With this many, it’s going to be a while!

Hatchets

Style (best guess) Length Width Who Lb./Oz. Grams Notes
Plumb Half Hatchet 5-7/8″ 1-1/4″ Bill 1# 6.1 oz. 630 g. Crack in Poll
Unmarked Shingling w/Nail Pull Hatchet 5-3/4″ 1″ Bill 1# 6 oz. 627 g.
Americanax Half Hatchet 6-1/2″ 1-1/8″ Bill 1# 3.4 oz. 543 g. 1920s, Glassport, PA
C. HAMMOND Half Hatchet

(found a picture of another, stamp matches)

 5-7/8″ 1″ ?? 15.9 oz. 454 g. 2
CHAMMOND
PHILA
CAST STEEL
Germantown Lath Hatchet 6″ 1-1/4″ Bill 14 oz. 397 g. Cut and Modified
Kelly Works Half Hatchet 6-3/8″ 1-1/8″ Jess ? oz. ? g. Weldmark
Unmarked Shingling Hatchet 6-5/8″ 1-1/8″ Jess ? oz. ? g.
Unmarked Half Hatchet 6-3/8″ 1-1/8″ Jess ? oz. ? g.
Plumb Riggers/Half Hatchet 6-1/2″ 1-3/8″ Jess ? oz. ? g.  *fav*

 

 

Hammers

Style (best guess) Length Width Lb./Oz. Grams Notes
Craftsman 1 lb. Masonary Hammer 7″ 7/8″ 1#  0.6oz. 473 g.
Bimgham’s Best Brand 30 oz. Ball Pein 4-7/8″ 1-1/2″ 1# 13.5 oz. 836 g. Likely 1920s
Craftsman 24 oz. Ball Pein 4-1/2″ 1-1/2″ 1# 8.3 oz. 691 g. Early 1930s
Plumb 24 oz. Ball Pein – Finished 4-5/8″ 1-1/2″ 1# 7.6 oz. 670 g.
Plumb 15 oz. Ball Pein 4″ 1-1/4″ 15.4 oz. 438 g.
Stanley 16 oz. (310B) Ball Pein 4-1/8″ 1-1/4″ 15.8 oz. 448 g. JobMaster
Fairmont 16 oz. Ball Pein 4″ 1-1/8″ 15.9 oz. 451 g.
Ball Pein Blank 12 oz. (no eye) 3-3/8″ 1-1/8″ 11.9 oz. 337 g.
Unmarked 8 oz. Ball Pein 3-3/8″ 1″ 8.7 oz. 248 g.
“Forged” 5 oz. Ball Pein 2-3/4″ 7/8″ 5.3 oz. 152 g.
Stanley Ball Pein 3-3/4″ 1-1/4″ ? oz. ? g.
Unmarked Ball Pein 3-1/4″ 1″ ? oz. ? g.

 

Also See:

Hickory Handle Blanks from Hicksville Planing Mill

 Making Stuff, Refurbishing Stuff, Wood Working  No Responses »
Mar 032018
 

Hicksville planing mill has everything. From pallets of purpleheart to Zebrawood, but where they really shine is their ability to process the wood your buying right there while you wait.

I’ve been re-handling old hammers and it’s costing [in many cases] more than the tool for the new handle. Plus, anything you can make yourself makes the tool just a little more fitted, and personal. So I started looking into making my own. Since none of the lumber yards around here have hickory or ash, I bought a couple of shovel handles, cutting and shaping them to size. This is a nifty trick if you need small handles, but it leaves little room to customize the handle beyond a tiny palm swell.

On Friday Jess and I loaded into the old Tahoe and drove up to Clear Spring, MD and dropped by my favorite Mennonite lumber yard. As one would expect they had plenty of Hickory, Ash, and Cherry the three kinds of wood I was considering for handles. Since Hickory is “king” when it comes to handles it was my first stop and we ended up finding more then I could possibly use.

Heartwood vs. Sapwood

I’ve been reading about using heartwood vs. sapwood for handles and after reading many opinions I’ve settled that it doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. Having a choice between straight heartwood, straight sapwood and a mix of the two (which I think looks amazing) I settled on the boards that had a good blend of each.

Since I’m sure someone wants to know the cost of Hickory at Hicksville planing mill was:

  • 5/4, $3.10 per board foot.
  • 6/4, $4.00 per board foot.

A survey of handles on hand.

I measured all of the handles I had around to see what dimension of blanks I would need. Most hammers were straight with the thickest point being at the swell (rarely more than 1.5″) and the widest point being in the grip or cheek (usually 1″ up to 1.25″). Half hatchet, heavy hammers and other beefy hammer handles made it to 1.75″. Hatchets, boys axes would measure up to 2″ shoulder and across the heel and toe. I measured across the belly and throat on a couple of curved 36″ ax handles and they fit within a 2.5″ blank.

With all these numbers I put together a quick handle blank sizing table that will work for me. That’s another post though so I’ll link to it here.

Getting all of the wood ripped, planed and cut to blank stock.

Again I love this mill because not only can you find exotics and hard to find hardwoods but they will process the wood right there for you while you wait. They even let you help, which I appreciate in this day and age of liability fear. I picked my two favorite boards from the 5/4 and 6/4 pallets. Most of the boards were 8 to 10 feet long by around 7″-12″ wide. Way more wood then I need, but it’s a long trip and I wanted enough material to experiment with. Being able to make mistakes is a good way to learn so I’d rather have more than not enough.

We ripped them to the following sizes:

Dimensions Use Feet Available
1 x 1 Very small (3oz ball peen, small tinners\setting hammers) 0′
1 x 1.25 Small striking tool handle (ball peen, etc) 0′
1 x 1.5 Hammer, Trade hatchets, ball peen, etc 0′
1.25 x 1.25 Medium striking tool handle (ball peen) 0′
1.25 x 1.5 Heavy Hammer, Roofing hatchet, medium cross peen 27′
1.25 x 1.75 Half hatchet, Extra Heavy hammer 22.5′
1.5 x 1.5 Drilling hammer, Hammer with large palm swell 9′
1.5 x 1.75 Half hatchet with a curve, Straight \ Miners ax 36′
1.5 x 2 Boys ax, House ax, Straight \ Miners ax 3′ ??
1.5 x 2.5 Curved handled, full-sized axe 10′

 

A note on the sizes.

After some experimentation 4/4 would have been a better choice for many of the small hammers. I’m grinding away so much wood to get them down to size.

I’ll make another trip and pick up some 4/4 hickory and perhaps some ash also to experiment with. Just not nearly as much!


Additional Links and Info:

Our first trip can be found here: Visit to Hicksville Planing Mill

Small Rusty Hammers (part two?)

 Making Stuff, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Mar 022018
 

Lately, I’ve had an opportunity to pick up some misc rusty hammers and hatchets that will be refurbished and put back into use. I’m going to add them to this post as they arrive so I can keep track of what needs to be done. And perhaps more importantly whats been completed 🙂

Lot #1 – Tiny old Rusty Hammers (February 27th, 2018)

Some of the smallest hammers I have ever owned are in this lot I just received from an eBay seller.

I really like the tiny 3oz ball peen and look forward to hanging her on an itty-bitty handle! I’m also excited to add another setting hammer to my collection and filling in another hole in the ball peen hammers rack.

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Small Claw Hammer 4″ 3/4″ Round 8 oz. 228 g.
Tack\Carpet Hammer 4-3/4″ 5/8″ Round 3.5 oz. 96 g.
Tiny Ball Pein 3″ 5/8″ Round 3 oz. 85 g.
Small Ball Pein 3-1/2″ 1-1/8″ Round 11.3 oz. 321 g.
Tinners Setting Hammer 4-1/8″ 3/4″ Square 7.7 oz. 225 g.

 

Lot #2 – Assorted Trade Hatchets (March 3rd, 2018)

A nice gent on facebook listed a couple of interesting hatchets. I jumped on the plump roofers’ hatchet which I have wanted for a while. He also had a nice-looking Vaughan, and a beat to heck produce hatchet.

I’ve had a chunky produce hatchet on my want list for a while. And even though this one is in rough shape, I thought it would be a fun project to mod. I’m still playing around with the shape, but I think I’ve made it into something usable.

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Plumb Roofing Hatchet 7″ 1-3/8″ xx 1# 2.3 oz. 520 g.
Vaughan SuperSteel Roofers Hatchet 6-1/2″ 1-3/8″ xx 1# 1.6 oz. 500 g.
Produce or Barrel Hatchet 6″ 1-1/8″ xx 1# 5.4 oz. 600 g.

 

Lot #3 – Assorted Ball Pein Hammers, 6-pcs (March 4th, 2018)

This next set is a group of ball pein hammers. They are mostly small but fill in a few holes in my set.

Make \ Type Length Width Lb./Oz. Grams
USHCO 8oz Ball Pein 3-1/4″ 1″ 8.6 oz. 245 g.
Stanley 8oz Ball Pein 3-1/4″ 1″ 8.6 oz. 244 g.
Stanley 12oz Ball Pein x” x” x oz. x g.
Plumb 12oz Ball Pein (fiberglass handle) x” x” x oz. x g.
xxxxx x” x” x oz. x g.
xxxxx x” x” x oz. x g.

 

Lot #4 – Amazing 1.6# Rusty Swedge (March 20th, 2018)

Got myself another birthday present. This swedge was supposedly a ship-markers swedge used to make rivet holes.

More cool hammers can be found here: Interesting Old Hammers To Restore

New Cordura Tool Bag – Inspired by a 70s Cotton Relic.

 Making Stuff, Sewing  No Responses »
Feb 252018
 

I never owned an open top tool bag so when I was given one I figured it would end up in the junk pile rather quickly. Especially since this one was rather dingy, covered in rust stains and had someone else’s name written on the side. But I was curious to see how it worked and see if I would like it. It turns out there is a reason tool bags (and tool boxes) have had this design for a hundred years. It’s convenient! Everything in eyes sight and accessible.

Size wise the bag was perfect for any around the house jobs and long enough for a framing hammer, tall enough for my longest pliers or screwdrivers. The only problem is, it’s… well ugly, grungy and has someone else’s name on the side. Also, my experience with cotton tool wraps is they invite rust so I really try and keep cotton that’s not been waxed\oiled away from my tools. So there was only one thing I could do, redesign it and make my own out of modern materials.

The design

I decided to do a prototype first out of 500D Cordura. I could see that the sides and bottom of the bag would be many layers thick, and since I was planning on adding more pockets both to the outside and inside of the bag this would only get worse. 500D is strong, abrasion resistant and would make a good choice.

I wanted something that would hold and organize the kinds of tools someone would be using for handyman type work. I grabbed a couple handfuls of tools and laid out the pockets in a way that everything would fit.

The only compromise I made was skipping the two “spray paint” pockets I had originally planned to add. Sure they would be great when spraypaint was needed, but kind of useless all other times. Besides the inside is a giant pocket that can hold as many cans of spray paint as I’ll ever need.

Assembly

I’ll include some pictures of the assembly below but the design is pretty straightforward. Pockets are stitched down in order. Sides are assembled. The liner is added to the main body. Reinforcements added to the top edges then the sides were stitched in place. I didn’t put enough thought into the top reinforcements and they turned out to be an epic pain in the butt to sew in place.

In the future, I will make sure the 2″ webbing does not need to be folded over right where a narrow band of 1″ webbing is going to be sewn. That seam was 3/8ths of an inch thick and it was no fun trying to keep the stitching straight.

Future improvements

I’m already planning v2 of this bag. I would like the bottom pockets and perhaps the inside to be made with 1000D Cordura. This will provide even more wear resistance from sharp tools but it will also stiffen the sides. When you have 20 pounds of tools in the pockets the bag wants to collapse under the weight. While 1000D is not going to stop that, it’ll make it a little more ridged.

I would also like to make the sides more rounded. The bottom area was 9 layers of fabric thick. When folded in to hide the seam it was 18 layers + 5038 binding tape it’s a little thick for 1″ curves.

The last thing I’m not sure about but I have thought about adding a top strap with a buckle closure. This would serve to keep everything in place on commutes and give a way to attach tools to the bag that are longer than the bag. I’m kind of iffy on if I like this idea or not.

Food for thought

This bag took about 5 hours to make from start to finish. Its well built looks nice and works as designed. When you go to Walmart, or home depot you can find “made in China” tool bags for $12! Is this bag worth the effort? Is it worth the extra price I would have to charge? I think so, but we will see if others agree.

Add-ons

Because everything has got to match, even if its just a prototype…

Check out the add-ons I made to go with this bag:

  • Wrench rollup
  • Medium & Large pliers roll-up
  • Screwdrivers roll-up

(yes, I like roll-ups!)

Final Product Pictures

 

Assembly Pictures

More Work On Harry’s Old Garden Tools

 Painting, Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Jan 272018
 

A while back I picked up some rusty, old garden tools from my friend Harry’s House. If you’re interested you can find more information here.

Paint day

Jess was away for the week and the weather was nice so it seemed like a perfect time to get some painting done. A couple of weeks before I removed the rust using naval jelly and gave them a couple of coats of prime (Rust-oleum Rusty Metal Primer). On painting day they were sanded almost to bare metal and prepared for paint.

The handles on two of the shovels were painted metal flake blue–which I really liked. I had a couple old cans of Dupli-Color MetalCast paint, one was blue so I thought that would be a perfect fit. The MetalCast spray paint requires a base layer (metal flake ground coat), which I had a can on hand. Unfortunately, that was only enough to do some of the tools and one shovel had to be put away for another day.

I hadn’t used this paint for a while and I forgot how frustrating it is. It spatters, clogs and is just generally frustrating, that being said its amazing if you take your time. The spray paint, now 10+ years old was particularly frustrating. The blue can was only about 1/3rd full, and was depleted very quickly, but I had a partial can of purple and green which I finished up the project with.

Before Paint:

 

After Paint (Day 1):

 

Update: After Paint (Day 2):

Update: 2/15/18 – More tools completed and ready to use.

After a couple of cold rainy weeks the sun came out for a day and I quickly gathered some more tools that were ready for paint. Most of these got primed over a month ago and got all non-working areas coated with metallic paint a few weeks ago in the paint project above. Today was just finishing the working surfaces with a coat of flat black paint. I really think the floral spade came out especially nice!

Interesting Old Hammers To Restore

 Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Jan 272018
 

My dad always had every possible tool on hand. These days I’m always trying to force the wrong tool to do the job. While I can’t afford to buy quality new tools, in this throw away world you can often find great vintage tools on eBay for just a couple of bucks.

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for old tools on eBay and when I find interesting stuff for only a couple of bucks I bid, and occasionally win a lot or two. Since I’m trying to keep my costs below $10 shipped I usually watch for lots, which offer the best pricing.

Here are two lots I won recently. Among them are a few items I’m really excited about.

Lot #1 contains a couple of really nifty small hammers made from great steel.

Lot #2 contains a mini miners pick and a craftsman half hatchet.

Also included is a picture of some handles I picked up in town.

Lot #1: Assorted Unusual Small Hammers

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Brick Hammer 6 3/4″ 7/8″ Square 1# 457g
New York Style Masonry Hammer 5 3/4″ 1 1/8″ Square 1#/5oz 600g
Tinners Setting Hammer 5″ 7/8″ Square 14.5oz 400g
Cross Peen Forming Hammer 5″ 7/8″ Circular 1#/1oz 490g
Riveting Hammer 4″ 3/4″ Square 10.5oz 300g

 

 

Lot #2: Half Hatchet, Mini Mining Pick, Claw Hammer and Ball Pein Hammer

Style (best guess) Length Width Shape Lb./Oz. Grams
Craftsman Half Hatchet – Finished 6″ 1″ Round 15oz. 422g
Ball Peen 4″ 1-1/4″ Round 1#/2.7oz 533g
Curved Claw Hammer 5″ 1″ Round 15.5oz. 436g
Small Prospecting Pick
(maybe a Lining Hammer)		 8″ 1″ Pick 10oz. 283g

 

 

Handles Ready for Heads Above (Mostly from Nichols Hardware in Purcellville, VA)

Assorted Hammer Handles

Some additional cool hammers can be found here Small Rusty Hammers (part two?)

The Slammer: 3-1/4 lb. Michigan Pattern House Axe

 Making Stuff, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Jan 262018
 
Michigan Pattern House Axe

The Slammer: 3-1/4 lb. Michigan Pattern House Axe

So here is a fun little toy.

I got an unmarked Michigan pattern head a while back and I have been using it to experiment with different files and methods. It is good steel and probably has some years, but without a makers mark there is really no way to know much more about this head.

I ordered a hatchet handle on Amazon that turned out to be a house axe handle (full-sized eye on a 19-inch curved handle). A house axe is usually 1-1/2 to 2lbs much bigger than that and you end up with something that’s a little hard to control with one hand, but I just wanted to try something so I gave it a whirl and she came out pretty good.

A hatchet that can easily split 12-inch oak rounds with a single swing is something to see.

A fellow axe junky called it “the sawed-off shotgun of the axe world” and I think that’s quite fitting.

Facebook Post (private group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/AxeJunkies/permalink/1635872123118015/

Update 2/7/18: Yesterday Jess took the Slammer out and chopped some 18-inch red oak rounds. She’s a beast (the hatchet and Jess, lol)

 

Merit Jersey Pattern Felling Axe 4-1/2 lb. Pre-1927

 Personal Updates, Refurbishing Stuff  No Responses »
Dec 232017
 

Merit Jersey Pattern Felling Axe
Date: 1927
Weight: 4-1/2 lb.
Markings: “Merit \ Hand Forged” and 42 on the bottom of the poll
Pattern: Jersey Pattern or a Virginia Pattern

History: Merit was a Sears “brand” and Craftsman bought them in 1927. The scripted “M” in Merit was suggested to be a early stamp, but that’s from an unreliable source.

Here is a great find rescued from Harry’s Barn. This axe head was rusted up badly, but no chips. The axe had not been used much, the poll was in good shape, not much mushrooming. Harry said it belonged to his grandfather on his mothers side and that he has not used it much he preferred the other axe (a Collins commander for chopping wood).

Because of the age and the history I chose to leave this axe with as much character as I could.

The new handle is a 36 inch Link from Nichols Hardware Purcellville a wonderful old time hardware store. When I removed the varnish from the new handle I left behind some so when it was oiled and stained it would show some splotches (my hope was it would look warn from use). It didn’t come out exactly as I planned but I like the look .

Post about the “haul” here: Free Rust (May Contain Some Old Tools)
Facebook Post (private group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/AxeJunkies/permalink/1633658086672752/

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