What did you do today

[twisted lines]

I like that fence, I need one like.
My dog exercises the neighbors Shepard all day long!

Talking about Schleps, I drove a few hundred miles and took this picture for someone, I owe dearly;
just wanted me to weld a gate on the post he (had a lad) set 6" poles at 16' 9"
I couldn't find a tape measure; took a 100' old leather wrapped one.
Couldn't figure how to measure or where glad that's the only tool I took.
Sent a picture of the entry way to him.
I asked a lot of question about how they were set, I believe he was fluffed and I Haven't heard back.
They were both standing straight up in the picture he sent me.

[Staryder61]

I started with the small PA gate out front. Stained the timber, screwed it into the frame and hung the gate.
I'm thinking it looks OK.

PA Gate.JPG

up you on the thinking it looks good..
over the years mick, looks like you have the same problem there we have here. People just don't stay with things.
Over the years, I've had to finish several different things that were hired out to do. I don't get it?

[Staryder61]

I traded for an older truck several days ago.. had a flat on Sunday, no problem , my son came by with a plug kit and fixed the flat. for family.
Fast forward to today, went to go to town, noticed that tire was a little low. No biggy, will hit a tire shop in town, have it checked, and if need be, a boot patch put on the inside where the plug is.

Stopped at Tire D******t, they wouldn't even pop the tire off to check it, and wouldn't put air in it so I could get on down the road. Was told the plug had already, compromised the tire. But would be happy to check prices for me to buy another tire.

So we called a family owned auto shop, 7 miles down the road (luckily we had enough air in tire to get there). They said to bring it on by and park in front of the 3rd bay. The man was waiting on us when we arrived. Popped that tire off and then told me it had another screw and a nail in it that my son hadn't seen. He patched the holes with boot patches inside.
While he was fixing the tire, I went inside to the office. Talked with the shop manager type person.
Will be taking truck back to them when the 2 new tires arrive this week to have them mounted.. for the mom and pops shops and businesses. Support them when you can and forget about the big chain companies .
The chain store lost a customer, by being rude and inconsiderate. And I spent over $400.00 for two new tires at a place that needed my business..

[MickinOz]

I started with the small PA gate out front. Stained the timber, screwed it into the frame and hung the gate.
I'm thinking it looks OK.

PA Gate.JPG

up you on the thinking it looks good..
over the years mick, looks like you have the same problem there we have here. People just don't stay with things.
Over the years, I've had to finish several different things that were hired out to do. I don't get it?

I may posted about this before, or maybe over at pizzamaking.com, but the issue in my hometown the massive, massive drug and alcohol problem. This is an Aussie problem in general, but it's really bad in my town.
No BS, until I joined tnttt.com and pizzamaking.com I really had no idea that there were so many Westerners who were tee-total or only very occasional drinkers.
It probably is unremarkable to a lot of people, but its quite striking to me as an Aussie how many photos of people at TD gatherings do not have any bottles visible in the photos.
About the only thing that limits many an Aussie's drinking and drugging is how much he can afford.
The builder who started my son's fence is a heavy drinker. He did a deal with my son - x dollars per day to build the fence, plus materials, and initial progress and workmanship was impressive.
Then the no-shows started.
There would be a bit of back and forth, the guy would come do a day or two of work that became increasingly substandard, then wouldn't see him again for weeks.
It got really bad. For example: the last two lengths of expensive hi-rib Colourbond iron to go on, the guy left his laser level home, and it was such a windy day that his string line was useless. So the last 10m of fence is so crooked it looks like it was put up by a drunk. It's on the list of jobs - take the sheets off and rehang at the right level.
The frustrating bit is that it is a very small town of about 17,000 people. The drive home to go and get the laser level would have been long enough to cover one of his myriad cigarette breaks, if that.
So my son's girlfriend advertised on a local FB page for a builder to finish the job. This bloke only had the nerve to post a laugh about it.
In the end, my son asked if I wanted to make a few bucks helping him out. Being retired and the money markets being very volatile at present I said yes.
I'm keeping a time sheet, and deducting breaks.
He reckons that little personal access gate would have cost twice as much paying the other guy.
Anyway, as much as the physical labour is reminding me I'm 61, not 16, I'm making progress.
My son turned up as I was washing the brush out last night and we were talking about the whole drug and alcohol problem.
He said just about every younger tradesman he knows who is operating as a sole trader, what you might call a contractor, is a massive druggy or piss-head (pardon the language but that is Aussie for very heavy drinker).
One guy goes through about $400 worth of premixed Jack Daniels and Coke every weekend.
I asked why he thought that was. He said they make big money during the week and quite a few spend big with no thought for the future. It's crazy.
Anyway, sorry about the long post, but that's why ya can't get nothin' done in my town.

[MickinOz]

I like that fence, I need one like.
My dog exercises the neighbors Shepard all day long!

Talking about Schleps, I drove a few hundred miles and took this picture for someone, I owe dearly;
just wanted me to weld a gate on the post he (had a lad) set 6" poles at 16' 9"
I couldn't find a tape measure; took a 100' old leather wrapped one.
Couldn't figure how to measure or where glad that's the only tool I took.
Sent a picture of the entry way to him.
I asked a lot of question about how they were set, I believe he was fluffed and I Haven't heard back.
They were both standing straight up in the picture he sent me.

One of the crazy things that happens here is the way people put in posts like that.
Everyone wants instant results, so your conventional gravel, sand, cement mixed in a barrow or mixer has gone out the window for contractors putting up one or two posts.
For two posts, they turn up with bags of Rapid Set.
With rapid set, the amount of water is critical. Too little = incomplete set. Too much = very weak.
Even worse, you are supposed to pour half the bag in the hole, add the measured water, tamp, then add the rest of the bag.
The number of people who obviously cannot read the instructions just slays me. They'll still mix it in a barrow and just add water until it "looks right".
My son once called me up to ask about it, because he often finds himself installing stand alone meter boxes at the front of acreage properties, where they are exposed to our local winds. He was concerned about strength and knew I'd made a study on the different concretes.
Pleased he took my advice to stick slavishly to the instructions and measure the water carefully. His switchboards don't fall over, unlike those posts in your photo.

[Staryder61]

mick, you mean to say "There's instructions on the concrete bag"? I haven't seen anyone read those for years here..
Here they position the post, dump in the contents of the bag, add water, mix it with a rock busting rod a few times and go to the next hole..
eye ball it with something they think is plumb. And that's not done with a drinking problem..
Hate to see it, if you added drinking to it too..

It's all a problem here too.. had a cabinet shop years ago. ran an add for workers. Couple people showed up, were very possible prospects. One showed up for an interview. I was outside the shop when he drove up. He got out of the truck drinking a beer. REALLY?? He was upset because I wasted his time and sent him on his way.

[Tom&Shelly]

for the mom and pops shops and businesses. Support them when you can and forget about the big chain companies .

+2 from us! I often joke about our local garage knowing us so well because we've owned a few Jeeps, and it's true, but they are great mechanics and always looking to give us the best deals possible.

When I first moved here, the owner even let me use his fax to send a fine print legal document needed to sell my condo back in LA. Bet the big chains have rules about that.

Reminds me: We want them to look over our teardrop before starting our Spring trips.

Tom

[Staryder61]

for the mom and pops shops and businesses. Support them when you can and forget about the big chain companies .

+2 from us! I often joke about our local garage knowing us so well because we've owned a few Jeeps, and it's true, but they are great mechanics and always looking to give us the best deals possible.

Tom

For sure Tom, this little shop will get to know us more now. The guy inside looked up the tires we needed for the truck. Worked up the price, then said, "Well they only have one of those tires in stock, so we'll just bump you up to the next best tire for the same price as the other pair".
Now that kind of commitment gets my attention and business..

[rjgimp]

I often joke about our local garage knowing us so well because we've owned a few Jeeps..

Tom

J-ust
E-mpty
E-very
P-ocket

[Staryder61]

I often joke about our local garage knowing us so well because we've owned a few Jeeps..

Tom

J-ust
E-mpty
E-very
P-ocket

Rob, that's almost as bad as owning a

B-reak
O-ut
A-nother
T-housand

[bdosborn]

As I am learning the hard way:

V-arious
A-ccounts
N-uked!


Bruce

[Staryder61]

Bruce

[Staryder61]

Momma always said it was "Boys and their Toys"

[bdosborn]

Momma always said it was "Boys and their Toys"

Yup.
Bruce

[Tom&Shelly]

Today I finished extending the 20 amp circuit in our workshop



Back when the cabin was built, I asked the electrician to give me a 120 volt 20 amp circuit and also a 240 volt 50 amp circuit in the garage. But neither of us could think of a good place to terminate them at the time so he simply added the outlets below the main breaker box. I finally bought an RV extension cord to take the 240 volt circuit up to an electric heater on the ceiling. A few days ago, I added an extender box to the 20 amp 120 vac circuit and ran a conduit up to the ceiling and around, then along the shop wall/ceiling.

Flexible PVC conduit is easy to work with, but a bit pricey, and if you don't put clips every few feet it hangs down like a gray garden hose. Not the neatest installation, but it's just the shop. I used the same type of conduit I'd used earlier for the lights, except that the first time I'd ordered the stuff direct from Home Depot for home delivery and received all Southwire brand parts. This time I drove into Albuquerque and found they have different brands at our local Home Depot. Meant the cable is a slightly different shade of gray. Also found the Carlton connectors aren't quite as nice as Southwire. Did the job though.

I added a GFCI 20 amp outlet at the extender box, then put in 20 amp outlets for the table saw, band saw, mitre saw, drill press, and ran a line to the middle of the ceiling over one end of our layout table, for an extension cord so we can plug in hand saws, sanders, etc. Also added an extra outlet in case we buy another high current draw tool of some sort. Of course, in a home shop we won't be operating more than one or two tools simultaneously.



We also moved Shelly's workbench from one end of the shop to the other. Now it's opposite our wood rack



I'd wanted to build a mitre saw station there but realized it would be too deep and would interfere with getting wood out of the rack. With this move, Shelly will also be next to the future mobile sanding station, which will hold the belt/disk sander, and a small Shopfox bench drill press which has a feature to convert it into a spindle sander. The sanding station will have a shop vac built in, but will also be on wheels to roll out the garage door on nice days.

Once Shelly's workbench was out of its original corner, I added the last outlet of the 20 amp circuit and moved the floor standing drill press in



Then the corner where the drill press was will become the miter saw station



Clearly, we'll have to design that station so the air compressor and metal cutting band saw will stow underneath.

another future shop project will be a battery operated tool station



But the weather is beginning to improve to the point where we'll have to leave the shop as is until next Fall and start getting the teardrop in shape for the year's camping activities!

Tom