The Sometimes Blog

[john]

Chuck: Sorry to steal your tag line for a title, but I don't think I am back to a weekly blog yet.

After a hiatus of several months, I finally got around to doing a few jobs involving woodworking. The first was a good clean-up of the shop and then some much needed attention to my ShopSmith. The incentive to all this is that spring is here and there are all kinds of jobs/projects to get done, most centered around the garden.

Several years ago I borrowed a design from a magazine for an herb garden, but enlarged it to make my vegetable garden. It is an octagonal shape with wood sides that measure just under eight feet in length. One of the sides fially rotted out so had to be replaced. That was the first job.

Next up was tomato cages to support the plants. My dear wife decided it was time to get rid of the discarded hockey sticks that I usually use and we aren't fond of the metal cicular ones, so that became the next project. They are basically "ladders" that enclose the plants on four sides, and can be attached where they meet for support, but stored flat over the winter. The first attempt was a "ladder" about four feet high and six inches wide. That didn't meet the "eye appeal" requirements, so it was back to the drawing board. The next two were 42" high and 10" wide and those were deemed Good. Actually these turned out so well, my daughter ordered two for her garden.

Then it was on to a trellis to support a new plant that Dear Wife purchased.

All these can be seen in the first picture attached.

Future jobs involve replacing all the wood pieces on our garden bench, and rebuilding much of the garden swing I talked so much about a couple of years ago. The picture of the bench sort of tells the story, but the swing looks deceptively good. However looks are deceiving as most of the seat support structure is rotted and needs replacing. My problem here is that I still enjoy my morning coffee and paper on the swing and am reluctant to put it out of service for a week or so.

Today is a day of rest as it is cold and rainy.

Have a Safe and Fun week.

John

[Gene Howe]

John,
Your tomato cages and trellises look great.
Looks like you have your work cut out for you on the "leaning bench".

Did you make the swing from plans? If so, where did you find them. Looks like a nice 3 month project (for me, anyway).

[john]

Gene:

Thanks for the kind words on the tomato cages and trellis. All are made with cedar but the trellis has been stained to prevent it from going gray as did the older one in the background of the picture, that one supports my cucumbers. I will probably stain the cages after the season ends.

I'm sad to say the swing was not made by me, but happy that it was a gift from the children about 15 years ago. It's made from pine so a lot of pieces have been replaced over the years, the bottom frame with cedar, but others with new pine. I intend to replace the seat supports with cedar and the seat slats with pine as they can easily be replaced without affecting use of the swing.

John

[osx-addict]

I really like the swing.. Very nice. We might have to make something like that once we get our backyard in gear.

I'm also trying to get back to the SS but have been doing other things lately. I was able to buy 5 sheets of peg-board the other day from a posting on Craigslist nearby -- someone in his small company over estimated the amount they needed commercially and he was trying to get rid of 200 sheets.. These are not your average Home Depot specials -- ours have a veneer of sorts on the outside that is natural oak and looks really nice -- not bad for $5/sheet.. They may be slightly thicker too -- not sure though.. They will look nice in the garage once I get that mess cleaned up.

[charlese]

It is always a joy to see one of your Blogs. Don't think you stole anything from me - it's really vice versa.

Enjoyed looking at your photos. Your garden looks real well organized. The trellises are very handsome. As you said, your swing doesn't show it's needs, but as I remember, it even looks better than before.

I wholeheartedly agree with your morning ritual. I have a similar one, but stay inside out of the wind. As long as the bench allows you to read the paper without your behind touching the ground - what's the rush to re-build?

As I said earlier on another post, I'm now engaged in a week long polishing job on our RV. At least I hope it takes only a week! Still need to take a photo of the laminated curved shelf edges. I get down to the RV then remember the camera.

[rkh2]

John

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your tomato cages and trellis. I know what you are talking about in regards to the garden taking time away from the workshop. I put in two raised bed gardens this year using 8 X 8 X 16 cinder blocks two high and 3 across by 10 on the sides, a total of 54 blocks per bed. Then I had to truck in enough top soil to fill them. I am using the wire type tomato cages which I had but like the looks of the ones you made so may go that way next year. I also still need to give my shop a good organized cleaning so I can take some pictures of it to share. Right now it is unbecoming of a woodworker the way it looks. I just ran across a great deal on 12 - 4 X 8 sheets of T-111 plywood from HD at $9.00 per sheet(Normally $29 per sheet), which I am going to use in building a 10 X 12 storage shed on my lot next to my shop, so that will put the shop cleaning on hold for awhile.

[etc92guy]

John - Could you provide some more detail or closer pictures of your tomato cages? I built some last year using dowels and ripped 2x4's. See below. Took a little ribbing from the neighbors on the sharpened end. The've been through one Wisconsin winter and are holding up well.
[ATTACH]4913[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]4914[/ATTACH]

[john]

Chuck:

As mentioned the picture does not tell the story. Some of the seat slats are broken and some of the rotted suports are questionable, so one must be very carefull when sitting. In fact my wife mentioned just today, as we were on the swing, each on our own solid piece, that we will not be able to use it when my boyhood friend and his wife come to visit later this month. Both are kind of heavy, but I hope to have repairs completed by then.

etc92guy:

I like your design. It has a bit of flair.

My "ladders" were made from six foot lengths of 1 x 6 cedar. The first step was to cut them at 42 inches. These were then ripped into six 3/4" wide strips for the supports. Unfortunately eight supports are needed for each cage so it takes more that one board per cage. The 30" cutoffs were also ripped into 3/4" wide strips and then these cut into 10" lengths, yielding 18 cross pieces per board. Sixteen are needed for the four ladders. Of course the length of the cross pieces can be varied according to ones own preference.

The first cross piece was nailed on about 1/4" from the top of two supports, and Then using 8" spacers, three more cross pieces were added. This leaves about 16" legs to push into the ground. This x four gives you one cage.

I am toying with making them triangular (three ladders) in shape with 12" cross pieces to get one cage out of each board. Maybe next year.

Have fun

John