My Southeast Ohio 30 by 40

Here goes, I have been encouraged by a fellow member to start a thread of my garage. I am originally from Southeast Ohio. I spent 6 years living in Indianapolis and moved back to my hometown in 2015. I lived in the suburbs in Indy and had a small two car attached. Not much to say about it, but I dug up a couple photos from when I first moved in to the old place. Haven't posted much so lets see if this works.
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You can also see my old Celica in the photo. It was not a fast car by any means, but it was a lot of fun. Had a a lightweight aluminum flywheel, and ACT clutch. Never did get any upgrades that required the heavier clutch, but when it was time for one, decided it made more sense to upgrade.

I went to Indianapolis to go to tech school, and worked in a Nissan dealership for 2 years before losing the service manager I hired on with and a general manager for the dealership. The new management was horrendous. I considered switching dealerships, but ended up deciding to try a different career field. At the end of 2014 my brother offered me a job for his law firm as a legal assistant, so I accepted his offer, and decided to move back home to Ohio. I listed my house with a neighbor's aunt who was an awesome real estate agent. The house was a foreclosure that I picked up for a good price. I did a few minor upgrades, and had to have a roof put on it, but still ended up making a little bit of money. So while I was waiting for this place to sell living with family I started house hunting. I originally looked at small places, in town that needed a lot of work. I eventually found my current place. It was built in 1978, and needed a lot of updating and work, but it had a 1.5 car attached garage, as well as a 30 by 40 detached pole barn. Here are a few photos from the listing.

The half car of the attached 1.5 car
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The previous owner left the shelving and workbench. I plan to put up a wall where the metal support is. That will give me a small attached workshop area for the girlfriend or I to mess around in. The better half wants to get into sewing and will probably put an elliptical we are getting from her mom in there.

The main portion of the attached garage looking out from inside the house
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The first major upgrade was to the downstairs bathroom/laundry here it is at listing/purchase
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I made the trim for the bathroom myself. Used some extra poplar my brother had from his kitchen cabinets, and a picked out a router bit that had a profile that my girlfriend and I liked.

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This photo shows the major selling points. My girlfriend and I both love the sunroom on the back of the house, and the big back yard. I loved the attached 1.5 and detached garage. If I remember correctly I at least tripled the space I used to have in Indy.

more photos from the listing
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The trees in the previous photo are gone now. They appeared to have some issues, so it was easier to just get rid of them. The driveway will eventually be wider and that hillside reduced to accomplish that.

View media item 79086The trees directly in front of the house are gone too. The roots were causing issues with mowing and the sidewalk.

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Inside the garage at listing. At close it was mostly cleaned out, just some cabinets and shelving remained. You will notice the single garage door out the back. No good way to use it so that lead to the first major project along with some tree removal.

View media item 79088View media item 79089power washing revealed just how dirty the pine trees are. They are currently still standing, but are on the list of trees to be removed in future plans.

The backhoe got busy along the building, and I am still kicking myself for not making the drive at least 3 or 4 foot wider.
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Beyond filling the detached garage with my stuff, and my brother and sister in laws stuff so they could move into their new house and get their building finished before cluttering it with a bunch of stuff it was time to add some heat for the the building. The building has no insulation. Adding insulation is on the agenda, but until then...
View media item 79092View media item 79093View media item 79094With ZERO insulation it won't heat the building (never thought it would), but it does take the chill off and give a warm area to stand in. Just takes a while to heat up so I typically only run it on the weekends when it's cold if I am going to be in the garage. A big thanks goes to my dad for helping me install it, and being on the roof on Christmas eve 2015 in a t shirt no less.

congratulations. I like it

Nice what SE OH town are you in?
I am in the process of selling in IL and moving to Athens, OH. Can't wait to get down there permanently. Houses I have been looking at all need a lot of work as well but I enjoy it so it will get done.

With the addition of my place in 2015 that brought the acreage I mow for my brother, parents, grandma, and my own place up to close to 7 acres. I had been doing this with a beaten and banged up traditional mower with a 42 or 46 inch deck. Not anymore
View media item 79095My dad decided to do me a favor, and see how wet the backyard was
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Needless to say there is a tremendous amount of water that comes down the backyard and sits just outside of the sunroom....

The good news is I have a guy for that. It's been a blessing being back home. My cousin owns the backhoe and he and some of my buddies from high school built the retaining wall. Another couple cousins came out to help remedy the poor water management from the backyard. One brought a bobcat with tilt blade to put in some swales and the other brought out a small kubota to run my dad's tiller. Here is the start of the huge mess to clean up a my soupy backyard
View media item 79097View media item 79098View media item 79100Gives an idea of the front without all the trees. I built a small retaining wall off the corner of the house and ripped out most of the shrubs. It is not completed yet, but when the weather improves the bobcat, kubota, and tiller will be back out to finish up the side where the propane tank and the front of the house. Looking forward to getting it done, not looking forward to spreading another 30 or 40 bales of straw.

Built a nice set of steps to go from the lower portion/pole barn to the backyard. You may also notice the Suburban is still there and running. It is currently out of commission. Lots of rust, and a brake line gave out. My dad and I will eventually get it going again. Instead of fixing it right away (it's a tired and has had a rough life) he bought himself a new truck. When the suburban is fixed I will have it to drive and pick up stuff when needed.
The photo of the steps was giving me issues uploading to fix the broken photo bucket link
View media item 79099You can see my current car in the garage. Audi A4 Quattro. Decided to go with something that would do a little better in the winter and still be decent on gas. Unfortunately even the all wheel drive had issues with my driveway the first winter

Red89gt said:

Nice what SE OH town are you in?
I am in the process of selling in IL and moving to Athens, OH. Can't wait to get down there permanently. Houses I have been looking at all need a lot of work as well but I enjoy it so it will get done.

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Awesome. I live around 30 minutes from Athens. Actually attended Ohio University for a year before going to tech school. I looked at places in Athens when buying mine, but found I could get a lot more for my money by getting a ways out of Athens.

Bigdukaaa said:

congratulations. I like it

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Thanks. I will have to stop by your thread and take a look at your build.

Thanks for sharing, you're off to a great start. Nice job on the upgrades you've done so far inside the house, and removing the trees really opened up the property. Keep up the good work!

You have done lots of work on the place and it really shows. I would love to be back home where I had lots of good friends to call for help but sadly don't know enough of the right people just yet for that here. Maybe I just need to get some really fun equipment like a big lathe and a mill and trade out work for work. What do you plan to do with the shop once it is cleaned out of stuff?
JB

Mr. Roboto said:

Thanks for sharing, you're off to a great start. Nice job on the upgrades you've done so far inside the house, and removing the trees really opened up the property. Keep up the good work!

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Thanks for the Kind words Mr. Roboto. I have a lot of trees that really need to go. I got a couple buddies from high school who are timber cutters. I will probably have them come out and help with the larger trees. I will stop by your thread and see what you have going on. There are a few other projects going inside the house currently, and I have some more to post from inside the garage even though it is a disaster right now.

jbmatth said:

You have done lots of work on the place and it really shows. I would love to be back home where I had lots of good friends to call for help but sadly don't know enough of the right people just yet for that here. Maybe I just need to get some really fun equipment like a big lathe and a mill and trade out work for work. What do you plan to do with the shop once it is cleaned out of stuff?
JB

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JB thanks for stopping by. I'm glad someone thinks I have done a lot of work. Every week the projects list seems to get larger and the completed list feels like it doesn't change. I am very thankful to be back on familiar soil. I had a lot of great neighbors out in Indy, but missed the Ohio. Even if you don't trade work with the fun equipment you should still buy it. I am by no means a machinist, but would love to have a lathe and a mill.

As for the shop it is hard to say what it will become. It will likely be a general purpose shop. I probably won't get into any huge projects in there, but I enjoy fabrication(not that I am good at it) so who knows. I need to get some more photos. I have a few more decent posts to get completely caught up, then I will hopefully be motivated to do more so I can share the progress with everyone. I also have a few more projects to wrap up inside the house, but those have been slow going too. I know this is a forum about garages, but I will likely end up posting the inside projects in here too.

The next update will be here shortly. I pulled some random photos off my phone.

This update will be a little bit of everything, but not much garage related unfortunately, and it turned out longer than planned. So for those that read clear through thanks.

Starting with winter heat. I found out last year that my heat pump stinks and won't heat the house and costs a fortune to run. I have propane but only for a wall heater and gas grill, and propane is expensive. I debated between a new heat pump hoping to actually heat the house and reduce the electric bill, propane furnace, or getting natural gas service. After a few different phone calls I found that it may be possible to get natural gas. I was quite excited about this. They then told me the closest line was nearly 1000 feet away, and the cost averages 60 dollars per foot. Needless to say as long as I own this place I will never have natural gas at that cost. My parents own a 125 acres of mostly woods so decided to go with an outdoor wood burner. We did a VERY rough install that will be altered once the weather warms up and I don't need to heat the house.

View media item 79101The ductwork and furnace is located to the left of the garage door in the small half area. The wood burner will end up down to the left of the garage door and I will have to get the ducts installed through the block wall. I opted for a quick and dirty install through a window for this winter. I wanted to judge performance of a forced air unit and see how it was sized before making holes in the block foundation. Also didn't really have the funds to pour a concrete pad, and need to get that area graded down so gravel can be installed. I also hope by next winter to install a narrower garage door and a man door to access the garage. Have to see how many other issues come along that eat up the budget.

Had a mild day this weekend, and decided to see how the chimney was doing with creosote buildup since I didn't have a great supply of really dry firewood.
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This area of the exhaust had a lot of ashes and some creosote, but the stainless double wall was actually fairly clean.

There was a post floating around about water bills recently. Mine typically runs 25 dollars or less, it is just my girlfriend and I and we are on a small septic system. Towards the end of September I received a 70 dollar water bill. The previous bills had been around that amount because I had been watering all the grass from the grading and swales over the summer. Problem being I had quit watering.... Found what I believed to be a leak near where the line enters the house. So out came the shovel. Dug and found a splice someone had made with a plastic barbed style fitting and some hose clamps. While I was at it my dad helped me install a new shutoff valve at the house inside the basement. I thought about replacing the entire line when I found this type of repair, but ended up waterproofing where the line comes in and backfilling. Fast forward to the end of December2016. Another 70 dollar water bill, and no idea how many more shoddy patches could be lurking. I decided to rent a trencher over new years weekend and install new line from the pit/meter to the house. Installed a shut off valve directly after the meter and trenched from the back of the property to the house. It was **** weather for it. It was cold but not freezing and muddy nasty mess. But with the help of my dad, and buddy we dug out the meter and got everything installed. We would have water again, but not quite.
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The meter decided it was about time to give out. I tried to call my water company on new years eve, but couldn't get through. Well on new years day it decided to give out and there was no way to shut the water off. It wasn't a complete blowout, but it was a good solid leak. I again attempted to call the water company with no luck to get them and no answering machine. I finally got someone out on January 2. The guys wanted to bring in a backhoe to dig, but that plan was quickly shut down when my dad told them they were nuts because of how wet and nasty it was. They opted to dig it by hand to clamp it and got a new meter installed.

We have had a warm and wet winter in southeast Ohio. I leave for work after my girlfriend and was greeted by this lovely sight on my way out. I am not sure if it formed after she left or if she was oblivious to it. It's a good thing she didn't hit it we both drive small cars.

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Looks like the backhoe and bobcat will be out for an unplanned project shortly. 40 foot of 2 foot culvert and a 6 foot wing wall are unexpectedly in my future. Good thing my cousin who has the bobcat just bought a backhoe and happens to pour concrete for a living.

I built a fab table out of some extra plate and angle that was laying at my parents farm. It is mostly bolted together, with a few welds here and there. I will have to get measurements and pictures of it for another update, but I drilled 75 percent of the bolt holes on it with a hand drill. I had finally had enough and went and took my dad's drill press. Its an older Taiwanese unit, but it's decent. I bolted it to the slab so I don't have to worry about it tipping.
View media item 79105I know eventually I would have to give him his press back. I found a Craftsman 150 drill press for sale on facebook for 25 bucks. It was missing the motor and pulley from the motor, and has a bent arbor, but you get what you pay for. Here is a picture after a little clean up, it isn't nearly as cleaned up as some of the ones on Frank's craftsman drill press post, but it will do. I have another family member that is a former machinist, he is going to attempt to straighten out the arbor and see how close to true he can get it. So I will be updating and posting some more pictures of the Craftsman 150 as well as possibly sourcing a motor and spindle for it.
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If you look closely in the previous picture you can see the corner of the fab table, don't judge, like I said I built it mostly with a hand drill, a porta band, and on the floor. I hope to add a horizontal/vertical bandsaw to my arsenal. When I do I will grab some more angle or maybe some tubing, and another piece of plate and make a better looking table, but until then this thing is fairly sturdy and gets the job done. I will follow up with some more info and pictures of it in another update. You can also see the leftover grass yard stuff. Hopefully this stuff stays good all winter and will be usable for the front yard and for fixing where I trenched the water line.

Like I previously said I will post some garage, and some house stuff. Here is a little taste of a future update of the basement. My girlfriend saw this floor with the herringbone pattern on pinterest and it inspired the tile for the basement
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Here is the basement at listing I was bad about taking pictures before starting projects
And here is a little taste for basement family room remodel
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The floor is currently done (I wish I could take credit for it, but I have a flooring guy). I have a few pieces of furring strips to replace. There was allegedly a downspout clogged that caused some water to get in the basement, but for those following along it was actually poor grading, and **** drainage in the backyard. That is mostly remedied and hopefully I will find some time and money here soon to finish the basement remodel. I just have to quit having big things go wrong, like furnaces, culverts, and water lines. I will add horizontal paneling to the bottom portion of the walls, make my own trim again, and am going to try my hand at making chair rail too.

Update ended up buying the chair rail, and may purchase the baseboard as well.

Sorry for the long rambling post, just found lots of pictures that got me to thinking and sharing what I have going on.

Great start to your thread JP. I followed you here from said enabler JB's thread.

Cheers GB.

Great update and by the looks of it having a cousin with a backhoe and bobcat have saved you tons of money! I like the look of the wood tile floors in your basement that is very cool. Also in that same picture I see a few of your firearms, an educated swag but it looks like an "auto" shotgun, 10/22, AR, and a couple of British 303's. Hopefully I'm not too far off on those.
JB

Looking good. I have a friend who has the wood burner and loves it. He has enough standing dead wood on his property to run it for decades. He marks trees around the perimeters of fields then collects as needed when his pile runs low in the winter. You may not have a tractor yet or ever, but a trick he showed me was having a 2X4 the length he needs for his firebox strapped to the forks on his front end loader on the tractor. Line it up on one end and cut the other end to length. Load firebox from the forks. Less lifting involved.

Look forward to seeing more of your home and shop improvements.

Grumblebum said:

Great start to your thread JP. I followed you here from said enabler JB's thread.

Cheers GB.

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Thanks Grumblebum. I think I had your thread opened to go through, but firefox crashed. So i will be sure to hop over there and checj it out.

jbmatth said:

Great update and by the looks of it having a cousin with a backhoe and bobcat have saved you tons of money! I like the look of the wood tile floors in your basement that is very cool. Also in that same picture I see a few of your firearms, an educated swag but it looks like an "auto" shotgun, 10/22, AR, and a couple of British 303's. Hopefully I'm not too far off on those.
JB

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Jb having friends and family with heavy equipment and in the industry is great. The things I have had to do would have coat a fortune otherwise. It is a semi auto shotgun. A Remington 1100 12 gauge. It was my first left handed firearm. My dad got it for me when I was 12 or 13. Not sure where he found it. Being a leftie is tough when it comes to firearms. The 10/22 i have had since like 3rd grade. Its a little beat up. the AR is a stag left handed model as well. Currently has a big scope. One day money will not be needed for other projects and I will put a trijicon or a holo sight on it. The old bolt action rifles are actually a pair of Mosin Nagant m44 carbines. Fun guns to shoot near dark. They put on a hell of a show with muzzle flash.

krcoomer said:

Looking good. I have a friend who has the wood burner and loves it. He has enough standing dead wood on his property to run it for decades. He marks trees around the perimeters of fields then collects as needed when his pile runs low in the winter. You may not have a tractor yet or ever, but a trick he showed me was having a 2X4 the length he needs for his firebox strapped to the forks on his front end loader on the tractor. Line it up on one end and cut the other end to length. Load firebox from the forks. Less lifting involved.

Look forward to seeing more of your home and shop improvements.

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Krcoomer I like the wood burner. Its my first real experience with wood. So I am learning. But the house has never been warmer, I have burnt zero propane and my electric bill is affordable. It is a frankeninstall right now. But i get 12 plus hour burn times when it is 30 degrees outside. Plus the burner is made a couple towns over from where my girlfriend is originally from. I dont have much for woods where I live. There are some around but I only own 1.5 acres. My parents have 125 of mostly woods and hills, and I have a cousin who runs a logging business so no shortage of good firewood. Just gotta get a bunch split. I will store the bulk of it at the farm anf probably build storage to hold a years worth at my house.

Thanks to everyone who has commented. I built a fire in the stove in the garage and did some cleaning. So this update is from my cell. Excuse the misspelled words. Hopefully will do a garage post later tonight or tomorrow.

jp828108 said:

Krcoomer I like the wood burner. Its my first real experience with wood. So I am learning. But the house has never been warmer, I have burnt zero propane and my electric bill is affordable. It is a frankeninstall right now. But i get 12 plus hour burn times when it is 30 degrees outside. Plus the burner is made a couple towns over from where my girlfriend is originally from. I dont have much for woods where I live. There are some around but I only own 1.5 acres. My parents have 125 of mostly woods and hills, and I have a cousin who runs a logging business so no shortage of good firewood. Just gotta get a bunch split. I will store the bulk of it at the farm anf probably build storage to hold a years worth at my house.

Thanks to everyone who has commented. I built a fire in the stove in the garage and did some cleaning. So this update is from my cell. Excuse the misspelled words. Hopefully will do a garage post later tonight or tomorrow.

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For your permanent install, you might think about placing it midway between your house and the garage so you can divert some heat to the shop for those cold days. Your shop will call your name much louder when it is warm.

krcoomer said:

For your permanent install, you might think about placing it midway between your house and the garage so you can divert some heat to the shop for those cold days. Your shop will call your name much louder when it is warm.

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I wish that were the case, but it is a forced hot air wood burner. It needs to be within 10 feet of the structure. Maybe one day in the future I will get a boiler that can be hooked to multiple locations. But until then I do have a wood burner in the shop. With some insulation I think it will make it comfortable to work in. The boiler would be ideal but it was going to be 3 or 4 times the cost.

Here is a shot as it currently sits, other than the big lawnmower and my car (My car goes back in the attached garage after the basement remodel is finished. currently the attached garage is filled with furniture) are normally in there. I pulled them out to sweep up some of the dirt and clean up a little. The stuff to the left of the photo are things that need to go to my brothers still. The tarp was put up to dry off before folding it up.
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Here is the garage fan. A big barrel fan would be great, but this is a squirrel cage out of a furnace, and moves quite a bit of air. The price was right, some scrap 2x4s and a 20 dollar squirrel cage (local guy gets given old furnaces and pulls them apart and sells the parts). I decided to add a top to it too. Some scrap number signs did the trick.
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I have a workbench from Menards. My box has a stainless top, but I wanted a welding/fab table. There are far nicer tables out there, but this one was made mostly with a handheld corded drill, the pieces were cut with a porta band, the angle was scrap from decommissioned railings on bridges, and the plate has been laying outside at my parents farm for years. It has harbor freight pivoting castors on all corners, which makes it easy for two people to maneuver. There was also an old hitch receiver at the farm. The fit is sloppy, but there is a receiver on each of the smaller ends. I have a bench grinder and small vice currently. I need to add a nut and bolt so it can lock the grinder, vice or whatever else I decide to put on there tightly. It is 3 foot by 5 foot with a 3/8" plate top. I forgot to measure the height, but it is comfortable to work on standing up, and I think it would be comfortable to work sitting at on a stool.
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The back corner of the shop is mostly storage. I have some old filing cabinets. I keep grinders, sanders, and accessories in them. The shelves need cleaned up and organized.
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Scooted the Craftsman drill press into place. It needs a motor, and maybe a quill. My cousin has the quill and is going to try to true it up. The other drill press belongs to my dad. I took it to finish up the last few holes on the fab table. Made it a heck of a lot easier. He will eventually have a need and want it back. So I picked up the Craftsman to see if I could get it in working order. Also "borrowed" his press. I'm sure everyone can tell it is just a cheap harbor freight press. If he ever comes asking for it I will eventually get my own. The cabinet to the right of the press and the pegboard holds drill bits miscellaneous accessories.
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Here is the toolbox and workbench area. I used pegboard and hung the wrenches up. I doubled and tripled up on sizes. I have gearwrench long ratcheting wrenches and flex wrenches, as well as a small set of USA made craftsman offset wrenches in metric. I also have a large set of USA made Craftman and a set of gearwrench flex ratcheting wrenches in standard. Using the pegboard opened up a BUNCH of space in the toolbox. I like this because I am not in a shop where I have to secure everything. So it keeps me in the Classic 78 box for longer. I may eventually upgrade, but since it's just a hobby I can't justify it right now. The shop cart is rough, but it was a given to me from a good friend I used to work with. So it will be with me until it is no longer usable.
View media item 79117View media item 79120Also have a small 220 air compressor under the workbench. I would like to upgrade, but will likely look at the Milwaukee Fuel stuff to save money for the time being.

Here is my first welder. It is a Hobart Handler 125. A 110 flux core only unit. I got it from a local yard sale for 50 bucks. It's in rough shape, but it welds.
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I came across a used Hobart 210MVP for a price that was too good to pass up. It was missing a few things (the 220 plug, regulator, and spool adapter), but it appeared to have only had a few yards of the starter flux core wire run through it. It also came with a cheaper auto darkening hood. I also have a nice Miller auto darkening hood. I picked it up while I was in tech school. We would TIG thin material and the cheap hoods they provided would sometimes not want to darken. The miller gave me ZERO problems. The cheap Harbor Freight cart is a little scary with the 210MVP. So a sturdier welding cart has been added to my future project list. I haven't gotten gas or a regulator for it yet, and will not until building a better cart.
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I have tomorrow off from work. My dad and are are going to be on the road most of the day. I found a new toy. I will hopefully post an update once we are back from picking it up.

The welders look nice, as you can tell by my thread I'm not a huge fan of expensive tool boxes just for the sake of having an expensive tool box that is bigger than I'd ever really need. I want something that will open and close and keep tools in them. No need to spend many thousands of dollars on a glorified monster box in my opinion.
JB

jbmatth said:

The welders look nice, as you can tell by my thread I'm not a huge fan of expensive tool boxes just for the sake of having an expensive tool box that is bigger than I'd ever really need. I want something that will open and close and keep tools in them. No need to spend many thousands of dollars on a glorified monster box in my opinion.
JB

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I like the welders. The new one does a nice job. But the little one is nice because it is more portable. I understand about the boxes, but I got the snapon in tech school for over half off. I wouldn't pay full retail for one. But I would buy another or bigger one if I found the right deal. Pending having the funds of course. I doubt I will fill my current one up anytime soon though.

I had typed up an update to post the other day, but hadn't gotten around to putting it up yet. I mentioned the other day that I may have a new addition to the garage/workshop. My dad and I spent the majority of the day on the road. Left around 9:00am to go borrow a small trailer with a wooden deck to pick it up. Then swung by the farm for some extra straps, and by my house for the engine hoist. From there we traveled close to 3 hours down into West Virginia to pick up this gem. The owner was shutting down his commercial HVAC business. He had so many other toys I would have LOVED to bring home, but my wallet couldn't afford any more. (10 foot Tennsmith brake and a 4 foot Tennsmith box/pan brake) But I am the proud owner of a 1973 Pexto sheet metal shear

View media item 79121View media item 79122Also came with the material stop and the supports for the front. Just didn't get them installed today
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I have been searching but not very hard for a sheet metal shear. I had wanted one because it made what little sheet work I have done so much easier. I already have a box pan brake, and an electric bead roller. They were purchased from an older gentleman who built one drag car interior before his health deteriorated. I honestly haven't used them much, and don't really have a lot of experience with sheet metal work, but it has intrigued me. So now I need to bring the brake and roller out to my house to go with the shear.

I dug up a little bit of aluminum that I had left over from small projects, and a piece of steel that I got when I purchased the outdoor wood burner. I trimmed out the areas that I had cut with hand shears. This thing cuts very nice. The 18 gauge aluminum cut like butter. The steal was even thinner than that and it had no issues chewing through a roughly 30 inch wide piece. I didn't think it would, but it was rewarding to see it in action. The cutting blade has one small knick in it around the mid point. I will see how much sheet metal work I do and see if it needs to be addressed. I will add some steel wool and cleaning up the table on the shear to my list of things to do. I will also need to fab up a stand for the bead roller, but projects around the house keep me out of trouble.

Understandable on the Snapon box, if I were in a tech school and the job prospects had me needing a box to move around every so often I would have done the same thing for half off. Now that shear looks great and other than wider it looks identical to mine. Great find on that one! Looking forward to more.
JB

jbmatth said:

Understandable on the Snapon box, if I were in a tech school and the job prospects had me needing a box to move around every so often I would have done the same thing for half off. Now that shear looks great and other than wider it looks identical to mine. Great find on that one! Looking forward to more.
JB

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JB

Thanks for continuing to stop by. I will post a "tour" of the toolbox later tonight. Not sure if anyone else is checking out the posts or not. But it is nice to have it documented somewhere. And to have a motivation to continue accomplishing projects and posting about them.

jp

JP, JB isn't the only one reading your thread, I'm subscribed and will be following along but I rarely post if I don't have anything to add.

Brake and shear are on my list. I think once you use them you'll wonder how you ever got by without.

Still following

GB

Any tool you buy will find more uses...just have to remember you have it!

Great progress.

Your 30 by 40 is a post and beam construction type of building? Are the posts in the concrete or secured to it? How tall is the ceiling in there also?
Thanks!

Bob Heine said:

JP, JB isn't the only one reading your thread, I'm subscribed and will be following along but I rarely post if I don't have anything to add.

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It is an honor to have Bob Heine following along. I was at one point caught up on your thread. It was always very interesting and comical. I keep finding more and more threads to follow, and when I get hose caught up I go back around to the others and typically something has been going on. Thanks for stopping in.

Grumblebum said:

Brake and shear are on my list. I think once you use them you'll wonder how you ever got by without.

Still following

GB

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Grumblebum thanks for continuing to follow along. I enjoyed catching up on your build thread, and will for sure be checking in to see what you have going on. I haven't really done much with the brake. I have owned it for several years, but I know with the shear it will make the sheet metal projects much easier, and the clean cuts will really give some professional looking results. I am going to call the local metal places tomorrow to see how much a sheet of aluminum will set me back. I am going to build some more dividers for the drawer organizers that I saw somewhere on the Garage Journal.

OutlawDrifter said:

Any tool you buy will find more uses...just have to remember you have it!

Great progress.

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Thanks Outlaw. Find more uses and more projects that we didn't know we needed to do. But that is what we buy the stuff for.

TractorJeff said:

Your 30 by 40 is a post and beam construction type of building? Are the posts in the concrete or secured to it? How tall is the ceiling in there also?
Thanks!

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TractorJeff

The posts are set in holes 8 foot on center on the side walls. The building was already existing so I'm not sure of the depth, but I imagine it is 3 to 4 feet deep and should be set with concrete, once again it was existing so I hope they did it right. It has a "10 foot" ceiling. Which I believe is somewhere between 9'6" and 9'8" after the slab was poured. The posts are pressure treated, and the bottom two band boards are pressure treated. I believe after that everything switches to standard lumber and plywood, then covered in vinyl siding and the roof is shingled. Typically these buildings around here are all steel construction. My brother and dad used 2x6 trusses spaced every 4 foot, but this building was built with standard 2x4 trusses that are set 2 foot on center.

A tour through the toolbox. Hopefully you guys will not judge too harshly. It's a work/organization in progress.

The top drawer houses, ratchets, sockets, impacts, air tools, extensions, safety glasses, flashlights, and other odds and ends.
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If you look closely you can see the block of aluminum. I found some plans online and built a small tubing bender out of aluminum and stainless.
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Overflow of air tools, and other junk. One day soon this will hopefully look a lot nicer. I want to build a holder and mount it underneath the cabinet above the wooden workbench for the electric drills and impact drivers.
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Thanks to garage journal I got the plans for this drawer storage/organization setup. it's why some of my other drawers look so empty. Between this and storing wrenches on the wall really gave me a lot of space that needs better organized and managed.
View media item 79129I need to make some upgrades and purchase some additional pliers, pipe wrenches, vice grips, ETC.

I am going to do the same storage solution for the hammers as the pliers. I also have some hammers floating around inside from the basement remodel, and some old ones that belonged to my grandfather that need new handles.
View media item 79130I made this one in a fabrication class. It's not perfect, but it works. I wanted to add threaded ends like the brass hammer, but when I priced brass stock I abandoned that design.
The rest of the box is currently a unorganized mess.
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Also have a New Britain breaker bar. May not mean much to some people. I don't see it mentioned as a quality USA made brand. So I'm not sure about quality, but it belonged to my grandfather. I was born in 1988 and he died in 1993 or 1994. He worked out of an oversized 1 or undersized 2 car garage. He was the local Volkswagen guru. Each of his children got an old Beetle when they turned 16. My mom never learned to drive manual transmission and he found her one with an auto transmission, he put a different front end on one for my aunt (I believe it was a rolls), and converted one into a "truck" for my uncle. His old shop still stands and my grandma still lives in their old house. His shop is the current home of my 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

This is a neat little place. I wonder what that site work would have cost? Keep up the updates. I'd like to see how this place transforms.

-Brent- said:

This is a neat little place. I wonder what that site work would have cost? Keep up the updates. I'd like to see how this place transforms.

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I'm not sure on the cost, but I think in my area their are a few excavation companies that are reasonable. The cousin with the backhoe just wanted money for diesel fuel, and he ended up needing some stuff my dad had laying around so we basically traded. The other family with the kubota and bobcat wouldn't take anything not even money for fuel. It's good to have connections and family around. I plan to try to keep updating. I have been living in my house for awhile so there was a lot of stuff to post. I'm getting close to being caught up other than organizing and cleaning some stuff up. But hopefully I can continue to make progress.

jp828108 said:

I'm not sure on the cost, but I think in my area their are a few excavation companies that are reasonable. The cousin with the backhoe just wanted money for diesel fuel, and he ended up needing some stuff my dad had laying around so we basically traded. The other family with the kubota and bobcat wouldn't take anything not even money for fuel. It's good to have connections and family around. I plan to try to keep updating. I have been living in my house for awhile so there was a lot of stuff to post. I'm getting close to being caught up other than organizing and cleaning some stuff up. But hopefully I can continue to make progress.

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Enjoying your updates and along for the ride.

Don't forget the family that helps you when you they need something down the road even if it is just a laborer to help move the refrigerator or couch. I have friends and family who have helped me out that I would drive the day to help them with a 1 hour job. On the other hand I have a family member I have helped with 2 moves, a deck and a roof who couldn't be bothered to miss a basketball game on TV when I called and asked for a few minutes of his time. Guess what I will be doing the next time he needs help. Feeding your help is a nice thing too.

krcoomer said:

Enjoying your updates and along for the ride.

Don't forget the family that helps you when you they need something down the road even if it is just a laborer to help move the refrigerator or couch. I have friends and family who have helped me out that I would drive the day to help them with a 1 hour job. On the other hand I have a family member I have helped with 2 moves, a deck and a roof who couldn't be bothered to miss a basketball game on TV when I called and asked for a few minutes of his time. Guess what I will be doing the next time he needs help. Feeding your help is a nice thing too.

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I for sure greatly appreciate their help. I would do anything within my abilities for them, and they know that. I have a few family members that wouldn't return the favor. Still do small things for them if they asked, but I certainly won't bend over backwards.

More about the Cutlass: It is essentially a 2 owner car. My aunt's mother bought it brand new in 1968. She worked at a grocery store. It had a lot of rust and dents. It spent years sitting in my aunt's mom's garage in Speedway, Indiana. My cousin bought her house when she passed. He eventually got tired of the car sitting there and asked his mom to do something with it. That is when my dad bought it. It was in ROUGH shape. I have some photos laying around of it from when the "restoration" was started. I started seriously working on it and having it fixed up when I was 18. I moved to Indianapolis, bought a house, and funds dried up. This is pretty much how it sits currently. It was running when I left in 2009. Currently it needs the gas tank emptied or replaced and the carb cleaned to get it started (maybe more). Every brake line needs replaced. All wheel cylinders and brake hoses were replaced when the restoration started and before it does more than roll around or be trailered to my house it needs new tires.
View media item 79138Bumpers have been rechromed and are back on it too.

Looks like you've got a solid project to work on! Got to love an old Oldsmobile!

I was also able to sneak away from work around lunch and go to the local metal supply. I should have tried to snap a couple photos, but didn't think of it. I picked up a couple small scraps of sheet metal. One was 16 gauge mild steel, and the other is 18 gauge. The 18 gauge might actually be galvanized. I don't have a lot of experience determining, but it isn't plain old mild steel, it isn't aluminum, and I don't think it is stainless. So that leads me to believe it must be galvanized. I should have grabbed a photo and posted it up seeing if anyone had any ideas, but I didn't this evening. So maybe tomorrow. I also got prices on some sheets of .063 aluminum, and .050 aluminum. I'm going to give my wallet a little time to recover from the impromptu shear purchase, but after that I will pick up a sheet or two of aluminum, and a couple sheets of 18 or 20 gauge mild steel so I can weld it. I want to build some trays to put inside the big tool box to hold extra bits, extensions, and anything else I can come up with that might need a tray.

I did play with the shear on the 16 gauge mild steel, and some .050 aluminum I had laying around. The mild steel was at the top of the shears capacity, but it handled it. the aluminum sheared like a hot knife through butter. I finished the pliers drawer for the time being at least. Have a few open slots, and a some space to expand.
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I also sheared the rest of the mild steel I picked up. I cut them about a half inch shorter than the drawer they will be used in. I will use them and likely a few more in the hammer drawer. I will stand the hammers up like I did the pliers, and that will allow me to maximize that space and easily add in some dead blows, body hammers, and maybe even bucking bars for rivets.
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That's a great idea on the pliers draw, now I *need* a shear.

That other sheet looks like it just has a zinc coating on it, we call it zincanneal.

GB

The easiest way to tell if something is stainless is to put a magnet up to it. If the magnet doesn't attract it then it is most likely a 300 series stainless 304 and 316 are the most common. One problem with the magnet trick is that 400 series stainless is attracted by a magnet though. Aluminum is easy because it is light and cleans up really shiny really easy. I'm with Grumble on the sheets on the left, they don't look galvanized to me.
JB

The '73 Pexto shear is a nice find! A 4' shear and a 4' brake (or box brake...) are on my wish list.