Bunk Bed Bliss

The kids have been begging to set up the bunk bed
ever since they found out I got one.  

Many weeks ago, a friend at work was kind enough to give me his home-made bunk bed that his two boys had grown up with.  I had it stored in the barn until this weekend when we decided to put it up.  It was quite a challenge, but after two days, it is finally all constructed.

Here's the final product as of late Sunday night.

There was only one injury, and that was when #3 Kiddo stumbled into an edge on the lower rail.  His temple really poofed up and looked kind of gruesome.  That stumble occurred Saturday morning, so it's a bit black and blue as of today.

To end, I'd like to give a  big thank you to my friend for his wonderful gift of this stout bunk bed.  We sure appreciate it!

Another Wood Project

This is the last piece of walnut I have from my friend.  

After too much thought and design work, I finally 

milled out this piece.  

It holds all my 1/4" drive socket set pieces....

- Ratchet

- Extension

- Universal Joint

- Metric and English sockets.

  It turned out pretty nicely.  

My new favorite finishing agent is Tung Oil.

Driveshaft Adaptor

This is a post for a friend curious as to how I hooked up my new lawnmower engine to the existing drive shaft, and the related machining steps.

Step 1:

We start with a piece of iron given to me by Dad. 

I think this is a piece of steel scrap from a tandem anhydrous ammonia tank setup that failed.

Step 2:

Deck off the top for a known flat surface.  Also drill 4 holes with appropriate spacing for the existing driveshaft.

Step 3:

Bolt it down to the rotary table.

Step 4: 

Rough out the outside diameter.

Step 5:

Outside diameter finished

Step 6:

Cut a shallow relief for the backside protrusion on the existing driveshaft hub.

Step 7:

Drill and countersink the 4 holes that will connect to the hub on the new engine.

Step 8:

Here's the finished piece front and back

And this is how it all bolted together in sequence:

A:  Engine with keyed stub shaft 

B:  Install hub

C:  Install the adaptor

D:  Install the old drive shaft

Scrap Wood

I had some scrap wood leftover from the "tool tote" project below.  I hate to just throw out a nice chunk of walnut wood, so I thought up this little accessory.

My better half is always placing her earrings and jewels on the little half-wall of the bathroom.  I fear one of the kids will yank her jewels over the edge and lose them forever.  This is the problem:

And this is my solution (at least I hope it solves the problem):

My walnut wood scrap turned into a little organizing dish.  

Notice the little edges that fit nicely over the edges of the half wall.