From the Workshop: Where most of the materials I need are free

Because The Queen of England doesn’t visit my workshop (aka the shed) I wear clothes that my wife would love to steal and ship to the nearest landfill site.

That’s not going to happen. At least not until each article has done service as a paint rag.

Now, I certainly don’t mind visiting landfills in person, and because I was away on the weekend (Did ya miss me?), friend Don and I shifted the date of our next visit to the Dorchester dump to tomorrow after lunch.

I go in order to search for only one thing - scrap lumber in need of rescue. Yes, I’ve come home with a few other freebies (e.g., a pitch fork blade from Austria, a sturdy handle for the fork, two barbells), but I essentially want lumber for birdhouses.


["Ready for the Christmas rush": Photo by GAH]

This morning I Facebooked my brother-in-law, told him my plans for tomorrow.

He wrote back:

"enjoy your trip. wish I was going with you;) nothing like a good trip to the local dump, esp. if it produces."

My brother-in-law is a very good carpenter (has filled his daughter’s house with his own hand-made furniture; it’s all extremely well made - I’m jealous of his skill) and keeps his eye open for barn board for me.

Muskoka, the area in which he lives, is home to some of the finest in the world. All I want is my fair share. All I want is what’s coming to me. And when we visit, we usually trade bits of lumber.

What he makes usually never gets past my sister or his daughter. He toils for free.

I sell 85 per cent of what I make and call the proceeds “gas for the motorcycle.” Basically, I travel for free, and pick up supplies for the shop when needed.

My wife takes care of our budget book, and since my retirement, she hasn’t complained once that I’m spending too much money.

But she would like to get her hands on my shop clothes.

Not a chance. Not until I’m finished painting my latest batch of GH bird boxes.

***

A free hobby that puts gas in my bike warms the cheap cockles of my heart.

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