A Mister Fix-it of Sorts

Or perhaps it should be "build it". Before I retired in 1991, I was an industrial mechanic, and most of my woking life was spent in trades that repaired, installed and fabricated industrial equipment. So in a small way the toy and gadgets I tinker with reflect what I was familiar with in the workplace. I was one of those people who actually enjoyed his work. One of my pet projects is working on a 1950s John Deere 420 bulldozer I bought from a farmer a few years ago. You can see it here if you like. Actually I have two of them. I bought the second tractor at a yard sale mostly for parts--although it was still runnuing. It had a nice winch on it which I installed on the tractor I am rebuilding. The roof and guards on it--if you looked at the picture--I built to protect against being hit by branches and small trees. I live in the rural part of Bracebridge, Ontario, and I have a few acres of heavy bush on my property.

This brings me to another of my projects. I thought I should make some furniture from wood I had on my own land. I had maple and other hardwoods which needed a little thinning to give the younger trees a better chance. So I needed a sawmill. The furniture making didn't get very far but I did build the sawmill one winter. You can see it here. A bandsaw mill came in kit form which was designed to sit on the ground while in operation. This was not exactly what I had in mind but I felt I could do something with it. I had a heavy duty trailer with dual wheels which I lengthened to twenty three feet or so. It ended up as the base for my mill which I built with some alterations to suit my own needs. The picture shows me sawing a piece of yellow birch crosswise, which not what sawmills normally do, but a friend of mine [who is also retired] was making stools with cribbage boards built into them, and cutting pieces with a chainsaw leaves a surface that requires a great deal of planing and sanding. A bandsaw mill leaves a finish which requires very little work. So I improvised jigs and fixtures so I could cut in any angle. My friend has made cribbage boards from yellow birch I've cut diagonally that are four feet long with the bark still all around them--in fact they double as coffee tables.
There are of course other pastimes from repairing bicycles to making maple syrup but I won't bore anyone further. These projects are much like homepages--they just never seem to be finished. However--should someone still be with me--there is one hobby that is the very reason this page is on the Net. That is my tinkering with computers. The high tech world of microchips and the computer code it must have to operate is very different from the world of mechanical assembly and the fabrication and welding that goes with it. It calls for a separate page. Here is where you can find it. I welcome any comments and can be reached at ksikola@muskoka.com.

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