Madeleine wanted to make a cane for her Nana. She picked the stick she wanted and chose the hardware from my Lee Valley Tool Catalog. I was slow to pick up on the fact that she didn’t want to make any changes to the cane because she liked the wood just the way it was. She’s a purist ~ let the wood speak for itself, no need for embellishment. She did, however, like the idea of putting her name on the cane.

She did some finish sanding and then asked me to write her whole name on the cane. (We use only first names online for our grandchildren, so the rest is blocked out.) When we got to the other side of the cane she wanted her nana’s name. Before I had a chance to write it, she grabbed the cane and pencil and wrote it herself. As an afterthought, she said I could fix up the letters when I woodburned them. I didn’t, of course. I’m a purist that way.

What did I learn? Children are keenly aware when an adult is controlling a project and I was probably doing this more than I intended to. In any case, the original idea was hers. She is very happy with the result and will be beaming when she presents it to her Nana.

Monalisa, in her comment, asked who was luckier, Madeleine or I. When Madeleine was four, I overheard her telling someone that her grandpa did everything she said, but then added “and I do everything Grandpa says.”

I think that sums up how lucky we both are.

I helped with cutting metal, grinding and some welding. Gail did the bending, shaping, placing and more welding. Together we completed the project in about a week, working my kind of hours ( 9:00 until lunch).  Yesterday I installed the gates, using cedar posts for support.

Pathway from the street.

Our prairie roots are showing.

Welcome to our patio and Silverspring Studio.

A view from the patio.

Needless to say, the thrill we felt upon first seeing Gail’s design has been greatly superseded by the gates themselves. We think they are a stunning addition to our backyard patio.

I had been watering my newly seeded lawn twice a day for a few days and every time I did this , a robin came by and hopped though the spray from my hose. Seeing that planted a seed, because I saw the need. The robin was trying to tell me something.

The procedure is quite simple.Take a piece of plywood and lay it on a level surface. Put a piece of very thin plastic ( you could use a garbage bag) over the board.  Make a mound with moist sand the shape of the leaf on the plastic sheet on the board. Place the leaf on top of this mound. It should be a nice natural fit.

Put a layer of concrete about an inch thick over the entire leaf. Place some wire or wire mesh over the concrete for added strength. Remember to pat down the concrete so you get the air bubbles out. Lift up the plastic around the edge: shape and pat the edges so that you have a relatively smooth and thick edge that will be strong enough to avoid breakage.

Bird bath materials laid out.

Beginning to make the mold.

The mold is ready for the leaf. For better results put the plastic on top of the sand and then place the leaf on the mold.

Leaf ready to have concrete applied.

Sorry, no pictures of the cement process. I mixed two batches with different dyes. This produced the mottled appearance.

The finished bird bath installed in my garden.

Within minutes of installing the bird bath, a bird was flying overhead, checking it out. You can see its reflection in the water. This project is definitely for the birds.

After completing my birdbath, I found the following article and videos  for making a rhubarb leaf bird bath in a sample issue of GardenGate magazine. The author used a latex patch concrete, while I used regular premixed concrete, which has a bigger aggregate in it.

Written instructions on  how to sand cast a bird bath.

Videos on how to sand cast a bird bath.

The project is well on its way, and this year’s students were pleased with their progress. The September group will also be doing some fund raising in order to complete the project.

Then the transmission was placed in 1st and the clutch released. There was an increased draw of electricity, but nothing turned. A quick check revealed that the parking brakes were on. When they were  released, the back wheels turned. Here is a very condensed video of the process so far:

A quote from Josh, one of the four guys working on the electric conversion, says it all:

If we grade twelves can do it, anyone can.

There’s a challenge for you!

At home, I have a small, inexpensive Ryobi scroll saw that I bought for my wife to use in her art studio. She has since moved on to other things and now it sits in my garage workshop. While I was looking for things to do with my grandchildren, aged 7 and 4, I thought I would bring it out and teach them how to use it.

My granddaughter took to it like fish takes to water.  She made a puzzle out of a square piece of 1/4″ plywood. When I asked her to tell me her favorite thing about the saw, she said she liked to make turns with it. She was so busy making turns that it was hard for her brother to have one.

When my grandson finally negotiated a chance at the saw, he loved it too. He kept cutting 1/4″ plywood into smaller and smaller pieces. He then used these pieces to build a bed for his sister’s doll.

I like the fact that the scroll saw is relatively safe for a child to use~with knowledgeable adult supervision. It is quiet, so it doesn’t frighten children and it has variable speeds so they can slow it right down. I impressed upon them the fact that their fingers had to be kept away from the blade, safety glasses had to be worn and that they could not turn the machine on for each other. This was a big challenge since they both wanted to help the other speed through a cut so they could have their next turn. They soon realized that the saw would be put away if they didn’t adhere to these rules.

I was amazed to see my granddaughter figure out that an extra piece of wood could be used as a push stick if the piece she was cutting was too small and her fingers were getting too close to the blade. She is a natural. You can see the determination on her face.

Sebastian turns on the scroll saw.

Sebastian has lots of determination.

Madeleine loves they way she "can make turns in her cuts."

Madeleine definitely takes over while the ever (almost) patient little brother waits his turn.

The projects were taken home and gifted to others before I thought of taking a picture of them. Fortunately, there is always next time.

I did not have a coil spring on hand but had some 7/16 inch hot rolled steel rod left over from helping a friend build a djembe drum stand. I just bent a 90 and then heated the rod and eyeballed a coil at the end. It works great in my 1/2″ drill, but I coiled it backwards so the drill has to be run in reverse. This just seems wrong to me.

cement mixing tool

cement mixer ready to mix cement and pigment

If enough people are interested in this tool I could give more detailed instructions or  manufacture some for sale. Leave me a comment.

Last night I arrived home to find a large package leaning against my mailbox. It was the new guard and table.

the old guard

new guard and table

A big improvement. Very nice guard and no more chewed up table. Thanks, Sears.

We also worked at getting this project funded. This is ongoing.

We are well on the way. After purchasing a 97  S10 we began to remove all the parts we will not need.  We have the truck stripped and are doing some body work. We are almost at the point where we will install the new motor and transmission. Friday the motor will be attached to the transmission and then next week we can install it.

Motor and clutch

In this picture you see the motor, motor mount, adapter plate, hub ( you can’t actually see it, but the flywheel is attached to it), flywheel and clutch assembly. It is all ready to attach to the transmission. I will post more about the installation of the electric components as we progress. The 4 students that are working on this project will not see the completion of the conversion. Students have already signed up to complete the project next semester. We hope to finish by Christmas, 2009.

Our conversion parts were purchased from Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd.

Stay tuned for more on the conversion process.