- Artisan Hardware Aspen Barn Door Hardware Kit - 

DIY - Reclaimed Wood - Install

A friend of ours found an old shed or barn door tucked away in his garage and was going to toss it out so we have had it leaning against the wall in our office/school room with the intent to make it a functional sliding door to hide an attic space opening.  We finally bought the necessary hardware at Menards and installed it!

Here is a video of the process: 

Click on the instructions for details of how to install.

Link to the Menards product: Artisan Hardware Aspen Barn Door Hardware Kit

Link to the Manufacture's description of the product: Aspen Barn Door Hardware 

Product Description

Each set of barn door hardware ordered includes the following:

• All Hardware is Powder Coated
• (2) 5″ Spoked Wheels and Hangers
• Track at Specified Length
• Spacers – 1.5″ Long, 1 per foot of track ordered
• Hex Lag Bolts
• 2 Track Stops
• Bottom Guide

Weight Limit: 350lbs

The Aspen Sliding Barn Door Hardware Kit was designed and crafted to capture a cabin feel and bring it into the common home. The spoke wheel is made in a foundry, designed and made to look rustic yet function in a modern capacity. The wheel is accompanied with 3.5” faceplate, with three holes for maximum strength capacity. The barn door hardware is often best emphasized when installed on a large or reclaimed lumber door, allowing the spoke wheel and wide strap to flow with the size and style of any sliding barn door. 

However, this door hardware can accompany any of our sliding barn doors. Designed, manufactured, and approved by Artisans.

Whether hanging the hardware in a cabin, rustic home, or contemporary setting, it’s high aesthetic features, large wheels, and high strength capacity makes it the perfect fit.

Felling Trees

Axe vs. Chainsaw

Recently some of our oak trees on the property have been impacted by oak wilt.  As a result it has left us with some standing firewood that needed to be brought down.  Today we are going to test our abilities at swinging an axe versus the more modern method of a chainsaw to fell two dead white oaks that are fairly close together.

We started our notch cut by using a couple of different style axes (double bit, boys, carpenters, hatchet) and take turns swinging and chopping.  As we make make some progress, we then start the back cut with a carpenter's hand saw (not traditional or typical as the teeth are designed for a smooth clean cut but it is what we had available).  The first (smaller) of the two trees eventually comes crashing to the ground after initially getting hung up in a small hickory tree.  

It is now time to tackle the second (larger) tree with the more modern technique of using a chainsaw (Stihl MS 250c).  We girdle the tree (although not necessary but it reduces wear on the chain by not having to cut through the bark) for the notch cut and the final felling cut.

Take a look at some video footage we shot to see how it turned out and whether or not we were successful:

Gotta love plowing snow in the Midwest!!!

It is that time of year again, and we are truly thankful that we have the right equipment to handle pushing and moving the snow from our driveway so that we can more easily get to and from our house.

Enjoy a couple of videos demonstrating the setup on our John Deere 3038e 3 series 4wd compact utility tractor with the attached 7' Curtis snow blade plow that is hooked to the rear hydraulics to control the angle.