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Not so much a hobby, something that has to be done by the homeowner to keep costs down.

Been recycling red oak boards from an old barn that collapsed on my place a couple of years back. The oak boards are over 60 years old, one inch thick by 10 inches wide. I'll put them through the planer thicknesser to make them uniform thickness, some will end up as face frames for cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms. I also have a workbench to build for my shop, found some "real" 4X6's that when sized, will make up the rails for the bench, it will have oak boards as it's top/worksurface.

Looks like there could be some bookcases out of this lot too!! I have one wall that is about 12 feet long X eight foot high that will be a long bookcase to the ceiling. Yep, I have the books to fill it too!!

I'd like to design and build a DVD wall mounted frame for our over 300 and growing DVD collection, should be enough oak left for that too!

I do have a well equipped shop, 16 speed pedestal drill, shaping machine, wood lathe, jointer, radial arm saw, table saw, band saw, full tool set of power tools including routers. Be nice to get my shop back as a workshop and not a furniture storage shed!!!

When I do, I want to get my sign carving machine set up, who knows??? might get some business making signs for folks.

So watch out Mick, this is what retirement is all about........ WORK!!!!

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This lunch time I sliced a loaf on a bread board that I made 65 years ago. I was 13 years old at the time and at Berridge. I turned that bread board on a lathe and the piece of 'deal' was scrap from t

Mr Wren outside the old nesting box,he has some nest building material in his beak     Rog

It seems our little feathered friend are looking to join the housing market so to give them a helping hand or should that be wing I built these for them out of some scraps of wood that was knocking ab

I do like a nice peice of wood John.

And the smell of it being cut with a circular saw

I have some floor boards to replace when I get a chance. When I bought this house, I replaced

the ground floor total. The house flooded in the big flood of the 40s, It was 3 feet up the walls

and the rot had been there til 96 when we moved in.

The kitchen floor was filled with hardcore which had retained water all those years, feeding the wet rot,

which spreads across the floor like tendrills.

Totaly removed a couple of tons of hardcore and all the wood rot that had fallen on to the concrete base.

Its bone dry now. Also added a couple more air bricks. Big job but I got the house cheap because no one

would take it on. I recon todays value has increased by £100-120k on what I paid.

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Well if your retiring over here, chances are the house you get will be all wood. Florida has very strict codes due to the hurricanes. Everything has to be tied together.

I just wished we had a Home Depot within easy distance to me, or even a Lowes!!

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I like wood too, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, it doesn't need a lot of work though.................slywink

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  • 3 years later...

I grew up with all that. My Dad was a joiner and built furniture for folk on the side so he could afford to take us on holiday. I quite often found sections drying after gluing in the outside lav.

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Many, many hours of work went into that cabinet Kath, I can only imagine the cost of such a thing if it was made today.

In Fine Woodworking Magazine, there are always a couple of pages devoted to craftsmen and women's handiwork. Most are made traditionally with hand tools, and are works of art.

In the latest edition of American Woodworker magazine, is an article about an American craftsman who will restore old houses, right down to very old dolls houses, his workshop is stacked with wood planes, hand saws and other old hand tools he still uses. He works with both power tools and hand tools, also takes wood shop courses and writes books on the subject.

There are many highly talented woodworkers in the US, both women and men, many self taught, who's work is sort after.

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It seems our little feathered friend are looking to join the housing market so to give them a helping hand or should that be wing I built these for them out of some scraps of wood that was knocking about in my old shed so a few galvanised nails to prevent rusting and a few pieces of old plastic conveyor belting and here we are,just got to find somewhere to put em now,if I haven't got space in my garden I will have a nip out on me trike and just nail em up on some trees or bushes down the local lanes.

P1050496_zpsvz5vmhhw.jpg

P1050497_zpsul87bzam.jpg

 

Rog

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Love your little houses Rog, great design and very professional looking; fingers crossed the birds will discover them this year. You have a great idea taking them out into the country and down the lanes, we have seen this done in quite a few areas on Cannock Chase, a proper bird watching haven. I hope you can remember which trees you nail them too, so you can check for occupants.:)

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I think you are a man of many talents, Rog!   Cooking, bike maintenance and repair, bird-box construction.....  what else can you do?

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Correct, a 32mm hole for the blue tits,I have a couple of them in the Lilac bushes at the end of my garden,these are 38mm holes for the sparrows (hopefully)sociable little chaps they are so could put a couple together and the others down the lanes,in the old box I put up a few years ago already has a wren interested as it did last year but as we all know Mr wren will build a few nests in different areas and let his potential Mrs choose her favourite (women eh?) I have a picture of Mr wren at the box from the other year I will try and find it and post on here,Thanks for the comments Carni, a few years ago I made loads of the boxes out of recycled pallets from work,I put an advert in the local rag, "Free Bird nesting boxes",people were coming from surrounding villages,even the local school had three,and the amount of people who called me later that year to let me know about their new little residents that had moved in,what a great feeling that was

 

Rog

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Just like to keep busy, but will have a go at most things,you know what they say about a man of many talents,master of ,,,,, well you know

 

Rog

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Mr Wren outside the old nesting box,he has some nest building material in his beak

 

woodhall%20show%2012%20004_zpsnlvwnrxf.j

 

Rog

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#13/19

 

 Very nice little abodes, Rog! Last year, I had troglodytes troglodytes nesting in the huge trachycarpus outside my kitchen window. Spent hours watching the parents feeding babies! 

 

Love to encourage wildlife. People are an entirely different matter!:wacko:

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We've got a wren busily building 2 nests it seems.  One about 5 ft up an ivy-clad cherry tree trunk and the other over a security light under the eaves. We had wrens with babies 2 or 3 years ago in the same ivy but the local cats killed them, really upset us.  We have lots of different birds in the garden which unfortunately makes it a magnet for the local cats ....... much to the annoyance of our dog. 

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A few years ago I made a load of Bat Boxes,same as the bird nesting boxes but without the hole,you leave a 15mm gap underneath for the little fellas to crawl up,always put the boxes up in three's around a tree trunk at different compass points,one for hibernation,one for a nursery  and one for  roostingI put these up in the trees at work,when the local wildlife expert came to site he asked "who is going to clean out the boxes at the end of the breeding season?" dunno said I,his reply was "You had better not touch them because it's an offence if you have not been trained"and he carried on with all sorts of threats of prosecution and wildlife trust bodies being unhappy about what I had done.I never made any more and as far as I know the old boxes are still where I put them and no one has "cleaned" them out,bats loss,birds gain

 

Rog

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I think he's talking out of his rear end. The RSPB have Bat box plans for DIYers or sell them ready made if you don't want to build one.

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It's not a problem building them Brew, it seems they have to be cleaned out to prevent germs and deseases spreading to the bats,A question I did ask was" who cleans the crap from the roof spaces of properties or other natural habitats?" I didn't get an answer,I was also told I wouldn't be allowed to take a picture of said bats without a license,I think this guy was a joke,(why do all these trust people think they know whats best?)I will post a picture when I find it of a Long eared bat that took up residence in a store room of our offices at work (an old farm house)

 

Rog

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Rog, the country is bogged down by uniformed buffoons who think that the majority of the population are mere surfs and plebs, who need to be ordered about, and kept in check ! 

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  • Cliff Ton changed the title to Woodworking

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