Bounce's Seemingly Random Garage Regalia

Couple of little things I've done: The Christijan Albers Monaco Menu is framed and up in the garage. I have also built a shelf to keep my car washing stuff out of the way. I was fed up with knocking over bottles etc. They're now over 6 feet in the air so properly out of the way. A bunch of screws, some shelf brackets and a piece of replacement floorboard I bought to replace a knackered one at Mum and Dad's old place. Total cost? Less than £3. That'll do!

And I have recently bought a reciprocating saw. The blades I have were simply left on the bench or rattled around in the moulded case. I hate this. I need to figure out a way to easily store them - some sort of wallet or little box. I did consider building a small plywood box but my woodwork skills aren't that great, and I wanted something that wouldn't take me all day. So I went bin raiding. I rummaged in the recycling and found one of Mrs Bounce's empty shampoo bottles. A bit of work with a Stanley knife and a drill saw it mounted to the wall, as it was exactly the right size to hold the blades. Total cost: £0. It might look a bit of a bodge but it's functional and does the job. No sense in spending money if you don't have to.

Christijan Albers in his allocated workshop space on the wall.



Car cleaning shelf. I have also put up a towel rail for the drying towel I have but that's just a towel rail so no picture... Although in true RR fashion I had to modify it because the mounting points it had were stupid and badly made. 



And the shampoo bottle that became a holder for the reciprocating saw blades. Simple but effective!

That is a Possession Limit Board (PLB) off t'railway.

Used during railway possessions/line blockages to allow engineering works and such, in conjunction with exploding 'detonators' (previously known as fog signals).

Should be a battery box in one side, containing a couple of old-style 6v batteries (in parallel, so you only actually need one), connected to the board by a 3-pin 'kettle' lead.

You switch the board on/off using a little push switch hidden behind a tiny hole at about 11 o'clock on the red lens ie you need something min. 20mm long and 3-4mm dia to stick in the hole to operate the switch.

By the solid infilled handles, that is a pretty old board (+20 years I would think) and they tend to be pretty unreliable, even when young, although they generally get much abuse when in use.

Almost inevitably the cheapest nastiest batteries are used and left in 'til they leak, corroding the battery box connections. The kettle lead pins corrode/get damaged, and the switches give up/get broken by people sticking all sort of unsuitable things in the the hole (fnar).

However all those things are simple enough to repair, and I have never known the flashing circuit give up, or had to change a bulb now I think about it.

Well, you did ask... oh, you didn't

Got myself a couple of new signs for the garage. First one I saw on ebay and it just made me smile - a Canadian warning sign of a bear chasing a tourist is nothing if not funny, especially if the silhouette of the bear is smiling and clearly enjoying itself..



And this one is a nice little addition for me. I spent over 20 years living at my parents' gaff and it was the family "hub" for almost 50 years. So rather than nick the road name sign, which let's face it, would be a bit silly these days, I bought a small replica. Here's to the many, many memories.

I would say sorry Nigel, but go on - you know you want to! 

Changed my mind on the Railway Possession Limit Board. It doesn't fit easily anywhere in the garage so I decided to move it on.

I shall continue with my search for more signs and other unusual stuff.

I am starting to run out of wall space - I actually had to move a sign to somewhere else in the garage in order make way for this!

I found this at the car boot sale last weekend. I was expecting it to be quite expensive, as people selling signs usually price them as collectible. This is a decent size and I really like it. Total cost? One English Pound. Excellent.

Also there was a circus on the Boot Sale Field, so rather than using the concrete path down the middle, you had to drive across the grass to get parked. This had turned muddy and was very slippery. I wish to make it known that I did NOT turn off the Traction Control on the Merc just to experience some sideways action on the way out. Not...at...all...

New sign - like it!

I helped Shaun clear out his parents' garage a couple of weeks ago and some of the stuff he had in boxes was fun, if not actually usable in its intended form.

There were 2x bits from his old E Class Mercedes - the faulty bonnet ornament from the front (which had gone floppy) and a second plinth which they sit on.

I knocked up a small shelf out of scrap wood, made a hole in it using a holesaw, then taped the wobbly ornament together using gaffer tape (which you can't see), before jamming the ornament into the hole. I like it.

The plinth had a cylindrical part below it. This was worn out and therefore useless. I chopped it off with an angle grinder, before using the Powerfile to smooth it flat. I then glued a washer into the gap and screwed it into the wall. Excellent.

Bonnet ornament - now on wood.



And the plinth badge: modified and on the wall. Note that although it's slightly off centre, I used a previous hole in the wall. No sense in drilling another a few mm next to it!

Another sign has arrived. It was a bit bigger than expected, but I managed to find a space for it.

Guess the Midas will be breaking this for a few more days this year