Being on the bench is a good thing

I have no problem with the making of stools and step stools. Or benchs, for that matter. I just love to do it! I guess because you can make any of these from just about anything you have laying around the shop. Though all the benchs are not pictured here, a small sample of the stools are pictured above with a bench further down. The blue/black one on the right above was made two years ago (decorated by Debbee) along with two or three others that were painted or stained and later sold. A white one sold at the Spring Fling in Euclid (mentioned previously) to a dog owner who needed it for poochie to get into bed. Poochie was there to try it and it worked fine, and the other one was sold also, not sure where. Painesville Flea Market comes to mind, but can't say for certain, plus it doesn't really matter, does it?

I recently made a two step stool for my son, his wife and their doggie, Lema. It was actually for Lema, so they said. Lema is ten, and a very lovable pitbull that you would not know it was a pitbull unless someone told you. It's more some kind of terrier that he got as a pup. But that old vet in Euclid, you know, the one near the service garage by the freeway, first told me that he was a pitbull on the very first visit ten years ago. And I could tell that he really did not like Lema because of that alone. This visit came right after an incident in Los Angeles that made national news about an attack by pitbulls in an apartment building and that pissed him off . I assured him that we had never been to LA and this was not one of them. Back then, attacks by pitbulls was in the news every week. So this vet acted totally indifferent to Lema. I don't even remember why we were there because Lema is not my dog, so I must having been doing my son a favor. After that, I no longer liked the old vet and stopped going. I only went there because he was inexpensive. Having put two labs to sleep and cremated, I know how costly vets can be.

Anyway, Lema's family have a high bed that Lema has a hard time "leaping" into it, just like the lady at Spring Fling. So they had to lift Lema into bed each night. My son asked for a step stool and I made one from 3/4" plywood. Strong, solid enough for an adult and easy for them to finish with any paint since he is not so handy. Plus with paint, it did not matter if you saw the edges because they would cover up with paint anyway. I made it a little wider, and a little deeper for good ol' Lema.

But once they put it in place by the bed, Lema decided that he was not as handicapped as he was letting on and pretty quick got his "leap" back. So now, the step stool is another useful additon to their household for those hard to reach places.

And that is one of the reasons I love to make step stools and stools. Because people need them for all sorts of reasons. They are just so darn handy. For example, let's say your a little older. You play on the floor or the driveway (yes; don't laugh; the driveway; like when you "chalk" pictures) with your grandkids like I do. Sometimes getting up off the floor (or ashphalt) can be pretty painful. I know! I helped my dad up many a time, and there was always the grunts and groans from being in one position too long. Now I know just how he must have felt. So with the aid of a step stool, you can use it to get leverage for that lift up from the floor. Plus you can lead on it while sitting on the floor.

But if its ease of working you want; take a look at this:

This is a garden bench. But this goes with what I was saying about being a helper as well as just a plain garden bench. The seat on this one is lower than usual. It is about 13" high. High enough to sit ok, but I have another great use for it.

(Note that most chairs at the dining room or kitchen table are around 16" or 17" with a slope towards the back, and benches can be anything you want, but 15" is a good height for sitting outside.)

You know when you are digging in the ground! They call it planting! Well I can't sit on the ground like I used to as mentioned before, or kneel very well. But I can get down on my knees (with knee pads from Harbor Freight) put my chest on the seat part of that 13" bench and have both hands free to do what I want. After a little work, I lean back, move the bench. Scoot over a little, lean on it again and continue on. This goes on for a while, and if I get tired, it is there when it is time to stand up, swing my butt around and have a seat. This is a great bench! And it was made last year after the craft shows were done. I left it outside on purpose so it would look much older than it actually was when I took pictures of it. Like a one year old antique. This one would sell for only $18.00 and it even has a handle cut out in the top for easy carrying. Let's be real clear here! I do not, repeat, do not like anything about gardening. I give a lot of credit to gardeners, as well as anyone that does anything with their hands, but gardening is not for me. So any aid that will make my life doing gardening with Debbee easier is fine with me, especially if I made it. Something I am thinking about is this same 13" bench, but with a shelf under the seat so I would not need a separte carry-all to drag around. I had better make a note of that before I forget.

I also make regular benchs with a seat height that takes no effort to stand up from. Some even have backs, like the garden bench shown on the web site http://www.lccornhole.com/. I had that one at the Painesville Flea Market and one elderly fellow would come by the booth each day (Sat and Sun only), "sit a spell" and just chit chat with me. I enjoyed the company since I was not going anywhere for a while. Besides, he was quite knowledgeable, knew everyone in the place, and gave me tips on what I should be making. Point is, he had a limp, was able to "take a load off", and then easily got back up, refreshed, and continued on.

The grandkids, Abby and Livi, use the step stools and benchs like stages for whatever musical shows they are putting on. I remember when they were 2 yrs old and 4 yrs old, they would line up the stools according to height and play for hours. They have one chair with a back that swings down to be a step of 2" and a seat of about 4", then a stool or two that are 6" then finally a step stool that is 7" and 12" and "bingo"; their stage. Of course, they got to take one home if mommy would allow.

I made a really nice one for them that could not tip. (pictured below) This was also decorated by Debbee. They get good use from it to this day at the bathroom sink and all around the house I'm sure.

As the note says, the legs are wider than the stepping area, so there is no way to tip this over front to back. As with the one at the top of the page (the brown one); the legs on that one are equal to the step in both width and length. It is very, very hard to tip.

Safety first is job one. I know Ford already said that, but it really is pretty important.

Alrighty then! Benchs, step stools and stools. Mighty useful in the house or outside. And fun to make. Any wood laying around can end up as a stool or bench. Or even a plant stand.

But thats for another day.

How much do we love SHELLAC?

Shellac.....shellllllac....sha-lack.....sh-lac. It is just so fun to say! And it is so fun to use, most of the time. (Shellac is a coating that is really shiny when dry. Either clear or amber and has many uses and dries really fast. Look it up) But I really messed up recently when using one of my favorite liquids; shellac. I made another three tiered plant stand, like the one in the picture above. The one pictured was my first, and the plan came from a book my kids got me for Christmas several years ago called "The Big Book of Weekend Projects". Great book! By the way, that plant stand sold at Eastlake Flea Market, but that's another story.

Anyway, back to my mess with the shellac. The one I am working on now is for my craft show season, which will start whenever we have enough products to make a good showing from me and Debbee. Debbee is my wife of 30 something years (kidding, I know the exact number) and she is really into the decorating of all kinds of craft show stuff, like the foot stools I make or the yard decorations for holidays such as Easter, Halloween, Christmas, etc, that I cut out of plywood. And she decorates items such as small wooden boxes (jewelry) and wooden trays that Pat Catans sells unfinished. She makes them attractive with soft pastel colors or perhaps staining then adding rub-ons or working from her large collection of stencils, before sealing it with shellac. Funny thing about her. She never thinks the end products are good enough and she will spend hours going over and over an area until it is just right. Which is a good thing; right? But it was good three hours ago. Oh brother!! What are ya gonna do with them? "C'mon", I tell her, The proof is in the sales. Last year at the Richmond Heights Craft Show in the fall, (and it is a good one if you happen to go to it) her stuff out sold mine by 2 to 1. Oh sure, my stuff is larger, and in most cases more costly, but her stuff really shines under the lights and looks great on the display table and really would look nice on someones shelf or given as a gift. And its what people want! Things for their table or their mantel, stuff like that. Why we even had a man and woman fighting over a set of trays. Not fighting like "that", but the woman had one in her hand looking at it, when the man comes along and picks up the other two and tells her "if your just looking, I'm buying the whole set". She replied, "still deciding"! To which he responded with "but I have two thirds of the set and I am buying the whole set"! She turned over the third piece to him and walked off. I was anxious to see how that would have played out further. The only fighting I see is when the customer offers a really low amount and practically wants it for nothing and I tell them to just forget about it. Customer relations is my strong suit.

Ok, back to our story. So! I got the plant stand cut, sanded, put together to be sure it will look right when complete. I take it apart to stain it because it is easier to stain, or paint, when it is in pieces. Its only four pieces, but experience taught me to do it this way. So stain is no big deal. You put the sealer on first, then put the stain on, wait a few minutes then wipe off the stain. You can do it again with the stain and it may get slightly darker the longer you leave it on, but you still have to wipe off the excess. Now wait until the next day and finish it with a nice top coat, like lacquer or polyurethane or, my favorite, shellac. I have used shellac on lots of stuff and it always turned out great. But nothing this big. The bottom shelf is 36 inches across and 6 inches wide. The middle is 24 inches across and the top is 12 inches across. So I get my can of Bulls Eye Shellac ready, get my brush, clean everything , and get started. Top shelf, no problem. Set it aside. Middle shelf, start brushing on the shellac. Putting it on lightly, it is dripping over the edges. I take my brush to touch up the edges and by the time I get back to the flat surface, it is drying and getting real sticky. So I hurry and try to finish the flat surface, but I make the mistake of going over a spot or two to "touch up" an area that looks not quite right. But this in not paint. You cannot do that. Ever! Leave it alone! Too late. There will be brush marks that will not fill in because it starting to set up completely. Ok, move on the big bottom shelf and work quickly. No good! The brush did not have enough shellac on it at times, and was too full other times. It is supposed to run together like most liquids, but this was setting up to fast and did not have time to "run". Oh brother!! Nothing to do but leave it set completely, which only takes a matter of hours, and see what it looks like. A couple hours later it looked awful. The middle and bottom shelves had places that looked untouched and other places had too much thickness. The top shelf looked great, but that was the smallest one.

So I was listening to Triv on the radio and he was getting under my skin as usual, but it is the only station I can get on my junkie radio in the basement, plus this situation in front of me and it is a rough day for the brain. Shellac is supposed to be so forgiving, that all you have to do is go over the whole thing again. Just go right over! So I did! Double brother!! I just do not understand. I have used this before, so what is different? Is the piece too large? Should I not do the whole thing at once? There is a show on PBS called "Rough Cut" starring Tommy MacDonald (Tommy Mac). Great guy, great show from Boston and he has that accent that you know where he's from immediately. Reason I mention him is, I saw him do an entire dining room table in shellac and it was gorgeous. But I do remember that he sanded it afterwards and then waxed it. I think I had better watch that episode again, because I definitely have done something wrong.

So now, in order to get it done and be nice like it should be, I will sand away all the shellac, because it has a waxy base and polyurethane and shellac do not play well together. So I power sand it with a vibration sander, being careful not to stay in one place too long because it will get gummy from the friction. This would happen even if you did it by hand because the friction between the paper and the piece gets pretty hot and melts the finish no matter what it is, so we have to keep moving around and just take your time. Finally, after getting all the shellac and a lot of the stain removed, we will stain it once more and the apply the polyurethane, let dry overnight, lightly sand again and put on one more coat of polyurethane. That should do it, then we can put it back together for the last time and it should look really nice and be very functional. But it should not have been that difficult! Something I did made it harder than it should have been. I will make something smaller, like a step stool, slap on some shellac to make sure I still know how and take it from there. So, if you will excuse me, I have to go find Tommy Mac on PBS and see where I went wrong. God Bless America!

Better get a bigger fan

It would have been nice to have been a woodworking prodigy at the age of six or ten or even thirty-five. But no, as a kid, I had to play baseball. This was by choice of course. Whenever there was daylight and a couple more kids, that is all it took to get something going. Actually, all you had to do was show up at the skating rink field where there were two ball fields and an ice skating rink, thus the name. I do not recall calling it anything else. It was on Shaw Ave. by the railroad underpass. Anyway, we would just go to the fields and there was always enough guys there to get a game going.

So that is what went on in the summertime. Baseball and Euclid Beach. We played a little league game at Euclid Beach once. Somewhere between some buildings and near a roller coaster track. Never knew there was enough room within the park for a ball field, but there we were. Playing for the glory of Jim Connell Chevrolet on what was called "East Cleveland Day".

Mom and Dad packed a picnic, we got on the rides for some discount I think. Because we were from East Cleveland. And that was our day. And of course, the two baseball teams from East Cleveland thought we owned the park as we would strut around still wearing our Jim Connell Chevrolet itchy wool uniforms and them wearing whoever they were in their wool uniforms. I was 13. And that was the summer I started my first great project in woodworking.

The recession in the 50's caused my Dad to have to try and find work at the Collinwood railroad yards for New York Central. Lucky, he got the much needed work from which he would later retire. The hard part was, we did not live in the area at the time. He had to live in Collinwood by himself at the old YMCA on 152nd St for almost a year before deciding that this might work out and moved my Mum and me from a big three bedroom house with full basement in Altoona, PA. to an apartment in East Cleveland. I was nine at the time.

It had to be hard for them. I see that now. But we made it. And the day Dad said I could redo a built in dresser, with mirror, I had been pestering him about for some time, I saw my calling.

Ok. Maybe not a calling. But an opportunity nonetheless. I might have been looking for something to do, when I found his single speed, non reversible, steel bodied electric hand drill in storage in the basement and knew that with a sanding disc, I could put this to some use. Anything to just use it. I loved power tools, even if I had never used one. And that ugly white built in dresser was perfect. Plus it was right under a window. Dad told me about ventilation and dust and what to expect.

He already had a rubber wheel for the drill and he let me buy some sanding discs to get started. I am guessing they were not expensive, because I know we did not have money to burn on such things as sanding discs to do meaningless work in an apartment.

There was a Sears on St. Clair Ave. near Collinwood High School. He drove me there. We went in the back door and down the stairs to where the hardware was. T do not remember how they were sold, but I must have gotten enough to last for the whole job, because we did not go back there again, at least not for discs.

And so it started. My new hobby: woodworking, sort of. Sanding. Using an electric drill and disc sanding kit, like the auto body guys used. I did not care. I was about to do something special.

Still going to school, and not wanting to disturb the neighbors in the evening, I did most of the sanding on Saturdays and Sundays. And during the winter, everyone had their windows closed anyway, so noise was less of a problem. But then I froze because I needed my window open to exhaust the dust. But when I started the project, it was hot, real hot. And it got worse before it got better considering August was always hot. But wide open windows or not, I quickly learned that if you are going to sand in a small room, cover everything first. After the first few hours on day one, the cloud was thick and everything was covered. Though I only had a tall dresser and a single bed in this small room, it still got covered. Luckily, the dust cloud did not escape into the rest of the apartment. But it did not escape outside either. It was to go magically through the open window. I had placed a small oscillating fan on the other dresser shooting across the room towards the only window in the room, but the incoming breeze must have cancelled out the little fans outgoing influence. So I stood there waving a towel until the air was clearer. Not great, but at least, breathable for sleeping. It was time for a bigger fan.

I was working part time at the corner deli, Ward's Delicatessen. The owner had an old four blade black desk fan sitting in the corner and I never saw him use it. After I told him what I was doing he loaned it to me, making it clear it was just on loan until the job was done.

I took it home, plugged it in, and whooosh........I think the street light across the street swayed. This was going to be great. My own wind tunnel. Now I could sand for hours and you would never know it. Of course, you thought there was an airplane behind you, but still you knew the air was changing every 30 seconds.

I was 15 when the desk was done. Done meaning stripped of a quarter inch of white paint. I started in July, turned 14 in August, so it was only 13 months in the doing.

Next up was staining. My Dad was working in the apartment part time cleaning the halls and helping the manager with maintenance. So Dad was able to get me some stain to do the dresser in three shades. The drawer faces were one shade, the area around the drawers were another shade, and by mixing those two shades, I came up with the third for the top. Glad I had the wind tunnel fan, because that stuff really smelled going on. Fortunately, the odor did not last long.

But that was it, no shellac or varnish. No urethane. I do not know if they even made it then. But it did not matter because I ha not yet heard of "finishes" until I was older. So the dresser stayed dull, but colorful. I would use that dresser every day for five more years.

And it would be five years until my next real project. Actually making something from wood.

Mother's Day May 8th

A week from this Sunday is Mother's Day, May 8th.

It is May already?

I saw a comic strip in last Sundays News-Herald with a real nice punch line. It was a sequence with the son growing up before his parents eyes and the mom said "the days were long, but the years were short". Maybe funny, but I took it to heart.

My wife and I watch our grand kids, both girls, a couple times a week, and by the end of the day, our knees get tired and our eyes search for a brighter light to read to them. We play hide-n-seek, or puzzles or coloring. Or, if its nice enough, we will run around a little outside and burn off some energy.

The girls will be five and seven this summer, and it still seems like just yesterday we were celebrating them coming into the world.

Being with them makes me think back. Back to my days as a kid going non-stop all day long.

The sound of mom's voice calling me for dinner from a long day hide-n-seek, or puzzles or coloring.

And that too, seemed like just yesterday.

Remember Mom everyday!

LET'S MAKE ONE AND MOVE ON

In the spring of 2009, I started getting into flea markets to try to show off everything I was making, including the cornholes. One such market was the Painesville Flea Market at the fairgrounds, which was actually my first such venue. I showed up with a pick up truck carefully loaded so nothing touched and a lot of big dreams of taking orders all weekend long. I found that I had choices of booth size and locations, all related to cost of course. Now, keep in mind, this was indoors, which, considering the change of weather in Ohio, turned out to be ideal. So I made my booth selection and they helped me unload and get set up and before long, I was officially in business.







So, there I sat for two whole days, (Saturday and Sunday), eating their donuts and coffee for breakfast and hot dogs and coke for lunch (at a reasonable price) and talked to everyone who would listen, but no customers. But, I did get two lessons out of the experience. One, was that a lot of people said that, even though my "stuff" was nice, it was more craft show material. I had forgotten what a flea market actually was, and that was a place to get rid of things you no longer wanted that was in your closets or garage or basement and recycle it through selling it.



Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's really great. I like flea markets and they are fun to walk through, because you just never know what you might end of with. Like that big one in Hartville. (Yes, I showed there also)

Just not much in the way of arts and crafts at most flea markets.

LORDY, I CAN MAKE THAT THING!

The second lesson I found really amusing and I always got a kick out of it each time I heard it.

It was usually a man and woman that would stop by the booth, she would pick up something, examine it, such as a "two step" step stool and she would say to him, "honey, you could make that" and he would just grunt and look away. Or he would say "I think I'll make one of those for ya" showing off his skills. Then put it down and walk away.



Best part is, I know they're not going to make one. Same way with the cornholes. At a craft show or flea market they are heavy to pick up so people would just stand and stare at them, make a comment about how easy they are to make, then move on. Truth is, they are easy to make if you do it right. But it is what goes on them that is the real art which makes them really, really good. We are talking five and six coats of paint, because every line has to be just right. Like the one in the picture at the top. Look at some of the other pictures on this blog. These are not decals. They are hand painted, by me, who cannot paint, but I managed to do these.

Now, I am going to get redundant here. Cornholes are not the only thing I do. There is lots more and we can talk about that as time goes on. Like for example, I have got a three tiered shelf on the finishing table now, along with two plant hangers, (really cool, wait to you see them) and two step stools. (I love step stools) Pictures coming soon enough.

TIME TO MAKE A CORNHOLE

Just driving around in the summer observing picnics (not this year though with gas the way it is) I have seen a lot of cornhole games in front yards and in parks and, honestly now, most of them were really bad. What makes a bad cornhole game? The frames are wobbly and the paint job is not good or worse. C'mon! A little pride would be nice. And don't say, you did not know how to size it or put it together. Dimensions are all over the web, but I am going to tell you again. I don't know why I feel compelled to describe the making of a cornhole, but I will do it once and then I can move on to more fun stuff. I have done so many boards that it is really getting boring. The painting is fun though!

STEP ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE AND SIX

1. The cornhole boards (and you will need two of them) are 24" wide and 48" deep and 1/2" think plywood. Big box stores will cut you two boards from a large sheet of plywood, but most big box stores have them already cut in a bin in various thicknesses.



2. The frame is made from 2x4's. 2x4's are strong, easy to cut, cheap and will give rigidity to the boards. Here's a tip: match the boards dimensions before cutting the 2x4's. Somethings the big box stores that cut the boards from a large sheet of plywood may undercut by 1/4" or more. Not on purpose, but they just might do it. And if you cut and screw the frame together first, it may be wider than the board by as much a 1/2".



3. Remember. We want it to look good. I match each cut to the board I am using. Takes more time, but again, it looks good.



4. So, cut the frame, glue the ends, and screw it together. While you are at it, cut the legs. They should be about 12" long and here's the only fancy part on the whole job. Cut one end at 12-1/2 degrees on each leg. That will make it stand nice and solid when playing and looks like you know what your doing. The legs get screwed to the inside of the frame against the back 2x4.



5. The boards are even easier, but this has to be right. Find the center of the board on the 24" wide. I know your thinking 12", but remember the big box story. It may be less than 24". So find center, then come down from the top by 9" and make a mark. That is the centerline of your 6" diameter hole. Now how you cut it is up to you, just make it round; real round.



6. Then put the board on the frame, and screw it in place. Ta-Da! Now finish it by sanding it to remove all the splinters, and paint it with a good outdoor paint. A couple coats would be better. And please don't mix that junk you have in the garage to make your own color. Spend some money and buy good paint. I do and I'm on fixed income, but it is that important.

Now go on-line and buy some bags. Look up cornhole bags. They must be 6" square and weigh 14 to 16 oz. They come in sets of eight (two different colors of course) And pay no more than $25.00 total and that includes freight. I buy two sets at a time and pay $43.00 from a lady outside Pittsburgh.

Local people have them but she helped me out once and I am now a loyal customer. Email me and I will give you her email.

There! Done! I have just added another site to the already 12000 on how to make a cornhole.

But you will have a good strong set ready for spring, summer and fall. Don't leave them outside. Remember, they are made of wood.

AND NOW A RULE OR TWO

Again, rules are all over the web, but if you really are interested, here are a few:
Boards are 27 feet apart, that's front edge to front edge.
Should be two players at each end, one from one team and one from the other team, making two teams. Each player throws four bags, alternating throws.
One point on the board, three points in the hole. Game is 21. Here's where things get, how should I say, imaginative. Get some good players and it can take longer than you may want it to, especially at a gathering. The right way to score is by cancellation. Let's say you get two bags in the hole for six points, and I get one in the hole and one on the board for four points. For that round, you get 2 points. See? 6 minus 4 equals 2. Could go for a while!

A good gathering format is everything counts and first to go past 21 wins. But hey, do what you want. No matter what, it is a fun game. Enjoy!

Next time, a story of the world famous leaning five foot shelf and the candy machine.

Thanks. Now go make something.

Just want to say HELLO and welcome

Welcome! My name is Shannon and I am a "sawduster", which means I make useful items from wood as a hobby. My wife, Debbee gave me that name. I would work on my projects in the garage and she could see me from the kitchen window, and saw that I had been working quite a while with no results to show. One day my son stopped by, saw me in the garage and asked what I was making. Before I could answer, Debbee hollered from the other room, "sawdust, and lots of it". So that's what I make, sawdust, and a few other items as well and one of those is custom cornhole boards. Thanks to the News-Herald, I am going to be writing all about this very fun outdoor game of cornhole. With some cornhole stories and an explanation as to the construction of the boards, I think we are going to have some fun and relay some tips and tricks that I picked up along the way.

To explain what is the game of cornhole, picture a game that resembles horseshoes but without the pegs or horseshoes . We know the game! (two players at each end of the playing area tossing "shoes" back and forth so no walking required and more time for drinking a healthy beverage)Heavy object (horseshoe) is tossed underhand at some distant target, except in cornhole the bags aren't heavy. Or maybe you can picture jarts. Remember jarts? Steel pointed spears with plastic feathers that you tossed underhand towards a ring on the ground with people actually standing near it. Remember? (two players at each end of the playing area tossing "spears" back and forth so no walking required and more time for drinking a healthy beverage)
Oh, that sounds like fun! Helmet and safety glasses should have been a requirement.

Ok. Let's review. The similiarty of cornhole to horseshoes and jarts is an object is tossed underhand at a target some distance away. Got that? And that "something" is not heavy or pointy. It is a one pound and not an ounce more, six inch square canvas bag (supposed to be duck cloth) filled with feed corn being tossed underhand 27 feet (33 feet hole to hole) to a 24 inch wide by 48 inch deep plywood board with its rear end off ground twelve inches so you have slope of about ten degrees. The bags will not break your foot nor will they stab you if one does happen to go astray. Actually you could catch it if you are so inclined and not get hurt. And you can still have a hand free for a healthy beverage. Personally, I think it is one fun-est, safest family or friends or corporate or carnival or festival game there is. And the best part is you can make yourself. And we will talk all about how to do it and where to get the bags and how to make them pretty to look at, like mine.

And it does go deeper than just cornholes. I make all sorts of handy and very useful items from plywood, pine and two by fours, cause they are cheap materials and readily available, and I would love to tell you all about them and maybe pass on some neat tips and tricks to encourage you to do something that would give you some satisfaction of having made it yourself. It does not have to be wood. It can be anything, just do it yourself. We'll talk more later, ok? I will also include pictures as well. There are pictures on this blog of the cornholes and www.lccornhole.com of the other items.

You probably picked up on the fact that I am not a professional workworker. I am a laid off senior, who decided to retire and play with the toys I really enjoy. Toys that I was lucky to get before my working days were over, because I would not have afforded them now, that's for sure. And, if used properly, can turn out some very nice toy boxes, marble games and many, many useful products.

But something else about me is, even though I may not be a pro, does not mean I don't take pride in what I do for a hobby. Safety of the finished product is most important. My two grandaughters, Abby and Livi, use my step stools and benchs everyday and those stools are strong. And safe! My motto for the stools and benchs is "they are strong enough to hold me". And I am a good size fellow. Ok. You got me! That's not really my motto, but it is still true. They have to be safe. And not being a pro gives me an out for every mistake. And making the mistakes is part of the fun, cause you learn something each and every time.

Thank you and see ya soon!

PLEASE VISIT: WWW.LCCORNHOLE.COM

The new website if far more professional and is updated regularly. Items could be missed on a blog site, so more details are available at: WWW.LCCORNHOLE.COM THANK YOU