Deer Stand

Here are the pictures of the last two days of working on Ruth's deer stand. We only worked for a few hours each day, so I think it looks good, and is definitely sturdy.

Here is the ultimate portable stand building setup. As you can see we have a generator to run the air compressor for the nail gun. The miter saw is on the horses to cut all of the lumber. I had a German saw with a blade on it to cut the steel. We have every tool needed, and then some...its pretty sweet.

Here is Eric cutting off the edges of the floor boards.

The carcass is starting to go on.

Frame all ready for steel on the sides and a roof.

Just the roof, and the plywood door, then we are ready to tip it over and attach the legs.

Here I am working on the legs. They are bolted to the rest of the frame, it is super strong and super easy.

Here is the stand all done and ready to be stood up. We ran out of time today, so we will stand it up next weekend. When done with that we will sight in my dad's gun with his newly installed scope. After that, we might have time to re-attach to door to my deer stand.

Just over three weeks, then hopefully I will have some big buck pictures and a great story to go along.

Early Morning Coffee

Well, I am up early this morning. Just drinking some coffee and watching some hunting shows. Yesterday we started to build Ruth's deer hunting stand. I have pictures, but the camera is out in the truck. We are headed to Kristina's for Breakfast in a few hours, then we are going to finish the stand. I will post pictures later tonight of the completed stand, or if not, I will do it tomorrow morning, since I have Monday off.

Update on the heater project!! We completely finished the install Thursday night, I will post some pictures of that as well. Now that the heater is in, and working, I have all day Monday to get back in the shop.

My goal is to almost finish those end tables on Monday. I do have all day to work on them. I might build a few more boxes for Mary as well. A busy Monday for sure.

Table Progress

Tonight I got most of the lumber selected, planed, and just about ready to go for the end tables.

Here I am face jointing the boards to make one side dead-flat, this makes one side perfectly flat so the planer mimics that flat face to the other face, making a perfectly square board.

Here are the boards laid out in two groups of "similar" boards. This way the woodgrain will be matched up for each table.

Check back tomorrow to see how much further I have gotten.

Easy Going

Tonight I started working on my brothers end tables...no pictures, as I only really planed down some lumber and started selecting what boards would be used for certain pieces.

As for the heater project, the proper pieces of duct work have been ordered. The heater should be installed and finished early next week, that's if everything goes well.

One Project Down...Many to Go.

Today I finished the panel doors for my buddy Matt. This was the first time I have done this exact style of panel doors. I was very happy with the results. Basically it is a system that consists of 4 very precise cuts to make the door. One set makes the profile, and one set makes the groove for the panel to fit into. I will definitely do these again.

Here is a closeup of the end of the "stile"

Here is how the joint looks when it is put together...this was the dry fit to check alignment.

Here is the side view to show how the "stile" and the "rail" fit together.

Here they are in the clamps, all ready to go. Just a little sanding was done to finish them up. Matt picked them up already tonight, he is going to stain them and install the hardware.


As for the heater project, that got put on hold until I could get a little help wrestling that pig around upstairs. My dad and I will work on it a little each night this week. My next wood project is my brothers end tables, along with another shadow box for Mary.

No Deer....oh well.

After hunting all weekend, we have no deer to show for it. Oh well, its hunting, that's the way it goes sometimes.

I do know that I am super busy in the shop, now that hunting is over, it is time to get busy. I have Monday off as well, so I will be in the shop all day. My main goal is to get the heater hooked back up since we moved it upstairs this year. Check back to see how I did.

A Day In The Deerstand

I took today and tomorrow off to do some deer hunting. There is a four day doe-only season every year, this year I decided to take some time to enjoy it. Even though I did not see anything, it was a beautiful morning with the cool temperatures, and fall colors. Ruth did make it out for the afternoon, and of course had a six pointer pass within range...but its doe only, so she had to let it walk. She is off tomorrow, so we will be out every day until we are back to work on Monday.

Great fall colors with the sun just peeking over the horizon.

More colors.

I took some video this morning from my stand, nothing real interesting, I just wanted to post a video to see how it worked. Enjoy!

Hopefully we have some deer pictures for you tomorrow night.