Recykler

2013-11-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Hi DIY's! This is a project I've wanted to do for a long time but since I use my kitchen so much I really had to time it right. Everyone knows how much I like to cook and repurpose old things and my kitchen was no different. When I bought this house I gutted it and rebuilt it the way it fit me. Since I'm a big man I don't like to bump into things while I'm trying to do something so out with all the needless items and I'm 6'4" so, I don't like working while bending over either. This kitchen was originally a "Galley" type (more like a hallway) and I wanted to be able to exit the back of the house without having to go through the kitchen so I needed an Island. I just saw cut the floor from the wall where all the service was over to where the new sink would be. I bought several antique sideboards that I thought were interesting and built the cabinets around them. This post is about the countertops so I'd better get to it. I rescued two pallets of Travertine pavers headed for the landfill because they had gotten broken during shipping from Italy and I like the way they looked and thought they'd make great stone countertops. You be the judge? This is what I started with~ (Yuk)

That's my helper my oldest Grandson Robert when he was about 3.

You can see I got rid of all the linoleum and carpet and then stained the concrete floor to look like stone.

Here's what it looks like now

You can see my old Imperial stove, another refuge from the dump. It came out of an old restaurant years ago and I've been dragging it around with me wherever I've lived. There's no gas in this neighborhood either so I plumbed the house for gas and installed two 100# propane bottles outside. I also took the overhead cabinets and hung them along the back wall of the garage so I didn't lose any storage space.

I took out some walls and built the paralipsis arches

All the lighting is now low voltage and suspended

So, back to the countertops- When I first built them I finished them with sealer just like the floor. It was very rustic and beautiful, but hard to keep clean so this time I refinished them with high temp

two part Epoxy resin so they would be sealed and flat on top like granite and easy to care for. But first I had to take off the old finish! Ha, ha, ha.

I taped off the room with 7 mil plastic to isolate as much of the dust as possible and wore gloves and a respirator.

Then after I got it all clean and down to the surface I used blue masking tape to create the "form" so the epoxy couldn't run off and it became self-leveling to create a flat surface. What you can't see is that I put a bead of clear caulking along the edge about an inch below the surface and when I taped the edge it sealed it so the epoxy couldn't run through any small cracks.

Epoxy isn't very forgiving, so once you mix the two parts together you're committed to use it immediately because of the chemical reaction. It will get hot and start to harden very quickly.

I put little colored glass tiles embedded in the grout.

There are fossils of ancient sea creatures that you can still see through the surface.

After the epoxy cured I stripped the form work and scrubbed the latex Caulking off and sanded the outer edge and gave it a rounded chamfer to make it all nice and smooth.

Next was a few coats of semi-gloss paint on the edges to match the rest of the kitchen.

You can see how the finish really magnifies all the detail in the stone and gives the kitchen quite a dramatic effect.

I hope you like the results as much as I do. I can't wait to get back to cooking in it! Thanks for looking and please subscribe and tell your friends. Feel free to contact me any time.

Old is new and vice versa. Our only limitation is our imagination so lets all try to keep something out of landfills and remember, we only live in a disposable world if we support corporations that produce junk.

2013-10-01T14:58:00.001-07:00

This is an awesome prefab house that creates 150% of all the energy it needs, not mention all the waste conventional building techniques create and continue to waste. Hmmmm?

2013-09-30T18:17:00.003-07:00

Howdy, This is a little four (4) minute video of my first patented safety product. I'm actively searching for a manufacturing partner to help get it made and start saving lives! Thanks for looking and please tell your friends. Adios, ~Superman~

2012-12-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

I love when a plan comes together!

Nothin's prettier than workin art.

Pork butt-when that sweet fat melts it'll baste the Turkey underneath it. Pork fat rules!

These cans are full of the apple cider I marinaded the meat in for over a week. They're surrounded by hickory chips that have been soaked in water. When it cooks the cider turns to steam and mixes with the smoke keeping the meat nice and moist. Can you imagine what this will taste like? I will in about an hour!

Staying right around 200 degrees, just enough to slowly melt the pork fat and make the turkey melt in your mouth. MMMMMMM~

Is there anything more beautiful than that sight and smell in the morning?

A beautiful bird

Boneless Pork butt covered in Gentle Special, drip, drip, drip~

5 Chili Salsa right out of the garden with a mango and a couple huge avocados. I see tacos in my future. Wish you were here~

2012-09-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ta-Da! ok cool cats, I finished the paint & detail yesterday so scroll on down and take a look at the finished product!

I looked all over trying to find "stove handles" without luck, to keep the handles from getting so hot you couldn't grab them without mitts on so I finally decided to just make them out of some stainless steel tubing I had.

Here's how they turned out. I also extended the mounting brackets to accommodate your fingers. They have a really nice feel and work great.

This old nursery shelf and busted shopping cart made a pretty nice heat shield and handy shelf for maybe a big pot of BBQ sauce???

Let me know what you think of the art work? It has a dual purpose. It's also the heat shield for this side.

These drag bars are perfect for rolling the unit around. I still need to find a pair of grips. Anyone got an old pair?

I didn't add a mount for the propane tank because it will actually fit inside one of the drawers. It makes a smaller profile that way and saves some space for something else. (hopefully just as useful)

I put the thermostat at the top of the top drawer because this is the hottest place and easiest to read. Once the whole thing is heated up to around 225-250 for wet smoking you don't have to do anything but check on the wood chips and liquid periodically and replenish when needed. The hard part is waiting for it while you can smell it cooking! I hope you like it. This was a lot of fun and a little challenging at times. I can't wait to put it to use, and on to the next one!

2012-09-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

Hi again all you hungry hombres`! This is me in front of my next project. So- back to the wet smoker.

It took me a while to find the material I wanted, but after careful investigation of the back of several big box stores I managed to liberate some discarded shelves and a smashed shopping cart.

Made a "grate" heat shield and work surface

Igniters are pretty finicky so I covered all the ignition wires with shrink tubing to help prevent arcing, and with 50,000 volts it ain't easy! Next it was covered again with a heat resistant wire loom.

Wires and copper lines go through small channel.

This is fitting the burner and igniter under the bottom drawer.

I test drove the system before final assembly to make sure the burner, igniter and control would have enough volume to generate enough heat through the bottom drawer and still be able to burn the hickory chips and gently boil the liquid to create steam.

As it turned out I needed to increase the jet size to achieve between 250 & 300 degrees.

I couldn't decide where to put the controls so I ended up making this little dash board and putting them where they made the most sense at eye level.

I really wanted the thermostat on the dash but none have flexible probes unless I used an electronic one so I just put it in the top drawer to get the most accurate information. The top of the wet smoker is the hottest area and closer to the bottom is the cooler area.

This is how it works in miniature just for test driving purposes! Ha, The wet chips go on the bottom and the liquid goes on top. As the wood heats up and smokes the liquid just barely boils releasing steam from whatever you put in it (like apple cider) MMMMM---

This is it's profile how it looks before painting.

I think I'll cook some swordfish on it tonight for my dinner, then I have to take it all apart tomorrow (or next week) and start on the paint.

Here it is in action! Yum, Yum, Yum I can't hardly wait! See ya soon, Adios~JG

2012-09-06T18:05:00.002-07:00

I added some reinforcement steel to support the handle bars.

First I had mounted the bars at the top of the cabinet but I'm tall and I thought it would be better served if I lowered them to a more reasonable height so I added this piece of sheet metal to give it plenty of support.

Here I tig welded the corners to stiffen the cabinet.

I used rivets on all the sheet metal for a strong long life of service, Yum!

The cabinet may get pretty hot so, I wanted to create some kind of heat shield, and add a touch of aesthetics to give it a little character. I made these spider webs from the file racks and spot welded them in place with the wire feed mig welder.

webs are done, for now next the burner and controls then to paint!

OK Guys & Dolls, here's the latest on the wet smoker

2012-08-29T18:55:00.001-07:00

Here's an old pair of drag bars from my Panhead with a simple black riser and two sets of solo seat springs. I'm gonna add the bars to the top back so it will be easy to move around and use the springs for the drawer handles like a wood stove. They'll act like a heat sink and keep the handles from getting "too hot to handle"! Ha, ha~

This is what the drawers look like after I cut out the bottoms so the smoke can travel all the way through the cabinet.

Notice the perfectly fitting wire grates I received in the mail all the way from Canada from Pauline compliments to her Mother!
Thank you both for such a nice gift and for allowing me to recycle some of your old stove. Don't you wish the rest of the world could get along and do something as simple and productive as we just did?

I had an old walker left over from when I had my hip replaced a few years ago and thought it could make a good contribution to this project. Here you can see that I mounted the wheels in back giving the cabinet a couple inches of ground clearance that I'll need later for circulation when I install the Gas burner.

simple 1/4"axle for walker wheels.

These are the front legs of the walker. I measured the necessary length and used a tubing cutter to cut them perfectly square.

I used a large uni-bit to drill out the cabinet bottom then slid the legs through and secured them with tech screws inside to both sides of the cabinet so the screws wouldn't be visible and creates a really strong leg and helps keep the cabinet stable for a long time

This is how she looks so far. Nice and stable and rolls around great!

Wet Smoker file cabinet

2012-08-09T15:32:00.000-07:00

When I disassembled the file cabinet I discovered that the drawer bearings were plastic.

I tested the plastic bearings in my commercial oven and discovered they would only withstand less than 300 degrees F before melting so, I removed all the plastic components from inside the cabinet.

I drilled out the old rivets that held all 32 plastic bearings and removed them.

Then replaced the old plastic bearings with new steel rivets acting as an axle and steel washers becoming the new drawer bearings.

New steel drawer bearing made from simple 3/16 X 5/16 steel rivet and 3/16 X 1" steel fender washers.

Completed heat resistant chassis for drawers

Finished cabinet with new steel heat resistant bearings that works fantastic! Ready for the next step of conversion to wet smoker- stay tuned!

2012-08-08T13:07:00.001-07:00

Howdy, OK here's my next project. I've wanted to do something like this for quite a while. I used to have a wet smoker and used it so much that I actually wore it it out and it literally fell to pieces! All my neighbors and friends wanted me to cook their thanksgiving and holiday turkeys. So I came up with this idea of converting a four drawer file cabinet into a wet smoker. Remember-"nothing is as it seems" so, you have to use your imagination. I just picked the file cabinet up this morning, Recycled from Savers here in Phoenix supporting the Boys and Girls clubs of Arizona so you'll have to follow me as work progresses and please feel free to leave a comment or any questions you may have, and thanks in advance for your support, Adios~JG

John Deere Gator 6X4

2012-07-31T11:31:00.002-07:00

Hi, I also picked up this Gator from the University of Missouri agroforestry Dept and have had a ton of fun restoring it. Me & "Jack" took it out to the desert and put it through it's paces and what a ball. This monster will climb a tree if you want. It's a real work horse.

Honda CR500 for sale too!

2012-07-31T11:26:00.003-07:00

This CR500 had been neglected and abused so I disassembled most of it and replaced the wheel bearings and brakes, chain guides and rollers and a new O-Ring chain, cleaned out the gas tank & carb then lots of elbow grease, soap and water

Howdy, Here's my latest projects- Restoring a classic 1985 Honda CR500 one of the fastest production motocross bikes available at the time, and man is it!

1967 Airstream Ambassador remodel

2012-07-29T15:44:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures of when I cut out the original aluminum window frames for curved glass, and installed new straight frames for flat tempered glass.

This is a carbide router bit used to cut out the original curved window frames

Now the frames are clean and flat ready for the new template

I had to completely gut the interior due to dry-rot

New window with tempered flat glass and weather seal.

You can see the new frame for flat glass.

New window of flat tempered glass with new Stainless Steel clips.

Here I'm drying some cedar fencing I recycled milling it into tongue & groove flooring.

Here's a picture of a finished window.

This is the finished Airstream & before horse trailer that had been rolled

2012-07-27T10:29:00.000-07:00

Here's me in the Airstream after I finished the stone work and stove.

I rescued this old horse trailer from the dump. It had been rolled and was buried on a farm for over 30 years, so of course I drug it home!

This how it looks after a long weekend. I also added a little tailgate that has hidden ramps that extend out for loading Motocycles or ATV's or anything you want. I painted it to match my 100 year anniversary H-D Road King.

This is the inside of the 67' Airstream.

The Airstream is solar powered and completely self sustained so no need to plug it in anywhere. The stove is a "coach stove" from the mid 1800 from the caboose of a train. I took a year searching for it and it works perfectly! The desk pulls out and converts to a full size bed and you can see I rescued a crashed shopping cart for the wood crib and 40's art deco lights that have all been converted to LED & low voltage compact fluorescents. I made the cabinets from maple and butcher block white oak that was a work bench. The sink is a recycled bar sink and fixtures from Stardust recycling. I installed a full size shower pan (I'm a big man) and made the shower rod by heating and bending PVC. The cook stove is portable and I put gas cocks on both sides so I can set up a kitchen out doors in nice weather on either side and the refrigerator is low or high voltage and doubles as a solar deep freezer.

Recycling

2012-07-27T10:15:00.002-07:00

Hi, I'm Jeff and welcome to my world!
I really like to create things from something other than they were originally. everything can be improved, at least that's my thought. Everything we use in our lives has to fit certain parameters relating to cost and efficiency for manufacturing, So with the mind set cheaper, faster and profit seems to be the only criteria and as a result of that we seem to live in a disposable society. Inevitably we end up with a lot of waste, one of my arch enemies. The other is ignorance. I personally think that people that waste have never had to do without, or they have more dollars than sense. What do you think?

contact - jeffgentle@gmail.com

2012-07-27T09:23:00.001-07:00