Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by Gasman

Im winning on the skunk smell in the garage. I found some lumber that hadnt been treated or painted that the skunk must have sprayed. Tossed it out and the garage is much better. I will cut it up and dispose of it. With the cost of lumber now days it hurts to toss it but...

Maybe you could varnish the smell away.

I had squirrels in the attic the way some people have bats in the belfry. They were persistant. I also have plenty of mature trees, and the squirrels have housing in them like a condominium. But I guess they wanted someplace more weather-tight, so they moved into my attic. They learned to manipulate the soffit covers on the roof ends and loosen them enough to gain entry into the attic. I finally had to glue the soffits on. But that was not enough. No sir. They just chewed through the soffits (wooden) and were back in business nesting in the attic. So I finally put three layers of stainless steel screen over the soffits, stapling it in place neatly, and spray painted the screen the color of the house so you really can't see them. Squirrels (so I have read) hate the taste of stainless steel, and it's not that easy to chew through, so they finally relented and moved back to tree nesting.

SWMBO has been asking me for years to put out bird feeders and a bird bath because she loves birds and bird watching. I fanally caved to her will last summer and put out two hanging bird feeders, a hummingbird feeder, and a bird bath. Since then the squirrels have had a field day feast and water oasis on me. They can't get up the pole to the hanging feeders because I invested in a foolproof squirrel baffle, but they get plenty of fallout from these feeders due to sloppy bird eating. And they take full advantage of the daily fresh water and fountain in the bird bath. I don't mind squirrels, but they can become a challenging pest problem.

Squirrels have a problem with me.

Ya see..Im descendent to a long line of squirrel killers. If ya's ever in need, I'll contact the boys.



The yungins would like ta thank ya for the viddles. Works been slow.


On a serious note....I have killed and eatin my share of um. Tree rats..

I have hunted squirrel, when I was a young teen in upstate NY. With a 22 bolt action Marlin and a small scope. Too easy if you knew where to hunt and had patience. I'd sit on an obliging log and just wait. Soon I'd see a squirrel or two and it was finito for him or them. They are (or were) surprisingly good eating. Probably because of their diet. I no longer hunt in any fashion. The last hunting I did was for Pheasant about 10 years ago. But I happen to like wild game, especially when marinated, then cooked over open flame.

I honestly thought about using a pellet gun to get rid of some of the squirrels in my back yard, but they are not bothering me, and they no longer want (or at least have given up on) gaining access to the home, so I leave them be. When they were trying to move in to my attic, I tried rat poison, and via eBay I bought some poison designed especially for squirrels. Neither worked. They just don't eat the poison. The so-called "Squirrel Poison" was a total ripoff. It was nothing more than whole peanuts mixed with rat poison. The squirrels would simply pick through the mix, take out the peanuts, and leave the rat poison behind.

I hate squirrels with every fiber of my being... pathologically so. I used to hunt and eat them but here they get a parasite in the muscle at certain time of the year. It is fine to hunt the in season but once I skinned one but the flesh was covered in these little nodules. It gave me the heebee jeebees and I haven't eaten one since. Although I must admit I still use them for target practice to keep my aim sharp withy bow.

I think you are talking about Bot Fly larvae, or "Warbles" as I have heard them called. When I was a young teen hunting squirrels, I had no knowledge of this issue. I became aware of Warbles when I was in my late 20s I don't think that these larvae will hurt you if ingested, they are simple protein with no toxins that I know if. But I am sure it's off-putting to discover them if you are skinning the animal for cooking.

Yep, their nasty little things. When I find them on them, they become food for the forest floor.

So, the FBU scales are still a work in progress.


My patch didn't quite match exactly for color or texture. In addition, somehow the shape is off a little. I don't know if I sanded too far or if it didn't match exactly to begin with. So I traced the shape of the other on the back of my wax paper then flipped it over and taped the repair side to it.




Then I made some more epoxy without the charcoal dust or saw dust, just a couple of drops of brown and black Rit dye...


...and filled out to the line.


That should even out the color and fill out the shape.

We'll see how that works out.

Lotta sanding there, paul. I always use CA over repairs like that. Then I polish out the scales to blend the repair. I much prefer the matte black finish, more. When possible, of course.

Good advice Mike. I started to used CA but I have used it before where it still needed color and it didn't work out so well. Maybe I just don't have the knack of it yet.
With epoxy I try to do it Bondo body fill style. I'll grate a bunch of while it is still curing to get the rough shape then let it cure hard before sanding the rest.