Nope, not serious. All is well. Her concern is when i hoard, its no holes barred. She knows im cheap and rarely spend money on unneeded things. Usually encourages me to buy stuff too. Most of the time i tell her when i do buy something other than household stuff. All the bills are paid and we have no debt.
That is how you do it. Im lucky. My wife really hasnt questioned purchases or collections I have. And its been 20 years. The best is after last year, she understands why I hoard certain things, so now I can hoard more.
Search the interweb for home-made kilns. There’s some neat ideas!! And some are relatively cheap too.
My wife is totally immune to my hoarding. My wife knows that I cleared a hundred saws years ago and my love still got me the 661. That's at least small, it's when I start planning a way of moving something and rallying the troops she gets nervous.
That's rule #1 Rule #2 might very well be " Don't put all your eggs in one basket " A couple in the spare room , one or two in the closet , a couple under the bed ............... spread em' out
If you're interested in amassing a pile of saws and want to foster a peaceful immunity you must become a "casual collector". You accept some free saws, parts saws,yard sale cheap saws ect. And now you have a stash of saws that will disable the visual inventory aspect. Then toss, trade (quantity wise) or whatever you want for whatever you want. Then she can chat about your collection to her friends. That can lead to more free saws even. Keep the silt stirred up and everyone is happy.
Sounds like a very good system. It may help to keep the opposite gender confused and disoriented about just how many are mine and how many are projects for other people.
I will say those first 50 are rough......from experience... Once you hit that mark she pretty much gives up the fight...
Once you break that horse you can ride it anywhere!! Tractors, tools even tornado sirens all fair game.
The beacon glass I can't help with. But that fresnel lens would be a great thing to play with. The sirens, well you're going to have to ask a lot of municipal workers firemen ect. Look for the government surplus auction house by you. I like Wisconsin surplus and you never know what comes up. Most of the time spent can be getting someone to pull the trigger and say that you can get it. Just not able to talk to a "owner " sure makes it tough.