Hand Hammered Metal Bowls

I made this hand hammered centerpiece bowl and candle bowls for my wife.  She uses the large bowl for fruit usually, but also has used it for holiday centerpieces.

Abscrapture

I made this yard sculpture out of pieces of scrap metal.  We are letting it rust naturally.  It is an Abstract Scrap Sculpture which my wife named Abscrapture.

Simple Bird Bath

One day my wife mentioned that with all of the yard decor we have, there is no birdbath.  So I made her one!  I had a garbage can lid and I made a simple frame.  It works fine and it was made from metal and paint and a lid we had lying around. 

Misc. Metal Sculptures

These are some examples of the metal sculptures I started making by hand with my plasma cutter before we purchased the CNC table.  I sold several abstract pieces and  "I Love You" hand sculptures and used many as gifts.

Moose, Bear & Wolf Scene Sculptures

These are some one of a kind scene sculptures I made with our bear, wolf and moose patterns.

Swamp Buggy in Florida

  

In 1994, I lived in Naples, Florida.  People used swamp buggies to hunt and play in the mud and swamps of the Everglades.  I wanted to build one for us to play with too.  My son was 3 months old when I started to build it.

This is a 3/4 ton Chevy rear end that I got out of an old junk truck. 

This is a 4 speed transmission from an old Ford truck I had. The way I had it set up, I had a 4 cylinder Datsun engine with a standard transmission that went into the 4 speed and then into the rear end. Later, because of having problems with the 4 cylinder, I took the motor and transmission out and replaced it with a 302 Ford motor with an automatic transmission. I hooked this to the 4 speed. It ran a lot better with the Ford motor in it.

This is the view of the back of the buggy with the tractor tires and the start of the deck. 

My son was two years old in this picture.  He was helping me check things over.  We had been using the buggy for two years now.

Me and AJ in our driveway.  We used to go for rides around our area.  We lived on a dirt roat that ended at a canal.  There were lots of woods and muddy ditches for us to ride in. The front end of the buggy was made out of a 1978 Ford twin I-Beam.  I cut it to make a straight axle out of it. It had a Datsun steering box and tie rods on it. It rode like a Cadillac.

Here is another shot of me and AJ out for a ride.

This is the buggy up on the trailer the first time we took it out to "Bad Luck."  Everyone who had buggies, trucks and ATVs liked to go there to play in the mud.

This is me driving back to pick up my wife and son after going to help a friend who got  his buggy stuck.  He had to return the favor right away, since I got stuck helping him out. It was always a good idea to have others go with you because getting stuck was pretty common.

Here is another shot of me driving through the mud.

Her is our little guy by the buggy.  He was two years old. Now it's 13 years later and he's almost 6 feet tall.

This was my friend Jim.  He had a buggy and took us out to "Bad Luck" since he knew where to go.

Carseat Mower Attachment

My son always wanted to ride with me on the mower.  Besides being unsafe, he was getting too big to carry on my lap.  I don't think my wife thought that this was much safer, but it was a much nicer way to take him along on the mower.  He loved it and I could operate the mower easily. So sorry about the quality of this picture, but you get the idea!

Mower Wheelbarrow Attachments

I made this wheelbarrow attachment for my mower in 1996 when we lived in Florida.  This made it much easier to move the dirt or other things I needed when we did projects.

This  modified wheelbarow attachment was made in 2000 after we moved to NY.  I left my original in Florida, and made this one when I needed a similar attachment here.

Wheelbarrow Plant Stand

I made this yard wheelbarrow plant stand for my wife.  The wheel really rolls so she can move it to any part of the yard.  This past summer she used it to keep some of the extra marigolds on.  She grew many marigolds and harvested the seeds to grow more next year.

Bottle Tree

I made this Bottle Tree for my wife after she saw one and asked me to make her one.  She collected the bottles from teachers she works with and from my cousin.  She plans to change them once in a while for a new look or have me make more for her.  She already has another design style planned.  Here are some links to bottle tree sites:  The Bottle Tree Man, BottleTree.com , Bottle Tree Images.

Playing on Our Homemade Riding Toys

Today after I picked my son up from school we decided to go for a ride on our riding toys I built (see previous blog posts for details on them).  We drove around the farm pastures for a while then decided to run through the drainage ditch in front of the house which was full of water from all the recent warm weather melting the snow.  We had a great time and my son loved it.  The top three pictures are me and the bottom three pictures are my son (his pants are too short because he was wearing a pair of mine so he could get them dirty and he's at least 3 inches taller than me). I thought you'd enjoy seeing the toys in use!

Rex and Cavey

I made the dinosaur in 2008.  We call him Rex. He is about 10 feet tall.  He has made a home in our back yard area.  He lived alone for a year and then I made a small caveman to keep him company.  We call him Cavey.  They are both made mostly from chain. I did not paint them.  They are getting a natural rust finish.  Last Halloween, my son put a plastic bone in Rex's mouth and we left it there.  Cavey is holding a rock in one hand and a large stick in the other to fight off Rex if he should get tired of his bone!

Bob

I made Bob in 2006.  He stands guard outside my main shop.  He is about 7 feet tall had is holding a pistol in each hand.  I cut the pistols with my CNC table.  Bob is made mostly from chain that I found.  Other scrap metal was also used.  No matter what the weather, Bob is always smiling!