sometimes they aint pretty

I bet it lasts several years – or rather, I bet it gets used for decades, despite it’s one time use intention. Sometimes the quickest, most utilitarian pieces just outlast everything.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

well its the practicality of a piece that makes the beauty of it. If you have a real purpose for the peice that you build or put together than you can say that it is truely a peice of art. or a peicethat will be well used. your is both, and dont let anyone say anydifferent.

-- Jim Earl http://www.myspace.com/earle5

What did you charge for this monstrosity?

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

brilliant
and I don’t think it’s bad to look at!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

That is a great idea. I think that I would put aluminum foil over the top to make it fire proof, though. Also, I like how you made holders for the Roman candles, but I think you would do well to add the same type of holders for those morters. If they were to fall over while been fired they could cause a lot of damage and harm. I think you have a great platform in which, testing and making some improvements will produce a very useful and safe platform in which to enjoy shooting fireworks from. ;^)

-- Jesus is Lord!

A great idea. We have a neighbor who always puts on a great display. I’lll make him one this weekend

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Awesome … we’ve actually built a few similar to that over the years out at the lake house. While they can last awhile, your first one usually gets scrapped after the first holiday when you figure out ways to improve it. I think were up to Mod 4/5 … which consist of three 3’ X 5’ tables

Some ideas to ponder…

1. Adding a aux board that can slide in and out about 2” under your top is a great feature … if you bore out holes in the top wide enough to hold basically anything you wanted to keep upright … you can simply slide the aux board back … insert the next one into the hole … then slide the board back under it to hold it in place … helping to prevent the dreaded “tip over” that Oscar mentioned

2. A shelf/tray/stretchers a couple inches from the bottom that can support a bucket … when you fill it with water it’ll serve two purposes … not only will you have a bucket of water at the ready … but the added weight from the water will help brace the table … for our monster tables, we actually use old junker ice chests that people around the lake were throwing out

3. I’ve also seen someone take the hardware off a cheap Harbor Freight portable workbench and attached it to his top so that they had a way of locking down clamping different size fireworks down so they didn’t have to bore out a bunch of holes and hope it covered everything people brought down to the water front. (he used this with the aux board I mentioned above)

4. A U Bolt or hook on both sides so you can hang a spray bottle on one side and long stem lighter on the other (comes in handy if and when you are setting up for round two … and will impress them when they say “that guy thinks of everything” lol … the water bottle may not put out much … but if you just have a few embers burning on the top, it’s an easy way to put em out without soaking down everything.

5. Like I said, we have three 3’X5’ tables so this may be a little overboard if you’re just building a small stand … but all three of our tables have conduit mounted vertically to one end … then we attached a metal hose attachment to the end of it aimed at the table so in the event something goes horrifically wrong, nobody has to run up on a live table … we can simply turn the hose on … I should note, we’ve tested this to make sure it everything works … but I’m not really sure how effective is it … since we’ve never had to use it …

-- Lip's Dysfuncational Firewood Farm, South Bend, IN

from one great idea, we get a wealth of knowledge… sounds like you have really ironed out all of the kinks.
I hope you never have to try out the hose.

So now we have the basic version (fitting for most small gatherings) to the monster version ready for the community gathering!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Great idea! Lip, well thought out improvements. Cool!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

See how practical woodworking skill can be. Somebody needed a better and safer way to put on a 4th of July fireworks display, and you applied your skill and came up with this – from the scrap pile. And, I bet the neighbors will appreciate it too. Thanks for sharing a “practical application” of woodworking ability.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

what are fireworks? family fireworks show are pretty much non-existent in CA these days…but what I like about the idea—-is that when we do them anyway (sorry you gotta break the law once in awhile…) this would protect the asphalt from the “stain” left by the firework…

Last year I was so affraid to light mine we did them on the back patio…and the marks on the cement faded away slooooowly…

great idea

-- Matt, Napa, CA...119 days to sanity...

Great idea Hands …and great additions Lip. I’m heading to my brothers for the 4th. His house sits right on the bay….even has his own boat ramp where all the neighborhood comes to set off fireworks and have a bonfire. Last year it took 3 hours to set them all of. Its already a fairly safe situation….concrete boat ramp, other side of sea wall but this would still be worthwhile having. I’m going to suggest this to him…I’m to busy to build him one.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

Just make sure that the darn thing doesn’t fall over!

Once I was in Springfield, Massachusetts, watching the fireworks display that they were launching from a bridge over the Connecticut river. They were shooting rockets one at a time at that pace you typically see for town fireworks displays.

Halfway through the the display I saw a rocket (or something) shoot sideways across the bridge into a pile. The next thing I saw was what looked like the “grand finale.” People “ooohed” and “ahhhed.”

They then continued with the normal one rocket at a time pace. At one point they just stopped, no grand finale. People around me started grumbling about “no grand finale this year…budget cuts…”

-- John

love it when people make practical suggestions for improvement. Thank u mr LIP. I may be able to incorportate some this weekend. oscorner, thanks and the mortars ARE bolted to the table for safety. altho sometimes ive see the tube blown of the plastic base. The legs are pointed so thay can be hammered into the ground. and he told me that no rockets will be used because of the fact that they ARE unpredictable. and this display will be fired next to a lake.
thanks all

-- Dan

It aint always gotta be purdy to work!