Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Tom's Neighborhood Workshop

[wreckdiver1321]

On Sunday, I focused on a few more efforts.

With the worktop on the cart nice and dry, I moved all of my tools and PPE back onto it and relocated it to the corner. Looking good now, and it's so nice to have this cart for projects. Being able to have all of my tools or parts right there when I need them is going to make my life so much easier!



The next project I tackled really had me over a barrel.



A 55-gallon barrel to be precise.

Bad joke?

I'm a dad, leave me alone.

Anyway, say hello to my new shop trash can. I collected this from a guy local to me for $5. It had spray foam chemicals in it and he just wanted it (and a dozen of it's brethren) gone. It's been sitting next to the garage for a while and I'm getting sick of not having a trash can, so I dragged it into the shop and started cutting into it. Initially, I tried to just slice it with the angle grinder and a cutting disc, but that wasn't very efficient, so I grabbed my sawzall and got a little western. The saw can't make the same radius as the barrel, so I would drill a couple of holes, connect them with the die grinder, then get the sawzall blade in and go as far as I could before running into the edge of the barrel. Eventually I was able to pull the top out.



Turns out it wasn't as empty as I thought it would be, and there's still some residual gack inside. A garden trowel was able to get a lot of it into a 5-gallon bucket for proper disposal, but it's still got a bit of junk in there that I need to get cleaned out. It's currently stewing with some acetone, so I'm hoping that will break it down enough to get it nice and clean. We shall see. Once it's cleaned out, I'll clean up the lip and weld a set of casters to the bottom of it to make it mobile. This idea has turned into a lot of work for a trash can.

The next project I worked on was the finishing work on the workbench leg. All I had left to do was make sure it was squared up, then weld the horizontal support in place. After it cooled, I slotted the horizontal beams in place and was very happy with the result!



The top sits at about 39.25", so it will likely be at or slightly above 40" tall once the top is on it. It feels slightly tall when I'm standing in front of it, but it's right in line with standard workbench height, so I'm going with it. The one on this wall will be narrower, so I'll have to cut 7-9" out of the horizontal beams and weld them back together for everything will fit as I want it to. That is subject to change though based on the PITA factor.

Finally, I was able to get all of the rust cut off the body panels on Sandy. The passenger side wheel arch was hiding a bit more than I was hoping for unfortunately, so I ended up cutting more than I would have liked, but I still have enough patch panel to cover the area completely. I cleaned off the Metal Rescue gel that's been sitting for a week, which worked really well, and then called it a night.



So this means I'm now at the point where I don't need to be cutting rusty parts off anymore. All I need to be doing is pulling apart the patch panels and trimming them to fit their patch locations, then I can start putting it all back together. Huzzah!

It sounds trivial. It's not.

Wish me luck!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Did you buy a SAE or metric adjustable wrench? You gotta have both ya know

Metric, they're too young to comprehend fractions.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Good progress on the bench. All of my stuff is generally built higher than normal due to my height, I prefer to be comfortable in my own shop, so bending over a workbench doesn't appeal to me. Next time you're at HF, grab some packs of the foam workspace pads to stand on, they really make a difference too. I have them in front of my boxes and the work bench.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Good progress on the bench. All of my stuff is generally built higher than normal due to my height, I prefer to be comfortable in my own shop, so bending over a workbench doesn't appeal to me. Next time you're at HF, grab some packs of the foam workspace pads to stand on, they really make a difference too. I have them in front of my boxes and the work bench.

I'm tall as well at 6' 1", so I think this height should be about perfect for me. Maybe slightly tall when the drill press is on there, but not by too much. I don't like being stooped over either, so it should work. If not, I do have enough room to drop the horizontal supports by one slot. Maybe I'll test that and see where it lands.

The foam pads are a great idea, I think I'll look into those. Trouble keeping them clean at all?

 

[OutlawDrifter]

The foam pads are a great idea, I think I'll look into those. Trouble keeping them clean at all?

The ones I have are pretty dense, so they sweep off pretty easily. They are fairly inexpensive as well. The ones I have are almost 10 years old I think.

https://www.harborfreight.com/4-piece-anti-fatigue-foam-mat-set-94635.html

 

[racer-john]

May you and yours have an enjoyable Christmas and a Happy New Year, wreckdiver.

 

[jbrentd]

Nice work, on all fronts. Are you going with a wood top for your bench as well?

 

[wreckdiver1321]

May you and yours have an enjoyable Christmas and a Happy New Year, wreckdiver.

Thanks John, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you guys as well!

Nice work, on all fronts. Are you going with a wood top for your bench as well?

Thanks, it's been a bit of a shotgun approach lately, I hope the overall quality doesn't suffer for it. Just trying to make progress where I can.

Yep, I think I'll be going with wood tops for both benches. I haven't decided if I'll do plywood, project panels, or a DIY butcher block. I kinda like the idea of making my own butcher block tops, but one project at a time. My only hesitation with the wood tops is I'm going to be doing stained pallet wood paneling along one wall (the one with the blue pegboard cabinet), where there will be a work bench. The workbench will be stained with the same color, so I'm a little concerned it will be a bit much.

I dunno. Maybe that big blue cabinet will help break up the wood. Or maybe it'll look just fine and I should stop worrying about it.

 

[bdbecker]

I'm a little late to the gas bottle discussion, but Tractor Supply in Billings is listed as a Thoroughbred gas exchange location. I go through Northern Tool here because its close to my house. Pretty nice program once you have a bottle. Best thing is you aren't tied to Airgas store hours. If you run out of gas on Saturday afternoon, you aren't down for the whole weekend. The other thing that might annoy you since I'm guessing you've already been to Airgas, exchanges for 80 cu. ft. tanks at Tractor Supply are $55. You can also trade up bottle sizes should you decide you want to go bigger, getting credit for the bottle you previously bought and only having to cover the difference.

Welding Gas to Go!

www.gaspony.com

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/weld%20gas?

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I'm a little late to the gas bottle discussion, but Tractor Supply in Billings is listed as a Thoroughbred gas exchange location. I go through Northern Tool here because its close to my house. Pretty nice program once you have a bottle. Best thing is you aren't tied to Airgas store hours. If you run out of gas on Saturday afternoon, you aren't down for the whole weekend. The other thing that might annoy you since I'm guessing you've already been to Airgas, exchanges for 80 cu. ft. tanks at Tractor Supply are $55. You can also trade up bottle sizes should you decide you want to go bigger, getting credit for the bottle you previously bought and only having to cover the difference.

Welding Gas to Go!

www.gaspony.com

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/weld%20gas?

Holy **** Brad that's a great piece of information! Thanks for digging that up for me!

I just checked the prices and it looks like I can get a bottle at TSC for $270 on sale right now! Hot damn! I might have to go pick one up today. That helps a lot. Plus not being anchored to Airgas hours. TSC isn't very far from me either, so that's awesome.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Right. Things have occurred, though not much.

For starters, I made some progress cleaning up my trash can barrel. I took my Makita angle grinder with an actual grinding disc (who does that?) and hogged off a bunch of the sharp stabby bits from the lip of it. I did leave a bunch of solvent-soaked paper towels in the bottom for extra excitement too. It's a metal barrel, I'm sure it's fine.



This spray foam **** is really tenacious. I discovered the best method of dealing with it involves a drill and an abrasive wheel, followed by a ton of solvent and paper towels. You can see bits of the gunk collected here at the bottom, along with the remnants of the hogged-out lip and the shadows from the paper towels. I'm going to need to buy some more brake cleaner to get this fully cleaned out, but we're close.



While I was out in the workshop, I also found the time to crawl under Sandy and clean all of the loose rust scale and chipped undercoat off of the rockers, then applied my Metal Rescue gel and wrapped it up. I'll let that simmer for a week and go back for the final cleanup before priming, painting, and undercoating.



Meanwhile, I have started pulling the repair panels apart. I stopped because I need a few things, namely a punch and chisel set, so I have the 16-piece Astro Pneumatic set on the way. Pulling the repair panels apart is mostly pulling out seam sealer and drilling out spot welds, then using a chisel and prybar to carefully pull the panels apart. It's a time-consuming process I don't want to rush, so I'll do my best to pull those apart cleanly.

*NOTE: I have no idea what I'm doing. I have a basic knowledge of what should be happening here, so I'm just giving it a go and making it up as I go along.

Before I knew it, Christmas Eve was here. My wife's family came to visit and pandemonium ensued. Thanks to my mom and dad and various members of my wife's family absolutely showering my kids in gifts, my patio looked like this:



And that's about half of the pile. The other half appeared on Christmas morning. I had a mountain of cardboard back there.

My boys got the world's most ridiculous train set, a table for coloring and hanging out downstairs, enough Tonka heavy equipment to start a quarrying business, and my oldest's head exploded when he received his pint-size F150 Raptor. We went for a cruise around the block with the music blaring. The girls were staring. No big deal.









I got kinda spoiled by the holidays too. I have an Amazon wish list of tools I want, and it looks like my dad accessed it and went nuts. So I now own a massive tap & die set, a hollow punch set, a vacuum brake bleeder kit, a slide hammer, a Tekton torque 1/2" wrench, some Ernst wrench rails, a seal puller, and a whole mess of nice pliers from Engineer and Klein. Sweet!

More to come soon as I have another long weekend coming up.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Sounds like everyone had a good haul!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Sounds like everyone had a good haul!

It was a great holiday honestly. The kids had so much fun, we got to see our favorite members of Beret's family, we had great food, and overall just enjoyed the time together. A nice break from the grind work has become.

Pro tip: burger bar. Great way to feed large numbers of people. Have buns, toppings, sauces, etc. set out for everyone to choose whatever they want, and grill a pile of burgers. Make some sides, and you're done.

 

[nicholam77]

My wife's family came to visit and pandemonium ensued. Thanks to my mom and dad and various members of my wife's family absolutely showering my kids in gifts, my patio looked like this:

Omg same. We told our siblings (the aunts and uncles) not to buy anything for the kids this year to cut down on gifts. But just between the grandparents and us we ended up with way too much stuff. It's fun and exciting for the kids but I am going to run out of space to store toys pretty soon!

Happy to see some (well, a lot, actually!) Tonka trucks in the mix. I had the dump truck as a kid and I was thinking about getting one for my boy, but then didn't because he's only 5 months haha. Maybe next year.

I have the Tekton 1/2" torque wrench, it's worked well for me.

Glad you had a good holiday!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Omg same. We told our siblings (the aunts and uncles) not to buy anything for the kids this year to cut down on gifts. But just between the grandparents and us we ended up with way too much stuff. It's fun and exciting for the kids but I am going to run out of space to store toys pretty soon!

Happy to see some (well, a lot, actually!) Tonka trucks in the mix. I had the dump truck as a kid and I was thinking about getting one for my boy, but then didn't because he's only 5 months haha. Maybe next year.

I have the Tekton 1/2" torque wrench, it's worked well for me.

Glad you had a good holiday!

I actually made the joke to my mom that we'll need an addition on our new house just to store all the damn toys.

Luckily the kids basically get the run of the basement, so keeping all of the toys down there isn't a problem and there's plenty of room for it. Still though, there's a lot of **** down there. I need to start thinking of ways to organize it and update it, but it's not high on the list. We're going to totally update/remodel the upstairs first before we start working on that.

Over the last week, we've been quietly secreting away toys the kids don't get as much use out of anymore, so hopefully we'll be able to whittle it down enough as we go.

I had a bunch of Tonka trucks too! My kids love those, they're a definite winner even though they're so simple. We're planning on picking up more of that stuff for them at some point, so I highly recommend them. We've got a lot of "old school" toys that I grew up with or my parents grew up with, and my kids love it.

Good to hear! It'll be replacing a crappy old Pittsburgh torque wrench, so the bar isn't high. But it's always nice to upgrade. I realized recently that when it comes to automotive stuff, I'm to the point that I have most of the tools I will ever need. It's more upgrading stuff for nicer stuff now, but not too much of even that. Cool place to be I think. Lets me focus on just getting the workshop to where I want it to be.

I hope your holiday was excellent! Always good to get unfettered time with the wife and kids.

 

[loganb]

My dad is in his early 70's with poor hearing. He can barely understand anything my 3 yr old says. Misses out on a lot of conversation. It's kind of a bummer. But he also never wears ear protection around vacuums, table saws, anything really. Even to this day. He likes to blame it on "too many Rolling Stones concerts" when he was a younger man but it's really opened my eyes to long term damage from that sort of thing.

Going to +1 the recommendations to try and get him into an audiologist who specializes in hearing aids, the new ones are pretty incredible. My MIL now has the in ear ones with bluetooth and loves being able to hear so well and have conversations on the phone easily. My 90-ish year old grandparents(well at least my grandmother) have the habit of not putting them in all the time, then complaining they can't hear...to which we ask are your hearing aids in/on...well no....they don't do much good upstairs! She continues to accuse her husband of being the only one in the household who can't hear...we're slowly getting her aware that they're both to blame! This is an area where buy the high end, not the cheap, and just plan in 5 years they'll probably be obsoleted and new tech offering even better results that'll be worth upgrading to.

@wreckdiver1321
Projects looking great! And I empathize with ya on the pile of "stuff" for the kids....we at least spread out across several weekends so the pile was split into many, smaller piles vs 1 larger one....does make it harder to sneak things away that same day but we just have to wait till later and then hide some of the toys

 

[cros13]

I'm really digging the wall mounted peg board and cabinets you made!

And I hear ya on the Christmas front, my little one just gets showered with toys too, and now every room is overflowing with them.

I had a mate buy her a singing story book. we already have 2 of the exact same one! ha!

Awesome present haul you got from your old boy too! I'd be over the moon with those tools.

Rudi.

 

[nicholam77]

Going to +1 the recommendations to try and get him into an audiologist who specializes in hearing aids, the new ones are pretty incredible.

He actually has worn hearing aids for 5+ years. They definitely help but not perfect, especially with toddler talk which can already be hard to decipher. I think they were from Costco, not sure the brand but maybe it's time for some new ones.

 

[loganb]

He actually has worn hearing aids for 5+ years. They definitely help but not perfect, especially with toddler talk which can already be hard to decipher. I think they were from Costco, not sure the brand but maybe it's time for some new ones.

Yes, time for new ones a bit higher up in the quality/feature spectrum

My grandpa who turned 90 this last year has had them for at least 25 years, first probably 2 sets were cheaper, lower feature sets and I think when I was in college they were finally talked into a higher quality/better performing set and they were amazed at the difference. Ability to afford wasn't the issue, but the mindset they paying that much more would be worthwhile and beneficial. Longer battery life, better ability to hear, less feedback, could hear higher pitch voices easier....ever since then they're on a 5 yr cycle of getting new ones and are continually impressed with how much better he can hear on the new ones vs old.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Projects looking great! And I empathize with ya on the pile of "stuff" for the kids....we at least spread out across several weekends so the pile was split into many, smaller piles vs 1 larger one....does make it harder to sneak things away that same day but we just have to wait till later and then hide some of the toys

Thanks Logan! Things are plugging along.

Yeah, I've come to the conclusion it never ends. Diapers, non-fitting clothes, toys, food, milk, etc. You've always got a pile of stuff for your kids and an equally impressive pile of trash.

I'm really digging the wall mounted peg board and cabinets you made!

And I hear ya on the Christmas front, my little one just gets showered with toys too, and now every room is overflowing with them.

I had a mate buy her a singing story book. we already have 2 of the exact same one! ha!

Awesome present haul you got from your old boy too! I'd be over the moon with those tools.

Rudi.

Rudi, thanks for stopping in!

Thanks on the cabinet, I really like the way it turned out. Nice looking and functional I think. More of that kind of storage coming up once I get closer to where I want on the Land Cruiser. Hopefully it all goes the way I'd like it to.

Oh man, the amount of stuff we have for them is unbelievable. And the duplicates of stuff they had. Trouble is they're both boys with similar interests, so they want to play with the same stuff. As such, we have a lot of duplicates. Keeps them from killing each other though.

The amount of tools I got was unreal. I'm in such a good spot with my workshop capabilities now. I feel very lucky to have access to all this at such a young age.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

In the vein of tools, let me run you through my new stuff, because I'm pretty stoked about it. This stuff is cool.

First off is a set of Wiha metric t-handle allen wrenches. I've always wanted a set of these but it's one of those things I would have never bought for myself. They're my first t-handles and my first Wiha tools. I'm impressed, as I have been with quality German tools before. Simple design, but comfortable and nicely made. Can't wait to use them.



Apparently this Christmas was the Christmas of pliers. I got a whole mess of nice new pliers from a few different manufacturers, and they are certainly a welcome upgrade from what I've been using. I came to the realization that my pliers game was lacking. I still need to build it up some more, but here's my newest acquisitions. Left to right, I got a pair of Irwin MIG welding pliers, which are a nice thing to have for my new welding projects. Not particularly exotic or impressive, but something I needed nonetheless. Next are the yellow Klein needle-nose pliers, Klein lineman pliers, and Klien slip-joint pliers. All really nicely made and finished. I thought the slip-joint pliers would be an upgrade to what I already had, but it turns out what I already had was a pair of Proto pliers. So they'll both be staying in my toolbox. At the bottom are two pairs of Japanese-made Engineer pliers. The set on the left is a screw-extraction pliers set, which is really neat. The jaws are specifically designed for turning screws, but they are pretty aggressive and can be used for all kinds of other things, so I'm pleased to have them in the arsenal. The smaller Engineer needle-nose are really nice too. Very happy with these.



Punches, anyone? I've needed a good set of punches for a lone time, and this set from Astro Pneumatic seems to be the ticket. Not made in the USA, Japan, or Europe, but they're from a good company mad made well, so I'm pleased with them.



Another thing I got that I wouldn't have bought for myself: a set of Ernst wrench rails. Believe it or not, I was working with just a pile of wrenches scattered in two separate drawers. This is much better. I'm planning on getting a set of smaller rails for ratcheting wrenches too, but this is a great start.



This beast was next. Holy **** this thing is substantial compared to my previous torque wrench. My first Tekton tool as well, and I'm impressed with the heft and quality feel. Good thing, because I'm big on factory torque specs, much to my friend's chagrin. Good addition to the box.



Another bit that I'd never buy for myself, a slide hammer with all the fixin's. Really, these are super useful for pulling CV shafts, axle shafts, bearings, etc. Not the tool that gets the most use, but one that when you need it, you need it.



Having never owned a rusty vehicle before (yay Montana!) I can honestly say I've never had a use for this kit before. But now, with the Land Cruiser as crusty as she is, this massive metric tap and die set is almost essential. Again, not something that will see a ton of action, but absolutely indispensable when you really need it.



A few more specialty bits, a vacuum brake bleeder and a GearWrench seal puller. Really excited about these. Be nice to bleed brakes or swap brake fluid myself, and no more tearing up screwdrivers to pop out seals.



Finally, a little something for myself, from myself. Thanks to @Pbindesign, I felt I needed a set of these Best Made spare parts trays, and a cup to go with it. Not the most practical for moving around the shop or in engine bays, but a really nice thing to have on the bench. Impeccably made too. Thanks for pointing these out, Paul!



Really stoked to have these on the job. New tools are fun!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

This weekend was hectic, but allowed me to get some things done I've been antsy to do.

On New Years Eve, Beret and I took the kids out to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. My wife was a server there for eight years, so she knows a lot of the staff and the food. It's also a place where our kids could be monkeys without people caring. It's loud in there. Dirk was flirting with a gal in the booth next to us, a pretty 23-year-old who was having her birthday. He said happy birthday to her, she gave him her birthday brownie. Pretty sure they're engaged now. My kid is one smooth operator.

Beret had to work on Saturday, so I hung out with the kids and did a few little things. Number one was get my wrenches organized. Remember, I said that I had been dealing with two drawers (metric and fractional) with a pile of wrenches in each. Not exactly an elegant system. Well, the Ernst wrench rails I got helped turn that into one organized drawer. I brought them inside and built the rails. I discovered I have a few gaps, so some Hazet wrenches are on their way from Handtools from Germany. I'll slowly be transitioning to those for my metric set. As the rails were too big for the drawer I had the wrenches in, they got moved to a different one lower down. Now it's all pretty.



It gave me a chance to sort out some of my wrenches too, and get rid of some that were low-quality duplicates. I built the best set from what I had and kept some reserve wrenches, as well as the ratcheting ones.

I also did some general cleaning of my toolbox. I have a lot of duplicate and low-quality tools, so I started picking out the stuff that would be moved over to a "house box" to keep inside, while others will be sold at a pawn shop or donated to toolless family. Not quite finished yet, but I slimmed down my overloaded drawers quite nicely.

Yesterday was a fantastic day. We went to church for a great message, played with the kids, took them sledding for the first time, Dirk took his Power Wheels truck out, and I got some shop time. While I was out there, I finished my trash can!

I hogged out the rest of the material around the lip and smoothed it over with a grinding stone and flap disc, respectively. I was wearing full PPE because of all the nasty, stinky **** that was getting boiled off. I used an entire can of brake cleaner to clean the crud off the inside, as well as an abrasive wheel on my drill. I didn't get it perfect, but I got it clean enough that a trash bag won't stick. Good enough for me!

With that done, I tried to kill myself. Accidentally. I flipped the barrel over and put it on some cardboard to catch the water and other debris. Then I started figuring out where the casters should go. The stamped markings on the bottom worked to locate two of the casters, and the third I placed at the far end, using the recycling symbol as a central reference point. It's in the center of the markings, thus will be in the center of the two other casters.



I cleaned off the spot for the central caster and used a straightedge and chalk pencil to figure out the center point.



This is the part where I tried to kill myself. Anxious to get welding, I cleaned off a ground point, fired up the welder, and started plug-welding the caster plate to the barrel. Well, as it turns out, when you flip a barrel over and sit the open end on the floor, you've made a sealed container. Since my sealed container contained solvents and spray-foam chemicals, it took a few seconds of welding for something to catch fire. Behaving much like an internal-combustion engine, a sealed barrel full of flammable fumes creates an explosion once you introduce enough heat. There was a boom, and the barrel jumped, nearly hitting me in the face.

I backed away quickly, seeing smoke leaking out around the edge of the lip, which had found the floor again. I gave it a second to ensure no other calamities would occur, then leaned the barrel over. Good news, I wasn't dead and the barrel was fine. The cardboard hadn't started on fire. My ego felt like I had been bludgeoned with a maul, but I was otherwise unscathed. I'm going to file that one under, "Stupid Ways to Learn a Lesson." Pressure needs to go somewhere. Duh.

To keep this from happening again, I propped up one end of the barrel with a jack stand.



Anyway, once I had the barrel leaned back over I finished welding the caster to it. Not perfect, but I definitely got good penetration and a few of the welds turned out pretty nice. Since it won't be seen, I'm plenty happy with the way this worked out.



I cleaned the paint off the bottom of the barrel where I wanted to weld the casters, aligned them, and burned them in. The heat from the welding had cooked the grease out of the bearings, so I added some red grease to the bearings to smooth them out. I cleaned everything up, et viola! Now I've got a trash can.



Putting it straight to use, I started peeling off the plastic that covered the rust-dissolving gel from the Land Cruiser and cleaning it with brake cleaner. When it comes off, it looks really nasty.



But a few minutes with a solvent-soaked paper towel and a quick hit with a wire wheel, and this is what you get.



Clean!

I spent probably an hour getting this all done at all four corners, getting all the rust removed. It worked out really well and I feel like the rockers are done with rust removal.

With that in mind, I turned my attention fully to pulling the patch panels apart. They're spot-welded in a lot of places, so I took my time drilling them out as best I could before going to work on them with an air hammer, then a cold chisel. Back and forth I went, slowly working my way through the bottom seam. I'm getting close to done with that, so hopefully I'll have them separated soon. Once they're apart, I can get the patches cut and welded in. I'm considering taking the passenger-side panel to a body shop so they can pull it apart for me, as well as fix the small rust damage in that panel. It might add a bit to the cost, but it would save me a lot of time and headache. We'll see what I can make happen.

I spent about an hour on that, then switched gears for a quick project before heading in for the night. I've never liked the black/dark brown switch and outlet cover plates that came in the shop, so I swapped a few out to test the look of some brushed stainless plates. I'm very happy to say I'll be switching to these all around the shop. They look much better in my opinion and fit the feel of the space better. Small change, but it feels like a bigger impact.





I really need to do something about that hole below the plate.

Anyway, that's all for now. More to come soon as I try to wrestle the patch panel apart and stumble my way through sheet metal repair!

 

[Trapps]

Perhaps it's my end, but many of your pics in the above are not showing up.

...

Yeah, I've come to the conclusion it never ends. Diapers, non-fitting clothes, toys, food, milk, etc. You've always got a pile of stuff for your kids and an equally impressive pile of trash.

You're right in that it doesn't end. It just changes over time...don't blink.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Perhaps it's my end, but many of your pics in the above are not showing up.


You're right in that it doesn't end. It just changes over time...don't blink.

Hmmm. I'll look into that.

Anyone else having that happen?

 

[OutlawDrifter]

It's all working for me Tom, I had that issue on Mike's thread earlier.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

It's all working for me Tom, I had that issue on Mike's thread earlier.

Good to know, thanks Marc.

 

[Trapps]

All fine today. Must have been on my end.

 

[bdbecker]

Your barrel incident reminded me of a story from when I was in high school

My Dad got his hands on a giant (roughly 8' diameter x 12' long) bulk storage tank that had been used to hold oil/tar for asphalt paving. His plan was to cut it in half and make a couple of quonset hut style livestock shelters out of it. Way overkill, but hey, the tank was free. Dad torched square opening in one end so we could get the residual tar that had frozen solid in the bottom of the tank (it was winter at the time). We were able to get most of it, but there was still a little puddle in the back corner of the tank that was just stuck solid. Sledge hammers and chisels were doing little more than putting dents in the material. We figured we had gotten most of it out, so that was good enough.

Dad started torching the bin in half. He had made it all the way around both sides and was midway through cutting the last few feet on the end cap when that little puddle of once frozen tar was now on fire. To make matters worse, the wind had picked up and was blowing directly into the tank from the end that already had a hole cut into it, essentially turning the tank into an oil fired furnace. Thinking we'd just smother it out, we put a piece of plywood over the door and wedged it in place with 2x4. That didn't work at all. The sides were already cut open, so plenty of air could still get pulled in. Not only that, the fire was getting so hot that the paint had started burning off the outside of the tank. Waiting around to let it burn out wasn't really an option as it was puking a huge cloud of black smoke into the air. We couldn't spray the fire with water, but we could smother it with dirt. We grab a shovel, but digging is tough when the ground is frozen. I don't remember who figured it out, but we realized that the pole barn was full of dry, not frozen dirt. So we started filling 5 gallon buckets and tossing dirt on the fire.

Putting the fire out was tricky because each time we took the plywood away from the door to throw a bucket of dirt on the fire, a burst of fresh air would rush into the tank causing a flare up. Not to mention the smoke and heat. It seemed like forever, but it was probably only 10 minutes of shoveling and dirt throwing before we had it under control. Somewhere in the midst of all this, Mom came down to yell at us for ignoring her calls to come in for lunch, which was also around the same time the fire truck to showed up. Someone had seen the black smoke coming from near the pole barn and called it in.

Thankfully nobody and nothing was hurt, and if there is a sliver lining to the project its that most of the paint burned off the tank in the process, which saved us a ton time and prep work when it came time to repaint it so it looked nice in the pasture.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Tom just checking in, you've been over a month without an update!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Tom just checking in, you've been over a month without an update!

Hey all!

I'm still alive and things are going fairly well. I have a lot to update, stay tuned and I'll get you guys up to speed ASAP.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Howdy boys and girls, it's been a minute!

Lots of things have happened so far this year, and it's only February!

I didn't mention it much, but the job I was working when I started GJ was making me really unhappy. I spent months trying to improve the situation and make things better, but ultimately my immediate supervisor decided that I wasn't the right fit for the company. So, I lost my job on January 4th.

That was a bit of a blow to be honest, even though I saw it coming and was prepared to leave. I had been so successful in my previous position and felt so much like I knew what I was doing. I switched for the opportunity and bigger paycheck, but ended up in a much worse environment doing a job I didn't particularly like. I ended up seriously butting heads with my manager, whose leadership style and lack of training structure didn't work for me. As such, the notice of termination was both a pain and a relief.

The good news is that I had been diligently putting money away for emergencies, we had more than enough saved in our general savings, and my wife had just gotten done with the busiest month of her year (she's a commission-paid manager at a local jewelry store), so we had a healthy cushion of extra cash coming in. To be honest, while such an event is never ideal, this one happened at the best possible time.

I continued my job search, which I started before the dismissal, and used the extra time to make some more progress on Sandy.



I pulled the front fenders and worked on getting the body shell cleaned up. A few days of sitting outside had built a bit of rust, so I used a wire wheel and cleaned it sufficiently before starting work on the fenders. Luckily, Montana is dry enough that left like this indoors, the metal will remain clean indefinitely.



First up on the fenders, I used a wire wheel and the Metal Rescue gel to take care of any corrosion big or small. I left the gel on for about 10 days before cleaning it off with some solvent and a wire wheel. I scuffed the inside with red ScotchBrite and laid down a coat of self-etching primer, followed by normal primer and four coats of flat black. The inside of each fender cleaned up really nicely, and was a much-needed morale boost on this project that has been languishing in the doldrums for months.



During this and my ever-widening job search, we got a call from the furniture store notifying us that the furniture we purchased in September, when we bought the house, was finally ready for delivery. Only took 20 weeks!

With only three days' notice, I decided to paint our bedroom. We were getting a new bed frame, and I knew that if we didn't make the effort now, it would be months or even years before we did. So it was time to get it done. The previous owners had painted it this beige monstrosity, even going as far as failing to match the color on the trim and painting the ceiling a dastardly color. It was hideous.



A day with some paint supplies fixed that up right quick.



I'm a fan of gray. It's modern, clean, calming, and it goes with everything. This is Sherwin Williams' "Stoney Isle". I love it next to their pure white color. Once the new bed frame showed up, I knew we made the right call. What a difference!



The rest of the furniture made a huge impact too. Our new chair and couch really make the living room feel special and classy.





With these changes in place, I got bit hard by the itch to make further changes, improvements, and updates to our house. I was a man with skills and money with nothing but time to kill. That, my friends, is a dangerous combination...

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Unfortunate news about the job, but sounds like in the long run you'll be better off! A toxic work environment is definitely bad for you as a whole!

 

[jbrentd]

Nice job on the home improvements! And good luck with the job search.

 

[gearhead1960]

Truck, yeah! Sandy is getting attention...did you scratch her back too.... Sorry to hear about the job....things always work out for the better. Look forward to more progress around the house....

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Unfortunate news about the job, but sounds like in the long run you'll be better off! A toxic work environment is definitely bad for you as a whole!

The story already has a happy ending, but I'm getting to that. I'll be honest, it sucked to be fired but it was better than staying there. Not a good environment for me. The time off allowed me to get to some things I've been wanting to, and reconnect with my wife and kids. I got my physical fitness back on track too. It was a net positive.

Nice job on the home improvements! And good luck with the job search.

Thanks Brent! More to come!

Truck, yeah! Sandy is getting attention...did you scratch her back too.... Sorry to hear about the job....things always work out for the better. Look forward to more progress around the house....

Thank you Mark, I appreciate it. I never knew I'd get such support from the GJ crew.

Ha! Sandy is indeed getting some work done, it's just never as quickly as I'd like. We're making some real progress though. More to come on the house.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Now, where were we?

Oh, right! House projects.

After getting the bedroom set up, I decided to make a small update to the kitchen to add more storage and a little more character. I wanted to set up a coffee station on an otherwise unused 5-foot wall. As there is electrical and HVAC running through the wall, I don't see us removing it any time soon, so why not make use of it? The coffee station will be comprised of a small cabinet/sideboard and a couple of shelves to hold our paraphernalia. I spent two years in college as a barista and have a love affair with coffee, so I have several brewing methods available in my kitchen.

Step one? Build some frickin' shelves.

The previous owners of the house left behind some hardwood in the shop, I'm not sure what flavor. It happened to be 2x8 and 48" long, so it was exactly the right size for what I was trying to do. My original plan was to make floating shelves by boring holes through the narrow edge before doing a rip cut to remove a small strip. Then I planned to glue dowels to the strip and finish the pieces, which I could then secure to the wall. The longer pieces of shelf would then be tapped onto the dowels, thus creating a floating shelf.

This idea was abandoned quickly when I realized the wood was a bit more brittle and cracked than I expected. It also had a slight warp that would be obvious if I went this route. As a compromise, I opted to go with iron pipe brackets. I really like iron pipe as a building medium as it suits my industrial aesthetic tastes well and is very easy to work with. It's also incredibly stout when done properly, though it's heavy. Home Depot had some iron pipe brackets available that day, so I picked them up and got to work on the wood.





Using the tracksaw, which is quickly becoming my favorite power tool, I squared off the ends and cut the piece in half. I then sanded it smooth and applied my favorite stain. With this drying, I turned my attention to the brackets and the wall in the kitchen.

Luckily the studs were in the perfect position to tie into, so I was able to get the brackets on the wall without using any drywall anchors. I did fill the empty flange holes with screws to make it look right, but they are directly into the drywall. After that, I got the shelves on and stocked. I also put up one of those marquee signs with the changeable letters, but I haven't managed to find where we've squirreled the letters away.





I'm really happy with the end result here, it's just the look I was going for and helps to declutter my cabinets. Mission accomplished. I bult some frickin' shelves.

I spent about a week up north visiting my parents outside of Missoula with my boys. It was really nice to get away and clear my head of the past couple of months. I just relaxed and hung out with mom, dad, and the kids. We played in the snow a little, read some books, finished my oldest's potty training (FINALLY!), and helped my dad with some of his projects. During this time, I landed my second interview with Allstate for a property claims adjuster position. I nailed the interview and was recommended for another round, which I actually performed out in my shop so as to have a clean background wall and no child noise. The following week, I got a call from Allstate offering me a job. It was a small pay bump over the previous position I had at the bank, it offered better benefits, and had more PTO. The big difference is it's a fully remote position, meaning work from home. I accepted the position with a start date of 2/14.

A previous company I worked for went remote during the beginning of the pandemic, so I had some familiarity with working remotely. The experience then was not great, largely due to the lack of a dedicated office space. I got distracted easily and felt useless going to work in my bedroom everyday. I talked it over with Beret, and we both decided our number one priority was getting an office set up for me. We have the space, and I had a few weeks of no work, so it was time to get going.

I shopped for and located a desk from Office Depot, which was my first priority. Doing office work at a kitchen table or small side table is absolutely miserable, so I wanted some space to spread out without completely taking over the room. Unfortunately Office Depot didn't have it available in Billings, so it had to be shipped, but I wasn't in a hurry so long as it showed up on time.

Then we had to paint, for obvious reasons...



Whoever picked this color and painted this room deserves a good thrashing. It's a really nasty color choice for an entire room, and the paint lines around the baseboards and ceiling were egregious. A coat of Stoney Isle gray and my wife's steady hands solved that problem quickly, but as I stood in the room it felt sterile and uninviting. I opted to do an accent wall on the south side of the room in a dark blue. The same blue, in fact, that I used on my garage pegboard cabinet and will use on my kitchen cabinets.



Add a little decor and it looks even more inviting.



You eagle-eyed readers will note the Harbor Freight service cart from my shop being used as an accent table. Funny story about that...

Before I bought this service cart, I ordered a three-tiered model from HF, but it was backordered and they didn't know when it would be available again, so I wasn't charged. I went down to my local HF and picked this one up instead. I had originally planned to buy or build a small side table for this spot in the office to go with the chair, and I didn't want to use iron pipe as I didn't want to overdo it in this room (foreshadowing). Well, during my unemployment two large packages showed up. They were two Harbor Freight three-tiered service carts! I had only ever ordered one, and was only ever charged for one that got shipped, so I took one back to the store and returned it. Bringing me back to a much more reasonable total of two service carts, one of which was free. The three-tiered version is more heavy duty and more useful with that third shelf, and the flimsier one already has the wooden top. So why not use the tougher one in the garage and the prettier one in the house?

Yeah, that was my thought too.

I put the chair there as a place for my wife to hang out and knit or read books with the kids or any number of things. I just wanted some sitting space for her. This room was originally supposed to be a craft room with a small desk for me, but since it was co-opted as office space, I wanted her to feel like it was also a sort of craft area for her. Her yarn, knitting needles, sewing machine, and various other wifely things will all have an easily-accessible home here.

Next up was more shelving. I wanted some shelves above my desk for storage and display, so it was time for more iron pipe! This time I was able to get these shelves on the wall with drywall anchors, four per bracket. That actually works out to be pretty strong as it turns out. Install was easy with a level and a tape measure. Then I made the actual shelves with an 8-foot 1x8, a track saw, and some stain. Love the final look.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Whoops, double post.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

As I was completing this job and starting to hang some pictures on the wall, my desk turned up and I hauled it into the office. The box looked like it had been through a war zone, but nothing was missing and everything was in good shape. I waited for my wife to get home because one of her favorite activities is assembling flat-pack furniture. She's a pro at it.



The desk went together fairly smoothly, though I did have to drill out one mounting hole to get everything joined together properly. My oldest son was a big help in grabbing tools and hardware. Going to have to teach him wrench sizes soon!





Did I mention I really like the industrial aesthetic? If the shelves, cart, and desk weren't enough, here's some more proof.

More shelving had arrived. I decided that the wall opposite my desk needed some shelves to house my personal bric-a-brac, some books, my wife's craft/knitting stuff, and various other things. But these aren't any ordinary shelves. They're...

IRON PIPE!

I know, I know, my affinity for this material is bordering on insanity. But bear with me a moment, because the result is really cool.

These shelves are a bit different as they're wall-mounted. I started by marking out every other stud along the wall before doing a test fit of the piping. As the flanges are wider than studs, I marked where the flange holes would not meet a stud, then predrilled and put in drywall anchors to ensure as much strength as I could get.





I painted over some scuffs and dings from dry-fitting the pipes to the wall, and got the ceiling flanges installed.



Once the paint was dry, it was time for the final assembly. Each bracket has six flanges. Each flange has four mounting holes, making for a total of 24 mounting holes per bracket. Multiply that by three brackets, and you can see why I spent a good couple of hours lining everything up and drilling holes. Because I had to do 72 mounting holes. Only 30 of them were into studs. The other 42 required installing drywall anchors. Then I had to assemble the shelves, on the wall, one chunk at a time, and drive 72 screws.

You know, I once wondered why I rarely saw these in people's houses. Now I know.

It took me a while, but I got the piping on the wall, and man is it ever sturdy. I could easily do pull-ups from any one of these. They look cool too, but the full effect is missing without actual shelves.



Let's fix that problem, shall we?

I ran to Lowe's and picked up five 1" x 12" x 6' project panels. They're supposedly "paint grade", which means not pretty enough to stain, but I'm going for industrial, rustic baby! There's no reason not to use sort of ugly wood. Once again the track saw came out. I ripped the panels down to the appropriate width before crosscutting them to 65", sanding, and staining.





I let these dry for a few hours before bringing them in and hanging them on the wall, and look at the result! This is exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. Tons of storage space too. I'm so very pleased with how these turned out. I do have another little storage idea for underneath these, as there is something like 30" of space under the shelves, but we'll see how that works out. There are some imperfections here and there, but the overall look turned out awesome in my opinion. Now I have plenty of room for my stuff, the kids' stuff, and my wife's stuff.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Shelves look pretty cool!

 

[wreckdiver1321]

Shelves look pretty cool!

Thanks! They worked out super well, so even though they were a pain I'd do it again. I'm not even $200 into them I think either.