Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Fishing With The Boy & Constructing A Cheap Sun Chair

  I took to the pond yesterday with my boy for a little bass fishing.  With a chilly wind and a bright sun high in the sky doing a decent job of heating the afternoon water, we were able to hook into a few small bass in the short time we flicked out some flies.
    Despite having a minor mishap with a thistle in the palm of his hand, the little guy did a good job of reeling in two active fish with my MRC large arbor reel and #8w fly reel.  He hasn't got the hang of casting the big rod yet so I helped out a little bit by hooking fish but he quickly took over and enjoyed the fight to bring it in.
    He was also a bit nervous about sticking his thumb in the fishes mouth but after a bit of schooling in how to properly hold a bass he gave it a try and luckily all the bass behaved.
    Over all it was a good hour with the boy before we headed back home for some homemade pizza. I am sure it is yet another day at the pond that he will remember for quite a while.

    Before we went fishing however I had a good few hours to mess around in the garage with a spur of the moment idea while walking the isles of my local hardware store.  Originally I had gone there to get a chimney sweep so I can clean out the fireplace and save myself over $230.  $230!!!  No thanks, I'll stick to my cheap Dutch roots and do it myself.  I hate going on my roof for anything but for $230 I'm not blinking an eye.
So how do you turn a total of $7 in cheap lumber and $5 in hardware into something relaxing?  You just make a few simple cuts and drill a few holes and then you got a very comfortable sun chair to place outside near the fire.
  I actually found the idea for the chair on an advertisement for Delta.  It was a background piece of furniture on a travel banner but it looked so easy to make that I thought it would be an quick project to get me back in the garage and out of the house.  Happily it was nearly as easy as I had hoped and even though I will make a few changes to the design in the next chair, it was simple and more importantly - Cheap!

6 comments:

Memaw said...

I think that your son was really happy to spend the day with you and that he was fishing with you.

And the chair is good looking chair

Mark Kautz said...

The guy that cleans my chimney twice a year charges $125.00. I have him come in January and in July just to have it professionally cleaned. The rest of the year, I clean it myself about every 3 weeks, but that's because I burn everything from Pine, to Fir, To Cedar, to Oak, and even Walnut so it needs to be cleaned often. In fact, I did it about an hour ago.

Bill Trussell said...

Joel
Glad you was able to get out and land a few bass. That is chair is awesome, yes it looks easy to construct. Nice job!

Unknown said...

Thanks Memaw

Mark - we pretty much only use it 3-4 months out of the year and don't usually depend on it for heat. In the south its mostly used for ambiance

Unknown said...

Bill - thanks. The chair is incredible comfortable. Just got done putting a layer of weather proofing sealant. Looks really sharp now.

cofisher said...

Okay Joel how do I sign up to order my chairs? Do you deliver? Nice post.