Home DIY, Art & Craft, making stuff

[stui magpie]

Finished my Butchers Block today.

Not huge, 50x30mm, need to be able to fit it in the space beside the oven up in Toc.

Block is recycled old Redgum 4x2. Cut them to size, lots of woodglue and used a strap clamp to hold the whole thing tightly together for a month while it set.

Bit of plywood directly underneath, nailed to every piece of the block. Sanded the block with the belt sander then a couple of coats of Orange Oil.

Made the frame out of pine, painted with a Cedar varnish. Wheels on the back 2 legs, front 2 flat, put a handle on the front so I can just lift the flat legs off the ground, wheel it to where I want to use it and set it down.

Might give some of it a light sand and a second coat , but she's basically ready for action.

[Skids]

All I seem to be doing at the moment is pulling out weeds!

[think positive]

Good work guys! DB garden sounds wonderful, and I’ve saved the stone site, looks good

Nice work Stu, well done you

Skids my hubby vs weeds : roundup! I loathe the stuff! He never goes back for the dead bits!

Knitting A jumper on very small gauge needles, forgot how impatient I am! Something to do on the looonnng drive to Qld and back! Just started the second sleeve! Should just about finish it by the time we get home tomorrow, then join the arms to the body and knit the top part in one piece

I’ve also been planning an extension for the retirement place, giving hubby a couple of choices!

[think positive]

Dp by tp

[Skids]

Well it's been a busy morning here.

When I built my back shed years ago, I put a shower, toilet and basin in there, at the time, I had an old instantaneous gas hotty I'd pulled out of some demo house. It worked and the shower was only really used to wash the dog. a few times I had to replace parts on it, after 20 years it died.

I was going to just bite the bullet, buy a new one for $700 and put it in. Old apprentice of mine was around the other day, he said "I've got a second handy you can have for a box of beer"... sweet.
Bit of pipework alteration and she's in, works a treat, even better than the old one. No more $10 dog washes down the servo.

Got 5 old timber frame windows out the front. Been in a pretty shoddy state for quite a while. I redid the putty a few times but one of the glass panes fell out the other night. I patched it with a bit of PGI I had out the back.

There's a few timber window specialists in Perth. I just want them to make up the new sashes, I can fit them. The quickest I can get them is 30 days, everyone is flat out.

I've got a ceiling to fix in the Daicos Bar, actually, the old tin roof is the main issue.... plenty to do around a house built in the 70's. She's a solid old girl, but yeah, I've got heaps to do!

[stui magpie]

Take your time and finish each thing off. I have a bad habit of getting something better then moving on when the last 10% could have made it really good.

My main focus is going to be the place in Toc going forward. This joint will turn into the holiday home in a few years and when I do sell it it will be largely for land value so it's not worth spending money to schmick it up.

[Skids]

Very good point Stui.
Windows are the priority now, with plenty to do in the yard while I'm waiting for them to be made.

[think positive]

Just under a month til we settle on the three acres in Drysdale. I went there last week, had a funeral near by, stopped in and checked out their ride on lawnmower. Bought it! It’s only 18 months old, and very snazzy! Also sadly discovered why they wouldn’t sell me the 4 sheep, turned the corner to see him in the kill room (which is getting torn down!) skinning the carcass of one of them! I begged them not to kill the chooks! I’ve designed the extension I want, and I intend to rip out the shitty wardrobes and put in ikea ones! Doesn’t need much doing to it, aside from ripping out the kitchen once we extend. Tonight we picked up a hire truck, last week Manheim had an auction for a closing down hotel! I bought a complete hotel room for $10 plus $33 fees! 2 bed bases, we will buy a new mattress for the top, tv, stand, bedside tables, small dining table and chairs, iron and ironing board, kettle and a bar fridge! I also bought an executive suite bedroom set, an office full of furniture, I just wanted the desk but I get 5 chairs too! And 13 wall mounted wine racks with approx 20 cartons of glass ware! All for about $600! So that’s the 2 spare rooms furnished! It was so much fun!

I once accidentally bought 2 boats! Money back on one, profit on the other!

Hubby has started building a solar operated front gate!

When I was there the owners showed me around the vegie patch! 45 years they have been there, he had just planted strawberries! It’s got covers he has made, 2 different apple trees that have been trained like vines, 3 cherrie trees and a shit load of asparagus! Anda huge chestnut tree! Ima gunna have to look after it, I reckon he will check up on me! First up we will plant a heap of trees around the boundary. Excited, also nervous!

I bought some good gumboots but they haven’t seen a snake for 40 years! Been reading up on plants snakes don’t like!


Edit so we went and picked the stuff up, everything us in amazing condition, it was a convention centre In Aiken hill. Left the office chairs but love everything else! What a waste! Could have been used during covid. Everything is getting built up there, huge estates. Fun morning.

[stui magpie]

Good effort there, $10 for a full hotel room of stuff.

I can just see you cruising around on the ride on mower with an esky of Jim Beam cans

[Skids]

[think positive]

Cheers guys, ta!

The mower comes with a trailer, lotta jim beam!

Can’t believe the haul we got, 4 boxes of 6 x 1kg grinders coffee beans, in date, that’s about $500 there! The pillows doonas etc are brand new, or cleaned beyond belief! Everyone gets a carafe for Christmas! So many carafes! More than that it was fo much fun! Even just walking around the bowels of the joint, I got lost when I went looking for the dine cellar., so wierd it was like being in a movie!

[partypie]

I have an antique ride on, works pretty well. I have to get someone to start it for me though …. We are going to build a new house on our property, as renovating the old one will be difficult due to the bushfire rating

[think positive]

Ah, I hadn’t considered that!

[think positive]

Ah, I hadn’t considered that!

[stui magpie]

Is Drysdale even in a Bush fire area?