Barn Improvements

I have been busy in the barn making work benches and shelves over the last couple of weeks / months.  

It all started with Uncle Jerry's awesome drill press.  The old Atlas drill press needed a permanent location in the shop, and moving it around from place to place by hand was getting a bit crazy.  So I made a smaller work bench specifically for:

1.  Drill press

2.  Band saw

3.  Belt sander

The fourth corner is unpopulated for now, but I can see another old power tool sitting there someday.

And more recently, I've been wanting to play some ping pong with my 14 year old daughter.  The ping pong table in the barn is awesome, but it has also served as a "catch all" over the last year or so.  I made some shelves to house all that junk.

Since we're redoing the garage, I removed all the corner shelves from the garage.  It looks really nice to not have any junk sitting in the corners of the garage, so this new shelf system will also support former garage items like car-care chemicals, gardening tools, and seasonal things.

(Tangent:  How many American garages have 2 cars plus no extra junk in them?)

I also mounted my new planer in a better fashion to be able to use it easier / quicker.  The planer bed is at the same height as my chop saw and work bench, so I can plane down long items and nothing gets in the way.  Likewise, I can put long boards on the chop saw, and use the bed of the planer to support.  

Another project I did a few weeks ago was to make this tool-tote.  I fashioned it after a friend's toolbox from work.  His is much older and has more dents and dings, hence, a lot more character.  He told me all the old ladies at work ask him if they can have it to serve as a planter for flowers.  

Thus, this is my "Old Lady Tool Tote":

The Wabash Heritage Trail

This past weekend, we hiked a section of the Wabash Heritage Trail.  This trail is about 13 miles long, but we hiked just a section - 3.2 miles approximately.

At the north, it starts in Battleground, specifically at the Tippecanoe Battlefield Memorial. 

Our section of hike followed Burnett Creek.  Lots of big trees lined the waterway.

We went under I-65.

And we had some rests along the way.

It was a perfect evening of weather.  Even though it was humid, it wasn't overly hot.  The sun in the evening made for nice splotches of focus.

We crossed the Wabash River on an old bridge.  

Lots of stories and water pass through this way.

We made it to the end of our hike and were happy to be finish.  The boys, who had complained all day long about the upcoming hike, enjoyed it very much.  Give a boy a stick and he will be happy to do anything.

I hope we can continue our section hike and see the whole trail.

John Deere Fender Pan Cracks

My old 420 has been creaking and cracking more and more lately.  One common problem of these old machines is the fender pan likes to crack where the seat springs mount.  I had an extra bad case, and it's only been getting worse as the years roll by.

This past weekend, one of my seat springs bit the dust and cracked right in half.  So, it was a good time to take off the whole fender pan, and attempt a repair.  I'm sure this cracked fender aided in the break of the seat spring.

Here's the entire fender pan removed, and on the welding bench:

The cracks propagate all over the place

I cleaned up the cracks with a wire wheel on both sides.  

It took about an hour of TIG welding time to stitch it all together.  It sure isn't pretty, but it's much better than what it was.  I'll call this "farm grade" welding.

I didn't get any more pictures after this, but I primed and painted the welded area, and put it all back together.  Sitting in the seat, I can tell right away it is much more rigid than what it was before.  

The Pandemic Mohawk

What better time to chop a Mohawk onto a kid than during a pandemic.  This is my first foray into cutting crazy hair, and I think I did pretty good!

Here's some before pictures:  

He's been overdue for a haircut for a loooong time!

Some pictures during the big chop:

And the final product.

After a bath, I think I need to revise this haircut.  We'll see how things go.

Things Isaac Loves

Kiddo #3 made some cool art for his class, and I wanted to capture it for all time.  So, another video had to be made:

Things Isaac Loves

Trebuchet Demonstration

Catching up on some old news:  Kiddo #1 shows off her trebuchet from last year's science fair.  This is a long overdue video.

The Trebuchet Demonstration

April Beginnings

We're making the best of the COVID-19 quarantine at home.  Grass is greening up nicely due to the few sunny days we have had.  Rain has not been a problem.  At this rate, I'll be mowing in a week.

And with all this nice weather, what is a daughter to do?  

Why, of course, this idea comes to mind...

Tuba in a Tree