Shop Projects

[wolc123]

Usually, I prefer outside winter sports on weekends in February, but mud season has arrived a bit early this year.   Too rainy and windy for squirrel hunting.  I may get out, on the last day tomorrow, if the weather cooperates. 

Today, I am making a couple larger platform stands to replace a small hang-on, over at my folks place, and a small metal ladder stand, out back here at home.  I had enough leftover pressure treated framing lumber and maintenance free decking, up on my hay loft, to make them each 42" square. 

 Each will get 3 foot barnwood sided walls, after I get them up about 7 feet.  They will get lag bolted to the trees, and a couple pressure treated 4 × 4's for front support.  Those won't become available, until I use up a little more firewood, which is stacked up outside on them.

Each of the stands I am replacing is too small for comfort and lack good shooting rails.  These new stands should greatly improve my range capability, thanks to the 3 ft wall/rest, and make for a more comfortable, longer lasting hunt.

 

[Lawdwaz]

Looks like a good start.......

Oh, the Smithsonian called, they want their drill back.   Lol

[mlammerhirt]

Looks like a good start.......
Oh, the Smithsonian called, they want their drill back.   Lol

Not Smithsonian material....Wolc already replaced the power cord with a fancy 90's hunter orange cord.

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[wolc123]

1 hour ago, Lawdwaz said:

Looks like a good start.......

Oh, the Smithsonian called, they want their drill back.   Lol

I think that is my newest drill.  I remember my grandfather buying it, around 1980.   I have a couple of hand crank ones, that might be from the 1800's, and a couple other much older, metal electric ones, which might be from the 1940's or 50's.

  I can't stand battery operated drills, although I will admit that my father in law's Dewalt worked well on an ice augers last weekend.  He knew enough to bring the batteries in the house to warm up before I needed it this year.  Last year, they were all outside in the cold and I had to use my old hand crank auger.

The rain stopped now, and I am out on a stand waiting on the squirrels.   It is warm enough, but still a bit windy.  It was nice to see my folks anyhow.  Ma has soup for supper, and with some luck, it might have crock pot squirrel for lunch tomorrow.

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by wolc123

[suburbanfarmer]

I am still waiting to see how you created an insulated room in your own barn. 

[wolc123]

5 minutes ago, suburbanfarmer said:

I am still waiting to see how you created an insulated room in your own barn. 

Here are a few pictures.  The only thing I actually insulated was 20 ft of exterior wall (with 6" fiberglass).  That section is mostly under the porch shown in the first photo.

The "heated" 20' x 12' woodshop (3rd photo) has an 8 ft ceiling (hay loft), with 1" chestnut boards covered by 5/8" OSB.  It took that little propane heater, set on high, about 1/2 hour to raise the temp from 35 to 55 this morning.  It was holding it comfortably there, set on low.

The 10' x 12' metal shop (2nd photo) is also under the hay loft, in the NW corner of the building.  The man door under the porch enters that shop.  The framing for those interior shops and the loft is reclaimed timbers from my great great grandfathers old barn.

[mlammerhirt]

Awesome setup Wolc......love the shop/barn

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[First-light]

Tits hill!

 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, mlammerhirt said:

Awesome setup Wolc......love the shop/barn

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Thanks, it has been a lot of work over the last several years, and I still have a ways to go.  I would have liked to have saved my great great grandfather's old barns, but the roofs and foundations were shot, and it would have cost many times more to repair them, than it did to replace them with the new one.

The skeleton of one of the old ones is still standing (you can see part of it to the right in the first photo).  I have most of the siding stripped off.  There is a big concrete silo behind it that I need to drop before I pull it down. It also has a fair amount of junk inside that needs to be dealt with.  It is amazing how much stuff builds up over 150 years.

I had to complete the dismantling of it's slightly older twin, before putting up the new pole barn on the same site.  The shell for that went up in 2018.  I salvaged the "18" siding board from the near the peak of the still standing "1883" barn, and tried to match the text for the "20" to mark "2018" date inside the roof peak of the new barn

Edited February 28, 2021 by wolc123

[Lawdwaz]

Great building wolc........

[wolc123]

This picture shows the inside of a completed platform blind, with the 3 ft barnwood wall/gun rest.  This one is on the ladder rack of a construction style truck cap, on one of my two-story blinds.

A couple other small "shop projects", which were completed during last deer season, are shown in the photo.  The shimmed 3/4" marine plywood sub floor was required to get the floor level.  The fiber glass chair was garbage picked and gutted.  I had to rip off the padding and cover to make it weather and mouse proof.

I will be on the lookout for a couple more similar chairs for the new blinds.  Folks are always putting them out by the road. 

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by wolc123

[Otto]

Wolc, your take REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE to a whole ‘nother level!

[grampy]

Love your barn and workshops wolc!! The new platforms will be nice and comfortable too. Hope ya bring home lots of tasty venison for your family, hunting from them! 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, grampy said:

Love your barn and workshops wolc!! The new platforms will be nice and comfortable too. Hope ya bring home lots of tasty venison for your family, hunting from them! 

The older I get, the more important it is to be comfortable.  Our kids are starting to get sick of venison. I did not see any tasty squirrels from that stand yesterday.  I might give it one last try this afternoon at home.   I also want to see if the deer have been hitting the turnips out back.

4 or 5 turkeys walked thru about 5:00 pm, too far to see if they had beards.  I tried to zoom in on one for the photo.  Hopefully, they will hang around until May.

There were tons of deer tracks in the woods over at folks place, and no coyote tracks, which is a good thing.

Edited February 28, 2021 by wolc123

[fasteddie]

Very neat looking shop . Great job ! 

 

[wolc123]

Here is some of the work I still have to look forward to on the 1883 barn replacement project.  In the photo, you can see the remains of the "83" siding board.  I don't particularly care for heights, and that board broke right across the numbers as I attempted to pull it down last summer. 

I was up as high as I was willing to go on an old wood extension ladder.  Fortunately, the "18" board gave me a little less trouble.  I still have the siding boards to strip off the back wall and a few on the right side of that old barn.

I will get the rest of that "83" board, after I pull the frame skeleton down to the ground.  Maybe I will use it as part of the wall on one of my new deer platforms.  I can call it the # 3 Dale Earnhardt stand. Before that can happen, I need to take down the silo out back with a sledge hammer.

 

[Lawdwaz]

Time for me to fess up........yea, I have one also.   
 

 

[wolc123]

24 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

Time for me to fess up........yea, I have one also.   
 

 

 

Nice, but how about this one ? It is my favorite, but it is on its second cord.

 

[Lawdwaz]

10 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

Nice, but how about this one ? It is my favorite, but it is on its second cord.

 

You shouldn’t have gone there.......

 

[Lawdwaz]

And yes, Rosie wanted in on the picture.   Lol

[wolc123]

On 2/28/2021 at 8:13 PM, Lawdwaz said:

You shouldn’t have gone there.......

 

 

Who needs electricity ?

Edited March 2, 2021 by wolc123

[Nomad]

That barn wood and hand hewn beams will sell fast . My nephew took down his75 foot long ,  200 year old barn and sold every bit of it, the hewned beams are used for fireplace mantels . The wood is lining everything from bars to Dr.s offices .

I have a couple small pieces left for projects .

[wolc123]

58 minutes ago, Nomad said:

That barn wood and hand hewn beams will sell fast . My nephew took down his75 foot long ,  200 year old barn and sold every bit of it, the hewned beams are used for fireplace mantels . The wood is lining everything from bars to Dr.s offices .

I have a couple small pieces left for projects .

An issue is winter storage.  If you leave those old beams outside and uncovered thru the winter, they will  turn to powder.   

After I dismantled the first 36' x 46' x 16' "1881" barn, I stacked the beams on ties, and covered them with heavy duty Harbor-freight tarps, thru the winter.  I did the same thing with the siding boards, with "stickers" for air flow.

All that wood was good and solid when I repurposed much of it in the new pole barn.  I have sold some of it and folks are wanting more.  I need to save enough to enclose the back 25' x 10' porch on my new barn, and for a few more deer blinds.  

I dont like dealing with tarps, so I am going to cut the 9" and 6" square hand-hewn beams into 10 ft lengths, after I knock down the 1883 barn skeleton.  That way, they will stack easily under my back porch.  I have plenty of room up in the pole barn loft for the siding boards.

Edited March 2, 2021 by wolc123

[Otto]

@wolc123

If you are going to the trouble of salvaging everything from the very old barn, I would not cut those beams up into 10’ chunks.  I think they would be much more valuable if you left them as whole as possible.  Especially being that they are hand hewn.  

I know a guy in Buffalo that specializes in de-construction and salvage. LMK if you want his contact info. 

[Nomad]

23 minutes ago, Otto said:

@wolc123

If you are going to the trouble of salvaging everything from the very old barn, I would not cut those beams up into 10’ chunks.  I think they would be much more valuable if you left them as whole as possible.  Especially being that they are hand hewn.  

I know a guy in Buffalo that specializes in de-construction and salvage. LMK if you want his contact info. 

Exactly, my nephew made a lot of money off that barn , it sells as fast as you can tear it down . 
 

That old barn wood is worth way more per board foot then new lumber , sell it and build with new wood and still pocket $$$.