Newbie

Greetings,

 new guy here.. and practically a new guy to SF gardening.  My handle is Metalshaper, and as you can imagine I'm known more for the Black powder rifles I build... rather than raising a garden!

I started a couple of years ago, raising 'bucket' tomatoes.. then tomatoes and  summer squash.. this year I used the old stockade fence panels we replaced, to make My raised beds.  have two that are 6' X 4'  and a long bed, 2' X 12'
works out to 72 SF +/-

I  have a decent start at growing snap pees and pole beans, but have encountered a difficulty. I was ripping cedar boards to make the 'pole teepees' and in a moment of lost focus,( and a kick back ) I introduced my left index finger to the saw blade!   so now I'm looking for some ideas of how to climb the beans/pees.  For some reason my wife doesn't want me using the saw for a bit???   

anyways, any help and ideas are welcome

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

 metalshaper/Jonathan.  Sorry about your finger, I must admit it makes me cringe when I hear about accidents like that, I appreciate your wife's feelings.
Perhaps to support your peas and beans you could use twine? It would last for the season, I think.

Welcome to the forum.

metalshaper wrote:...in a moment of lost focus...

That scares me more than anything else when using a table saw.

You can make a trellis in a hurry, even with a bandaged finger, by using either concrete reinforcing wire or cattle panels.  

You can enter 'trellis' into  the search feature on the top left of the homepage to find lots of other ideas.

Metal Shaper,  Welcome to the Forum!     Ouch!  I'd ground my husband, also, if he had a saw accident.   

Welcome! Ouch! Welcome! OUCH OUCH OUCH!!! That is exactly why Hubby won't let me get any more power tools. Haven't had a bad meeting with a saw yet, but he worries...

GG

Thanks for the welcome and concerns!!

Kind of embarrassed about the BooBoo.. first time in nearly 20 yrs of having  a shop, that I managed
to do something like that?  

Appreciate the ideas and will be looking into the wire panel idea.. I mentioned getting something from the shop this morning and got "That Look" from my Lynn Marie.. She has put a temporary ban on any power equipment use??

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

I tried garden twine crisscrossed from two opposing poles.  Used a lot of twine and it started to fall apart midseason. 
The following year I used garden netting made from nylon and it not only lasted the season, it was used again the next year.  I have it for this season as well.
I used 2 metal fence posts at the ends to support the netting.


forgot to add:  Welcome   to the forum.

I take back what I said about using twine for support. You can tell that I have never used it myself.      
I will never suggest it again.

I imagine that there are different types of twine.

Camprn uses twine and, at the end of the season, tosses it into her compost pile.

Hi Metalshaper.  Welcome!

My hubby (Mr. Gadget Guy) has a LOT of power tools.  He's put a screw thru his finger, carried a bruise for weeks from having a board kick back on him while cutting, etc.  So I understand your Lynn Marie.  AND you, lol!

Would love to see some pix of your rifles.  Both of us are firearms instructors.

I used twine successfully last year for tomatoes and beans.

For beans, I let a single string drop down and entangled it with the young bean plant stems. Within usually a single day, sometimes two, the bean tendrils would begin to circle around the twine and follow it upward, especially if the natural growth habit (toward the most intense sun) made the stems or tendrils have to reach across and touch the string as the plant searched for the sun. Sometimes I wound the tendrils around the twine myself. The beans grew about eight feet tall, but did not break the twine. I kept them well-picked, and that probably helped. But I also had wood connecting many of my tall stakes horizontally, so once they reached those horizontal pieces, at about five feet high, there was no more strain on string that hung to the ground.

From there, the beans amused themselves traveling a loose, somewhat random series of pieces of twine connecting the stakes together.

At the end of the season, I cut most of the twine away and threw it in the compost pile.

AtlantaMarie wrote:Hi Metalshaper.  Welcome!

My hubby (Mr. Gadget Guy) has a LOT of power tools.  He's put a screw thru his finger, carried a bruise for weeks from having a board kick back on him while cutting, etc.  So I understand your Lynn Marie.  AND you, lol!

Would love to see some pix of your rifles.  Both of us are firearms instructors.

 AtlantaMarie.

 not sure where to post the pics?  is here OK?   I'd  be willing to show a couple of them 

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

byw, our son just got home from college and wants me to build some speaker stands for him    might be a couple of more days before "She" will let me down there????

I guess here would be okay.  Or you can send me a private message by hitting the PM button under my name on the left.

I have found that I have to use Paint or some program to shrink my photos down in size to 100kbs or so before they'll post quickly.

AtlantaMarie,

 I'll try posting links? That way if someone doesn't wanna see them they don't have to?

I do a bit of blacksmithing, knife making and gun building... hence my buds referring to me
as Metalshaper...

https://2img.net/h/i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/metalshaper/Double%20Set%20Underhammer/PA310402.jpg

https://2img.net/h/i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/metalshaper/MM4.jpg

https://2img.net/h/i5.photobucket.com/albums/y181/metalshaper/PB160015.jpg


Sorry not much of a photographer??

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

VERY nice...!  What types of wood do you use?

And what is the blue/gold metal on the action of the first one? 

I've never seen a pistol like that one.  And a homemade Gatling???!!!  COOL!

I'm guessing you do Civil War reenactments?  One of our students does.  He has a good time with it.

MS, Thank you for sharing. My dad loved to tinker with the wood stocks. Sanding, staining, insets, engraving. He had a black powder rifle and pistol over the brick fireplace that I handed down to my 2 sons. He also made his own ammo in the garage. Those are good memories for me.

AtlantaMarie,

I have used walnut, pecan and ash.. but mainly use curly maple.. Sometimes called tiger maple. < cuz in a really fancy piece they have tons of stripes > and that first gun, the blue coloration is nothing more than heat oxidation!  polished up the piece and then played a torch on it until it went blue.. Much darker in person, but for some reason it looks different in the pic?  The gold is inlaid brass bands     I had the idea and my Buddy Marlow helped me get it done.. 



Sanderson,

If nothing else, I'm glad it brought back a good memory of your Dad!

I tinker and putz around.. reload ammo and such and basically just try to keep the mind active and creating.. Drives Lynn Marie crazy    

Respect Always
Metalshaper/Jonathan

Metalshaper, that first gun is quite beautiful and I like the others as well.