TheGreatStoryOf...: 2016

This is the beginning of the great story of N 53.4978 / W -113.4426...

It all started about a month, month and a half ago..

I live on the southside..they told me it was much better than the north side...so i listened to them..and got a house here..and i didnt regret it yet..:)...nice house, nice and quiet neighbourhood, backyard, you dont know your neighbours..everything is just like it should be:)...but that has got nothing to do with the story:)..ill get back to it..:)

Anyways, i have been working on a project on the north side and every day i have been taking the same route to work..one morning i was driving,sipping my coffee and half sleeping my way to work when i saw something on the left side of the road that immediately got my attention!

N 53.4978 / W -113.4426

It was an old, discarded washing machine..just thrown aside, left to rot..That second, i knew-i am going to take it and make something beautiful of it:)!
Buuut,lazy as i am,i didnt stop, i decided to take it when i am going to be driving home from work...Yup, that is what i decided and that is what i am going to do!..No doubt about it, none whatsoever!!
Yeah, that afternoon when i was driving home i was really happy to see that the machine was still there....and I was still very lazy and just drove pass it:)
Didnt feel bad either..
As time went on, i was looking it in my rear view mirror every morning on my way to work and every afternoon on my way back....:)
I knew i wanted it but just couldnt force myself to stop, there was allways an excuse..
It laid there for a week or so and one day i finaly stopped and, with a help from my friend, loaded it onto my trailer..

FORGOTTEN...

     ...AND ALONE..

All joke aside, i was really happy that she was still there!
Finding inspiration for her new role wasnt hard at all!..Actually, it was really easy!..from the moment i saw her, i knew i was going to make a lamp out of it!
..a badass lamp, if i may add:)

Later in the process, while i was disassembling it, i found a piece that i am going to use for one of my next projets..but, nough said, you can read about it in the future..:)

As you asumed, next step- disassembling!
..or, as i like to call it-"The D day "...with all due respect, "D" stands for Demolition:)

Actually, i didnt explain how am i going to make a lamp so:
      - disasseble the washing machine and take the drum
        - clean, sand and paint the drum
        - take some rebar...cut it, bend it, weld it, paint it..
        - take some wire, plugs, socket and bulbs..
..and make a lamp out of everything:)))

Easy, right?

..The D day..
--we've(friend and I) put our best sunday clothes on, strapped our toolbelts, gloves, safety glasses( SAFETY FIRST) and gave her hell!..just kidding..:)..actually, we were quite polite and gentle:))..pinch of unscrewing, hint of tapping and just a tad of chopping with my friends mighty axe and we were done in no time:)..i had to say "mighty" cause he is in love with the freaking thing:)..he doesnt use a hammer any more..
You can see it in all its glory in the following picture..

DISASSEMBLED DRUM..AND THE MIGHTY AXE

..and what it actually is is a quite dull piece of metal in a shape of a small axe..:)..but, nevertheless, we couldnt do it without it..so, tnx:))!

While we were taking it apart, a couple of loonies and toonies(Canadian dollars) came out of it and right away we wanted to spent it the Canadian way and go to Tim Hortons and buy coffee and doughnuts but then i decided to keep it and send them with the lamp..if somebody buys it, of course.. If not, Tim Hortons it is:)!

DUDE, WE ARE RICH MOMENT!!!

After that has been done, i took her home and worked on her in the comfort( and the warmth) of my basement:)

Sanding time...!!!
Its the most wonderful time of.... the project ( you should have read that in a singing voice)..
And the sentence above is totally not true!!
..its a lie!
..i hate that part:)!

But i had to man up, wipe my tears away and get it over with..:)
Once again, it was easier that i prepared for...either that or i was getting really good at it:)
Once sanded, I taped and covered the parts that i didnt want to get painted and we were ready for some spraypaint fumes
..happy times:)

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, YOU CAN SEE BEST BUY HAS SOME GREAT DEALS ON LED TV's:)

..OR IT WAS LONDON DRUGS..NOT SURE ANYMORE:)

I decided to go with flat black and after numerous coats of paint, i got this..

..I CALL IT THE BATMACHINE...BAT WASHING MACHINE..:)

Dont know about you, but i love it!

Buildind the legs..

For some reason, i love rebar!...for those who have no idea what rebar is, it is that steel, ribbed rod that you put into concrete to make it stronger..if that doesnt make sense, scroll down to the next picture:).
Back to rebar..as we ever left:)
I love the texture of rebar..and eventhough it is a harsh and not so elegant material, with proper treatment and coating it can look really modern, minimalistic and gives an industrial note to the item you are building..

I did some calculations( height, width), added it, subtracted, devided and multiplied and started bending and got something like this..

ROUGH MODEL OF THE LEGS

I decided to take two somewhat "U" shaped pieces of rebar ,. turned them around and weld it together. After this picture was taken, i cut one "U" shaped piece in half so they can all be the same height and flush with the other "U" shaped piece(heightwise)..

WELDING IN PROGRESS

Unfortunately, from this point on to i have no pictures until the finished product..but what i did to the finish is..
I took some more rebar and did a scaled and reversed version of the bottom part and after i welded a 6-7 inch piece of rebar verticaly in the middle of the legs(bottom part), i welded on the top part(smaller and reversed version of the botttom part(mirror image)).
Then i preped everything for paint and, of course, painted it:).
Took some wires and everything i needed powerwise, attached everything together and got the finished product..
Hope you like it..

..And that was the story of N 53.4978 / W -113.4426

Ok, so...every story has to have a start...

This is the start of TheGr8StoryOf N 53.537496/ W -113.513542

First of all,i know what are you going to say: „what is with the name??“

..and since this is my first post,i will try and explain..

The name speaks a lot of the item..and what is the better way to determine an object than with its core,or,in my case, what was the purpose of the „ core“ piece and where was it found .

..if you take the name and type it into google earth you will get the exact location of a significant piece that i used in the item..niet,huh?..

Please say yes, please say yes

If you typed it in and got a picture of a building under construction(2015/2016) then you are in the right spot....aaand probbably wondering what does that have to do with the item..:)

Well, 53.537496/ W -113.513542 got its name after a beam(later reffered just as „the beam“ ) that was holding one of the balconies on the building...

You see, I am around construction sites a lot and that building got stripped and while the balconies were beeing done, one of the beams had to be replaced..as it turned out later,it was „The Beam“

For weeks everybody was tripping over it and it was pushed aside(a heavy task,i tell you).

It was an old, ugly looking, heavy piece of rot bitten wood..at least, that is what everybody saw...Me?..i saw potential..:)

One day after work,my friend and I loaded it onto his truck( another heavy task), and brought it to my house..we have put it in the basement and let it to dry...for weeks it was down there while my mind was trying to grasp the potential of „The Beam“ and shape it into something..

And then it hit me! „ The Beam“ will become „The legs“ of a coffee table and i shall name it accordingly...:)

Also, I had some used scaffold planks just sitting in the basement and decided to combine the two...and the rest is history!..just kidding:)

At that point the idea started getting shape..

Since i decided to open this blog(and my etsy shop )later in the process, i dont have all the pictures from the beginning..

Anyways, the N 53.537496/ W -113.513542 was on its way..

I Started with grinding and cutting the planks..

Years of abuse and harsh elements on the planks were not forgiving..

it took me a while..and a lot of sanding paper..:)

All dusty and packs and packs of sanding paper later, i was ready to glue the planks together..Again, no pictures..:(

I dusted of everything ,glued it and left it to cure...

A week or so later, something was on my mind..something was bothering me..like i forgot something..

..then i remembered- it was the planks that i glued together:)

One would think you would feel pretty stupid after something like that..i just called it ageing and continued like nothing happend..

Next in line was cutting in the grooves for the metal that goes arround the table..i didnt have it at the time, i just knew the dimensions and went from that..once i did that i got to do the sanding part all over again( oh the horror)..after the agony was over, it was time to treat and protect the wood..

Picture time..

I had to do some extra work on the grooves and that is why you cant see any laquer in the grooves(wasnt deep enough bla bla, boring stuff)

Anyway, countless coats of lacquer later(and sanding that comes with it), tabletop was almost done and i was finally ready to deal with „ The Beam“!

Dont know why i didn take a picture while it was in one piece(10ft) but here are some after the cutting just to get the idea what it looked like before sanding..

It was full of nails and staples(you can see some on the picture)

This is a picture of a crack along the side of „The Beam“ that i love..i think it gives depth to the final product..

And this is where it was rotten..

After i removed all of the nails and staples it was time for the exciting part again-more sanding!!

Sanding „The Beam“ was kind of tricky...i had to figure out the line in between smooth surface and sanding off the character and the age of of the wood.. but It went smoother than anticipated..and a lot less dust then with the planks...i guess it was because it was only wood unlike the planks where i had dirt , mud , and something that was hopefully just acrylic...:)

After chipping away the dry rotten parts it was lacquer time once again:)

All in all, i think i did good on „The Beam“

And obviously,i had to repeat the proces for the other leg...i am sorry-„The Beam“:)

After doing that it was time for some metal bending and welding:)

Again,i am really bad with taking pictures while i am working so i dont have the pictures of the metal before bending or before welding on the screws...so here is the „in the welding process“ picture..

And just for your info,i used 2inch by ¼ inch steel flat bar..