Scott NC

I was studying epicureanism but it's just not for me. Stoicky sounds like something Curly Stooge would say.....

I was joking more about my get up and go. It got up and went. Actually, I took your advise from a conversation we had a while ago and have a functioning lashed together mini shop. It looks kind of like a hobo shack camp you would find alongside the tracks but is serving nicely for the time being. My neighbors like what I do, which was a big concern. I made them a few small gifts. I failed to update you, too busy talking about tater tots, I guess.... . Yes, looking back can be detrimental at times.

Yes, Marv had some good stuff as well, can't go wrong with a rubber mallet.....

All great points, I will keep in mind. I have a journal for everything else, I might start one for keeping track of what I have invested in a project. I never know. Ahhh.... There's the rub.....

I would feel right comfortable in there. I like organization but it doesn't last long. Besides I don't feel too energized or creative in a spotless, austere shop...

That is huge. I'd like to visit it. Not comparing, but just a memory, as a kid when I first started buying tools, there was a place called "Marv's Bargain Barn", a quonset hut filled with pure junk surplus and tools. I remember to this day buying a wooden handled screwdriver set. They just pressed the driver shaft into a round hole, no glue, ferrule or anything. The handle just turned on the shaft. I tried glueing them but it wouldn't hold so I used a vicegrips on the shaft and the blades bent and the phillips heads sheared off.

My first instinct was to blindly reply, but I'm going to give this some thought......

Thanks Aric. I've made chairs, tables and a bench. They turn out incredibly heavey so I am thinking of trying tubing and tig weld them. This summer they are blocking off a street here for craft fairs so if I can get a couple made I will try selling them. I need to finish a roller I am working on first in order to make them. Excuses, excuses....

Good plan b.

I think you missed my point.... Do we ever lose the stoic manliness instict, young or old, no matter how useless it is at times.

Is that something that is supposed to go away?

I found a few photos from my old shop on a computer disc. You can kind of see one my welding bench's in one, to the right, barely make out another work table under the debris piled on it. I had a passion for making and designing them. I take photos of "everything" now....

Thanks, Randy. It looks good. Grandpa's soldering iron worked well.

What size gate? Will he have to drive a tractor through it? If he is more bizarre than you, I would make it out of rebar for the texture first, or whatever you have on hand for economy. Add some hairy spiders with fangs dripping venom. You could put some flies caught in the web, waiting for their doom. Don't hold back. If it get's too heavey you can put wheels under it it to support the weight. I've used pipe for hinges on heavey ones. Maybe put an arched top on it like that walk through gate, 3rd picture down.

I had a dentist poke me in the nose with a needle once. I wasn't embarrassed but she sure was.

Thanks Jerry. Lol, a built in whoopee cushion would be perfect! I have no idea how to depict a "fart vapor cloud" in a mosaic, but it might be fun to try....

Yesterday I installed an electric fence around my sisters garden to keep deer and smaller critters out. She wisely warned me to let her know before I hooked it up to the battery and 5 minutes later I forgot and made the connection and heard high pitch "yeowch" and some other words. There are other emotions that accompany embarrassment, like fear of her with a hoe in her hand and I must admit a little humour.... Earlier we were all joking about who would "test" it. Before I left I did make her a little "tester" from a small plastic post with a piece of wire wrapped around the end and two prongs sticking out to hold against the wire and close to a fence post. You can see the arc and hear the snapping noise.

Thank you. Yes, Anvil, I used to combine tile mosaics into some of my metal projects.

Shoot, I wouldn't bother Anvil, I can see it in my minds eye, now.

Heres the dumb question of the day... Did you use al rivits on that? I can't tell from the photo. Or spot weld it. I have never welded aluminum. Looks good and serves it's purpose.

Embarrassing things are worse when they involve heavey tools or machinery, like tractors.

Nice set up you have there. I bet it can take a heavey cut.

Here is a small chair I made for a likable grouch I once knew.

Those are nice IMHO. They could be Viking bottle openers. . I think longships had similar figureheads.

I was just thinking of motion activated stop sticks or tire shredders that recognize you own vehicle and dont deploy.