It occurred to me as I was working on a non T project today, that I would like to know what projects my T friends work on when not working on their T's.

I'm sure that not all of us are well enough off to have every home project that needs doing, hired out.
Steve recently posted a picture of him working on a cistern ... cool. So what projects do you do around the house?

The pictures below show a mailbox in the form of a lighthouse I've been working on this morning. The original is a fixture in our neighborhood and people here have come to expect to see it flashing and rotating every night. Unfortunately its slowly rotting away .... time to rebuild before it falls down.

So, got any projects going that keep you from working on your T ?

I am using screen door screen (bought 100 foot roll) to try and close up the barn where I park the cars to keep the bats out. This has turned out to be a bigger project than I anticipated.

I like bats but I do not like them crapping all over the cars.

I am working on a display of weapons of mass destruction from WWI for an up coming show

I make 18th century reproduction furniture using only tools from the period. I am also a writer on the same topic, having been published in Popular Woodworking, Fine Woodworking (later this month), and currently in negotiations for a book with one of the big woodworking publishers.

This is a copy of a c.1720 Philadelphia spice chest. Looks like a highboy, but is only 2 feet tall.

Bud, since you asked the question
1. Maintaining some miles of bob wire fence
2, Trying to finish restoration on an old house to keep the wife happy.(plan on living in it)
3. Feeding cattle in the summer time due to the current drought we are having.
4. Just finishing making my hay crop and trying to get the equipment ready for next year.(something always breaks)
5. Doing repair on cattle pens caused by some dead trees falling and breaking some of the boards. Drought caused a lot of trees to die.
6. Vaccination and sell time is almost here and that is fun rounding up and getting the cattle into a small pen and separating for sale or keep groups.
There is more, I just wanted to let you city folks know that there is more than an 8 to 5 job. Oh, I forgot, I am retired from my regular job.
Model T, I forgot, I plan on getting my 25 speedster out of my storage barn and ready for an up coming tour with the Centex Tin Lizzies. That tour is a little over a week away.

Bud, you need to knock the lighthouse over, and put up a large GPS receiver mockup. It was on the news that USCG is de-commissioning lighthouses, and has them for sale.

Summer


Winter


Any season

In other words Steve your working in your spare time!

As for me I keep my pastures mowed, trying to keep up with 39 head of cattle and calves, and just the other day fixing fences and getting my herd bull out of my neighbors pasture.

He also has a small herd of cows so go figure what my bull was after!

Another day in the life.

Whenever I am not working on the Hack...

I am working on the 15 runabout...(to you guys, that is one project, but my advice to you is that you tell the missus it is TWO...this does work in my house, she somehow sees the difference! )...

When I am not working on the '15, I'm usually doing something on the son's '26 Coupe over at his garage...(with the missus that now counts as three projects, starting to get it now????)...

When I'm not working on the sons '26 Coupe I 'might' do something on the '25 Fordor but that is almost a hopeless cause so get ADHD quick...(but still project 4 in the missus book as she remembers it 'when' )...

So next in line is working on other T's in the area with my fixed fee schedule of no money ever exchanges...they provide lunch or take me out to lunch...and when the afternoon gets smoking hot they better have cold beer and lots of it! (The missus is still willing to count this sort as Project #5 but she does so with a lifted eyebrow...I think she is getting ready to redefine this as social because she wants to know why I break what sounds to her as a relatively simple task into 3 visits!)

So far, still not too far fetched...

The next in line WAS driving 40 miles to the youngest sons to play with grand-kids...it took precedence over projects even most of the above ...but he decided to take a job in Florida and moved 800 miles away

After that I do work for Vietnam Era Seabees as a national officer and then add other veteran local things in there...

After that I do heirloom reproduction furniture on the order of Zachary above...I'll sneak in a power tool though for rough cuts

I don't have time to work on the house or do much landscaping...but every now and then all other projects come to a screeching halt because the missus simply stands there, hands on hips, and says "H-E-L-L-O?" but it sort of sounds like it ends in an exclamation point! I'm not about to ask her which but when I smile she mentions something around the house that needs tending and I'll say, 'right away!'.

Making a heavier pole out of some scrap two-inch pipe for the bird feeder. The store-bought one-inch thin-wall pole has been nicely bent over by our neighbor bear three times. My wife loves the birds. I should have it back up today.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2

Wayne

My wife's a bird lover/feeder too. If I had all the money we've spent for bird seed, I could buy that Dussenberg I've always wanted.

Oh, I forgot. Another spring and summer activity:


If there was a market for Johnson grass and poison ivy I could get all my exercise hauling money to the bank.

I do these. It some times involves some one that bought a kit opened the box then closed it and put it in the attic. The one shown was given to me (unassembled)by a neighbor that bought it for his daughter. 22 years ago! I've done about 10 over the years and it's a little disheartening to hear Mom say to daughter "You're not playing with this".

Well, that T speedster I planned to get running only needed a battery and fan belt tightening and it was good to go. Will test run it tomorrow and hopefully it is ready for the one day tour.
Maybe a wash job in the morning as it has a thick layer of dust on it.
Cows making sounds like they want more hay, so off I go go to finish that today.

When I became the drummer in my church's music ministry, it became necessary to come up with a set of drums that didn't look and sound as awful as the cheapie practice set I used at home. -Problem was, the price of a new set of high-quality drums was in the $5,000 range and there was no way I could afford that. -So, I did some online research, watched a few instructional videos, read some how-to books, bought the materials and brass hardware, and built my own set of drums.



http://www.drum-building-secrets.com/homemade-drum-set.htm

Keeping up with the yard work (about three or four acres and a pond) helping wife with her kennel, working on the other vintage cars (non-Ts), occasional wood working, and running to docs keeps me busy enough.

Bob, I don't know what the material cost, but the drums look darn good.

I cut the weeds on one acre with a hoe and rake. By the time I have finished, a new crop is ready to cut.
Norm

Mercy,been busier than a 1 arm paper hanger. my neighbor saw the work I have done on a couple of my golf carts and has drug in a 88 Ezgo and a 86 Melex. Both need battery racks and some trouble shooting on the electrics but are decent carts for the small amount of money he paid for them.
I have became that old guy down the road that fixes lawnmowers.There is always something coming in to patch up. My projects, I fit them in as I can now.As the stuff I can make a bit of funds on I do that first. Helps pay on my bills.

I mow a couple of yards on a bi weekly basis. That covers my phone bills and such.
We have 6 acres here and I do the upkeep of it.
The garden has took up a good bit of time this year as I had the biggest ever. 60 by 135 at my neighbors and it was full of stuff. a smaller 1 here at home.
But I supplied alot of folks with tomatoes to can as between mine and my friends plants we had over a 100. I am learning how to can tomato juice. Also made and froze some spaghetti sauce. :>)
It was good! I made my own grape jelly this year for the first time.My dad had let his grapevines kinda go down hill. Last winter I rebuilt the cedar fence thing they grow on and I pruned and mulched them. Had a good yield for only 7 vines.
The past couple weeks my dad has been recovering from hernia surgery. The last doc botched it about 4 years ago and it had to be took out and redone. So he is a chair potato with tv remote while I tend to everything.

Well, as winter is coming, I have been doing things around my car barn to get ready for the restoration season. Stripped and painted the concrete floors in the museum. Finished laying carpet for all the running cars to rest on during the winter.

Tending to some long over do chores, like sorting corse and fine thread nuts, separating lock washers from flat ones. Installing shelves to put nuts, bolts, washers, and misc fasteners on.

Installing new hi output t-8 lighting in the machine shop. Cleaning the fire box for my used motor oil furnace as well as the filters and oil supply system.

Once the weather turns, its restoration full speed ahead. The schedule calls for the completion of my 1928 4cyl Chev powered dirt track race car. This is a priority as I want to ship it to Lincoln for the speedster run next June.

just sayin'

brasscarguy

Have a house to get ready for winter. Once the roof is finished, there's painting to do, then shore up the north side in the basement so I can replace the bottom plate that supports the first floor joists. Since they filled in between the joists with poured concrete, need to remove that, get the plate under the joists, sister the joists that have ends rotted off then replace the rotted rim joist. Sole plate for the wall studs isn't looking too healthy in a couple of spots either. Next year, inspect the south side and (possibly) repeat although I think that side is relatively sound. Then insulate, insulate, insulate.

Have a barn to tear down and two to try saving. Thinking of buying tarps and hanging them over the roofs and hanging cinder blocks to hold them down as a temporary "fix" since I can't get to them anytime soon.

And I'm taking up beekeeping to boot.

Place has gotten pretty "brushy" over the past 30 years too. My bachelor uncles lived here and didn't keep anything up. Figured we'd just bulldoze the place when they were gone.

Steve, do you have a camera-man (person..oops, P.C.) follow you, or are you just good at setting the timed-exposure and running back to your work?

I'm a photographer, here are some of the photos I did for the Piquette plant in Detroit

https://www.facebook.com/francisfotos/photos/a.159114474149324.36262.14470364892 3740/717708768289889/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/francisfotos/photos/a.159114474149324.36262.14470364892 3740/721368451257254/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/francisfotos/photos/a.159114474149324.36262.14470364892 3740/728247070569392/?type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/francisfotos/photos/a.159114474149324.36262.14470364892 3740/724847814242651/?type=3&theater

Tim, they're almost all selfies, done with the timer. Someday when my ship comes in I'll hire somebody to follow me around, but not for taking pictures. His job will be to keep track of where I leave things.

Hi Tony,

Those are some great photos.

Andrew

Taking Calculus 3 on the way to a mechanical/aerospace engineering degree. That eats up most of my "free" time when I'm not driving the T. Everything else falls under the "wife" category.

Bob you have a beautiful set of drums! Being in rock and country bands off and on since the 60's brings back a lot of memories.
I still play guitar in our Church.

You might know this but old drum sets from the 50's-70's are getting to be collectors items.
I can remember the Ludwig sets I use to be around.
Neat job Bob!

I'm looking forward to the day when I'll have more time to work on my '26 Runabout, but until then I have my hands full finishing the addition to our 1936 lake house. Seven years ago I started work with a contractor to frame and finish the exterior and since then it's been a one man operation starting with an empty shell. I was an automotive machinist and plumbing contractor by trade and I enjoy every aspect of home building, be it plumbing, heating, electrical wiring, insulation, masonry, tile work and rough and finish carpentry. Even though it's taking a bit of time, my wife has the patience of an angel and she does enjoy painting and staining, which I do not. I'm sure you all can relate to the satisfaction of doing it yourself and knowing it's done correctly.

I've been taking flying lessons... am near to solo time for my sport pilot gyroplane license. Of course to solo you need an aircraft, so I am building:



I hope to be in the air with this Gyroplane in about a month if the FAA certification comes through. Here is my rendering of the finished look.



Of course any good project has some model T part in it. Modern gyroplanes spin up their rotor before their take off run. This week I machined a model T bendix pinion to fit onto a modern electric starter motor to use as a pre-rotator. Here is the trial fit of the pinion:



Here is the pinion welded to a new hub.



TH

As a 40+ year pilot, I would recommend that you think long and hard before you solo and also commence the first test flight of a homebuilt aircraft. If you are an experienced pilot who is just getting a gyroplane rating - maybe. I would want to solo in an aircraft that I have previously flown. Remember, you will be an experimental test pilot on that first flight and many subsequent flights. We don't want to lose any T lovers.

I have been restoring a 1996 Rexhall Aerbus motor home. Bought it salvage in February and took our first trip in it the beginning of August. We will be using it to go to the covered bridge tour and then traveling around Indiana and Ohio through out October.

John, my CFI is a lifelong fixed wing CFI,also instructs helicopters, gliders, parasails etc. He has volunteered to be the test pilot. We will be following the FAA test procedures suggested in their publication. I've got the required minimum hours for solo, but agree with him I'm not ready yet. I won't solo until after the plane is tested, I'm ready, have my endorsement, and conditions are right.

Goofy FAA regs which apply only to gyros make it impossible to do the solo in the two place trainer I know. The LODA let's him train in it, but not provide it for student solos.

TH

Sometimes I like playing dress-up:

So jealous...

Oh come on kep........down there in beautiful New Zealand you can't tell me you don't do any other interesting things!
I have a friend from Masterton.......he and 3 traveling companions were here about a month ago....... .......this is the 3rd time he's been HERE here.

I coach competition netball for a local Adelaide club. I coach most grades from U11 to seniors. I coach 1 team through the more competitive winter season and normally 2 teams through the less competitive "fun" summer season. It keeps me busy!!!

The heading of this string, "Your 'other' life", reminds me of a quote from "Deep Thoughts", by Jack Handy;

"In life, I hope I never do anything to embarrass my family... or my other family."

Was that Handy or Lindberg? (or my other family or my other family or....ect.)

I scan old magazine covers, advertisement, photos, post cards and others and change them into posters that I have printed on birch plywood. I have about 60 that I have made in sizes from `10x10 inches unto 4 x 6 feet. Here is an example. The 4x6 ft one is a1909 map of Lake Minnetonka.

`.

Darel

How do you print a poster on plywood ?

Nope, Can't say i do anything at all outside of work.

kep

If you have a full time job and you keep up a model T, you DO have about all your time occupied!

When I started this thread I was thinking of many of us who are retirees. Keeping a single T running just will not occupy enough hours a week and I was wondering if we spent the rest of our time in the LazyBoy.

Well, OBVIOUSLY not! I am amazed at how many of us (especially the more senior of us) haven't slowed down a bit! I think that's a great thing.

Thanks everyone for sharing your "other" lives!

I spend time in the woods and on the water when I can. The buck was opening day of archery season, 2012. The fish is a 107# Opah from late July 2014.

I've seen sunfish while after albacore; are they good eating?

Yup, they're great eating! There is a commercial market for them but not a commercial fishery. They are not a school fish, generally an incidental catch while fishing deep for tuna or long lining. This was on a jig while fishing for blue fin, somewhere in the 300-400 deep range.

The ones I saw were near the surface in a kelp patty, and very docile. Not the same fish?

BTW, this is my other life...

Gustav, is that second photo of the red mask and box a russian ww1 mask? looks like one to me. Those are really hard to come by now! I really like the looks of ww1 german masks, which were debatebly the best masks of the war. I'm a huge world war history fan and have my own small collection. Used to have an M44 mosin nagant in the collection but sold it.

I think it's different... The Opah has a common name of moonfish and are generally 300-1200 feet deep. I forgot to mention, i'm building all of my own rods now, sort of keeps me in the fishing mood all year. So everything I caught this year and last were on home built rods.

Tons of creative guys here...not surprising.

I haven't been on here much as virtually all of my free time on the computer has been devoted to maintaining and administrating our website. I don't even do any gaming anymore.

I did take some time out to do two things over the summer - I've lost 80 pounds since May and recently restored a small jewelry armoire for one of my granddaughters.

I wish I had a "before" pic of this. It was pretty rough, brush painted an ugly brick red, missing knobs and one hinge. Found it on Craigslist in the free section and brought it back to life.

Matthew,
Yes the second is a Russian Kumont Zalinskie mask, they are rather rare, I have a relic with out the rubber hood as well that I have restored to display with a mannequin. I acquired this from a friend and I nearly cost more than my T. I agree that the German masks were the best, the French ARS17 and the Belgian M1918 were copies of the German mask, the Belgian mask even used captured face masks but were adapted to take the French ARS 17 filters. The top one is a British PH hood, one of the first masks developed to combat phosgene gas, and the last is a nice example of the French M2 mask that was nothing more than a gauze face mask with eye pieces and was soaked with a chemical to neutralize what ever gas was encountered.
Here is a British SBR

And a German Gummi Maske

German Lederschutz Maske

Austrian mask much like the German Gummi

French ARS 17

Belgian m1918
and American SBR copied from the British mask

Opps ,sorry Mr. Jelfs, I forgot to hit return once

I thought I would add a bit of trivia, why would you think it is a felony to import a gas mask? Because chemical and biological weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction by our government, and gas masks are classified as defensive weapons under that category. This is an explanation as to why there were WMDs found in Iraq by US intelligence services. The news media and politicians have a different definition, which oddly enough now includes cooking pots and fireworks

These little guys keep me pretty busy...


(looking through the back window of Bruce Bordelon's 1922 Model TT original-paint Schurmeier wood cab)

I have sooo many interest but thought some of you would enjoy this windmill. I restored it 5 years ago.

Here is where I spend at least part of my free time. This was Saturday night in Shoshone, Idaho performing with the Western Music Association//Acadamy of Western Artists, etc., Vocalist of the Year, Kristyn Harris from Texas. In this shot we were doing "Faded Love" and she was singing harmony for me, (our second fiddler is out of sight, we played twin fiddles on this show) later I played fiddle on her show as backup. We also presented a seminar on Western Swing, jammed a bunch, got interviewed for some newspaper or magazine article, had an autograph and photo session, got interviewed by some TV station that was doing a feature on the event, etc., etc.

Stan - Looking good!

Keith

Which other life? Retired navy, Short haul trucker, AOL help desk, Central Control Operator in a large building Down Town?

Much of my "other" life, for much of my life, involved keeping my hands dirty.......mostly with things like these:














And a whole lot more for other people.
www.andersonofrosholt.com

So much so I got burned out on tractors and switched to cars.......

(I'm getting a different preview every time so don't know how many pics will actually post)

In my other life I am a family Historian, an affliction as bad as Model T's. For more than 47 years I have been on the trail of a few elusive ancestors. Through DNA testing, I know that my Nichols line comes from Wales, and on my mother's side I am descended from all the Royal families of Europe. Wintertime is research for family info, and no I do not utilize ancestry.com very much except as a clue. I like to travel to where ancestors actually lived, search local records, and visit their graves. I recently created a 45 generation print out of 2,565 pages.
for a grand niece

We're quite the Renaissance bunch, with a remarkable variety of other activities. Something I didn't mention from an earlier life is real radio. If you're as old as I am, you know what that means. During the summer of 1983 I produced a series of radio dramas for KCSN, with my old buddy Herb Schmidt directing. We did a radio noir detective drama set in the forties (The Body in Bixby Slough), a western (Incident at Mud Creek), a Halloween fantasy (The Witches' Ring), a hard-boiled detective parody (Justin Thyme), and a few others. Going in, we put out a call at Cal State Northridge for writers who wanted to take a crack at radio. A bunch of folks showed up, but when I pointed out that radio is much different from TV and Movies, and suggested that everybody read Erik Barnouw's book on writing for radio, they all bailed. So I wrote a script, Herb and I collaborated on one, we adapted some scripts from the forties, and we had one outside submission. We both did a little acting too. It was simultaneously great fun and a colossal pain in the posterior. Some of the actors thought I should schlep all the studio equipment to the Valley every week to spare them the inconvenience of driving to Lomita. We had one totally clueless aspiring writer who fancied himself a new Hammett and came up with a boneheaded script that was about half a step above gibberish, complete with stage directions (He smiles. Try that on radio.) To this day, all I have to do is mention his name to see Herb's blood pressure visibly rise. I wouldn't mind doing more radio sometime, but right now I'm busy.


I have some studio shots, but they're not digital and I'm not going rummaging for them now. This shot of the old man at the 44BX will have to do.

I do phone systems and data systems for a day job.....But do radio voice overs for fun and some pay....

I have been doing quite a bit of work in my church's 18th century cemetery. Pruning trees, repairing headstones and marble piers. Researching some of the stone carvers whose work is here. I do this work for free with my two man crew. Landscaping here has been a bit slow for the last week.

What keeps me from working in my 'T'?

- full-time job working on aircraft
- a 1925 Ford T V8 hot rod
- refurbishing/tearing down old houses
- providing illustration and research support to historians, novelists, and scientists
- family (my little girl loves to ride in the hills in one of the roadsters, my boy loves to hit the cars shows and cruise-ins).

Overall, life is pretty good.

Steve, that's awesome. I love radio. From the time my grandpa got me my first shortwave receiver for Christmas when was 11 years old, I was hooked.

Up until about 2 years ago, I ran an underground FM station called "Radio Free Veneta". It had a coverage of about 20 square miles which covered both of the little towns here for the most part.

I produced a few fun shows and some interesting George Norry (sp) kind of things and played a lot of non-mainstream music. It was fun for a few years.

At 69 years old and I should know better but I am still working a "Real Job" as manager of two process Labs - one in Massachusetts and one in Shanghai.
The labs cover surface mount and high temperature electronics and solar cell assembly.
Some people consider me an "expert" on processing lead free solder but my skills cover many products that require thermal processing.

I have written over 18 magazine articles, presented technical papers at a couple dozen conferences (received multiple Best presentation awards) and written the chapter on solder reflow that is in the Handbook of Electronic Assembly and A Guide to SMTA Certification that was released in April of this year.

I will be in Rosemont Illinois this week end giving a 1/2 day class on Solder Reflow Fundamentals at the Surface Mount Technology Association International conference.

Up until recently I spent the Friday nights I was in the US in the tower at Lee Speedway a NASCAR Track helping with the races.

So, I've been mostly retired since I was 40, now 70+. Then along came my new younger wife, for a wedding present I gave her my Subaru Service center. Turns out she is much better business owner than I ever was. She has quadrupled the business and opened a 2nd service center, and she loves cars and never questions what I buy or what I spend.

Now for the best part, she likes loud and fast cars and I like old and slow. So my job is to keep every one up and running so we can play and tour as the mood strikes. So I maintain her Shelby Cobra a couple of vintage Ferrari's and of course the old and slow brass era cars.

Now for the best best part. I get a paycheck every week not for what I do but in her words, "to stay away from the stores for another week".

I even have a list of guys that want to apply to be my assistant, go figure.

just sayin,

brasscarguy

Commercial General Contractor with the occasional ultra high end home.

My other life.... Spend time with my son Carston and my wife Melissa. helping my mom with our small DIY restoration and hot rod shop( Becker's DIY Restorations LLC)

I also drive commercial truck for Alpenrose Dairy delivering dairy products and Ice cream full time. I keep my hands dirty keeping the family collection of 5 cars running,( 1906 Holsman, 1909 Brush, 1913 White, 1917 Hupmobile, 1917 Speedster and 1919 Model T) currently repairing the worn out motor from our 1906 Holsman auto buggy.

Steve Jelf, et al,

I have been recreating old time radio (OTR) in the metro Detroit area for decades now. I LOVE old radio and think that it is a lost art form. I've accumulated a collection of vintage microphones and sound effects that occupies a corner of my basement. I also have a file cabinet nearly full of copyright-free vintage scripts.

I started doing them at Greenfield Village and it's grown from there. I was completely taken aback by the response to the shows, not expecting the younger crowd to enjoy them as much as they do.

I rewrote the script to "It's a Wonderful Life" as a radio show to play to the ear (The Lux Radio version is awful) and this has become a nearly annual event.

About 90 percent of the sound effects are done live, on stage and not recorded, we dress in period clothing and, present the shows as if the audience were walking into a 1930s-40s radio studio.

I have been in radio for far longer than I'd like to admit (no, I did not start with Marconi!) and continue to work in Detroit area radio for WWJ. I also do stage, TV and screen acting (I was the lawyer at the end of "Gran Torino" - go to IMDB.com and search my name, if you'd like.)

I may have been born too late because I would have loved to have been a radio actor in New York or L.A. in the 30s and 40s.

Oh, I'll post some pics as soon as I get a chance.

There is a old time radio guy in Seattle, Jim French, and he and his buds do old time radio mysteries. They used to do it for a live audience, and record it for a later play time on the radio. I believe the sluths' name is Harry Nile.

I am old enough to remember the great old radio programs on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Some that come to mind, The Whistler, Gang Busters, Judy Canova, The Lone Ranger, "your's truly Johnny Dollar", and many more I have forgotten. I remember looking into the Philco green tuning eye imagining the programs coming to life.

just sayin'

brasscarguy

I do what I can to get the kids and grandkids interested in Model T's.

Someone asked how one prints a poster on plywood. It is done on a flat bed printer, 5 feet by 10 feet. It has a vacuum bed to pull the plywood flat. The printer has 24 heads and is used to print on various materials including foam core. It is used also to print banners. The manufacture I use does a lot of corporate work.