[laluks]

Lock down is back in Bangalore. Weekends with nothing to do!

I was having a small walk in our layout, with all precautions as per norms of our RWA. I could find a few dead trees were cut and the trunks waiting for the pickup to come to take them away. Suddenly got an idea to fill the otherwise free day. Got the tree trunks home, Kungfu Panda (Sr.) took them in his stride and brought it home effortlessly.

I got hold of my DIY tools.

A Makita Electric Chainsaw UC4020A, which was with me since 2015


And my Skil Work Bench Model 0909, again with me since 2015.


Got quickly on to work


Much to their amusement


And finally the coffee setup at our garden.


Sr. PPG likes the setup


And finally a photo session


Thus an otherwise free day is put to good use, with a DIY.

Thanks guys for reading.

[Jaggu]

This is super kewl you chainsaw panda! Any plans of giving it something weatherproof so that it survives long?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

This is super kewl you chainsaw panda! Any plans of giving it something weatherproof so that it survives long?

That is in pipeline, now letting the rain wash the dirt off. Then will sun dry it and give it a coat of varnish or similar stuff. Meanwhile trying to get a sander and polisher to my DIY kit, full discussion with wifey

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by laluks

That is in pipeline, now letting the rain wash the dirt off. Then will sun dry it and give it a coat of varnish or similar stuff. Meanwhile trying to get a sander and polisher to my DIY kit

If you'd like to put a little elbow and wrist into the job, and since the pegs are quite small anyway, I suggest starting with a sub-120 grit sandpaper, grinding out the possible loose wood and flaking portions, finishing off with a 400 grit if necessary to completely smooth out the sitting portion, using about 2-3 litres of polyurethane clear coat + about a litre of thinner for all the 5 pegs combined, 2 coats each, make sure to pack a good quantity, but coat it only one thick layer per brush stroke, only to follow up with a 2nd coat after 2 hours, dry them all for about 7-8 hours and there you have it, very shiny, waterproof wooden pegstools, which will be insect resistant as well (PU is the best in the business). Make sure the natural part i.e the barks on the side are coated well and deep as they have undulations and natural creases.

You can also expand the table, IF necessary by cutting off two 3-4 inch thick trunk slices, and bolting/drilling onto the existing wooden table, overlapping the surface, but the natural look will go. Great job on the recycling. I have been doing some house maintenance too in the lockdown, i.e PU coating the teak doors, teakwood tabletop, pouring and spreading and painting Rustoleum floorcoat on the highly abraded, water-corroded balcony floor etc. More than the timepass, I'm happy I saved us a lot of labor cost in doing small house repairs.

[GTO]

Super classy . I got something similar on my terrace, but I'm not a DIY guy (got them custom made from a friend), so yours will always be cooler .

[laluks]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

If you'd like to put a little elbow and wrist into the job, and since the pegs are quite small anyway, I suggest starting with a sub-120 grit sandpaper, grinding out the possible loose wood and flaking portions, finishing off with a 400 grit if necessary to completely smooth out the sitting portion, using about 2-3 litres of polyurethane clear coat + about a litre of thinner for all the 5 pegs combined, 2 coats each, make sure to pack a good quantity, but coat it only one thick layer per brush stroke, only to follow up with a 2nd coat after 2 hours, dry them all for about 7-8 hours and there you have it, very shiny, waterproof wooden pegstools, which will be insect resistant as well (PU is the best in the business). Make sure the natural part i.e the barks on the side are coated well and deep as they have undulations and natural creases.

You can also expand the table, IF necessary by cutting off two 3-4 inch thick trunk slices, and bolting/drilling onto the existing wooden table, overlapping the surface, but the natural look will go. Great job on the recycling. I have been doing some house maintenance too in the lockdown, i.e PU coating the teak doors, teakwood tabletop, pouring and spreading and painting Rustoleum floorcoat on the highly abraded, water-corroded balcony floor etc. More than the timepass, I'm happy I saved us a lot of labor cost in doing small house repairs.

Thanks dark.knight. That is very useful information. I was wondering about that. Can you suggest me a good sander and Polisher to add to my tools list. Wifey is in the mood of approving some funds .

Expanding the table loses its natural look, me don't like. This costed me nothing, and I am so happy that otherwise discarded logs came to good use

Originally Posted by GTO

Super classy . I got something similar on my terrace, but I'm not a DIY guy.
Attachment 2032531

That looks too good GTO, may be after I finish sanding and polishing it will be better. If it resembles at least 50% of your setup, I would be very very happy

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by laluks

Thanks dark.knight. That is very useful information. I was wondering about that. Can you suggest me a good sander and Polisher to add to my tools list. Wifey is in the mood of approving some funds

You'll lose the fun of it, trust me, the dremel will blast through the wood like its cake, and you'll get a very unnatural, flat, factory-made furniture look. As far as I know, there is NO polisher for wood, aluminium and other metals yes. Orbital buffers will again, make that natural work of art look like a machine made peg. Generally wooden polishing is either done by hand (original and best) or by spray, hand to wood working is very satisfying.

[Rehaan]

Love all your projects Laluks, they are all very wholesome. Living the good life...

Cross-linking to our Woodworking thread for those interested.

[RS90]

Awesome idea and superb execution!

When a big Neem tree fell down due to a storm near my residence, all I could think and do was get a few 3-4" blocks cut and further sanded to become kitchen chopping boards. I believed it to be a better alternative to plastic boards.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

You'll lose the fun of it, trust me, the dremel will blast through the wood like its cake, and you'll get a very unnatural, flat, factory-made furniture look. As far as I know, there is NO polisher for wood, aluminium and other metals yes. Orbital buffers will again, make that natural work of art look like a machine made peg. Generally wooden polishing is either done by hand (original and best) or by spray, hand to wood working is very satisfying.

Very true, thanks for the feedback. So I will try doing this by hand. Will get my girls to help me, but they seem to be very busy with all their online classes and assignments.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Love all your projects Laluks, they are all very wholesome. Living the good life...

Cross-linking to our Woodworking thread for those interested.

Thanks Rehaan.

My neighbours always tells my wifey that I cannot sit idle, and keep doing this or that. Hope, Wifey has no complaints on the attention I get

Recently I made a Ganesha from a discarded wood and was an instant hit amongst our layout folks

Originally Posted by RS90

Awesome idea and superb execution!

When a big Neem tree fell down due to a storm near my residence, all I could think and do was get a few 3-4" blocks cut and further sanded to become kitchen chopping boards. I believed it to be a better alternative to plastic boards.

Thanks RS90. I too made one as a cutting board, see the big cat has taken it as his cushion already

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

You'll lose the fun of it, trust me, the dremel will blast through the wood like its cake, and you'll get a very unnatural, flat, factory-made furniture look. As far as I know, there is NO polisher for wood, aluminium and other metals yes. Orbital buffers will again, make that natural work of art look like a machine made peg. Generally wooden polishing is either done by hand (original and best) or by spray, hand to wood working is very satisfying.

What about random orbital?

Sutripta

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by laluks

Suddenly got an idea to fill the otherwise free day. Got the tree trunks home, Kungfu Panda (Sr.) took them in his stride and brought it home effortlessly.

Wonderful use of the spare time.

Have a question about the transportation - I understand that KP Sr. took it home, but how did you manage to load and unload it. They must have been super heavy, right? Not only that, you handled it all by yourself while working on cutting and finishing the pieces?

Are you a secret superhero by any chance?

Originally Posted by GTO

I got something similar on my terrace

What is that grass on the floor? Real grass or mat?

If it's mat, how long is it expected to last in the Bombay weather?

If it's actually grass, please tell me what treatment you did for the slab before putting mud on it. I have plans to make a garden in one of my terraces.

[Old_Salt]

Great work, I too pulled out some old equipment and made a small bbq table.
The wood came from some old window frames, polishing work has been deferred to a later date.

[samee_arian]

Recently I made a Ganesha from a discarded wood and was an instant hit amongst our layout folks

Wow... The Ganesha looks really nice...

[laluks]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Wonderful use of the spare time.

Have a question about the transportation - I understand that KP Sr. took it home, but how did you manage to load and unload it. They must have been super heavy, right? Not only that, you handled it all by yourself while working on cutting and finishing the pieces?

Are you a secret superhero by any chance?

The logs are heavy, but its all about how you planned it. Kungfu Panda (Sr.) was reversed on to the plot where the tree trunks were. Then boot was opened, a thick cardboard box from one of the amazon deliveries was kept covering the loading lip near the rear bumper and the seats were folded down and again covered with cardboard and news paper pieces.

Now the logs were tossed till it reached a distance which was good to put in the boot. Step 1 was to keep the log upright, slowly move till it touched the cardboard covering the loading lip. The movement was in a zig zag fashion with the heavy base on the ground. Step 2 was to let the log rest on the loading lip. Step 3 lift the log up and slide in. For this the right height touching the loading lip is essential. This was managed by keepingf another log down. All in all these were three big logs. So its all about the execution. Had the logs been more heavier that what it was, it could have got a bit difficult on making it upright, lifting and sliding. But it was not the case.

Plus I regularly lift weights, right form my child hood. I used to get water out of the well using pulley and buckets, at least 20 to 25 buckets lifting at a time was the norm, some three times a day. Moving forward, I still keep doing pullups on single arm wherever I get a chance. So yes, you can say I can lift a decent amount of weights due to this.

Regarding secret superhero, I like that possibility, but for now I leave it to my weight trainings.

Originally Posted by Old_Salt

Great work, I too pulled out some old equipment and made a small bbq table.
The wood came from some old window frames, polishing work has been deferred to a later date.

Cool Please do let me know on what polishing materials you will use later.

Originally Posted by samee_arian

Wow... The Ganesha looks really nice...

Thank you , the moment I saw that log I could see only Ganesha in my eyes. So took the plunge and made a few cuts here and there to what we see now.