Two of my recent projects involved little or no turning. The first is a new built in grill in the backyard which I constructed from concrete block and shorewall. My Papa helped me with laying the block. I definitely don't see a future in either of us becoming a block mason but it was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be.
I'm pleased with the way it turned out. The stainless top was made by a local metal artist. He did the lid and an expanded metal insert with handles so it's easy to lift out and clean underneath. The box is filled half way with sand for easy cleaning. The grill uses a 1 1/4" pipe with slots cut every inch for a burner and I can get it up to searing temperature in a couple of minutes. It cooked a couple of great ribeyes last night.
The cool thing is, I made a trade with the metal artist for my old 1947 Delta Rockwell lathe since he was interested in learning to turn. To tie this back into a turning thread, I turned a piece of walnut last night to prop the top up while I'm flipping burgers. I guess I'll need to add a picture of that later.
I didn't build the second project but did support my local high school's industrial arts class with it. We commissioned a round picnic table from them and they built the one pictured below, which now has a nice place to rest in my backyard. It weighs a ton. I was very pleased with their design except for the diagonal supports under the benches. For some reason they didn't miter the joints and it's a little weak there. I'll be reworking them over the next few weeks but overall they did a good job.
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