u/EstroJen

It's not anything fancy, but i got into carving little wood things a few months ago. I made these out of 2"×2"×2" basswood blocks and I'm really happy how they both turned out.

I mostly used my dremel to shape and carve out the pumpkin face and a little well in the cauldron to hold an epoxy/glitter/green mica powder witches brew. Then hand sanded the pumpkin smooth, but left the cauldron pretty rough and used thinned down acrylic paint on both.

(First, I ran this by the other mods before posting this, so I think I'm OK)

Hey everyone, it's your friend and Token Human, EstroJen!

Some of you know me from my other subreddit, /r/DogShowerThoughts, where dogs (and really all animals) were invited to share shower thoughts (obviously), personal musings, questions, and outrageous statements.

Things like:

• Where do the hard brown circles I eat come from?
• Is it OK if I let the cat lick my ears?
• Hello, I am a bear exchange student and am looking to live in your house while you live in my den.

My dogs President Buddy, Peach the Pittie, and Wally Bear posted stories about their day pretty frequently, and once in a while a hummingbird showed up to give the traffic report of my neighborhood.

Unfortunately, that sub has tumbleweeds blowing through it these days, but I'd like to see it full of animal opinions once again. So if your pups, cats, horses, mice, rats, city squirrels, kangaroos or aquarium fish have something NON-LEGAL to discuss, consider bringing it to r/dogshowerthoughts.

This guy is standing by to take your calls. I don't know where he came from and I'm not paying him. He's just there.

I work in an office with two industrial-sized, [3-door Traulsen freezers](https://imgur.com/a/52wCckQ), as well as two household-style refrigerators. I unfortunately don't have photos of what's going on, but I think I can explain it well enough.

In my years of working in this office, we've had a ton of trouble with these freezers (the fridges rarely give us any issues). We've experienced internal fans dying, the door heaters getting hotter and "cooking" everything inside, condenser coils freezing over, and shorting out where the condenser connects to the control board.

Unfortunately, I'm generally not the one who deals with the issues and our Facilities guys so my knowledge of everything going on is limited. I also apologize if my terminology isn't correct.

**My theory:** I've long thought that the issue is that the room all these appliances are in is fairly warm, the appliances don't get good airflow and are also constantly pumping out warm air. There are also halogen lights pointing at the appliances which adds to the problem slightly. The humidity in that space is above 60%, and the temperature fluctuates around 75F (according to a small sensor in that space.)

My theory is that hot air can hold onto more water vapor, and due to the lack of air circulation, that vapor is going to latch right on to the condenser coils on the top of the appliance and freeze over. Then the condenser has to work harder to keep the temperature inside the freezer consistent and breaks down.

**My question:** Is this an insane idea? Am I being completely stupid?! I recognize that I'm not an HVAC specialist or an electrician, but I have seen the condenser coils get covered in thick ice multiple times. Sometimes we've found that the freezer is filled with water, or worse, the top of the appliance is filled with water. My supervisor just kind of ignores my thought, and the Facilities workers don't really acknowledge it either.

At this point, I'm staying out of it. I had a fan up there for a few days to see if air circulation did anything, and the humidity and temperature on top of the freezer dropped just a little. I would like to hear from professionals if my idea is even logical, or if I'm so wrong I should go walk into the woods, never to return.

I appreciate any and all comments, even if I am a huge dum-dum. Thanks in advance!

I have an apricot tree that i had to prune some damaged branches off of this year. Normally I hold onto pruned stuff for firewood, but I decided to try my hand at carving something. I also retained some long, thin branches to hopefully build a trellis for veggies next year.

I also had the roots from a bay tree sitting in my yard for years (and they still smelled like bay leaves!), so I started carving those into little hearts.

(Lighter heart is from apricot, darker is the bay tree roots)

I had a bay tree removed from my front yard 10+ years ago, and due to heavy clay soil and bricks on one side the roots were kind of big tangled mess.

The block of roots has been sitting in my backyard since the tree was removed, and i decided to make some stuff from them.

I just rubbed a little bit of cutting board oil/wax because I didn't want to mess with the color that much.

It's lopsided but I like it :)

....Who is also sweet, funny, dorky, and also enjoys some kinks in the bedroom. I want the person who can be both sweet and spicy, and doesn't mind my silly antics.

About me: plus sized, but eager to spend time outside if it includes finding fossils, interesting rocks, photographing plants/bugs/nature-y things.

I always like to be learning new hobbies (currently learning simple woodworking) and improving upon things I already know. I can garden, make repairs to my house, paint, write funny stories, sew (not well though). I love power tools.

I love dogs and always like to adopt the old or overlooked animals from the shelter. One day I'd like to live in a weird old house where I have enough space for a small orchard and a few shelter pets.

I'm Jen, a 44/f in California. I work in a room away from mostly everyone else, and the people I know on Facebook aren't excited about the same things I am. I love bugs, dirt, growing veggies, little DIY projects, watercolor painting silly things and so on. I just started messing around with wood projects and have been having fun.

I just wanted to share some things I like a lot, and maybe some of you will like too.

My Matilija poppy - big as my hand
The Huggin' Monster - painted with gouache. Is he evil? I don't know.

Dracula

Part of my apricot harvest

I made a heart out of an apricot branch I cut down

More apricot wood slices that I want to make into coasters

"I've been making a man, with blonde hair and a tan.." - Carving a guy out of basswood

Some sleepy bees in one of my sunflowers

I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area and I want maggots.

I have a tumbler composter for now (my backyard is entirely paved), and I've loaded up a bunch of rotten apricots, veggies, dead plants, etc into it.

I'm jealous when people get maggots. I want maggots! I'm weirdly curious to watch them squirm and break down my garbage, but I have had no luck so far. I try to leave the little plastic doors open, but the meatball pretending to be my dog rears up on his tiny potato legs and tries to get in the bin.

How's a girl supposed to get her maggot fix? Please help me reddit, you're my only hope!

Hi everyone!

I had to prune some big branches from my apricot tree, so I decided to mess around with my tools and the wood and see what happens!

Photos

I peeled the bark off this branch yesterday (cut off the tree maybe a month ago), and today when I went to drill a hole (used a 3/4" spade bit) in one end, I saw a lot of cracking. I wrapped the wood in duct tape while drilling the hole to make sure it held its shape and ordered some epoxy resin that works well with wood to squirt into the cracks just to see if I can keep it in one piece because I like the crater in the side.

Wood was still wet when I peeled the bark off so I figure that is a big issue.

• If I were to attempt this again, how would I avoid these big cracks forming? *Should I have kept the bark on?
• How should I be drying this wood for best results?

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

I'd like to get some ideas about what this wood (part of a door frame) is. I live in a house built in California in 1939. I have always suspected there might be "nice" wood under all the paint on my door frames since it was more likely to use old grove wood in older homes. This isn't a fancy house - it's small and likely was built for farmworkers due to the large amount of orchards we used to have.

I tried to remove all the paint (with a wallpaper steamer, then paint thinner for the paint haze), then took photos from multiple angles to catch the grain.

Things I know:

1. It's a softwood (was able to dent it with my fingernail)

2. Google says it might be Douglas Fir, but that could be wrong.

3. Definitely old, because it's musty as hell, but that grain is gorgeous to me.

Thanks in advance!

I have some ant infested branches on my apricot tree, so I've begun removing them. Because the damage is kind of pretty, I'd like to maybe put epoxy in the holes and seal them so they can be neat coasters. I've cut them as thin as I could with my reciprocating saw, or my electric jig saw, but they're pretty uneven. They're also about 5-6" wide

I have never used a planer, but I've watched a few videos from This Old House, etc on hand planers so I think I could do it.

My questions:

1. What kind of planer should I be using for hardwood and small items? I don't have a work bench currently. Would a mini planer be a good option?

2. How do I plane things with tree rings? The videos I've watched say to go with the grain, but they're tree rings.

3. Best way to secure them while planing? I don't have a workbench but I do have two horse legs to put something on top of. TOH says to cut a hole in MDF and place the pieces inside, then swipe across the top. Is there another way to hold these things down correctly and smooth them out?

Thank you in advance!

I have a much-loved apricot tree in my front yard, and I've been pruning off some damaged branches (various sizes) this week with my reciprocating saw. The tree is probably the thing I love most about my home because it's brought my neighbors together/talking through its delicious harvests. Because the tree is important to me, I'd like to make something simple from slices of these branches to display in my home, or maybe even give away as small gifts if anyone wants one.

The photo I added is of a slice I sanded a bit because it looks so pretty. This is 120 grit sandpaper, but I will get higher grit to use in a few days. I sort of want to leave this particular piece as is but cut it thinner with my jigsaw or a handsaw if I can.

I've never carved anything, don't have a planer or any table saws so am just looking for some very simple things I can do with this wood. I know it can crack as it dries, and I don't really mind that because I think it would add character. I also know the wood is quite hard so hand carving anything (especially as a newbie) will be tough. I was thinking I might cut small heart shapes out of slices, then sand down the sides so they're a little more rounded.

Questions:

Is it better to make the slices now that the wood is still wet, or leave as large branches to dry out in my garage, then cut it down?

If I need to get a handsaw (the one I have has large teeth and I think it wouldn't cut very smoothly), what kind should I look for?

What is a good way to clamp this stuff in place so it doesn't move while I'm slicing it up? I have some saw horses in my garage.

Thank you in advance!