Vacation Time

Just got back from vacation at the Jersey Shores.  A good time was had by all.  Including the dog!!

Got Milk!

Another picture from Oklahoma. This is a giant Jug of milk which sits on top of a small building located around 25th street in Oklahoma. Bruam's Ice Cream and Dairy stores have been around since the late 60's. Today there are 280 Stores throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri and Arkansas. To learn more about Braum's visit their website.

If you know any history about this particular building please provide it in the comments below.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

On a recent trip to Virginia Beach, I noticed this chicken along the side of route 13 in Virginia. I could not tell what the sign was for as there were no building around it. It just looked cool. I wonder if it crossed the road right before I took the picture. It made me think of all those "Why did the chicken cross the road" jokes. My favorite answer is "Because it could not resist the power of the Dark Side."

Tool of the week 4/18/2009

Stanley Positive Clutch ScrewdriverThis electric screwdriver is on of my favorite tools. It has been in my family for about 45 years. As you see it was around for years before the big fad for electric screwdrivers came about. I have tried several other brands of corded and cordless screwdrivers but always come back to this one. Look at that nice brushed stainless body. They sure don't make tools like this anymore. The strange thing is I have let other use this tool but nobody seems to like it. They complain its too big, too heavy, only one speed, can't seem to get the hang of the clutch, etc, etc.... Well I don't care, I know how to use it and that is all that matters. About a year ago it stopped working. I decided that maybe it was time to replace it. I looked around at all the tool superstores, and tried a few my friends had but none seem to have the feel of my Stanley. So I went home determined to fix it. After taking it apart I determined the cause to be a bad cord. I cut off 6" of cord and rewired it. It is working great again. Do you have a favorite tool like this? Tell us about it in the comments..

6 Ways to Make a Pattern

The below list contains several ways I use to create patterns for making things. First let me say that I often get inspiration from other projects I see in Catalogs, Magazines or on the Web. If you are like me you often see patterns or shapes that you want to copy to make something.

- Hand Drawn. This is the most obvious way to copy a pattern. Just grab a pencil and start drawing. The main problem is that if you are not artistically inclined it may be rather burdensome.

- Square by Square. This method of copying an image involves drawing a grid on the image to be transferred and a similar or larger grid on a blank sheet of paper. Then copy the image square by square. Copying square by square is easier and more accurate than trying to transfer an image freehand.

- Light Table. If you own one of these they are a great way out patterns. Just lay your picture on them, cover it with tracing paper and make your tracing. Note that this does not work as well when using magazine print.

- Opaque Projector. You might remember seeing one of these in school. Opaque projectors can be used to project images from the pages of magazines etc onto a vertical surface for copying.

- Copy machine. Although not every shop has a copy machine you can often times find one to use. In some cases you may even find on that enlarges. Many home scanners now double as a copier.

- Computer/Scanner/Printer. Home Computer equipment is great for finding graphics via the internet or by scanning an image. Images can be enlarged, reduce, modified and then printed.

In the coming weeks we will discuss each of these options in more detail.

Cool Hat Rack

I have a friend who collects hats from US Navy ships. He has a collection of about 100 hats from all kinds of ships. One day I decided to make him a special hat rack to display his favorite hats. The ship is the USS Julius A Furer (FFG-6) and was a Frigate in the United States Navy. For the record it was decommissioned in 1988 and sold to Pakistan in 1989. The ironic thing about this hat rack is that all the hats on it are from Aircraft Carriers not Frigates. You can learn more about the FFG-6 here. The hat rack is just a silhouette of the ship cut out of 3/4" white pine. I added 3 1/2" shaker pegs to hang the hats on then painted it haze gray. Below is another picture of the rack without hats.

Tool Of The Week 4/4/09

This week's tool of the week is a pair Husky Switch Grip Pliers. I am a huge fan of multi-purpose tools, provided they perform. These pliers have two different jaws, a Linesman and a needle nose. To switch from one set of jaws to another you simple rotate the handle 180 degrees. In addition, the jaws are spring loaded making it easier to use. The jaws also contain wire cutters ans strippers.Now I'll admit that they are not the highest quality tool, and nothing beats individual tools, but they come in handy in a pinch. These pliers are an excellent addition to a small car or boat tool box where space and/or weight is an issue.

Tool Of The Week

This week's Tool of the Week is a Pencil Sharpener. Not just any Pencil Sharpener, but one which can sharpen a Carpenter's Pencil. I remember as a kid my grandfather gave me my first Carpenter's pencil. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. He also showed me how to sharpen it with a pocket knife. My biggest complaint as I got older was that I could never get a really sharp point on it. Well a few years ago I saw this as I was waiting in line at the cash register of my local home improvement store. I decided to give it a try. As you can see in the picture it works well. It gives me a very sharp point on all my pencils regardless of it's size. In addition it is small enough that it does not take up much room in my tool box. I highly recommend one of these Pencil Sharpeners for any tool box.

The 31 Day Challange

I haven't made a post in about 8 months. Shame on me. Well I saw a post entitled "31 Days to Build a Better Blog". The post challenges the participants to dedicate 31 days to working on their Blog and improving it. Each day for 31 days they will teach a new theory to me and assign a task to be accomplished on my blog. I'm hoping to learn some new ideas over the month and hopefully by the end of the project I will be inspired enough to continue posting on a regular basis.

Electric & Manufacturing building

This is the old Electric & Manufacturing building. It is currently home to ChemImage. Notice some more framing around the windows. The below picture has some nice details above the windows.

Window Treatment

Another Pittsburgh Building. I shot these two picture just for the window details. Same building, Lower and upper windows. Also note the half brick pattern below the window in the above picture.

The Flynn Building

OK. There is alot to se in this pic. Start with the door trim. Then you have the window tops with the Keystone, Arch and Diamond. Next we have the rectangular stones between the aches framed with brick. and finally check out the framed rectangles between the window. I would have hated to have been the mason on brick layer on this job. P.S. Note a couple of repair spots on the first picture.

Windows details

Check out the window details on this building. Note the brick work and fancy Keystone on the lower windows. The upper windows are framed nicely too. But the coolest thing is that ledge. This picture turned out rather nice considering it was shot out of a moving car.

The Laundry

This is a really cool building. Check out the diamond pattern right above the lettering. Note the way the windows are framed out too. The appliance building next to it has some nice window arches too.

City Vacuum

This is a picture of the City Vacuum building in Pittsburgh. I'll bet you never would have guessed. Note the brick arches. Just a nice detail.

Pittsburgh Buildings

On a recent trip to Pittsburgh I noticed a lot of really cool buildings. They had some real nice architectural aspects to them. I will post a different picture/feature over the next few weeks. Check out this archway and the use of the Keystone at the top.

Outhouse pictures

Well I haven't posted recently for no good reason. Todays post has to do with Outhouses. I found this website that is dedicated to outhouses. It has a nice gallery with pictures of numerous outhouses. Click here to go directly to the Outhouse Gallery of Don Ponder.

Happy Easter

So tomorrow is Easter. My wife asked my son to help her get out the Easter decorations this week. Well Boys will be Boys. He set the Bunnies out in front of the house. One of the neighbors down the street called to ask why we were promoting pornography in our front yard. You know what the say, "If you can't take a joke......."

Dying eggs

Another Punography entry for you. Its Easter week so I thought that this picture was only fitting. What more can I say.

Pinstriping Made Easy

Well I was bored a couple weeks ago and decided to Pinstripe the back of an old guitar. I bought a Pinstriping Mask from www.raceweb.org . I followed the instructions provided, used4 different colors of One Shot paint a proceeded to pinstripe. In doing this I felt it would be an opportune time to develop an Instructable guide on how to do it. You can view the complete project how to here.