I have a Dream 2

[Ted Schefelbein]

It is a shop, with living quarters above, situated in some of the nicest motorcycle riding imaginable. Green fields, decent roads, Lake Michigan a hop, skip, and a jump away. Dan is a hell of a host.

When I was there, I met a guy named Pat, and a guy named Dan, who turned out to be brothers I didn't know I had.

My brothers, working on my bike, in Dan's shop:



Outside the Mexican restaurant, on the shore of Lake Michigan, Pat and I, and three great bikes. It was an awesome day.



Ted

[giantkiller]

Sure was Ted hope to have many more.

[maddog56]

More pics

WELL DONE my BROTHER!!!!

[racerrad8]

Very impressive Dan

That's going to be very cool...I mean hot to not have to shovel that massive driveway

Randy - RPM

[giantkiller]

Very impressive Dan

That's going to be very cool...I mean hot to not have to shovel that massive driveway

Randy - RPM

Thanks Randy. And thank you for allowing me a place to share my LLLOOONG journey.

I was thinking on nice sunny days I could divert all the heat to the slab under the deck have a cookout  and sit around in my shorts in the middle of winter. Lol.

[giantkiller]

So I was at my friends house last summer. And he has this eight foot long peice of oak made out all different sized pieces finger joined together. Pulled out to the front of his garage. His ex girlfriend used to work at a great big cabinet maker. And she ran around on her breaks gathering up all the scraps of oak and had the guys glue them together to make him a workbench for his garage. She even had 3 six foot long 4×4s made of the same wood so he could cut them in half and have 6 legs. That was 17 years ago.
I said what are you going to do with that. He said he was going to give it to his cousin. But his cousin didn't know what he was going to do with it. I said I know what I'll do with it.
It was only 24" wide and 4" thick. And weighed about a thousand pounds.
So I took it back to the same  cabinet manufacturer. 5 minutes from my house. And asked if they could make it as wide as possible and plain it down to 2 1/4". They said sure. And that they could only make it 36" wide. I told them no hurry just do it when they got the time... 6 months go by and. I hadn't heard from them. I stopped by and went into the office. And asked about it. Nobody knew anything about it. They called the owner at home and he knew all about it and it was done. The guy I was talking to was the plant manager. He brought it around on a forklift and loaded it into my truck. And said. There you go. I said thanks but I haven't paid for it. He said oh! I'll have to go talk to the guy who did the work on it... He comes back and says. He plained the original down to just over 2 1/4". Added all the rest on to make it wider and then sanded it all down to match. And it's 39" wide.  I'm thinking oh shit this is going to cost me $3 or $400 or something. He says how about a hundred bucks? I said ok, thank you very much... That's the very long story of how I got this really cool custom peice of solid oak. For $100

So here's what I'm going to do with it. I'm putting it on some steel workbench legs And it's going to be the island in my kitchen. The legs have angled feet  so they look kinda cool. Going to paint them satin black to match my cabinets.
Here's some pictures of it so far. Going to Have 11" overhang one side and one end for 4 stools for seating. 39" wide × 90" long.

[giantkiller]

I don't do anything with wood working. I'll find some minimal stain for it. That'll look good. But does anybody know what the best most durable clear coat. I should use. That'll stand up to water etc.
More  pictures.

[aviationfred]

I don't do anything with wood working. I'll find some minimal stain for it. That'll look good. But does anybody know what the best most durable clear coat. I should use. That'll stand up to water etc.
More  pictures.

I think a good Epoxy Bar Top finish would do the trick

https://youtu.be/pcsFdQXjE94


Fred

[giantkiller]

Just realized I didn't post any pictures of the island after I stained and cleared it. What a PIA. Had to sand it down and start all over. Still not great.  But not doing it again. That's why I like metal. Wood sucks. Still have to lightly blast and paint the workbench legs satin black. And then carry the top up the stairs and put it all together in the kitchen.

[giantkiller]

Going to have 3 stools on the living room side. Get rid of the kitchen table and chairs.
Could easily seat 8 stools around it when I have company over.

[giantkiller]

The water here's wreaking havoc on my equipment waterheater, faucets, toilet etc. I hate salt slimy feeling. So have been resisting putting in a softener. Then I found Nuvo h20  whole house filter and softener. Softener works from citrus. And will actually remove old deposits I had to be a littlest inventive on mounting it. This mounts on the wall. Had planned on floor based salt system. This is a couple weeks of use.

[giantkiller]

Inventive mounting. Spaced it out in front of PRV and incoming water main. With a piece of oak 4×4.

[giantkiller]

No flushing the system. No electricity/water usage.  No electrical/drain hookup need. No hauling 40lb bags of salt. Can be used to water house plants. Drinking. Is septic compatible.

The manor (larger system) cartridges handle about 50,000 gallons. If you sign up for auto ship. They will send you both cartridges every 6months. And give you free shipping 10% discount. $149. I will use about 34,000 gallons a year. So will get a good backup of cartridges. And then cancel auto ship.

[Pat Conlon]

Dan, thanks for the update...your table turned out bitchen.   
Question on your water filter cartridges... when do you know to change the filters?
Is there a pressure increase as the filters silt up? I see a pressure gauge on the system.
.....or is the filter change based on flow volume? After X amount of gallons, the filters are changed.....
......or is it based on the time of service? After X months, the filters are changed.

Cheers lad

Pat

[giantkiller]

They say on their  website  that the  manor system will treat 50,000 gallons. And the smaller system only treats 20,000 gallons. I use about 34,000 gallons a year. So I'm going to shoot for once a year. I'm sure it depends on your water also. My water tastes much better. Now. They do auto ship. Every 6 months.
The pressure gage is because water pressure is very high here. 93 psi. I installed a PRV. And the gage is for setting the pressure to the house. 65psi is considered on the  high end for apliance life etc. Pressure above 80psi if you have a water hammer situation can actually blow out brass fittings.