This weekend we had a 3 year old's birthday party to go to, so time would be a bit limited.
However, on Friday night after work, on the way home, I stopped at the Hardware store (B&Q) to pick up some wood.
Should not take much to guess where to next.
As always, made it up in my head, as I went along.
Old Mickey was up at 05.00 this morning as well, and when I looked out the bathroom window, he was way up in his cherry tree, trying to beat all the birds to the fruit, so when I went down to the garage at 07.00 to pull the truck out, he was there like a shot, large shopping bag full of freshly picked cherries..... could not ask for much more, could I ?
Well , I got more...... A helping hand, he is such a loyal neighbour and always likes to be around when I make stuff, as some of my ideas are just mad to him.
Fortunately, he "Got" the latest creation instantly, and approved.
I did not want a plain, two rail bed side but rather a stepped one.
So cut and prepped the wood to have it like this, and then mocked it all up before doing the wood glue and clamps.
At 11.00 I shut shop, showered and got changed, then we took the motorbike and went to Whitstable for the party, which turned out to be just great.
Back home from our visit by 5.30pm
Fearless Harley kept on getting under my feet most of the day as well, and every time I moved past the tailgate, she was up to get a stroke, cuddle or just to sqwauk at me for attention.
Glued it all together in place with Mickey as extra hands.
Next job will be drilling and counter sinking all the holes for two brass wood screws per joint.
This brought us to 8.00pm and with loads of daylight left, and Mickey clearly not ready to go home to sleep in front of his telly, I decided to quickly sand back and distress the steel trunk Nicola and I found and bought two weeks ago.
Using a pointed orbital type sander, I worked the paint back.
Then found just the right red paint for the lettering of the stenciled words that needed to get onto the trunk.
Got going with help from Mickey, again not wanting to miss the opportunity to keep busy.
Stenciling all done.
Time for some more random paint of the top and also to sand back a bit more rust to create this Fake Patina.
Next up once dried for a few days, I will sand back by hand and leave little of the red paint, followed by a few coats of clear lacquer.
After which I will fit the trunk to the rear bed of the truck.
