A salute to my dad, a great guy
And thanks to all the men who teach us and care for us.
Category Archives: Design
My new Site!
A new home
I have been planning some fun new things for my blog. Some of them require a more technically sophisticated site. So I decided, with a little prompting from my technical advisor Matt, that it was time to move.
Today is the first day at my new location, with a new look, a smart phone friendly format, and a new address www.stevewallet.com . If you go to my old web address, have no fear, you will be automatically forwarded here.
Take a look around, all your favorite articles are here. If you find something missing, a link that doesn’t work or some text that isn’t formatted correctly, please use the Contact Steve page to let me know. I tried to catch them all, but you know how that goes.
If you aren’t receiving biweekly email notices about my new posts, you can use the “Contact Steve” form to be added to my mailing list.
If you need a hint about what’s jumping in the .gif box, see Holiday Cartoons.
Staghorn Plant Stand
A stand for a top-heavy plant
Lisa found a really nice, large staghorn fern, and needed something to support it. Staghorn ferns are mounted on boards, and this one weighs about 30 lbs. It is mounted on a 2′ square board, the plant is about 3′ wide and 4′ high.
I struggled with this design, because the weight of the fern tends to tip it forward. I finally came up 
with a design that resembles an artists easel. There is a frame with a ledge for the fern’s board, a diagonal brace for stiffness to the back and long feet extend out in front to keep it from tipping forward.
I worry about wood rotting when it is in direct contact with concrete and water. For this design, I used some trex plastic wood scraps and stainless steel screws to create rot-proof feet that lift the frame off the ground.
I built this before I had a website, and didn’t take any pictures at the time. It is placed under the stair to our 
two story deck, and is hard to photograph. I had to get into that area recently, so I tried to take a few pictures in the cramped space. Hopefully, they give you an idea of how it turned out.
Top drawings
Second from top overall picture from the side
Third from top top of stand and staghorn on board
Fourth from top long legs to keep from tipping
Fifth from top detail of brace and trex feet
Bottom detail of top of frame
