Homemade Wheel Hoe

I made this wheel hoe from bicycle handle bars, bicycle forks, a lawn mower tire, a piece of pipe and an old farm tool.  It works great for keeping the garden weeded between the rows and is easier to use than a standard garden hoe.

1940s Ford Pickup Truck Rat Rod

The two mid-1940s Ford pickup trucks in the woods where they had been

 for the past 15 years after being salvaged from a farm by the previous owner.

This is the truck body I used for this project. The other body is for my son for a future project.

This became the new frame.

This is the cab after sandblasting and priming it.

This is the hood after sandblasting, priming and painting it.

This was just a protective paint, not the intended final color.

This is the front end.

The rat rod with mock-up for the truck bed and a motor.

Mock-up of how I intended the final project to look.

I had the chance to get these two old trucks and intended to have one rat rod project for myself and one for me to do with my son. I got this one to the final point you see here, and I decided to sell it. I had fun working on it, but I had other things I needed to do instead of this. I will work on the other truck with my son once we can get started on it. 

Homemade Oil Barrel Lifter

I made this for a mechanic friend who owns his own garage. He collects waste oil from places and uses it in his shop heater.  With this, he can now lift the  barrel up and down to load and unload from his truck easily.

Fire Barrel Scenery

During the winters we still like to have fires. I had the idea to make a barrel sized fire ring out of a hot water heater.  Since I wanted to be able to see the fire I found one of our metal cutouts that we were not using and I added it for a scene in front of the fire. 

Stock Car Racing

                                          My First Race Car 1977

My First Win in Second Race Car 1977

My Race Car in 1978

My First Feature Win  1979

1979

 1981

 1983

1983

 In the Dirt 1984

 1984

1985

2004
 

     When I was 13 years old, in 1977, I started stock car racing at the Collier County Speedway in Naples, Florida. I lied about my age so I could  race.  I raced at that track until they closed in 1985.  I raced at other tracks in the years following. Some tracks in Florida and then later in New York and Vermont.

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.