PLASTERERS or RENDERERS HAWK

[ranald]

MY LATE FATHER WAS A SOLID PLASTERER & LATER A HOME BUILDER. Duting the late 1980's I went "owner builder" for a second time but was caught with my pants down financially due to a boom in the building industry. It was a matter of "just do it" or go broke like so many others did at the time when materials doubled in price & availability went from in stock to 6 months wait.

My dad came to visit for a few days and saw i not only had the "roof on" walls were being finished with gyprock plasterboard. My horizontal setting was ok but the perps were terrible & needed much sanding. He always called a spade a spade and without mentioning the quality he did so in asking where the bags of plaster, tape and so on were to be found. "Where is your hawk?" he asked & I showed my prototype one made of form ply & 2 by 1 1/2" ceiling batten. He laughed & said "this will do but its a bit heavy". He proceeded to make a batch & set it. I reckoned I could make a lighter one.

I rummaged through my building stuff and found a streel traffic sign that some "idiot"( thank you so much idiot) had thrown in my front yard after a night at "The Beach Chalet". I often had to seek out street numbers and return letter boxes between the two properties. I had an old coffee table & scavanged a leg from it. Easy Peasy.

My dad frowned before picking it up & after using it claimed that "if it were square it would be better than" his tradies one. I now have it stashed somewhere but borrowers haven't cleaned it so is full of spent render.

[Beserkleyboy]

Ranald, I love the re-purposed road sign. I have a collection (25)of road signs and basically any other type of sign, warning, advisory etc. They were collected over a 20 year period with the express idea of lining the 'one day' final workshop....well I got my workshop in 2012 when we moved from Bowral in the Southern Highlands, NSW to Shoalhaven Heads on the South Coast. 8m x 8m garage with 3.6m ceiling, 5m auto roller door. Because we are in a suburban area with LOTS of houses within earshot, I was worried about my noise...so I lined the walls and ceiling with 9mm perforated plywood for acoustic work, that I had collected in my plywood business years, just for this purpose. Backed with 6"acoustic rock wool insulation stuffed into 4" cavity. Quiet as! The walls and ceiling suck the sharp sound away neatly. No one has complained in 6 years...And I decorated the walls with the street signs. All good fun....
Jim

[ranald]

I love to repurpose almost everything. Great decorations: I don't have internal wall space for such so I display on the outside of one shed. Most get a giggle after seing my "u on the level" which of course isn't level.

You may notice a box like object to the left which is part of a thingie i made for a portable makita wet saw for cutting tiles. Wet saws like that became illegal then legal then .............all because some idiots ran them with motor downside while chasing out walls. Your wotk space is not as cluttered as mine but i'm working on it. LOL (years).

[Beserkleyboy]

Mate, I'm a Steptoe's bowerbird...a mate had a great saying that I adhere to...'handy if you never need it...' my wife picks up stray hardware on the ground whenever she sees it...a few screws, nuts and the always handy washers...I have a small parts drawer bank that has bits and pieces I've collected since 1980, and is always the go to before going to the hardware ..and more times than not, successful! The only downside is too much gear, but the only regret is that I will burden my survivors with the 'deconstruction' task. I have made it quite clear that on my leaving, the local men's shed gets first choice at no cost, then the balance to auction...They all will have a field day! Wish I would be there! Cheers
Jim

[Philip Davies]

What? You have space on your walls for SIGNS.

[Toolmaker51]

What? You have space on your walls for SIGNS.

And one just for Marv, PJs, C-Bag, Frank S in a roundabout way, and I.
Interstate 5, carrying many names depending where you enter. Only runs entire length of West Coast.
Having covered every inch of it, I'll just say, you see things recognizable to folks all over the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_5

[Beserkleyboy]

TM51,
I 'liberated' that I-5 sign in 71 while a freshman at UCSD one weekend night...I had a girlfriend going to UC Davis and used the 'new' I-5 section from Grapevine to Tracy when it first opened! It was like a super highway, although very boring...and BTW, which signs are for Marv, Frank et al? Cheers
Jim in Sunny South Coast NSW

[Toolmaker51]

4 clearly connected to California, 5th driven the route more than once.

[Frank S]

I hauled a load of slinky (coiled round bar to Decatur Alabama once from Indiana then took US 72 up to the Pearson Lumber co just east of Memphis . Where I picked up a load of various lumber and hauled it to Dallas. Not sure if is the same Pearson as the sign though.

[Beserkleyboy]

Frank, no, they must be the imposters! My grandad started our yard in 1946 in Pleasant Hill, CA, Contra Costa County. Dad built it up and Mum and I finished it off in '85...The sign was on the F350 'little truck', with6....diesel, o/load springs, 9' bed and heavy rack. Those signs were circa 60's, painted STEEL, with eyelets on corners, riveted to doors...the Pearson Plywood sign is from my 90s Plywood and panel business in Sydney. Cheers
Jim