What’s on your workbench? August

I’m kind of wishing I wouldn’t have started this project but I’m too deep to quit ! I want more stubble straps but man they are time consuming!
This old sewing machine I found in my buddies shed is doing pretty good. Sewing with a 15 month old lab around is a real excercise in anger management! lol IMG_0591.jpegIMG_0590.jpeg
 
Picked up a 1972 Economy Power-King Tractor last weekend in Beautiful PA. A friend restored the tractor and it's almost complete! Working on some minor electrical / different style muffler setup as it's way too loud! Going to use around our farm for grass cutting, mild snow-plowing & towing the wood trailer.


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I’m kind of wishing I wouldn’t have started this project but I’m too deep to quit ! I want more stubble straps but man they are time consuming!
This old sewing machine I found in my buddies shed is doing pretty good. Sewing with a 15 month old lab around is a real excercise in anger management! lol View attachment 57280View attachment 57279
I've had my wife sew up at least 5 different boat blinds from cordura and nylon strapping for brush loops thru the years. She doesn't gripe to much till it comes to sewing on the grassing loops. Home machines require a good bit of patience and of course the right gauge sharp needle. And sometimes a melt down!
 
I've had my wife sew up at least 5 different boat blinds from cordura and nylon strapping for brush loops thru the years. She doesn't gripe to much till it comes to sewing on the grassing loops. Home machines require a good bit of patience and of course the right gauge sharp needle. And sometimes a melt down!
It’s worked out fairly well and I’m done sewing now. I learned a lot during the process! I just need to change a few things on the frame to make it work better and I’ll call it done.
 
I have been slowly but surely building up my library of decoy molds. Most of them I am making myself from silicone, a couple are aluminum I have acquired. Most recently, I have been making molds of the TJ Hookers that were popular in the late 80s. I had a pair of the Blackducks that I bought on clearance from Cabela's back when they would send out the newspaper clearance flyer. I found that there were too light, and did not hold well in the water. Back then, I filled the cavity with spray foam, and sealed it over with liquid nails, and added a small keel weight. I always liked the details in them. Recently, when I decided to mold them, I also started looking for the divers. I managed to barter for the divers as I like to prepare the plug by fixing any little defect, and then lacquering it to get the best mold finish that I can. A gentleman from SC sent me the diver bodies, and the diver heads. In exchange, I replaced each with a pair, the first pair of each out of the molds.

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So at last count, I think I am up to 21 bodies and nearly 40 heads molded. I need to get organized, and work through the volumes for each and get them logged so that I can calculate costs and yields, and have material on hand to make what is needed as it is needed! I wish I had more shop space! I find I need to set up and work through one activity at a time...... either make molds, cast blanks, restle coat, or paint. Can only do one task at a time and then clean up, and work the next operation. Then inventory storage is also a challenge.
 
Heavy rains Friday kept us from working on the blind but it didn't stop the owner from flying over the property and getting a good look at the blind and food plot along with moist soil area we have been fostering. View attachment 56977View attachment 56978View attachment 56979
Good morning, Eric~

In that second photo I'm guessing I'm looking a 4 floating blinds "in process"? Looks like you got one of them all covered with gravel and ready to blend into that stony shoreline....

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, Eric~

In that second photo I'm guessing I'm looking a 4 floating blinds "in process"? Looks like you got one of them all covered with gravel and ready to blend into that stony shoreline....

All the best,

SJS

Steve

You sir have been missed. I hope you had a great sabbatical.

I didn't even know the barges were there until I saw that picture. I asked the landowner about it and he said there was a gov program underway to protect the shoreline from erosion. He didn't know they were going to be working next to his land. Of course the shoreline is TVA so they don't have to speak to adjacent landowners. I'm glad to see it. I know a few parcels that have seen significant acreage loss to the river scratching away the banks.
 
Steve

You sir have been missed. I hope you had a great sabbatical.

I didn't even know the barges were there until I saw that picture. I asked the landowner about it and he said there was a gov program underway to protect the shoreline from erosion. He didn't know they were going to be working next to his land. Of course the shoreline is TVA so they don't have to speak to adjacent landowners. I'm glad to see it. I know a few parcels that have seen significant acreage loss to the river scratching away the banks.
Eric,
Do you think the erosion is more severe due to people altering the shoreline from what it originally was? Like it used to be forest and shrubs that protected it and is now farm land or do you think it has always eroded?

We have erosion problems here too on the rivers and a lot is either rock bulkhead, wood, or metal bulkhead. Most of the places that have the worse erosion are where the trees and shore line shrubs were removed or damaged from farming practices or house building. Sometimes I just wonder if there is some ecological degradation from changing the natural erosion process if there was one.
 
Ben

I don't know the whole story but have observed landowners who cut the shore trees down fair the worst. The root structures help hold the bank together. Floods do damage in quick order. I've seen 10' wide sections slough off into the river during a flood. My hunch is this is just the natural progression of a river, exacerbated by bad practices like tree clearing. The picture below is a few miles downriver. Note the big chunks missing on the shore. This property was managed as a sod farm for years and they cut all the trees away at the bank in some areas. Note the chopping away of their acreage. They need riprap more than any place on the river I've seen.

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It's been a long summer that has gone by too quickly, if that makes sense.
A couple portraits I finished recently of a friend's 2 Dobermans. Nobody seems to bother her much. 😄
They are actually very friendly dogs, but still a bit intimidating if you don't know them.
The black one is a hunter... well, she caught a rabbit last week.

"Becca" acrylics on 10x10 canvas.

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"Mya" acrylics on 10x10 canvas

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