Terry and the tornado relief trip

We left early Saturday morning at 5:00 am for Birmingham Alabama.

We met at a baptist church and got a work order to go to Pleasant Grove AL.

This is the first house we worked. I you have been in Columbus, or Atlanta then you know how thick and tall the trees are in the area. Pleasant Grove was no different. This picture is on the edge of the tornado damage area. Some of the houses and trees are still standing. We drove pick up trucks down into the back yard and loaded all kinds of wood and limbs and debris. Then we piled it at the curb in front of the houses for the city to dispose of.

This is the second house which was right next to the first house.

The rest of the pictures are from the more devastated area. There are miles of this area where there is nothing left. You can see where one house was moved about 30 feet off of its foundation and on to the drive way.

 

The rusty hinge

This is just a little about my life lately. I have been working on three new (to me) wood working tools. You might ask, " why work on a new tool?" Answer: They are very old. First one is a sears jointer. I didn't really want it, but it came as one piece of a set. He wouldn't sell them separately. These tools need restoration. This jointer predates the craftsman series of Sears tools and was probably made around the late 1930's. The tool line is called companion. One of the things I have been working on is the decals. Maybe someone out there can help me with them.

This is a picture of one decal I got from another owner of one of these tools

This is what I have been able to make out of the original by editing with paint.net free internet software. It is kind of like micorsoft paint I think. I have some directions off of the net as to how to turn this into a decal that can be applied. I like to think of it as an old looking decal in perfect condition. I think that is better than the next picture I found that someone made to look like a new decal. I don't like it. What do  you think? new looking or old looking?

This is just too new looking for an old tool.

Why is it that this thing puts pictures in the reverse order, #2 above #1 and #3 above #2 I hate it. Can you tell me how to post these pictures better? As it is I go into edit html and cut and past the photo where I want it. It would be less painful to do it right the first time.

This picture is how I received it. Very dirty and dusty and rusty after 3 years in a barn.

This is after the restoration, but before the decals. The decal goes right in the center on that shinny spot.

I found the bushing/bearings are bad now that I have it all together and running. I can get new bushings for under $10 dollars. This was an exercise to see if I could do this without destroying the machine. All the rust was removed by electrolysis. Basically putting parts in a bucket of water and connecting the battery charger to it for 24 hrs. one piece at a time (not the whole machine). The blue paint is very near the original color. I found it in spray cans at Walmart for under $2.

By the way the rusty hinge is really my achillies tendon. It is really strange you can hear it creak.  If you want to you can feel it creak while I move my foot. I rode 70 miles yesterday and the rusty hinge just showed up.