https://youtube.com/shorts/Wd9-XikM5nI
Fire Iron Forge came up with this design, and I copied it. He also put it on castors so you can move it if need be without having to unload the whole thing. I copied it and it had been a game changer in terms of organizing all the short pies of metal, tube, bar, and angle that I seem to hoard all over the shop 🙂
Fire Iron Forge’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fire_iron_forge/
After having our electrical panel swapped out for a modern 200Amp box by a licensed electrician (which I am not), there had to be a cover made for the existing Romex wire that was routed into the top of the box. I was quoted $400 to have one done by the guys who swapped the panel. Ummm…. Nope. No way that I am going to pay that as I can be cheap about things that I KNOW I can do myself, both legally and skill-wise, and that I have the time to complete.
Off to the shop I went and spent an hour marking out, cutting, and bending up a cover. I painted it in the garage – getting in trouble for the paint fumes along the way – and installed the cover the next day. Quick, easy, done right, looks good, and was cheap. All things that make my heart sing.
I bought a new work and shop truck! Well, new to me! I am also a masochist, so the truck I bought is a 1990 VW Syncro Doka. Doka is short for DoppelKabine or Double Cabin. There were very few made and most have been imported by individuals.
Syncro Transaxles are made of glass, velociraptor foreskin, hope, and disappointment. However, this truck is my unicorn! I have wanted it for YEARS. It has a Turbo Diesel engine, the paint & interior are perfect, and it is already set up to be my new work truck!
In the video I take you for along for the purchase, a complete tour of the vehicle, and a surprise for me toward the end.
We have dropped a couple of different oak trees in the last month and as I have a fireplace insert, I need a place to store this sudden abundance of firewood.
My son was in town for the Christmas break, so he and I went into the shop, used some material that I had on-hand and put together a 5’X10’X1′ firewood rack. It is 12″ off the ground because that seems to be the magic number to keep rats and mice from moving in under the wood pile. The steel is left over from a project and was already paid for with that job.
It is 1″ square tube with .188″ walls. The gussets are ones that I had left over from my own builds and an off-road bumper build I did last year. If I were to buy the steel today, take into consideration the wire and MIG gas, and the gusset costs, it is probably a $160 rack, not including our time. This was my son’s first lesson in MIG welding as well, so getting to do this with him was a double bonus!!
Our new place is not exactly built to modern code. It is 1970s-riffic! and there is a little bit of weirdness here and there. Not some crap remodel or handyman special – it was built this way.
This is a repair of a VERY loose door hinge that had ZERO structural support behind it.
Excuse the vertical recording.
We moved to Oregon and this is the 2nd installment in a 3-part video series. In this episode, I start unpacking, move in some new tools, do a little painting, overhaul the entire electrical system, find some scary stuff, experience a long delay, build out some additional organization, and start working a little bit.
Tour of my Old Garage Shop in Seattle: https://youtu.be/7daJ9oyhzCU
New Garage, Tour of my Old Garage Shop in Seattle: https://youtu.be/7daJ9oyhzCU
The next/last installment will be a full tour for the space.
I had a welding project in the shop over Christmas and my so was in town over the break. He can in and helped me get it all square and did a little MIG welding of the structure and gussets. I was very proud to have him in the shop working beside me!
After almost getting brained while my roof and gutters were going on, I decided it was high-time for a new hard-hat. I go a nice one. My 22 year-old self, who erected steel building all that summer, would be SO Jealous.
My power hammer arrived safe and sound. Zero Shipping Damage!! In this video, I document the unloading, placement, installation, and the first run of the hammer – a 25lb Little Giant that first left the Mayer Bros. production floor in Mankato, Minnesota August 17, 1917. The hammer is over a 100 years old, is of WWI vintage, and is not in better than new condition. Andrew Alexander at Blacksmith Tools did a fantastic job on this hammer. It is as perfect as it can be.
The back story for my hammer is when Blacksmith Tool’s IG account recently hit 100k followers, he and his wife decided to GIVE AWAY a fully restored 25-pound Little Giant power hammer. His followers nominated folks and organizations that they thought deserved the hammer and somehow, someway they picked me!! I was stunned!
To say I was/am humbled does not even begin to express my gratitude to the Alexanders’ or to my friends or my family who nominated me. This gift is a huge deal – HUGE. I fell like I have won the lottery – not just because of the hammer, but because of the folks that made this happen. Again, I am just so grateful to Andrew, CC, my friends, my family – to everyone that is a part of all of this! Blacksmith Tools Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blacksmitht…
The Original Hammer Announcement Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6t7…
The Hammer Base Build Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4c9W… My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattofmanyt…
My Friend Dwayne’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scum_taco/
The Will Shelter hammer accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k6if…
My Favorite Will Stelter T-Shirt: https://www.willstelterbladesmith.com…