Some great grains there. You may consider contacting Ben Wilborn. He is a luthier of some repute and he may be interested in what you have. He made a guitar for me using Cuban mahogany and redwood cedar,
Thanks for the suggestion Markos, but I think I am done with this part. I'd have to redo the fender mounting bit, which took an agonizingly long time to do. And I'd hate the Hillbilly look. If anything, I'd like it to be a low rider. Wish Uhaul would just sell one of their excellent motorcycle or utility trailers when they are done with it. U Haul does not ever sell their old trailers. They are an incredible deal to rent. $10.66 USD per day up here.Hi @Nicad,
Before you fab up anything else. Consider flipping the axle so it is under the leaf springs. This is a common modification for tent trailers to gain ground clearance. It is also common in the off-road world on older vehicles, known as an SOA (spring over axle) conversion. When you have power to the axles you need to worry about axle wrap. Not so much with a trailer but read about trailer mods before moving forward.
Most solid trailer axles have a bow in them to straighten the axle under load. That means that you will need to flip the spring pads so the bow isn’t upside down.
Anyway, that would likely give you 5” of travel instead of 1”. Your ramps may be too short though.
Great question. On that wall there is a collection of cedar that has been finished on all sides with two coats of Sikkens high performing finish. I don't worry about it (see below). There's also the African Mahogany - a fairly hygroscopic wood within the mahogany family. All of this wood has been dried down to an extremely low (luthiery level) moisture content. Same for the remaining scraps of guitar wood that I am hanging onto (I sold most of it already). The space is temperature and humidity controlled. It ranges between 30% and maybe almost 40% relative humidity with temps of mid 60's to low 70's all year. The concrete walls are water proofed and insulated on the outside surface, and the floor has radiant heat. The environment in that shop is very tightly controlled. The wood, as a result, maintains an EMC of between 6% and 8%. It is at that level already, and it doesn't change in this environment. Sticking would be beneficial if the humidity/EMC had the propensity to change. That would potentially allow non-uniform movement (warping) in the boards as some areas would be exposed to the change while others would be more protected within. Fortunately, I don't see that here. Also, the end grain of some of the critical wood is waxed to prevent checking.
I hope you were careful to not cross streams in the woods there.
Those are excellent ideas, but do not take care of the dishwasher, washing machine etc, which you have to cycle anti freeze through. The last plumber's assistant who showed up said some of these fancy cottages have very elaborate washing machines and fridges that they scratch their head trying to figure out how to get the computer to turn them on. I am actually OK with what happened, as I think I know pretty well all the plumbing now. Hopefully never phone that Plumber again. Those Sharkbite push on connectors that can hook up copper or Pex make a lot of sense. If starting over I'd run plastic as it can take some degree of freezing. Already looking forward to next Spring!
Pretty sure the new Miller Migs are made in Mexico if that helps. Not sure about their Tig lineup. I'd love to have the skillset to weld stainless with a Tig. Welding is a great liberator.@Nicad and @bfeng,
I have only used TIG on steel. I had a few requirements. I want a tig because it is ve try quiet and doesn’t throw sparks. Sparks burn my epoxy floor. I also really like the bead that TIG lays. They aren’t great for body work because they are slow and require footwork. So my requirement was a thumb control. This cheap TIG only has an on/off without flow. I spent another $150 on a nice flow meter. Fortunately the gauge of my material will be constant and a fixed thumb control should be adequate. I also wanted high frequency so I didn’t have to scratch start. I do plan to weld aluminum in the future so I wanted an AC/DC tig. Otherwise I would have purchased the Harbor Freight Vulcan 165 two years ago.
My mig is a terrible flux core that I totally abuse. The tig came with an extra tank so I’ll likely pickup a low-end blue or red mig. I’m honestly pretty sloppy with Mig, even with a good machine. I have a lot of time on my POS buzz box but you will never get great welds from a cheap 110v flux core.
This HF TIG is on sale for $899 through June (coupon online). I personally think it is the best Tig money can buy. HF completely ripped off Miller with the Tig 200. They took it down for a year, made some Chinese interpretations of the patent, and released the 205. In reality we should all be buying American welders right now but I don’t have $2,500+ to spend.
ProTIG™ 205 Industrial Welder with 120/240V Input
Amazing deals on this Protig 205 Industrial Tig Welder at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.www.harborfreight.com
I picked up this mine for $450 with two tanks, thumb control, and some consumables. I figured even if the welder craps out I’ll have a head start on the collateral bits.
