History – East Tenn Co.

Quill and Blade Gazette Picture Edition

No riveting news in this edition, just pictures of things I’ve encountered in my daily travels. First is a van I saw parked behind a car wash. Does this have something to do with pressure washing poochy in bay 1?

Next is a railroad car with scrap metal in it. this is what your old car looks like after it’s scrapped.

Here’s a boiler I’m painting on a steam locomotive. The first coat is black, the second coat is silver. It’s not required that I do it that way, it just makes it easier to not miss spots. This will be covered by insulation, then a sheet metal jacket, which will be high gloss black.

When men were men and rivets were from battleships.

Speaking of railroad equipment, here’s a section of a passenger coach which was getting some light colored moss growing on it. Other methods of removal barely worked. I was talking to a friend about it, and she suggested I try white vinegar. It worked really well, didn’t damage the paint at all. this is the same gal that sent me the CoEnzyme Q10 that I mentioned in the last edition. She needs to write a book about natural remedies, or have a web site. I’ll let you know if she does.

Next is a little butterfly that landed on my hand while I was putting lettering on a truck. It stayed there about ten minutes.

Below is the full moon showing through a Walnut tree.

Here’s the final plane work on a panel made from wood reclaimed out of a barn made in the 1700s.

Another little butterfly; this one got caught in my van while I was driving down a highway. He was a little stunned at first, but seemed to recover.

Lastly, a portable table saw I got for Christmas. I’ve included it because every time I use it, I’m still impressed by its performance. It’s not big, and must have some aluminum parts; because it’s lightweight. But man does it CUT!

Source of Neat Old Pictures

Part of the delay in getting stuff for sale online has been shipping. Things get shipped very fast these days, and I’ve been learning the fastest and cheapest ways to ship things. Also, I want the the customer’s experience to be top rate; part of that is the appearance of the envelope or box.

I was thinking about putting a wood grain look on the cardboard boxes and paper envelopes, but then I thought of something better. I’ve made these historic stickers to apply. The source I use for some of my public domain and copyright free pictures is Wikimedia. That site is HERE.

Steps for the Warehouse

I couldn’t have measured these steps better if I had tried, but I didn’t. They were made by a friend of mine who runs a metal fabrication business. This must be the hand of God, but it seems like there was earth bound help involved Like the man asked what my building needed, and one of my sons said “steps, here are the dimensions”.

Whatever the case, as I said, perfect fit. He said that he was making a lot of steps for a big job, and that this was the sample piece he showed the customer. I did see a whole bunch of steps he made on a trailer, like 200 feet or something.

In the first picture, I added two pressure treated boards as a post, because the siding wasn’t enough support.

In the next picture, I’ve leveled two concrete blocks. The picture doesn’t show it well, but there’s quite the optical illusion when standing next to them. The one in the hole looks too deep.

Next, I’m fitting the pieces together, I haven’t bolted things tight yet.

Here’s a picture from the next morning, after the tools were put away.

The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: Proverbs.

We Painted a Besty Ross Flag on the Warehouse.

There’s a page about our project, you can see it here.

The Warehouse is Painted White

In the middle of the Bible, in the book of Proverbs, it says “The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul”. So it is with painting the warehouse white. I’ve waited several years to get to this point.

The wood was old and dried, so it soaked up the first coat. The second coat looks terrific though. We’re in the process of painting a Betsy Ross flag on one side, that will be seen from the street. A friend gave me a very nice and sturdy set of entrance steps, they will be installed soon.

The Wood of the Warehouse

I’ve had several developments with the warehouse building. First, is the quality of the wood. Years ago, they kept only the choicest parts of a tree, and discarded the rest. In the first picture below, you can see the side of the building. The grade of wood doesn’t show really well, but notice how few knots there are. Large knots drastically reduce the strength of a piece because the knot interferes with the straight grain pattern.

In the next two pictures, there’s a big knot, and a smaller knot. Notice how in the top picture, the upper grain in the board continues past the knot, even though it must curve some to do so. On the lower part of the board, the grain bends up toward the knot, and ends at the knot. This is very weak. In the second knot picture, the grain above and below the knot continue past it. This is much stronger.

A friend told me to come by and go through his stored paint, as he has a lot left over from various jobs. I found what I think is enough to put a nice paint finish on this building. Wood this old will probably absorb a lot of paint, but I have 8 or 9 gallons. I’m painting it white with green trim, to match the house it sits next to. #warehouse #history

The Warehouse

I was given this building two or three years ago, and have been trying to move it here ever since. It’s finally here, and I’m trying to find information about it. The man who gave it to me described it as a “WW2 era portable wood building”. My search has turned up nothing, but it sure is good to have it here at last. #history #warehouse

A Few Painting Chores

I’ve been very busy with a few projects, one being the long awaited arrival of my wood building. I decided to take Saturday off from the busyness; and do a few chores that have been put off.

The family likes to celebrate July 4th Independence day in a big way. One of the things I did was to paint the two sets of stilts we have white, with the intention of adding blue and white to them. That didn’t happen in time for the holiday, but I finally got around to it. I got the paint and tools out, and showed my 2nd to the youngest son how to do it. He measured a mark from the ends, then with the pencil and speed square, made an even line around the stilts. Then he used a brush to paint the colors. #family #stilts

Rust Oleum Painter’s Choice is one coat coverage.

I have a home made wood weight lifting bench, which neither I, or anyone else has been using; probably because it’s been down by my shed. We pulled it up on the lawn, gave it a fresh coat of paint, then moved it to the barn loft, where it will probably be used more. Here’s my youngest son painting it.

Making a Knife Throwing Backstop

Here’s a page about making a wood knife throwing backstop from used telephone pole pieces.

Coca Cola Sign, and Hat

I finished the Coca Cola fountain service bench sign. It’s so different than when it was brought in. What advertising they had. Can you imagine walking down a street, and seeing this on a bench?

I worked a little more on my oil cloth hat. I had to stop to test how rigid the brim will be with the oil cloth formula applied. In the lower picture I’ve taken a sample of the three types of cloth and put them together with linseed oil on them. That’s minus the bees wax, but it’s intentional, to see if that’s stiff enough.