What We're Making

[Lawrencewendall]

For the second year in a row, a lot of my veggies did not get pollinated. Last year I planted wild flowers hoping to bring them in but no luck. Started doing research on setting up a beehive in suburbia. Saw a strange box with tubes in it and the caption said “mason bee”. I had never heard of them. Doing more research, I learned that they are one of the most proliferate pollinators out there, even more so than honey bees. Honey bees need to make honey so they prefer sweet pollen like from fruit trees and strawberry blossoms and don’t particularly like squash and zucchini blossoms. Mason bees just need pollen to survive and to store some with their eggs. Their eggs turn into cocoons and the following spring when the cocoon hatches, food is right there. The cocoons hatch when the daytime temperature is consistently above 51.

Mason bees are considered a hermit or solitary bee as it does not belong to any group. The female hatches, mates and begins collecting pollen. They lay their eggs in pre-existing holes (they do not burrow like the carpenter bee). Their preferred hole diameter is 5/16 or 8mm by 6 inches deep. Once they laid their egg at the back (females in the back, males in the front), they block off the hole with mud and lay another. Once the hole is filled (it will hold 4-6 eggs) they cap off the hole with mud and find another. The female’s lifespan is 4-6 weeks so they only are around from Spring to early Summer. Because they are solitary and have no territory to defend, they are a very docile bee and do not sting.

Another hermit bee that will share a house with a mason bee is the leaf-cutter bee. It prefers 6mm tubes and hatches when the temperature is above 75 degrees making this one a pollinator for the rest of summer.
There are articles out there explaining how to harvest the cocoons for the next years batch but I may need to buy some to get a head start next spring. There are places that sell them.

Well, after that long rant, here’s the first. I have enough material to make 10 houses so guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year?

[Lawrencewendall]

Just finished a wedding arbor for my DS's wedding next month. Uncanny how it resembles a hangman's setup.

[pacergal]

Nice bee houses!
My SIL built a very similar arbor for his and DD wedding, it was beautiful with the flowers, ivy and fabric!

[street]

Beautiful work by all. A lot of talent on this board.

[Epiphone]

Hi.When I was a young broadcaster raising a family, many of my single cohorts had jukeboxes. I always wanted one but we put our saving goals ahead of material stuff. Now that we have reached our financial goals, my wife and I decided it was our turn. I spent seven months restoring my favorite jukebox. This is a 1954 Seeburg. She looks and sounds great.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epiphone Hi.When I was a young broadcaster raising a family, many of my single cohorts had jukeboxes. I always wanted one but we put our saving goals ahead of material stuff. Now that we have reached our financial goals, my wife and I decided it was our turn. I spent seven months restoring my favorite jukebox. This is a 1954 Seeburg. She looks and sounds great.

Very cool!

A while ago, I came across a blog describing the rebuild of one of those old Wurlitzer boxes with the bubbly lights and everything. Quite the project, I think the fluid in those tubes has been outlawed, and they either needed to find original unbroken tubes, or sources of the original fluid ( NOS - New Old Stock), or come up with some kind of replacement fluid.

Enjoy! (now I want to see your guitar collection!).

-ERD50

[davemartin88]

Love the jukebox!

This is a work in progress of a sign for a local charity that provides toys to kids. Carved on the CNC from sign foam (HDU), ready for paint. Hearts will be red, teddy bears brown, and the lettering and decorative edging will be black. All on a white background. The sign is 4’ wide and 3’ tall so will take some time to do all the painting by hand.

[kitesurfer2]

I converted my little covered porch into a deck. I made the furniture too. not the first bit of help carrying boards...

[Lawrencewendall]

New DIL ended up donating the arbor to the venue (Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, State Museum of Archaeology). Just completed this for their Housewarming gift. Not furniture quality but practical enough for a bedside nightstand/phone charging stand. (17x10x36)

[Nemo2]

^ Nice! (That applies to everyone's stuff...me, I don't even know which end of a paintbrush is used to pull screws out of drywall.)

[street]

Great stuff and some very talented people here on ER.

[davemartin88]

Here’s the sign I finished for a local charity.

[53anddone]

I just finished a timber frame barn. 56115848949__140D0481-99A8-45B9-8DEC-3F9317122E1C.JPG

[msieweke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 53anddone I just finished a timber frame barn.

Very nice work.

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 Here’s the sign I finished for a local charity.

Nice sign, davemartin88! What finish did you use to protect it from the elements?

[Ronstar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 53anddone I just finished a timber frame barn. Attachment 29923

That’s a mighty fine barn!

[street]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 53anddone I just finished a timber frame barn. Attachment 29923

That barn built for yourself? Very nice.

[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar Nice sign, davemartin88! What finish did you use to protect it from the elements?

Sign is made from HDU and I used high quality house paint for the finish. It is also under an East facing porch so will be out of the harshest weather as well.

53anddone, great barn. Is it free standing or is it anchored? Looks like it might be movable?

[Ronstar]

Whipped up a couple of photo frames. Painted poplar for a 15" x 20" B&W profile shot of George Washington at Mt. Rushmore that I took this spring. And a walnut/ maple inlay frame for a 9" x 12" photo that SIL took of her dog that won a first prize in a photo show.

[Philliefan33]

My most recent quilt. Made from a fabric pack that I won as a door prize last month. It was quick to put together so I was able to finish it in time to send it home with DD#2 after Thanksgiving. IMG_2464.JPG