What "man jobs" have you done today?

Mark A said:
Seeing Oak being used for fire wood makes me sad :(.
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Why?

That's pretty much all I burn as my woodland is 90% oak.

Today I backed filled some trenches which had sunk a little after we had land drainage put in (subsidence). Pressure washed the stables and kennels. Mowed the orchard. Drank beer. Tomorrow I'll be in the woods chopping up more fallen oaks to be bought back for splitting. After that I have some horse fencing which needs fixing/replacing. I also need to replace a gate one of the little buggers booted. No wood can withstand the kick of a 500kg horse.
 
FurryLemon said:
Why?

That's pretty much all I burn as my woodland is 90% oak.

Today I backed filled some trenches which had sunk a little after we had land drainage put in (subsidence). Pressure washed the stables and kennels. Mowed the orchard. Drank beer. Tomorrow I'll be in the woods chopping up more fallen oaks to be bought back for splitting. After that I have some horse fencing which needs fixing/replacing. I also need to replace a gate one of the little buggers booted. No wood can withstand the kick of a 500kg horse.
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Actually sounds like a really good day. Outdoors, fine weather, man jobs.
 
Mark A said:
Being into woodwork I think of all the things I could make with it. Just seems a shame to cut down a tree thats like 60 or more years old to burn in a fire, when it could be used to make some furniture that will last another 60+ years. Basically Oak is too nice to burn :p
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My wood stores would make you weep. :p I reckon I've got 100 stere of split/seasoned oak. 300kg per stere @ 20% moisture level...

topgun06 said:
Actually sounds like a really good day. Outdoors, fine weather, man jobs.
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Yup. Fairly standard day for me. I've not long got back from town though, so some of that won't happen. No real rush for the fence/gate as they've been moved to their winter pasture now. I need to harrow and top the summer pasture at some point too.
 
Last winter we had so much rain the doors on Summer house swelled up so much I couldn't open them so had this cover made for this winter - Also had a small leak from somewhere and flooring rippled - spent the morning fixing it up and relied to much on eyelets being dead on - Now I have a tight spot I need to sort out "Maybe" - Not finished yet - going to change screws for eyelets to stainless steel ones -They are on order - Very impressed with the big plastic eyelets and catches - also had brass eyelets fitted in case I need to rope it in high winds.

Got to put piece of wood in the pocket along the bottom to make it easier to roll up - also fit some straps under front of roof to hold it up when not being used. - I can also take it off in a few minutes.

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observed my 3 weeks prior scarified lawn.... overseeded with some fescue mix and top dressed with half a tonne of top dressing.

just three weeks on and it has never looked to good. Really like the finer grass too.

I am embracing middle age with glee.

Also, ripped open a sonoff wifi switch, encased it in 'whispa' IP65 juntion box, and ran my tree / fence lights through it. £10 later.... Voice controlled outdoor lights through alexa.
 
shimmied up ladder to check out gutter which never before was blocked until next door had their gutters replaced.
it now is overflowing down our side of the house where the downpipe is.
found it blocked with moss from their roof.
unblocked and fitted mesh over, mostly on their side so when it blocks again it wont spill on our side.
 
Quickly fitted a micro chip controlled cat flap into our temporary garage door, we're having an extension built and have a ply door for access into the garage/extension.
I was going to wait till we got the proper door but having had another cat appear in the house the last few days I thought I'd get it sorted out now.
 
adamau5 said:
I am embracing middle age with glee.
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Resistance truly is futile ;)

But then I'd rather be mowing the lawn and fussy my pond plants at ~40, than the rather unfortunate polar opposite group who can't accept getting older - the ones that are desperately still trying to do what they were doing in their 20s... Some people I can't help looking at and thinking, wouldn't you be better off with a nice cuppa and putting your feet up, rather than floundering in a muddy field off your face on who-knows-what, at 45?

Takes all sorts, but I'm personally glad my interests have changed over the years. In reality mostly it amounts to embracing new things, and shedding pre-conceptions based on youthful ignorance. Gardening actually is fun, and rewarding, stimulating, and joyful.
 
I've just moved from a little one bed flat to a three bed semi with my girlfriend so it's a good excuse to mess about with a load of old furniture which is in danger of becoming my new hobby... We've been buying second hand stuff to do up.

We bought this old dresser (annoyingly I haven't got a full pic of it as it was):

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I decided to do it with chalk paint, oil up the top surface of it and finish it with dark wax.

The top came up ok, needed a bit of repair with wax sticks:

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Then some paint:

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And as it stands at the moment, still need to finish off the doors and drawers and fit some new hardware to the drawers.

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The dark rustoleum wax is very, very dark and soaks right into the paint. I've learned that to get a lighter finish you can do the whole lot in a clear wax then hit it with the dark wax, which is what I'll do on the next couple of bits we've got. I actually like the effect on the green, but if I'd painted it a lighter colour it would have ruined it. I got a bureau for the third bedroom which I'm going to do as an office, and a nice old table for the hall. Table will be sage green with a dark wax, and I think I'm going to do the bureau in antique white with sage green inside and some details on the outside.It's probably going to get a sage green wash and some darkish wax on it as well as new hardware. Going to try and keep the nice effect on the top of the table and oil it, if it's good enough. I've got a nice bookshelf as well which I painted white a while ago, I'm going to repaint and wax that.

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Camera on my phone is pretty bad indoors but the table is really nice in person, hopefully I can rub down, filll and oil up the top as it's really got some nice details on it. Will put some pics on as I go, and of the dresser once the doors are on.

Fell in love as well with a round dining table with chairs with amazing details on them, was only £100 for the set and I can see they'd be beautiful done up, but my other half is convinced we're going to be entertaining hundreds of people every week so obviously we can't just have a four person dining table!
 
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Looks good. We're furnishing a big place at the mo, the Mrs brought home a large mirror from the charity shop for £9. Sanded, filled, painted with some spare F&B paint and it looks like £100's worth now.
 
If you paint stuff white or grey it will sell like hotcakes on facebook/gumtree etc. I'm going to be doing a fair bit of it for my house so depending how well it goes I might try do it for extra cash down the line..
 
I think if I fancy doing some more bits once I've done all the stuff I need, I probably won't have any trouble moving a couple of bits on to make room.

It's just quite satisfying to do, I like it :)
 
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