Scavenger Chic

Whale Weathervane from an old Jack

• By Joan
• August 22, 2019
• 9 Comments

Upcycled Whale Weathervane

I’m so excited to get started on my pile of flea market finds from last week.  First up, this old jack stand.  I had been looking for one of these the entire length of the 40 mile Yard crawl last week and I finally found him late on the second day on a table of miscellaneous stuff…everything on the table was priced at 2 for $5 or 1 for $3, I just needed the one thing so for $3, he was mine.

And now for my inspiration.  I found the bottom whale in an antique store in Maine back in 2018.  His listed price was $375.  I was inspired by that guy to make my horse weather vane in October of last year and I said then that if I ever found another jack stand I would make the whale.  Well since I finally found my jack stand,  I’m tackling the whale.

The top green whale was an internet find and since I like bits and pieces of both whales, I’m using both for my inspiration.

Since I’m making my weathervane with all stuff I have on hand,  the total cost will be the cost of the jack, $3.

You will need  paint, wax, a dowel as well as some old boards and part of a deck finial (the wooden ball such as this one from Home Depot). You may recognize the wood as part of the fence boards that I installed on my grandson’s ceiling a couple weeks ago.

I had both whale pictures out for inspiration.  I liked the tail on the green whale and the mouth and head shape on the antique store whale so my new guy is a combination of the two.

There are two fence boards here, both 6″ wide and 30″ long.  When  finished the whale will be double thickness.

Use a pencil to draw your whale shape on your wood.  Eventually I did choose one of the lines I wanted to follow and erased the rest.  Alternatively, you could enlarge your whale shape to the desired size and use that as a pattern to create your whale.

Use a jigsaw, scroll saw or band saw to cut out your whale shape.  This is a table top scroll saw.

A band saw could probably cut thru the two thicknesses of wood at one time, the scroll saw with its tiny blade does not.

Use the whale shape you just cut out as a pattern for the second layer.  This time center the new fence board between the two boards you cut for side one.  When you attach the two layers together the staggered seam will hold all your boards together.

When you’ve made all your cuts, use lots of wood glue to attach the two sides together.  Clamp and let set overnight.

I didn’t cut my mouth opening on side two yet because I couldn’t get a pen in there to mark, I’ll just wait until it’s glued and use the top layer as my guide.

Sand all your boards and edges well to remove all your splinters and even out the multiple layers.

I think this ball is leftover from the bedraggled trunk I refinished back in February.  It used to be a deck finial but its other half got cut off to be used as feet for the trunk.

Drill a hole thru the center of the ball large enough to insert the large screw from the jack.

If your jack is missing it’s center screw refer back to the horse weathervane for an alternative way to attach.

My thought was to drill thru the top piece of the jack and use screws to attach directly to the whale.  Such a great idea but my metal drillbits didn’t even dent the metal of the jack.

Good news is the ball finial fits.

This wooden piece was just sitting on my workbench for some reason (not too surprising, there are tons of stuff just sitting on my workbench).  Look how perfectly it  fits right on top of my jack…just slightly larger,  it has the same size hole and best of all, it’s wood, so I can drill thru it. I now have my new plan of action.

Painting the Weathervane

 Now for the finishing.  The whale got a dry brushed coat of light gray chalk paint.

Once the gray was dry, another dry brushed coat of vintage wax.  Rub off the excess.

Drill a hole for the dowel that goes into the jack and wood piece.  The dowel is just large enough to fit inside the jack stand screw.  Glue the dowel into place in the whale.

The vintage wax was followed with another dry brushed coat of white wax.

If you like the way your whale is looking, you can skip any of these steps.

At the same time I was painting the whale, the deck finial got a coat of teal along with a little gray, the vintage wax and the white wax.

The wooden wheel is painted with dark blue acrylic paint, a little of the gray dry brushed on and a heavy coat of the vintage wax.

Predrill holes on the wooden wheel piece then use screws to attach to the middle of the whale.  I found the middle of the whale by just sitting the thing on top of the jack and seeing where it balanced most easily.

A BIG glob of builders adhesive attaches the top of the jack stand to the wooden wheel piece.  The dowel gets inserted into the jack (the hole is in there somewhere).

Three dollars was so much better than $375!

Stay inspired.

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