June 21st - July 6, 2025 Making Fire Pokers, New Backup Camera for Truck, and Shadow Box out of a Cigar Box

 My Blog Reflection

Joy is not in things, it is in us.

Charles Wagner

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Over the last week I have been making six fire pokers that my daughter, Annie, and husband, Adam, want to give to friends in California whom they camp with. To make these pokers the only things I had to buy were the metal rods and polyurethane for the handles. When I was out in California with my truck last year Adam and Annie had a bunch of bed slats they were going to throw away. They were all nice pine boards about three inches in width. I couldn't see them going to the landfill so I loaded them in the truck and brought them home for projects like this. For these poker handles I glued two bed slats together, turned them on the lathe, painted them, and polyurethaned them. I like the pine handles over the oak handles I made in the past. Two of the bed slats are making their way back to California. LOL

Here are the pokers ready to be packaged for shipment to California. I hope all the families enjoy using them.

Wednesday, June 25, 2025:

In the morning, after two tests at the hospital, I decided to get a summer haircut. It's been a while since I wore my hair short. Unfortunately it doesn't make me look any better. LOL

Thursday, June 26, 2025:

The aftermarket backup camera I installed in the truck went out. I have no reason why. One time it worked, next time it didn't. I thought maybe there was a loose wire to the camera or a bad ground. John and I took the camera off and connected it to another power source. Nothing. We pulled apart wires, sprayed connections, etc. Nothing. We decided this Chinese backup camera was junk. I ordered another Chinese backup camera but a different brand. 

Friday, June 27, 2025:

The new backup camera arrived this afternoon. I will install it tomorrow. The worst part is rolling under the truck bed and wiring the camera into the running lights for power. 

Saturday, June 28, 2025:

My first attempt at wiring the new backup camera into the running lights failed. I couldn't get any of the wires out of the "Scotchloks" which I used for the prior installation. I always called them by that name but I found they are now called "Quick Splice Connectors". I think they were originally made by the Scotch tape company, thus the name. I assume their patent ran out because now they are made by several companies. Here is a picture of one. 

Their purpose is to allow you to tap into a wire without cutting it. They are used  a lot for trailer lights. Here is how they work. The wire you are tapping into goes through one side and out the other. The wire you are adding goes from one end to the other of the Scotchlok. You squeeze the metal piece down and it pierces both wires with the metal piece making an electrical connection. The plastic top is then flip over to lock it in place.

 

I found that the "Scotchloks" were not a good fit for the tiny wires for the truck running lights and for the even smaller camera wires. In getting the Scotchloks off one of the truck running light wires broke. It was clear that I needed to solder all the connections and forget the Scotchlok method of connecting wires. 

I soldered all connections and the camera worked fine. I then wrapped everything with several layers of electrical tape to keep out moisture. Before mounting the camera and license plate I checked the camera monitor again and got "No Signal" from the camera. I cut all of the tape off and immediately found that the truck ground wire I had soldered had broken on one end. These tiny wires are a pain to work with up under the bumper of a truck. I added a piece of wire to the truck wire to take some of the strain off the camera wire connection. 

Before I began soldering I placed a piece of shrink tube over each wire. After soldering I moved the tube into position over the soldered connection and heated it up with a lighter so that the rubber tubing shrunk tight around the connection. This helps with strength and moisture.

This time the connections were tight and the camera worked fine. I then mounted the camera and license plate and wire tied all the extra camera wire up under the bumper.

I sincerely hope this camera last longer than the two years I got out of the old one.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

We put our lake lot up for sale. We don't use it enough to justify continuing to own it. Additionally, it is getting harder for me to keep it maintained. We've owned it for about ten years so it is time to pass it on to someone who will enjoy it. 

Thursday, July 3, 2025:

Alexa came down and we went to watch the fireworks at the City Park. As usual it was a great display. We all enjoyed it.

Friday, July 4, 2025:

A laid back holiday. Alexa had brought down a couple of pork steaks for grilling.  I grilled them for supper and had them along with a fresh salad that Kelly made from the vegetables Bob and Ronnie are providing us. Nothing was leftover. LOL

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Yesterday and today I have been working on a small shadow box for my daughter, Alexa. She wanted it approximately the same size as one she already has. This shadow box is for miniatures so it needed to be made out of thin wood. My son-in-law's father, Jay, owns a cigar store in St. Louis and has given me  a number of wooden cigar boxes that normally get thrown out. These boxes are made out of light-weight, thin wood which was perfect for this project.  Here is a picture of the box I used for this project.

I cut the box apart and then cut the sides into strips from which I made the frame and the slats for the shelves. Here is a picture of the frame assembled and slats ready for assembly.

After putting all the slats together I stained it and put on several coats of polyurethane. Here is a picture of the shadow box behind a cigar box like the one I used to make it. A fun little project. Alexa is going to buy some velvet material for the back of it before she hangs it up.