Garden bench

Here is my version of the purple bench from www.woodworkingformeremortals.com. I made mine from pressure treated 2x4's and it cost less than $30 to build. It only took about three hours to put together.

Bandsaw Box

This was my first attempt at a bandsaw box. I took inspiration from a post on www.woodworkingformeremortals.com facebook page. I really liked the way the ply wood looked, and since i had some lying around, along with a bunch of red oak, that's what i used.

I used some purple heart cutoff that was lying on the bench for the handle and finished with  linseed oil.

It was really easy to make and only took half a day and most of that time was letting the glue dry. It does take a lot of sanding and would be easier with some smaller sanding tools. (all I had was a random orbit sander) Also, next time I will get a 1/8 blade for the bandsaw. It will make cutting the sharp radius on the corners much easier.

-t

Patio

Since my Pergola is finished and the wood has seasoned for at least a year, I thought it was time to add an extension onto the patio so that I could get my grill off of the main sitting part. I added a 11.5' x 6.5' paver area off to the west of the main patio. This was made with 12" x 12" plain concrete pavers from Lowe's and 6" x 6" autumn blend pavers for the edging from Menards.

It was an easy project to do. I added landscape fabric for weed control and a 2" layer of sand before laying the pavers on top. I had to make two cuts around the post closest to the house. These cuts were made with a 4.5" angle grinder and a diamond blade ($10 from menards), and was really simple to do.

As you notice the pergola was also stained a solid black during the process. I used Cabot's solid color stain and I would recommend it to anyone that will listen.