Farriers Rasp body with 1095 bit forge welded in.
It took me much longer than it should have, but I finally finished building my desk for my home office. It started life out as an old boat trailer that my mom's neighbor had sitting in his yard for far too long. I cut that up into multiple pieces and then "welded" it back into something that resembles a base for the desk. I put welded in quotes because I'm not sure you can really call what I do "welding." Booger welding is actually too nice of a name for what I do. 
On top of that, I put a big slab of red oak for the desk top. That started out as a big red oak tree on someone's property. That was cut down and milled into slabs. I had nothing to do with that part at all. I found a listing on Facebook for slabs of hickory that looked really interesting, so I went to look at those. When I got there, I realized that the slabs were too small for what I wanted to do with them. Beside the stack of hickory was a stack of red oak that was about 36" wide by 9'-0" long and 3 1/2" thick. THAT was big enough for what I wanted. The person that had the hickory listed was having his brother store them for him and take care of the transaction. Kind of unfortunate for him, the brother and I didn't have any idea what the pricing of red oak should be and I had come there to spend $120 for the hickory slab. I offered the $120 that I brought and he accepted it and I was on my way. Got to looking later on and found out that for that slab, I should have probably paid around $300+. For once, my ignorance actually paid off for me.
I let the slab dry for about 6 months or so. Not because it needed it (although it did), but because I get distracted from projects very easily. So, after about 6 months, I took the slab and had it flattened by a guy up in Tulsa. $100 well spent. Probably would have been worth it at twice the price.
Once it was flattened, I had to sand the ever living daylights out of it and then move on to filling the cracks and holes in it. I used epoxy to do that and that was a new experience for me. I taped up the bottom of the slab to prevent the epoxy from just leaking through to the bottom side (mostly) and went to learning a new thing. I mixed up the epoxy with some metallic red pigment and went to pouring. And made a heck of a lot of work for myself. Took me 4 days of filling the cracks and holes because it just kept leaking through to the bottom. Finally got it all filled up to my liking and then I had to let it cure for a week so I could flatten it all again.
After getting the epoxy cleaned up and the slab sanded (again), I put 6 coats of wipe on poly on it (that took another week). Finally, yesterday I got it moved into my office. Of course, that was after realizing that the small changes that I made during the build were going to come back and bite me in the butt. The base had to be brought in at just the right angle to get it in the office. Then, I was able to realize that I had decided in the middle of everything to go from a 24" wide desk to a 30" wide desk. Makes for a bit tighter of an area for my chair than I expected, but hopefully my next office will be bigger.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and something tells me it will last a really long time.
On top of that, I put a big slab of red oak for the desk top. That started out as a big red oak tree on someone's property. That was cut down and milled into slabs. I had nothing to do with that part at all. I found a listing on Facebook for slabs of hickory that looked really interesting, so I went to look at those. When I got there, I realized that the slabs were too small for what I wanted to do with them. Beside the stack of hickory was a stack of red oak that was about 36" wide by 9'-0" long and 3 1/2" thick. THAT was big enough for what I wanted. The person that had the hickory listed was having his brother store them for him and take care of the transaction. Kind of unfortunate for him, the brother and I didn't have any idea what the pricing of red oak should be and I had come there to spend $120 for the hickory slab. I offered the $120 that I brought and he accepted it and I was on my way. Got to looking later on and found out that for that slab, I should have probably paid around $300+. For once, my ignorance actually paid off for me.
I let the slab dry for about 6 months or so. Not because it needed it (although it did), but because I get distracted from projects very easily. So, after about 6 months, I took the slab and had it flattened by a guy up in Tulsa. $100 well spent. Probably would have been worth it at twice the price.
Once it was flattened, I had to sand the ever living daylights out of it and then move on to filling the cracks and holes in it. I used epoxy to do that and that was a new experience for me. I taped up the bottom of the slab to prevent the epoxy from just leaking through to the bottom side (mostly) and went to learning a new thing. I mixed up the epoxy with some metallic red pigment and went to pouring. And made a heck of a lot of work for myself. Took me 4 days of filling the cracks and holes because it just kept leaking through to the bottom. Finally got it all filled up to my liking and then I had to let it cure for a week so I could flatten it all again.
After getting the epoxy cleaned up and the slab sanded (again), I put 6 coats of wipe on poly on it (that took another week). Finally, yesterday I got it moved into my office. Of course, that was after realizing that the small changes that I made during the build were going to come back and bite me in the butt. The base had to be brought in at just the right angle to get it in the office. Then, I was able to realize that I had decided in the middle of everything to go from a 24" wide desk to a 30" wide desk. Makes for a bit tighter of an area for my chair than I expected, but hopefully my next office will be bigger.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and something tells me it will last a really long time.
That's awesome! The story and the desk.It took me much longer than it should have, but I finally finished building my desk for my home office. It started life out as an old boat trailer that my mom's neighbor had sitting in his yard for far too long. I cut that up into multiple pieces and then "welded" it back into something that resembles a base for the desk. I put welded in quotes because I'm not sure you can really call what I do "welding." Booger welding is actually too nice of a name for what I do.
On top of that, I put a big slab of red oak for the desk top. That started out as a big red oak tree on someone's property. That was cut down and milled into slabs. I had nothing to do with that part at all. I found a listing on Facebook for slabs of hickory that looked really interesting, so I went to look at those. When I got there, I realized that the slabs were too small for what I wanted to do with them. Beside the stack of hickory was a stack of red oak that was about 36" wide by 9'-0" long and 3 1/2" thick. THAT was big enough for what I wanted. The person that had the hickory listed was having his brother store them for him and take care of the transaction. Kind of unfortunate for him, the brother and I didn't have any idea what the pricing of red oak should be and I had come there to spend $120 for the hickory slab. I offered the $120 that I brought and he accepted it and I was on my way. Got to looking later on and found out that for that slab, I should have probably paid around $300+. For once, my ignorance actually paid off for me.
I let the slab dry for about 6 months or so. Not because it needed it (although it did), but because I get distracted from projects very easily. So, after about 6 months, I took the slab and had it flattened by a guy up in Tulsa. $100 well spent. Probably would have been worth it at twice the price.
Once it was flattened, I had to sand the ever living daylights out of it and then move on to filling the cracks and holes in it. I used epoxy to do that and that was a new experience for me. I taped up the bottom of the slab to prevent the epoxy from just leaking through to the bottom side (mostly) and went to learning a new thing. I mixed up the epoxy with some metallic red pigment and went to pouring. And made a heck of a lot of work for myself. Took me 4 days of filling the cracks and holes because it just kept leaking through to the bottom. Finally got it all filled up to my liking and then I had to let it cure for a week so I could flatten it all again.
After getting the epoxy cleaned up and the slab sanded (again), I put 6 coats of wipe on poly on it (that took another week). Finally, yesterday I got it moved into my office. Of course, that was after realizing that the small changes that I made during the build were going to come back and bite me in the butt. The base had to be brought in at just the right angle to get it in the office. Then, I was able to realize that I had decided in the middle of everything to go from a 24" wide desk to a 30" wide desk. Makes for a bit tighter of an area for my chair than I expected, but hopefully my next office will be bigger.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and something tells me it will last a really long time.
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Got tired of the ladder on my deer stand. Had an old scaffold ladder behind the shop. Used some junk steel laying around in the shop for a handrail and some flat bar stock to make hooks that are on one end to hook over the old top step on the blind.
It’s full redneck In appearance but Now I have stairs vs a ladder.
It’s full redneck In appearance but Now I have stairs vs a ladder.
My AG teacher had a saying, "If you are a bad welder, you had better be a good grinder."It took me much longer than it should have, but I finally finished building my desk for my home office. It started life out as an old boat trailer that my mom's neighbor had sitting in his yard for far too long. I cut that up into multiple pieces and then "welded" it back into something that resembles a base for the desk. I put welded in quotes because I'm not sure you can really call what I do "welding." Booger welding is actually too nice of a name for what I do.
On top of that, I put a big slab of red oak for the desk top. That started out as a big red oak tree on someone's property. That was cut down and milled into slabs. I had nothing to do with that part at all. I found a listing on Facebook for slabs of hickory that looked really interesting, so I went to look at those. When I got there, I realized that the slabs were too small for what I wanted to do with them. Beside the stack of hickory was a stack of red oak that was about 36" wide by 9'-0" long and 3 1/2" thick. THAT was big enough for what I wanted. The person that had the hickory listed was having his brother store them for him and take care of the transaction. Kind of unfortunate for him, the brother and I didn't have any idea what the pricing of red oak should be and I had come there to spend $120 for the hickory slab. I offered the $120 that I brought and he accepted it and I was on my way. Got to looking later on and found out that for that slab, I should have probably paid around $300+. For once, my ignorance actually paid off for me.
I let the slab dry for about 6 months or so. Not because it needed it (although it did), but because I get distracted from projects very easily. So, after about 6 months, I took the slab and had it flattened by a guy up in Tulsa. $100 well spent. Probably would have been worth it at twice the price.
Once it was flattened, I had to sand the ever living daylights out of it and then move on to filling the cracks and holes in it. I used epoxy to do that and that was a new experience for me. I taped up the bottom of the slab to prevent the epoxy from just leaking through to the bottom side (mostly) and went to learning a new thing. I mixed up the epoxy with some metallic red pigment and went to pouring. And made a heck of a lot of work for myself. Took me 4 days of filling the cracks and holes because it just kept leaking through to the bottom. Finally got it all filled up to my liking and then I had to let it cure for a week so I could flatten it all again.
After getting the epoxy cleaned up and the slab sanded (again), I put 6 coats of wipe on poly on it (that took another week). Finally, yesterday I got it moved into my office. Of course, that was after realizing that the small changes that I made during the build were going to come back and bite me in the butt. The base had to be brought in at just the right angle to get it in the office. Then, I was able to realize that I had decided in the middle of everything to go from a 24" wide desk to a 30" wide desk. Makes for a bit tighter of an area for my chair than I expected, but hopefully my next office will be bigger.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and something tells me it will last a really long time.
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If you don't like the cords showing, you can get a piece of plastic rain gutter and screw itto the back of the desk using Velcro or tie wraps on the cords. If you want it to look better than the guttering, get some On Wall wire mold.It took me much longer than it should have, but I finally finished building my desk for my home office. It started life out as an old boat trailer that my mom's neighbor had sitting in his yard for far too long. I cut that up into multiple pieces and then "welded" it back into something that resembles a base for the desk. I put welded in quotes because I'm not sure you can really call what I do "welding." Booger welding is actually too nice of a name for what I do.
On top of that, I put a big slab of red oak for the desk top. That started out as a big red oak tree on someone's property. That was cut down and milled into slabs. I had nothing to do with that part at all. I found a listing on Facebook for slabs of hickory that looked really interesting, so I went to look at those. When I got there, I realized that the slabs were too small for what I wanted to do with them. Beside the stack of hickory was a stack of red oak that was about 36" wide by 9'-0" long and 3 1/2" thick. THAT was big enough for what I wanted. The person that had the hickory listed was having his brother store them for him and take care of the transaction. Kind of unfortunate for him, the brother and I didn't have any idea what the pricing of red oak should be and I had come there to spend $120 for the hickory slab. I offered the $120 that I brought and he accepted it and I was on my way. Got to looking later on and found out that for that slab, I should have probably paid around $300+. For once, my ignorance actually paid off for me.
I let the slab dry for about 6 months or so. Not because it needed it (although it did), but because I get distracted from projects very easily. So, after about 6 months, I took the slab and had it flattened by a guy up in Tulsa. $100 well spent. Probably would have been worth it at twice the price.
Once it was flattened, I had to sand the ever living daylights out of it and then move on to filling the cracks and holes in it. I used epoxy to do that and that was a new experience for me. I taped up the bottom of the slab to prevent the epoxy from just leaking through to the bottom side (mostly) and went to learning a new thing. I mixed up the epoxy with some metallic red pigment and went to pouring. And made a heck of a lot of work for myself. Took me 4 days of filling the cracks and holes because it just kept leaking through to the bottom. Finally got it all filled up to my liking and then I had to let it cure for a week so I could flatten it all again.
After getting the epoxy cleaned up and the slab sanded (again), I put 6 coats of wipe on poly on it (that took another week). Finally, yesterday I got it moved into my office. Of course, that was after realizing that the small changes that I made during the build were going to come back and bite me in the butt. The base had to be brought in at just the right angle to get it in the office. Then, I was able to realize that I had decided in the middle of everything to go from a 24" wide desk to a 30" wide desk. Makes for a bit tighter of an area for my chair than I expected, but hopefully my next office will be bigger.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with it and something tells me it will last a really long time.
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https://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand...aceway-5-ft-Wire-Channel-White-NMW1/100038290
Yeah, I've heard the phrase "a grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't" and I kind of identify with that. 
As for the wires, I still have to do some wire management on it. I basically got my desk at back up so that I can get back to working in the morning, so I'll get to that eventually.
As for the wires, I still have to do some wire management on it. I basically got my desk at back up so that I can get back to working in the morning, so I'll get to that eventually.
Did my first major length color print on my new printer and it turned out not too shabby. The base file I got online, I had to "paint" the model in software as to what color I wanted where. I really needed two more colors, but am currently limited to four. I needed red for the tongue and grey for the goggles. I present Dave the minion!
Very cool!
