My Favorite Homemade Cleaners

 Hi friends!  I hope youre having a nice weekend so far.

Since I have cleaning on my mind lately (trust me, most of the time more talk than action), I thought Id share some of my favorite homemade cleaners with you.  I used to be the type that had a specific store-bought cleaner for each room, until the past couple years when I started realizing that I really only needed a few basic supplies for everything and I could make the majority of them too. 

I love using as natural products as I can in our home, but they do have to be effective.  I dont make every cleaning product in our house (I have yet to try making laundry detergent), but I enjoy putting together a few combinations that are effective and also very easy and quick. 

 Distilled white vinegar is like your best friend when it comes to homemade natural cleaners.  It is a great safe alternative to chemical cleaners, does an amazing job, plus its affordable.  I buy a huge container of it at Costco to store and decant it into Ball jars (which sit on my open shelves in the laundry room) and bottles.  There are so many uses for vinegar it amazes me.  Here are some ways I use it:

Floor Cleaner 

 (I use this on our non-waxed wood floors, laminate wood floors and tile)

1 quart water

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

3 drops pure essential oil, such as lemon (optional)

Note: I use a mop with a washable microfiber pad and a refillable bottle that I can pour the solution into

Window Cleaner

equal parts vinegar and water in a spray bottle 

Fabric Softener

I add 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle in the washing machine

Mildew Remover + Stainless Steel Cleaner

Undiluted vinegar in a spray bottle

Toilet Bowl Cleaner

Pour a few cups of vinegar into the toilet bowl and let it sit for an hour before scrubbing

 Mild dish soap can also be used for more that just washing dishes!  I always use Mrs. Meyers as I love the scents and effectiveness. 

Bathroom Cleaner

(I learned this from reading Martha Stewart and it works fabulous for scrubbing)

Pour a little baking soda and dish soap into a bowl and mix until a paste is formed

All Purpose Cleaner

1 quart water

1/4 cup dish soap

 A friend of mine got me hooked on having a couple pure essential oils in the house.  I have both lavender and lemon and I use them all the time.  I add them to my floor cleaner occasionally to mask the smell of vinegar, but probably my favorite way to use them is in the dryer.  I cut a lint-free towel into little squares and pour a few drops of lavender oil onto the towel square to add with wet clothes in the dryer.  Because I use a laundry detergent that is free of scents and the vinegar in the rinse cycle works as a fabric softener, this is a way I can add just a little natural scent to our clothing. 

I also want to tell you about an amazing natural homemade silver cleaner.  Recently my friend Ann over at On Sutton Place posted her recipe for removing tarnish from silver.  I decided to give it a try one day on our silverware and I could not believe how well it worked (and how easy it was!).  I immediately threw out my silver cleaner!  You can find the recipe here, but it consists of using only water, salt, baking soda and foil.

Im sure many of you have some fabulous ways of using these ingredients for cleaners and probably know a lot more than I do about it.  I just love that there are so many ways to use natural, affordable ingredients that do just as good a job at cleaning...if you havent had a chance to try homemade cleaners yet, I hope you enjoy the recipes!

Have a great weekend.

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Who Knew My Brother In Law Had It In Him

Here is a shot of my brother-in-law’s new workbench that he just put together. My reason for posting it here is to not necessarily score any points with him, although that probably wouldn’t hurt, but to give a real example of our perceptions of others when it comes to the topic of woodworking. In this particular case, those perceptions came back to bite me on the butt this time.

To give you a little history, my brother-in-law has been married to my sister for a number of years now but, as in most family dynamics, estrangement between older siblings seems to be more the norm rather than the exception, so as a result, I never got to know this guy. Maybe it is because our parents have passed or just simply that we are older, but somehow my sister and I have become more accepting of each other and are slowly building a relationship. As a result of this, I am now starting to get to know my brother-in-law, who, for a banker, isn’t a bad guy actually.

I admit that my interest in woodworking has become a bit of an obsession, rather than just a hobby. It has seriously gotten worse since I started up with hand tools. While I still have difficulty putting two pieces of wood together with what I believe to be an acceptable result, I find my biggest joy in the hobby is in the challenge. It’s the old, “Its not the destination, it’s the getting there”, kind of thing. Lets face it; it is relatively easy to build anything if the quality of workmanship and simple rules of aesthetics aren’t included. Even when those two elusive qualities are included, we all end up with what we believe to be glaring mistakes in our creations. Some of us also realize that the mistakes in our work glare a little more than the mistakes others point out to us in theirs. It does not stop me from coming up with more complex designs for the next project, however, as that, for me, is the basic principle for being involved in all of this in the first place.

Because it is an obsession for me, over time I have learned one major lesson in communicating my love for this hobby with others – don’t!

Come on, we all have, in one-way or another, learned this lesson. We mention to someone our love of tools and woodworking and more times than often we hear that the person we are speaking to about it also has an “interest” in it. Believing we have something in common they try to build on it, finally ending up inviting you to view your newfound friend’s latest creation. More often than not what you end up viewing is a leaky roofed doghouse or a twisted paper towel holder; both nailed together with spikes with a whole bunch of plastic wood sloppily stuffed into the mistakenly drilled holes and nail splits. Looking at this kind of stuff is painful enough, but then you have to add in the pain of the so-called craftsman beaming with pride as he tries to force positive feedback from you where none really exists.

I came to the conclusion a few years ago that it is better to suffer my obsession in private, rather than be forced to view any more of those disasters. Thinking about this attitude now, I realize that it is rather arrogant, really. What’s the expression? You have to kiss a lot of toads before you meet your princess? Or in this case, prince?

I had the “Ya, I heard that before” thought when I was told my brother-in-law was into woodworking. Immediately the leaky doghouse and twisted paper towel holder came to mind. My first visit to their new home resulted in a tour of the soon-to-be workshop. I viewed a few nice tools, sadly, most of them power, but those visions of disasters were still present when I left, as I didn’t get to see any of his work. Saying I’m a great composer doesn’t really mean I can write a song. 

One day, not too long ago I was surprised to discover an email in my inbox from him and when I opened it, I was actually shocked to see this image. As with any “this is what I made” presentation, I immediately took a close scan of the picture. I was immediately impressed with what I saw. Stretchers let in to the legs, bolts that appear to have their placements measured for consistency, a frame around the top with properly mitered and well-executed corners, not to mention everything properly rounded over and properly finished. It was obvious he had some talent, but even more obvious he took some pride and joy in taking the difficult way, rather than the easy way. Hey, a man after my own heart and one that is even part of my own family. Who knew?

Of course I replied with the positives about his work, but I also had to add a hesitant apology to it as well, an apology for not giving him the benefit of the doubt when I heard the words, “He’s into woodworking too, you know”.

I will, however, definitely hold it against him that he has openly stated that he is putting off finishing his workshop until the fall as otherwise it would infringe on his time playing golf. While I understand the concept of “each to their own obsessions” – GOLF?

Peace,

Mitchell  

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Print Giveaway from My Etsy Shop at At Home When Im With You

Today the fantastic Katie from At Home When Im With You is hosting a give away for one print from my etsy shop - make sure to stop by her blog today or later this week at this post for a chance to win one!

Katie is a girl after my own heart who has a love for turning thrift store/craigslist finds into beautiful pieces. Here are some favorite posts! Giving thrift store chairs a coat of spray paint and selling for a profit, yes please! Who doesnt love adding to future projects budget! Im inspired to take a furniture re upholstery class after reading about her fabulous chair makeover!

Make sure to stop by and check out some of her projects and to enter to win one of my prints!

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My sons workbench

I was digging through photos the other day and found these that I had totally forgot that I had. In July of 2010 I was building a workbench in my garage. It was my first official woodworking project and my excuse to buy a miter saw. My 5 year old was helping me when he asked if he could have a workbench too so we made a quick trip to Home Depot and got some materials. We made it all out of 1×3’s and some hard board. My garage is pretty full so whenever I build anything I have to set my tools up in my back patio and part of the process is bringing his workbench and scrap wood box out there too. He loves collecting all the scrap pieces and then stacking them together and making “constructions”.



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My Custom PBB Construction

Where to start with the details of the PBB? As I stated in the first post, I elected to make my PBB in two parts so that I could configure it to handle situations I knew I would encounter. I guess I should start with the basic structure of the bench.

I constructed the frame out of good old southern yellow pine. I bought 2x8s and milled it to get the sizes I needed. I chose 2x10s because they are made from larger trees and are a better grade than 2x4s and 2x6s. The thickness was a little under bit 1.5” after jointing, but I had a better surface. The corner posts were glued up to get 4x4s.

This is the frame of the 36”x72” module. The slats on the bottom support a piece of .75” plywood. The slats on the top only support a piece of .25” hardboard, which is a dust shield. I may eventually enclose the bottom of the modules, and I don’t want them filling with saw dust. There are four 5” heavy duty swivel casters. The frame of the 24”x72” module is constructed the same way.

The tops of the modules float on the bases. The floor of my shop, like most shops, is neither level not even, therefore, the tops can be adjusted to make them level and even with each other. This is the frame of the top for the 36”x72” module. It is 6.75” deep and can travel up about 4” from resting on the base.

Here you see the construction of the larger bench top. The section along the left side is for mounting the fence. The notch in the closest end is for the fence rail to extend beyond the bench. This allows for the maximum length of cut using the fence.

After mounting the rail mounting hardware (angle iron), I added the .75” plywood sub-top to the assembly. Note that the rail mount is upside down. This allowed me to get everything that is steel as far below the top surface of the bench as possible, thus greatly reducing the chances of hitting steel with a moving blade or bit.

Once the bench tops were assembled, I did a dry fit of the bases to assure that I had planned the fit between the two correctly.

After assembling the 24”x72” module base on my assembly cart (not shown, and too low to comfortably do the assembly on), I used it to assemble the 36”x72” module base. Here, the assembly is on its side.

I used a .325” bolt in a pocket hole to fasten the rail to the leg, and dowels to prevent twisting. You can see the three holes for the bolt and dowels at the top of this picture. The bottom of the picture shows the pocket hole for the nut and washer.

In this shot, you can see (barely) the rabbet in the side rail that accepts the tenon on the end of the slats that support the bottom shelf.

This is the finished 36”x72” module base.

The finished top is on the base, still needs the sliding modules between the SMEs.

This is the adjuster that is used to level and align the tops. It consists of a 8”x.5” all-thread, two nuts on the lower end (the bottom one is pined with a roll pin), and a nut embedded in the top of the block that is lag bolted to the leg.

Angle strapping is used to tie the tops of the two modules together in whatever configuration I’m setting up.

Next time I’ll look at some more details and some accessories I’ve made.

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