truck down!

Labor Day weekend is passed, where Did the summer go?

Lori was busy all weekend at the fire house, well, at the field days at the fire house to be more accurate. Bridgeport VFD has their annual field days every Labor day weekend, and she's the treasurer there, so has to handle all of the cash. Normally I spend the weekend there too, but this year, I decided that if they seemed like they could do without me, they would. Sure enough, I went to help out on Friday, and got a polite 'thank you' and got to make a few fried fish and french fries. Pretty soon however, the ladies auxiliary member whom I relieved came back and took over again. Well, I've set a move out date from the storage unit, and that date is fast approaching, so I decided that I would do my best to get a few truckloads out of there each weekend day. Good thing I did so on Saturday & Sunday, because monday Grizz convinced me that my driveline vibrations needed to be taken care of now, vs 'someday'.

The third U-joint on the shaft was shot, and Grizz took excellent care of the truck and me, getting it fixed for a lot less than a garage would have charged. Yet another big favor I owe you buddy, your day will come! The day ended with us needing to take the driveshaft to a shop to get the bearings torched to get them out. We tried hammering on them, but to no avail. Tuesday he was off, and got the job done while I was at work. Night and day thanks to this timely repair.

Progress, lumber racks and more

I'm on a major kick to clear out my storage unit and move all of the gear up to the shop. Here was one trip's worth of lumber... I still have a bit more to come up, but it is mostly shorts and cut offs.







Speaking of shorts, I had to move the short stock I had on the lumber rack above the miter saw station, I think I need to install a couple of more brackets, that's a tad overloaded for my taste.





There's that truckload of wood up in the racks. The top level holds mostly butternut, the middle is all cherry and the lower level is maple. Most of it is still rough cut lumber, but there's a few pieces which have been dressed S4S (surfaced 4 sides for the non-woodworking reader)










This is the back end of the shop, note the sheet goods temporary storage area. along with the reflectix insulation which is going on all of the walls.

















view of the far corner of the shop, showing the wall which will get insulation and plywood installed this weekend. Might even get ambitious and put in the window, since the storage unit is almost empty!

Big deliveries this weekend!

Well folks,
My checkbook is now lighter. I stopped down to my favorite lumber/hardware dealer in Bridgeport and about three hours later had these dropped off.

My plans are from Barnplans.com
and while Dano designed these plans to work with 4x6 PT and to sit on grade, after consulting with the lumber yard, I decided that a little upgrade was in order because of the weight of my woodworking tools. SO, what you see there are 24 2x8x12's (and 4 2x8x8's which aren't visible in this shot) and 8 sheets of 3/4 CDX plywood. which will rest on these:
The 2x8's will be doubled up around the rim and then I'm going to use joist hangers for the inside joists, plus blocking between the joists every 4'

The piers will go over crushed stone, though honestly I think the piers will be enough to allow drainage beneath the shop (they're 10" tall) If we get more water than that, I've got bigger problems to deal with.




the two young men who delivered the lumber were amazingly quick at unloading. I managed to 'help' them on just a couple of the 8' joists, but then I just got out of the way. They were pulling 3 of the 2x8x12's off of their flatbed at a time. Now I'm no lightweight when it comest to moving stuff, but those kids were amazing.

closer view of the PT. That stuff is good and 'wet' still, and Heavy! The 8' boards are on the 'back' side from this vantage point, still on that pallet. Funny thing about those pallets, they were used to ship 'rollers' to my former job in Rome. I brought home 5 of those last year intending to salvage them for something. I think they're doing a fine job keeping the supplies out of the grass just as they are! I'll probably break one of them down this coming week to make some saw ponies (short sawhorses) for the project. That wood in the pallets is weathered after sitting outside in the elements all winter, and just good for 'utility' projects now. Not that weathered and 'utility' projects don't have their place.

There is a close up of the CDX. As the budget allows, I would like to put down a better wood floor someday. For now, though that will more than suffice.

Blandings Hardware is a prime example of a vanishing breed, the small town shop where the owners are supportive and service is superb. The big box stores have their place, and for some things I'll stop in and pick them up. Lumber however is not one of them when I have such high quality service and excellent products available for a comparable price from Blandings. With perhaps one exception, everyone who works there knows me by name, how many staffers at the "Borg" (Big Orange Retail Giant) know their clients that well?

Not that staffers at the Borg are not nice folks too, but I'd rather keep my local yard in business. In about a week the rest of the lumber and sheet goods will be delivered (it will take me about that long before I will be ready for them.
Thanks for checking in!