Tom’s brother, Jim, purchased a new Kubota LA 854 tractor last spring. He brought it down to the shop so Tom could build and weld on a few accessories before using it. Tom fabricated a hook and chain holder for the front end loader. The holder is made out of half inch hot rolled steel that was cut using a plasma cutter. Tom then ground down the edges and drilled a hole using a drill bin in a milling machine.
Jim chose a 4740 Kubota tractor. It has 49 horse power. It came with an LA 854 front end loader. Jim also added the backhoe attachment, snowplow attachment and a set of fork lift forks.
There are a few things you should keep in mind when shopping around for a new tractor. First of all, look for a brand name. There are some off brands out there, but you will want to make sure and insure your investment by choosing a reliable company that will stay in business for years to come. I is also good to purchase your new tractor from a local dealer. This makes servicing and maintenance a lot easier. If you are in doubt about what size of tractor to buy, go with a little bit larger machine than you think you’ll need. It is better to have a tractor that does the work, rather than trying to push a smaller one. Most high altitude owners usually go for a turbo engine. It gives the extra power needed, although they will be pricier than a non-turbo. If you live closer to sea level it might be good to purchase a tractor with a bigger engine without the turbo. Tractors also come with a gas or diesel option. A diesel will typically last longer. They tend to be harder to start in cold climates though. They are also better on fuel mileage, but tend to be more expensive to rebuild.
Finally, never rule out purchasing a used tractor. Pay attention to the mileage on the machine, who the previous owners were and how they used the tractor. Also, ask to look at the service records.

Tom and I recently got away with the family over the long New Years weekend. Estes Park Colorado is within a short driving distance from our house/shop in Wyoming. We like to visit Estes Park in the winter because the summer crowds are gone and we can often get lower rates on places to stay. Since we are a family of five, it is nice to find a vacation condominium or house on rental websites.
We found this great downtown loft on homeaway.com. The owners live in Estes Park and were wonderful to work with. There was plenty of space for our family to spread out and relax.
This unit is a two bedroom unit with a t.v. room that can be used as a third bedroom. There is also a pull out couch in the living room that could sleep two. The kitchen, dining and living room area is open and spacious. There is a full washer and dryer located in a closet just off the kitchen. Another great thing about this condominium is that is has two full bathrooms. Each bathroom is outfitted with plenty of towels and a generous toiletries basket.  The condo also comes with free wi-fi.

It is a brand new loft right above a small art gallery and coffee shop at the beginning of the downtown shopping district of Estes Park. Eds Cantina, a good Mexican restaurant and bar right outside the front door. The downtown condo backs the Estes Park River Walk. The Big Thompson River runs directly behind the condo. I can imagine in the summer time the river noise would be very soothing. There is a long stairway up to the loft, so it would be difficult for handicap or older guests.

Our family loved the location. We were able to park the car and leave it there for almost the entire weekend. We did venture up the mountain to St Malo retreat center to see the beautiful stone church.  We also spent some time at the Estes Park Brewery where they bottle their own micro-brews.  The movie theater is within walking distance as is the local Safeway.

Since Estes Park is one of our favorite weekend getaways we travel there at least once a year.  Another must stop in the Estes Park area include Rocky Mountain National Park to see the wildlife and outstanding vistas.  When we visit without the kids we always make time to stop in at Nikky’s Resort to enjoy the great bar there.  They usually have a roaring fire and wonderful live music.  The dinners are hearty and outstanding.  The real reason to go to Nikky’s is the atmosphere though.  The old wooden covered porch is literally littered with old Chianit bottles of all sizes.  We aren’t really wine drinkers, but if you are… they invite you to order a bottle, polish it off, write your name on it, and then they will hang it from the ceiling.  The last time we were there we saw one marked “Clint Eastwood”… hummm.

Estes Park is a remarkable location to visit anytime of year.  The town and Rocky Mountain National Park tend to be more crowed in the summer months.  Sometimes if you go in the winter off season then the lodging rates will be lower.  Some of the downtown shops and restaurants only operate during the summer months, so be aware.

Check out our short “out of the shop” video with footage of the Estes Park condominium and the area.

The week between Christmas and New Year tends to be a little slow at Trade Tool Innovations. We usually take advantage of the time off and pop in and out of town as the weather allows.
This past Christmas day we were up in Boulder Colorado preparing for our Christmas dinner and I (Karen) came up with a tip that Tom acutally shared with me in our early days. I suppose when a man knows how to get all the soup out of a can, then it is definitely time to snag him up! Anyway, really, this tip DOES work! It works with any type of canned good that is packed into the can. Think soup and cranberries… stuff like that.
Since we were taking a break from the shop, I thought this might be a great “tip” to post.
No worries though, we’ll have plenty of sparks, smoke, welding, fabricating, fixing, metal bending and cutting, crazy (and not so crazy) shop projects in the new year!
Thanks to “Solar Dave”, http://www.solardave.com, my brother-in-law for his filming and editing expertise. And all his unpaid website consulting over the years… Krissy, you snagged a good one!
Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!

A popular way to prepare holiday turkeys is to deep fry them.  Tom purchased a deep fry kit from Bass Pro Shop for under $40.  The kit came with a burner, stand, hose and regulator with a 20 minute timer, a large pot and lid and a hanger for the turkey.  It is important to follow all directions that come with any deep fry kit.

It is best to use the fryer kit out of the wind.  Tom set up frying operations inside the shop.  Remember, frying indoors is not recommended, but Tom cleard a wide perimeter around the fryer.  A study shop table was handy to hold all the necessary items including a fire extinguisher, marinades and seasonings.  It is a great idea to fry up some mushrooms, cheese sticks and other battered hours’devous while you have your deep fryer out and ready to go.

Tom decided to cook two smaller turkeys that each weighed about ten pounds.  Smaller turkeys are easeir to monitor during the frying process.  An added bonus is that you can flavor each turkey with different seasonings.  Tom ordered his marinade kit from Bass Pro Shop.  The kit came with four different flavors as well as an injector.

Stainless steel welding wire works great when tying the turkey legs together.  It is extremely important to start out with a clean, well thawed, dry turkey.

When the oil reaches temperature the turkeys can be submerged.  A set of welding gloves helps protect Tom from any hot oil that may splatter.  It is also important to slowly lower the turkey in the carfully measured oil.  Most fryer fires occur when too much oil has been added to the pot.  When the turkey is added, the oil level rises and spills over onto the fire below.  It is also a good idea to be aware of pets who may be hanging around as well.

Frying a turkey can be a great way to share the holidays with family and friends.  Several extra precautions should be observed for a successful fry.

Remember

1.  Start with a clean, dry, well thawed turkey.

2.  Fry out of the wind and away from other objects.

3.  Follow directions on the fry kit.

4.  You might want to fry two smaller turkeys, instead of one large one.

5.  Welding gloves work for oil protection.

6.  Use stainless steel  welding wire to tie legs together.

7.  Be aware of pets and children in the area.

One great way to save money and boost the look of your home in any kind of economy is to replace carpet yourself. Tom usually replaces living room carpet about every 3-5 years. The living room is heavy used in the Gabriel household and it is directly adjacent to Tom’s busy shop area. It is an agreement that Tom keeps with his wife (me) faithfully. We thought we’d show everyone how easy and inexpensive it really is to give any room a fresh new look.
Home improvement stores, like Home Depot or Lowes, carry large rolls of various types of flooring. The first step in selecting a new carpet is to find one with the style and feel you like. It is important to take note of the weight of carpet on the small tags that label each roll, the higher the weight, the better. It is also a good idea to visit the store before a trip to actually purchase the carpet and pick up small samples to bring home and place in the area you are re-carpeting to see if it matches existing trim, paint, furniture, etc. Measure out the entire area to establish square footage needed. Most carpet rolls come in either twelve foot or fourteen foot lengths.
We selected a thirty-five weight carpet from Home Depot call “Sand Dollar”. It has a light base with various shades of brown speckled through out. It came on a twelve foot roll.
The first step in replacing carpet is to remove the existing carpet. If the carpet pad underneath is still good, you can simply vacuum the pad using the one of the higher setting on your vacuum cleaner. You can also take the hose attachment and clean around existing baseboard and tile. There should already be tack strip placed around the perimeter of your carpeted area. If not, tack strip can be picked up from Home Depot as well. The only other tools you may need are a chisel shaped tool used to tuck in the carpet edges, a carpet knife which looks like a box cutter but has a blade on each side, and a carpet knee kicker.
After cleaning off your area and gathering the needed tools, you can roll out the entire roll making sure to match up at least one corner and along one wall. Use the chisel tool to tuck the new carpet by wedging it under the baseboard and tile or other bordering flooring. Make sure to stretch out the carpet as you go using a carpet knee kicker. Carefully use a carpet blade knife to trim any carpet that does not fit the area. If your area is wider than the roll you purchased, then seaming your carpet will be necessary. Seaming carpet will be covered in another article.
Once again, purchasing and laying carpet yourself is a great way to save money and can be done in relatively little time.

When traveling in the northern New Mexico area, one stop along the way that you won’t want to miss is the Visitors Center for Earthship homes. These structures are very interesting.
Earthships are buildings that are designed to be built with recycled materials. These structures take green living to it’s extreme. Each structure is basically old tires packed with earth and stacked on top of one another to form walls. The tires are surrounded by concrete or cement filler interspersed with old beverage cans and bottles. The bottles make a nice addition when light is allowed to flow through. One example we saw was an outside lamp post using what appeared to be the bottom of an old pickle jar.
The entire structure can then be coated with a mud or adobe mixture to give it a more polished look. Most Earthships are either fully or partially burned into the ground. The surrounding earth also acts as an insulation, keeping the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
Earthship builders place large windows on the south facing wall in order to capture solar light and heat.
Each Earthship is designed to house an entirely independent water system. The Earthship captures rain or snow, usually on the roof, and then the water is funneled through a silt screen. The screened water is then stored in a cistern for further use. The Earthship Visitors Center near Taos has an indoor tank. The builders had incorporated a small waterfall that created a nice sound in the adobe structure.

From the cistern the water would be used for washing and bathing. That water would then be used as gray water to fill toilet tanks and water indoor gardens.

Each Earthship home is built with independent sustainability in mind.  Power is harnessed through solar and/or wind collection.  Energy enters the Earthship into a bank of battaries at twelve volts.  The battery bank feeds an inverter that in turn produces one hundred fifteen volts and sixty hertz that is used to power the appliances in the Earthship.  Earthships usually have special refrigerators called “Thermal Mass Refrigerator”.  Thermal Mass Refrigerators are designed utilizing a type of alcohol as insulation and can therefore hold temperature better. Earthship power systems are capable of sustaining all kinds of modern conviences. Earthships are built to incorporate a central mechanical room to house renewable energy equipment.

Earthships are springing up in various areas of the country and world.  Watch for one in your neighborhood.

Tom looks at an electrical control panel in an Earthship Home.

What To Look For In A Gas Grill from Dave Dugdale on Vimeo.

Dave asks Tom what to look for when purchasing a backyard gas grill.  A few years ago, Tom finally invested in a gas grill that wasn’t patched together from parts he had picked up from the town landfill.  He purchased this middle of the road gas grill at a Lowes store.  Dave was over for the weekend and wanted to pick Tom’s brain about his thoughts on purchasing a gas grill.

The first thing Tom mentioned was looking for a gas grill with a side burner.  Side burners come in handy when boiling corn or noodles.  Side burners often keep the heat, mess & cooking outside on a warm summer night.

Before purchasing a gas grill lift the lid.  Cast iron grates are nice because they don’t rust out.

Perhaps one of the most important things to look for when purchasing a gas grill are the burners.  Look for a gas grill with cast iron burners.  Normally, on cheaper models, the burners won’t be cast iron and tend to rust out fairly quickly.

Another thing to consider if you are looking at having a backyard gas grill is connecting your gas grill to a permanant gas source.  Tom ran propane gas out the back of the kitchen to connect to the gas grill on the patio.

Several things are key when exploring this option.  Check local building codes for remodel requirements.  Pipe specifications may vary from area to area.  Tom used black gas pipe.  Special pipe thread sealant is required when running propane as well.  Look for a propane listing on the label.

Make sure your system also includes a shut off valve, rated for propane, near the gas grill.

It is also important to do a gas pressure check after hooking up your new gas grill.  This involves isolating all gas appliance’s and then charging the gas line with compressed air.  Pressure is monitored in the pipe in insure it is holding contents.  Any connection beyond the isolated points should be checked using a leak detector found in any local hardware store.  If you are not comfortable running the test yourself then your propane supplier should also be able to come out and do a shut in test as well.

A good grill should last about ten years or so.  This grill has been in operation on the Gabriel patio for two to five years.  Depending on who you ask.

In this video Tom explains how to wire lights on a snowplow attached to the front of a pickup truck.  Tom is transfering a Bosch plow from a 1991 pickup to a 2004 pickup.  Tom finds himself fighting the wiring harness from the plow.  Tom has to trase the wire using a multimeter so he knows which wires are right and left turn connections.  He also is looking for headlights and plow light connections as well.

A multimeter comes in handy for this project because it measures things like resistance, voltage and current.  Sometimes a multimeter is called a volt-meter.

Tom uses a small hand held device for this project.  A multimeter is a basic shop tool and is a must have for any type of electrical job.

This video shows how Tom built his dream shop/house.  The shell of the building was ordered through Fast Trac Buildings, Inc. in Colorado.  Much of the interior of the shop and home was purchased as was needed through local building supply houses and stores like Builders Square, Lowes, and Home Depot.

The two and a half year project was a life long dream of Tom.  How did he talk his wife into it?  Well, she got her new home for their growing family.

The building is a 60 X 100 structure.  The house sits on the west end and was built three feet lower than the shop to allow for the second story.

The living room has a twenty five foot opening that gives the home a dramatic entrance.   There is an open kitchen with hickory cabinetry, a large eat in bar and a unique spinning pot rack.  The first floor has a large mudroom/full bath, guestroom with private bath and a den/office.  Upstairs there is another open family room as well as three kids rooms along with a kids bath.   The master bedroom and bath is also upstairs.

Tom’s shop is an all service machine shop and houses his tools and machinery.

There really are many possibilities for anyone wanting to design their own metal building house.  It is a great way to incorporate your lifestyle with your livelihood.  For questions or comments, please contact Tom at tom@toolsbytom.com.

Metal Building Patio

This is a lightweight pancake style tank version with an oilless compressor.  An oilless compressor means that there is no oil to lubricate the compressor.  Bostitch makes this low maintenance air compressor.  It is a 2 horsepower peak and 1.5 horsepower running, 135 psi maximum.  One thing to look at when purchasing an air compressor is it’s cubic feet per minute.  They are normally rated at two different pressures.  This particular model will put out 2.1 cfm, that’s 2.1 cubic feet per minute at 90 psi.  That isn’t a whole lot and is usually used to blow up air mattresses, filling up car tires and the like.

This air compressor took a while to reach up to 135 psi.  Tom and Dave tested the new compressor on an ordinary camping air mattress.  It took several minutes to get the queen size mattress to fill with air.  They decided an ordinary hair dryer might do the trick a little better.  A simple reason for that is that a hair dryer moves air at a high volume with low pressure and moves much more air at a lower pressure.  The air compressor moves less air at at a higher pressure.

The compressor works much better at a task like filling a car tire.  Interestingly enough the tire gauge that came with the air compressor kit work just as well as a more expensive model Dave had in his garage.