Out With the Old - In With the New

  The new year is here and I'm anxious to get started with some kind of "big" project.  I decided to wait until the holidays are over before digging in.  (I was told that one should avoid using tools that blow saw dust around the house or filling the hallways up with varnish fumes before one is expecting company.)    Now that the holidays are over I have found myself knee deep in bookwork.   I do some volunteer bookkeeping for a couple organizations.  Bookkeeping for these organizations turned out to be more time consuming compared to the books for Dag's Wood Shop.    The budget for Dag's Wood Shop is pretty much like this:  on the expense side there are several dollars to be spent on tools, etc and on the income side it looks like a little free scrap lumber will come in here and there.  (A plan like that doesn't sound like it should work very well, but it seems like the government survives that way so I should be able to make it work also.)



Judah  - 1 year old

    I worked on three projects this past week.    The wooden case to the right will be the first.     Some time before there were land fills and before there was garbage pickup, there were these neat little places called the "Dump".    Every city seemed to have one.    It was a place where you could haul your trash and throw it away and at the same time see what other people had thrown away that you could load up and bring back home.  (Today, they do not have city dumps.   That is why people have garage sales.)    The picture to the right is of a little wooden case that Judah's great great grandpa had found in the "Dump".    He brought it home and used it to store stuff in  (I'm guessing ammunition).   Later it was passed down to the next generation that used it to store small winter items.   Such things as gloves, ear muffs, and hats.    Then it was passed to us and we used it as a bench in the storeroom.    I dug it out and cleaned it off by using steel wool and brushes and applied a couple coats of varnish.    I made sure the drawers slid open a little easier and tightened up the hinges.    Over the holidays it was used as a toy box.   A little polish here and there and taking a little time to tighten up a few loose screws can just about improve any old thing.  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) 

   The second item was a child's kitchen set.    It was one of those items that had been passed around a few times and ended up at one of the kids' place.    Structurally, it was fairly solid, but had a loose back and was a little beat up.    It was painted a brown color (which just happened to be the same color as our garage doors and we just happened to have a little left over paint).  The door and drawer knobs were a little worn.    I just happened to have a few of them laying around also so we replaced the old ones.  



Bianca - will be two years old in a week



    Once done it looked really nice, but it seemed like the new paint would mare easily.     I am going to have to put a coat or two of varnish to see if that helps prevent that from happening.  We had some contact paper on hand that had glue on the back so we put that down for a counter top.   We wrapped the paper under the lip of the counter edge and stapled it down.    It appears that it will stay in place.     We used white knobs for both the drawers and the doors.    The picture to the right doesn't show the cabinet very well.  (I may have to sell the cat and buy a new camera!)   The dark cabinet just did not show up on any pictures taken in the basement shop and it was not a good day weather wise to take a picture outside.    If one can come up with some toy dishes and a pretend tea cup, this small cupboard will give this young cook a chance to practice her culinary skills.   

      I asked the wife what she would like to get for Christmas this year.      She mentioned that we could use a new pickup.    (I got her two.)    I made these out of some two inch rough stock that I had.    I have several wooden wheels on hand.   The wheels were in a package of stuff that I picked up on a garage sale a few years back.   I was surprised at how much fun these were to build.    I might find myself building a few more toys this winter.    They got a little work out over the New years holiday, but held up well.  

(Looking forward to two things:   A good year in 2012 and for the Iowa caucus to come to an end.)