Fixing things with what you have

After about two years of use, the quick-'n'-dirty hinge for the gate to the ''doggie yard'' finally gave way -- at least, the bottom one did. It was just a loop of fencing wire, twisted through a hole in the steel fence post (or ''star stake'', as they're called locally) and through the hinge-hole in the gate. Since we use the gate several times a day, it's not surprising that it wore though -- although it's interesting that the bottom one wore through, yet the top one seems fine. Maybe it's 'cause the bottom one drags across the ground when the gate gets used.

I had always meant to replace the loop of wire with something more ''hinge-like'' -- something that would hold the gate up off the ground, so the gate wouldn't drag on the dirt every time you used it. Something essentially like what I actually ended up doing (see photo to left). Nothing fancy: just a block of wood (one for the top hinge, one for the bottom), cut to size, with a small hole drilled to attach it to the star stake, and a larger hole for the bolt (same size as the hole in the tab on the gate), to act as a hinge.

If I had an actual workbench, creating these little blocks of wood would have been a pretty straightforward task. But, since I'm ''between workbenches'', I had to use some jiggery.

This picture (with my foot, for scale) is a small little footstool-sized item is some sort of mini-workbench, built by my wife's Grandad. Her brother found it out in one of the sheds a year ago, and I was allowed to keep it (Mum gets first dibs, since he was her dad...). I think the pattern on the wood is pretty nifty: the softer wood, between the growth rings, had slowly rotted away, leaving the raised ridges of the harder growth rings; a groovy pattern.

Grandad probably used it for back-yard sort of sawing: propping up the end of a board, so you can cut it with a handsaw.

On top of this, I laid a piece of scrap wood, so I wouldn't bung up the mini workbench (made to be used, I know -- but I'd like to preserve this little fellow...). Then I placed a clamp on top: the clamp would become my makeshift vice, for holding the wood.






Then I clamped **this** clamp to the mini-workbench, to keep it from skittering around. If I had a ''real'' workbench, with some weight to it, and a built-in vice, it would be a little more straightforward. Ah, well -- another month or two. And this was a good mental exercise, for making do with what I have.





So, that's the basic set-up. I've shown it here ''in use'', with a piece of wood I'm pretending to drill (or rather, auger -- with a brace-and-bit). In actual use, my foot would have been on the right end, holding the mini-workbench stable as I drilled/augered.

Worked well enough. I did all this in the doggie yard, so I wouldn't have to clean up the misc. sawdust and shavings. The dog watched for a while with mild curiosity, then wandered off.

No electrons were harmed in the making of these little wooden hinges.

Oh, yeah: gave 'em a quick coat of boiled linseed oil, just for some modicum of weather-protection. The wood is actually treated pine -- left over from our house construction (nearly finished; yay!!!) -- so it would've been fine by itself. But BLO smells nice...


--GG