Educator. Engineer. Experimenter.
Today I restored 10 bronze plaques for Camp Boggy Creek. Here are some before and afters. I used the same process outlined here. Thank you again to the New Zealand RSA for this patina removal video. Camp Boggy Creek is a 230 acre non-profit camp and preserve dedicated to terminally ill children and their families….
Today I helped paint the barn, rodeo and petting zoo at Camp Boggy Creek with 3 other volunteers. Camp Boggy Creek is a 230 acre non-profit camp and preserve dedicated to terminally ill children and their families. It was started and primarily funded by Paul Newman and General Norman Schwarzkopf in 1996. Additional private…
Recently we ripped out the carpet upstairs (including the stairs) and had it all replaced with solid vinyl flooring. To save some money, we removed the carpets, staples, and nail strips ourselves, and leveled one spot. We then had contractors lay the new floor. Usually we use engineered or solid wood, but with a little…
Today I did some maintenance at Camp Boggy Creek, seal coating the lakeside fire pit benches and stage with a regular volunteer and my dad. Camp Boggy Creek is a 230 acre non-profit camp and preserve dedicated to terminally ill children and their families. It was started and primarily funded by Paul Newman and…
I got the urge to build a spice rack out of a discarded shipping crate today lol My wife is coming home from vacation soon and I wanted to do something for her (cooking related). We’ve needed to organize our spice situation for a long time. I wanted our spices to be within reach and…
Today I helped my dad and former coworkers renew the horse/pony loading ramp at Give Kids The World (Keaton’s Korral). The older ramp was worn out and potentially dangerous at this point. After the maintenance crew gutted the rotted wood, we replaced a few framing beams along with ALL of the deck boards. It was…
Recently, I replaced 11 windows of various sizes in my in-laws old house. The new windows come from Home Depot and are double-layer, gas-filled, Low-E coated, energy efficiency vinyl windows. In addition to the thermal transfer improvements, the sound dampening is impressive. Overall (with Pro discount) all the windows and materials cost me around $1600…
Recently, our voluntary neighborhood association looked into restoring the bronze signs that commemorate our historic neighborhood, which inevitably were covered with patina. We looked at various options, but ultimately decided to try restoring them ourselves. I had previously cleaned up a 30 year old bronze memorial in the area, so I had some practice. Below…
Behold, my first attempt at restoring a 30 year old bronze memorial (plaque). It took me a few hours, but I was taking pictures after each stage and waiting for it to dry (and heat up) between coatings. Here are some before and after pics: Patina is an exterior surface change to a…
My in-laws bought a cute but ancient (1940s) house a few years ago, and while the porch looked good from a distance, it was rotted and structurally unsturdy. This year one of the deck boards broke, and it was clear that the whole porch needed to be replaced as soon as possible. So we built…