Fire Truck steering wheel

Well, I finally finished putting off refurbishing the wood steering wheel from my department's old fire truck.  It took a lot of time to get all of the dirt and grime of 70 years out of the wood - not to mention the Duct tape that had been used to hold the finger joints together for the last 15 to 20 years.  I don't know how many hours were spent sanding it exactly, but there were a good ten to twelve, at least.  I stained it to help cover up some of the coloring differences between where the Duct tape was and where it wasn't.  Then I hand rubbed about five coats of poly on it so as not to have to worry about it being too slippery (we are going to be driving the old beauty in parades, you know).  I will post a picture today or tomorrow.

Boys Closet

Well, I finished up my boy's closet unit tonight. A nice custom unit that most women would kill for. I will post a picture tomorrow after they finish putting their clothes back.



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Diamond Willow Walking Staff

Last fall, my brother-in-law gave me a cluster of diamond willow trunks from his yard (he has about 250).  I brought them home and shaved all the bark off of them, then just let them sit in the house for the winter to dry.  Last night, I took mine out to the shop and put a heavy layer of laquer on it.  The plan is to let it soak in and dry for two days, then take it and sand it down to prep it for a second and final coat.  I figure two should be good since it will be used to go on all the hikes my boys and I go on with Scouting.  I will post pics after I have finished.  I think I might even have to do some knot work on the upper part for a grip, not sure if I am going to use paracord or leather.  Any thoughts about which will last longer?  I have a lot more years and miles of Scouting with the boys in my future.

Shopping for cabinets

Thought I would try a new set up with my kitchen cabinets, instead of going with the normal Melamine interior.  going with real wood veneer plywood.  This of course means a whole number of extra steps of course ( Sanding painting, or staining as well as then applying a coat of poly.)  But this is for my house and for my wife.   I will be taking pictures as i go along to show the whole process from start to finish so that you can see.  I plan to start next week.  I need to finish the steering wheel for old betsy and take the boys camping this weekend for scouts.  The big delay at the moment is to get my wife to come up with a final sketch of exactly what she wants so that I can start.