New Address sign for our home

Another of my recent projects had me fabricating up a new address number sign for our home which would be hung out along Rt. 31 where we live here in Ringoes,NJ.  I had made one many years ago, but I made it out of wood that wasn't very durable for exterior use.  I painted it well to protect it from the weather, but weather is an everyday enemy and eventually, it caught up to it and it began to fall apart.  About two months ago... a co worker gave me a nice amount of white oak in partial payment for a project I had built for him.....see the nightstand down below.

   White oak stands up to the weather very well and I knew that this sign was going to be one of the things I used some of that white oak for.  I recycled the black plastic numbers from the old sign and finished this sign with Minwax Helmsman exterior finish and it really laid down a nice coat of finish on it and I am confident that this sign will last a long time signifying where we live.  I purchased a new post mount since the old one was just about rotted out of the ground and when I had the sign up and proud....I went a step further and mounted two solar activated spotlights on the crossmember above the sign and shining down on it.  They light it up nicely in the evening hours and now, visitors at night should have a relatively easy time of it finding us.

Remembering a Veteran

A co-worker who knew I dabbled in woodworking asked me if I could help him with something.  A relative of his...a veteran of one of the countries armed services had decided to throw out his service jacket and hat after it had been damaged in a flood where his basement had been under water.  The co-worker and his wife secured the jacket and hat...had them dry cleaned and they came out just fine.  He wanted me to build him a display unit for hanging on a wall that would feature the jacket and cap, along with a picture from back in his military days.  I was proud to help him and the project would be a simple one...with the exception of how to secure the items in the unit.  That problem was solved and it turned out fairly nicely.  Here it is just before I presented it to him.