What a weird February we’re having. Last week we received nearly 2 feet of snow and this week we’re hitting 60 degrees! Since snowboarding is out, I’m going to build our first solar kiln. A solar kiln is basically a green house that speeds the drying process after wood has been turned into lumber or […]
Miter Saw Station from scraps
Built a Bosch and Festool miter saw station out of wood scraps from previous woodshop projects
Two.5 years of Garage Evolving
We took the keys on April 30th, 2014 and started renovating on May 1st. But the garage saw no love until July 26th. Understandably so because we did a lot inside the house. That July two friends came over to help build a workbench based on something I sketched out. Going off my hi-tech sketch […]
Home Network is all set
It cost a little over $1,000 to have 17 Cat6 outlets connected and cable run from one end of the house to another by a professional. With the exception of the garage and bathrooms we now have a wired connection in every room of the house! It is overkill. And I love it. Benefits: The […]
Setting up our home network for Cat6 ethernet
El nino is making this fall/winter transition a warm one so far! I think I plowed us out a few times by this time in 2014. In 2015 we’ve only seen a single dusting of snow. So we’ve had nice warm 50 degree days followed by freezing nights. Shed the jacket to run errands and burn […]
When you need some help
I’m proud to say we have only needed to enlist professional assistance with a single endeavor. Absolutely everything else we have done in the yard has been by us! But when it came to removing around a dozen trees that were right next to the house (and our freshly installed solar system) I didn’t trust […]
Hud-son Oscar 330 Pro Sawmill joined the family
I have been fascinated by portable bandsaw mills ever since discovering they exist. As one who hates making multiple hundred dollar trips to Home Depot for a single project I love the idea of just walking to the backyard to make some lumber. You always forget something at the Depot and have to drive back. […]
Wood Chips
We do our best to use everything we take out of the yard. When a downed tree is straight, without disease, it is saved for making lumber. The “bad” or leftover bits that are larger than 4.5 inches is turned into firewood. And the remaining branches and/or canopy is turned into wood chips. Instead of […]
Sprucing up the yard
My parents came up for a few days to assist some landscaping design for the spring. Coincidentally the local Gardener’s Supply had a 50-70% off sale and we decided to get waaaaaay ahead of spring. However, spring may have gotten a lot busier, but we now have some centerpiece plants to plan around. Both Jess […]
A tale of two Stihls
I’m from Virginia Beach where loyalties to local manufacturers run deep. In the Hampton Roads area we build warfare vessels (you know….the US Navy), we used to build Ford F150s, and we make Stihls. When it came time to invest in a chainsaw this Virginia Beach boy only had 1 option. What saws? My first […]