All posts by Greg

Nov 05
0

Handmade Wood Picket Fencing – Post and Rail

By | yard and garden | No Comments

After looking at all the plastic picket fencing that was available for my yard, I decided to make my own. With all the feedback I’ve gotten from my neighbors, I decided to start making these for other people. It’s designed to last a lifetime and is handmade out of high quality douglas fir. The posts are 6″ x 6″ and the rails are 4″ x 4″. The post tops are beveled and the rails sit in notches that I chisel out by hand. These can be stained or painted. I went with a natural stain to show the nice wood grain. The pictures shown are after a year of weathering and it still looks great.

The Home Depot and Lowes plastic fencing looks ok, but up close it looks like plastic. And after a while in the sun, it starts to fade and crack. And if you touch it, well you know it’s cheap plastic. The post and rail fencing that I make is solid, not temporary junk. All my neighbors are commenting how much they like my fence. You can stop by and take a look at my fencing too before you buy.

Sample Price:
46 feet of fencing would cost $1000. That includes 8 posts and 14 rails, ready to be installed. Free estimates via email or over the phone. I just measure how much fencing you need. It’s roughly $21 per foot. I can give discounts for large orders.

Installation is not available since I am not a licensed contractor. You can do it yourself, or hire a contractor. Posts are 4′ long and you need to dig a 12″ deep hole and set it concrete for a secure fit. So the posts sit 3′ high. Rail width is recommended at 6′, but can be made in other sizes. Delivery time is typically 1-2 weeks.  Thanks for looking…


Nov 05
0

Barns and Barn Wood

By | barn wood | No Comments

The first shipment of barn wood I received came from 3 barns in Arizona. They all have an interesting story so take a look below for some history:

The red barn wood is from Wickenburg, AZ circa 1907, it was basically a small shed that, over the years, turned into a small horse barn and lean too. The owner said that the last red paint job was done in 1957. It was taken down in March of 2008.

The second barn is from Chino Valley, AZ. circa 1897, it was on a homestead property that had been sold to a mobile home dealer. We did not get to talk to the original owners, but through word of mouth we found out that it was first homesteaded to the Smith family somewhere around the mid 1800’s. When it was tore down (Oct. 2007) we figured the barn to be 110 years old.

The third barn which was called 36,000 Sunrises, had gray and/or black and brown with orange and gold tints to the wood. This barn came from another homestead situated on Mormon Lake just outside of Flagstaff, AZ. It was was built in 1906 and was tore down in November of 2007.

Nov 05
0

Iron Garden Trellis

By | yard and garden | No Comments

Constructed of rebar, this makes a great trellis for a creeping vine or ivy like Arabian Jasmine. It can be left raw to rust in the elements or painted. Various criss-cross patterns can be made to support the vines. The one pictured is using baling or farm wire at measures 8′ wide x 6′ tall. And it’s easy to install in the ground. Prices vary from $200 on up.

Oct 24
0

My First Big Project

By | about me | No Comments

The first big project I took on was building an offroad truck. And maybe I’d do some desert racing with it. This took a lot of research. I mean I had just bought a welder having never welded before. With a quick lesson from a friend and a bit of self-study, I felt ready. I also didn’t understand roll cage design which I needed to know well since it may save my life if I crashed.  So I asked a lot of questions, came up with a design, showed it to some people in the business, and just did it. There were always people telling me I was going to fail along the way. But they seemed to disappear as my project came closer to completion.

And after I completed it, well I was quite pleased. I had several people in the industry look it over too. Many wanted to own it. I had a racer in a trophy truck (the top racing class) tell me to race it this weekend! But I decided after all my work, I didn’t want to beat it up in a race. I was really happy with my design. It performed great offroad, was street legal, had a usable bed which was very unusual, and looked fairly stock except for the big tires and extended fenders. It was a lot of fun on the road too. You could hit curbs at 60mph and you barely felt them. And landing a 5 foot high jump was smooth as butter.
Interior Cage
Front
Suspension
Bumper
Bed Cage
Jump Testing