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Hardworking Outdoorsman, Germantown, WI (2026)

07/29/2025

Levels, on levels, on levels…

All the levels in this picture don’t meet quality standards. Up until my latest generation string level I was assembling the levels on my jig and floating the levels in glue for accuracy. That led to A LOT of scrap - either I got glue on the levels or I messed up and they weren’t accurate. Unfortunate to toss these; however, it’s criminal to sell a level that doesn’t read level!

The latest generation level is not only ascetically better, but also optimized for assembly and has nearly eliminated scrap! …….
🎯

04/19/2025

Spring is here! Double checking my bow is still in tune before heading outside to let some carbon fly.

Each string level is checked against a laser level to guarantee accuracy.
🎯

04/14/2025

Introducing my refined 2-axis string level. With over two hundred units sold in the past two years, it's undergone significant improvements. I'm excited to share the evolution with you.

11/17/2024

Things are changing around here!

I started this account/page 6 years to document the fun things I build or work on. As life changes I have found less and less time to focus on them (they still happen but at a MUCH slower pace).

Roughly 2 years ago I started a side hustle. We’re going to switch gears and I’ll be dedicating this page to my venture: Hardworking Outdoorsman.

Stay tuned!

10/20/2019

Project: Grandpa’s Vise Restoration
•••••
Unfortunately, I never met my Grandpa, but from what my Parents, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandma told me he was quite the craftsman. I see it every time I use the woodsplitter he built. About 5 years ago my Grandma passed away and I inherited Grandpa’s vise along with quite few other tools of his. Bar none I use his vise the most and it’s a crucial part to all of my projects. Over the past week figured it was time to go through the vise and freshen it up a bit.
•••••
This was a simple project... Disassemble, Clean, Paint, and then Reassemble - so I did just that! I had never take a vise apart before, but they are really simple. Within 5 minutes the vise was apart and I started cleaning. Once the old paint was removed and everything was cleaned I taped up the vise and painted it blue to match my tool chests. It went together as easy as it came apart and now it’s ready for work!
•••••
My favorite part of this project was when I was cleaning the sliding jaw I found that my Grandpa had engraved his name, Clem, in the slide. It’s cool to think about all the things this vise has helped build or fix. In the short 5 years it’s been mounted to my bench it’s secured a plethora of parts to be drilled, ground, cut, pressed, welded.... I’m looking forward to mounting this vise back to my bench and starting the next project!
•••••
I tried looking up information on the vise - Rock Island. But, there is very little information out there. What I do know is it was manufactured in Illinois and at a time when steel was steel and men were men. This vise only has a 4” jaw and 6” opening, but is a beast and tips the scales at 50 # pounds. It’s cool to know that this vise will reside on my bench until it’s time pass on to my grandkids.

05/15/2019

Project: 1982 Yamaha Maxim XJ750
•••••
This weeks project has been a long time in the making. Two years ago my wife’s Uncle lent us his motorcycle for Sarah to ride with the stipulation it needed some work. Unfortunately, Sarah didn’t fit the bike well and after my initial investigation of getting it running I too lost interest in it.... until about 2 weeks ago
•••••
During the first investigation with my buddy and I cleaned the carbs and took the front brake apart so it would roll (it was completely locked up). After cleaning the carbs and starting the bike it wouldn’t run worth a beans. We diagnosed it as leaky throttle shaft seals - this was a bigger task then we wanted at so we parked the bike for another day.
•••••
2 weeks ago I started on the carbs by completely disassembling them and giving them a thorough cleaning via ultrasonic cleaner. This was easily the most challenging set of carbs I’ve dealt with - I deal with 1 or 2 not a rack of 4! I took notes and pictures where I thought I my need some help remembering. Overall it went super smooth replacing only what was need.
•••••
Next up was getting the front brake functional again. The master cylinder was crusty and unfunctional. A cleaning and rebuild was in order. With a fresh rebuild I bled the system and flushed any old fluid out making the brakes functional again. However, there was still a slight drag on the rotors. stepped in again with a tip to cycle the calipers and clean the pistons each time. That did the trick and boom we were rolling and stopping!
•••••
The test ride!! At first I was underwhelmed... I really hoped for more with this bike(I am spoiled when it comes to motorcycles), but after logging a few miles I really started to enjoy the uniqueness. It has an awesome cassette/radio with speakers in the mirrors. A super stylish Yamaha front fairing and a riding position only found during the 80’s. Overall I’m pumped with how well the bike runs even with a simple bench sync. I’m glad it’s done and returned to Sarah’s Uncle for him to enjoy again.
•••••

04/20/2019

Project: Baby Scale
•••••
Today’s project is a little different than my usual projects. Ten days ago my daughter Makayla was born! It has been an exciting and sleepless last few days. Unfortunately my baby girl Makayla is struggling with feeding and this is hindering her ability to gain weight. So I set out to build a scale to weigh Makayla to make sure she was feeding properly. By weighing her before and after we can determine how much she is getting
•••••
First step was to test out our food scale to see if it could handle 10 pounds. With a quick push test I was in luck. Next up was to figure out a way to cradle my precious daughter. This took some pondering, but then it dawned on me that a 5 gallon bucket has good curvature and isn’t super long. Plus they are cheap!! A quick stop at for a fresh bucket and away we are!
•••••
Some quick measuring for width and I was off cutting up the pail. I used a twin blade saw. They no longer make this saw, but it works amazing for cutting plastic. It made quick work cutting up the bucket and then I finished up with my angle grinder to smooth all the edges.
•••••
Next up was creating a base for the bucket to sit flat on the scale. Thankfully has strong boxes I was able to cut and shape for a secure base! A little duct tape to secure the over engineered base to the bucket and we are ready for our first test!
•••••
Before weighing Makayla I wanted to test out the scale with a dumbbell. It worked!!! It also shows my I was robbed of 6oz on my 10 # dumbbell!
•••••
I had confidence the scale would work and for the most part it worked great! The only downside is the weight moves around a lot with her movement. So it was really easy to weigh her after the feeding but a little difficult before. Regardless it worked and we were able to see a 43g increase! This was great news, but a little light. Having this info is helpful and we are then able determine how much to supplement with a bottle to get her the proper amount

03/22/2019

Project: TV Mount
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It’s been a while since I posted a project and that’s mainly due to buying a different house. So here is a Throwback Thursday post to a project in the old house. What better time to post about TV mount than during March Madness.
•••••
In our old living room the natural way to lay out the room was to revolve around the fireplace. The issue then became where to mount the TV. After searching I found made a TV mount that was meant for for my exact dilemma. It allowed the TV to be mounted above the fireplace and could be pulled down for easy viewing.
•••••
The largest issue with the TV Mount was actually mounting it. Because the fireplace was made of concrete stone it was an uneven surface for the mount. The first step was to figure out where the mount was to be mounted and then figure out how to mount it. Doing some math and using the instructions I was able to determine the optimal spot that would clear our mantel allowing maximum drop and still fit our TV above the Mantel when not in use.
•••••
For building a spot to mount the TV I ended up drilling holes into the concrete then using a sawzall carbide tipped blade. It made easy work of the concrete stone cutting a rectangle for the mount. From there I put in 2x4 braces for the mount to be screwed into. I used my pocket drill to secure the braces into the studs. Finally I covered the hole with drywall and ran electrical and cable down for a clean finish.
•••••
The transformed the room. Everyone that saw the mount was impressed and agreed that it was a perfect fit for the room. I would do it again in a heartbeat
•••••
@ Mequon, Wisconsin

06/26/2018

Project: Moto Tool Box
•••••
I am passionate about riding dirt bikes and standup jetskis. Regardless of how much maintenance and prep you do, when you go out riding something will need to tweaked or fixed. After years of lugging a tool box around with various tool thrown in I decided to build myself a proper tool box to bring with me when I go riding.
•••••
I started with a “top” box I had from a tool chest combo I bought back in college. The chest served it’s purpose at the time but since then I have upgraded and this just sat in the garage. I proceeded to empty my old tool box and gather what I had laying around for tools. I quickly realized I had a mismatch of tools and no way would my OCD would allow me to build a set with mismatched wrenches and screwdrivers. Fortunately and had some good deals on and wrenches if you watch for them. It didn’t take long before I bought and gathered any spares I needed to fill this box.
•••••
Next step was to figure out a layout for each drawer and get to organizing. I settled on drawers consisting of pliers, SAE, Metric, screwdrivers, and sockets with each drawer having a little miscellaneous in it to fill space. After some use I like my layout and wouldn’t change anything.
•••••
The last step was to cut out pad to line the drawers and hold the tools. I bought some camping pad from for $8 and went to town laying each tool out, tracing, and cutting. It was really simple and didn’t take much time at all. I did while I sat around watching Netflix with my wife. This project never interfered with my garage time!
•••••
I’m pumped with how the tool box turned out. I have taken it riding twice now and it has worked perfectly. Everything has stayed in place and is super easy to find and grab when needed. Revision 2 will be to put it on wheels and a future project is waiting for the lower box!

06/11/2018

Project: Wedding Decorations
•••••
In honor of my one year anniversary to my lovely wife. I thought I would post up two of the wedding decorations I made.
•••••
The first decoration I made was our table numbers. The number card itself mimics a Wisconsin motorcycle license plate. This is fitting because we got married at the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee and as a bonus both love motorcycles. The number card is held up by a piston and connecting rod that I sourced from a local engine shop. I felt this fit the “theme” of Harley-Davidson, but it really speaks to my personality. I am very passionate about engines and am even an Engine Calibration Engineer by trade. A ton of time went into hand cleaning each one, then pressing and glueing the rod in place, but I think they turned out awesome!
•••••
The second decoration I made were two pallet board signs. While I stripped the pallets and built the signs.My Mom helped me with the vinyl lettering. These were were a great accent to our sign in table and family photo table.
•••••
It wouldn’t be an anniversary post if I didn’t call out my lovely wife. She puts up with my constant projects and had faith that the table numbers would work and turn out! I love her more and more each day.
•••••
@ Harley-Davidson Museum

05/19/2018

Project: CR250 Peg Brackets

My woods weapon of choice is a 2001 Honda CR250. After 17 years the pegs have worn down and the pin hole in the bracket has wallowed out. The problem is Honda no longer makes the brackets or pegs. This left me having to custom fab something if I wanted new pegs.

The plan: Take new 2002+ CRF peg brackets and pegs and make them work on my 2001 CR. The CRF pegs are made for many years allowing me to source lots of aftermarket peg options and I doubt will go out of production anytime soon.

The work: I ordered new CRF brackets and had to plug weld bottom mount hole and cut the bottom off as the CR brackets are longer. This required another set of CRF brackets to source the new bottom mount hole by using the side of the tab of the sacrificial bracket. Then it was cutting, fitting measuring to get them just right. Once they were fit up it was on to welding and making them one again.

I can’t wait to ride with the new pegs. Should provide great grip with the bike and a larger platform to move around on. See ya in the woods!

Hardworking Outdoorsman

07/29/2025

04/19/2025

04/14/2025

11/17/2024

10/20/2019

05/15/2019

04/20/2019

03/22/2019

06/26/2018

06/11/2018

05/19/2018

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