The Straight 8 Garage

Hello GJ, long time reader and always thought about posting my garage but never got around to it. So now technically Im on my fourth garage and first one I can truly call my own so I figured it was time to start documenting my projects. Im going to start with my current one, just purchased my first house back in August.







While its not what I envisioned 10 years ago when I first found this site but life happens, met my lady who had kids and had a son myself need a lot more house then I expected. She knows I love to build and work on things so she understood having a big garage. I also have engrained in her that unless we have a car worthy of parking in the garage the cars stay in the driveway.

I was moving from a small 2 car garage and had some concerns about making it all fit already before all of Ts stuff. She has so much lol. But that what comes with having a bunch of kids. Speaking of we have 5 kids in the house (1,5,7,11,12) so garage time is a luxury with all the activities. Ill spare you the shelves of stuff on the far side of garage that dont belong in the garage. Here is where Im at 3 months into this garage. I had no time to paint this one but I do have the intention to do so but Ill go into that in a later post.





I made the cabinets in a few different runs. 3 have metal framed doors with stainless perforated and 3 plus the corner have wood framed doors with regular perforated steel. Cabinets themselves are HD grade cabinet plywood (which sucks) and are faaaar from perfect but it was my first go and my own design.






Before someone asks about the title of the thread and my garage name, I came up with it and decided that was the final excuse for not making a thread. Its a Felpro head gasket from a Buick Model 40. I came up with the idea reading a blog years ago and saw someone with a Honda one framed and thought I like that take on modern art. So, I began thinking what kind of gasket would be unique. I came up with the straight 8. I made the frame and got the picture backer from the hobby store.





Generally speaking, I spend about equal time working with metal and wood, but it does seem to go in streaks one way or another. I have no automotive project currently (I would love to change that). However, I do have a rock crawler that Ive built that got me into garage in the first place. My father showed me how to change oil and brakes and it never stopped after that for me. He isnt very mechanically or handyman minded but I dont mind picking up the slack. I have the honey do list at my parents! So, with that Ive taught myself just about everything I know by mostly reading or watching online. My grandfather on my mothers side helped me get into wood working. My best friends father showed us how to weld and Ive pursued everything after that mostly by myself. Since I didnt have an upbringing at home in the garage I didnt really venture into this world until I was about 21. Im 31 now but it seems almost if its always been apart of me. Ill post some past projects at some point as Id like to get some of this stuff all in the same place.


Anyway, thats all for now, ill leave you with a few pictures of my son Elijah (22 months) helping me out.

Justin