Home on the Hill

Jo-Ann gave me a hand " for an hour " yesterday. Well that's what I told her it would be. By the time we got all the piano hinges on the two new peg board storage systems and put the trim on and attached wall cleats and moved stuff around and hung them on the walls it was more like six hours later. My project estimating wetware was totally off on this one. Mind you we did stop for a refreshing tea break to admire our handiwork. The shop cat, Boose, needed some scrootches of course. And Xena needed a few chase the blue ball ( actually a pink ball now) sessions. A few more sub-projects and I will be able to finish organizing, putting up the tools, and get on with the overhead door installation. The only problem with doing it now is that (a) the parts are under four feet of snow, and (b) it was -26c(-14.8f) this morning. Taking the double tarps off of the door opening will probably be a little chilly. I just might wait a bit 'till it warms up. The impetus to ...

One of a few I will be building. This is pretty cool for tool storage. This one case occupies a 48 X 42 inch wall space and has a sheet and a half of pegboard storage. With a small shop, finding a use for every nook and cranny- maximizing working space and storage is paramount. Today with any luck I will complete the trim and varathane and maybe get a coat of paint on the pegboard. I managed to get some bugwood trim around the small side entry door. What a trial. There is a reason Mike Holmes makes sure everything is square and plumb before he starts. I thought the job would take about a half hour. Several hours later - when I went into the house for a calming cup of tea Jo-Ann mentioned that she was hearing a lot of crashing and banging and sawing and some swearing coming from the shop.. It was twenty below yesterday - time to work on the recalcitrant skid steer. the starter relay appears to be toasted. I will have to see if I can get a new one in town today as we have snow ...

Well the tables were heavy, and they had metal legs and stiffeners. They were 36 inches wide and I wanted to cut them down to 24 inches so they fit better in the limited space. I want to be able to walk around the skidsteer when I am working on it inside. So narrowing the salvaged tables involved cutting the tubing and re-welding via a wire feed welder. Love the smell of burning metal in the morning. My brother, Tiny brought up a 110 volt powered M.I.G. welder that he doesn't use. Now I can build a few of the projects I have in my head that involve metal fabrication: like a firewood elevator.. I have always wanted to be able to weld but it is going to take some practice. I am a better grinder than a welder. After we had fun with the welding I made cleats for the walls. They are made with the top edge cut at 45 degrees so I can build hangers, shelves - whatever and hang them from the cleats by using a piece of 1 by cut at a complimentary 45 degree angle. This makes it easy to...

Well almost. Jo-Ann and I had fun yesterday putting together the repainted shelving, and deciding whether to listen to Classical or Country and Western while we bolted the things together. Yes I know to some people Country and Western is classical. Lately I have been listening to Gregorian Chants which I find very soothing. Now the trick is to make anything that wants to go on the shelving fight for the right. It's just too easy to fill up any horizontal space with crap. While I was waiting for painted stand off blocks to dry I lugged a few more tools over. I now have more of my tools in the new shop than the old. What a concept-- having all my tools in one place. I have a cubbyhole shelf to drag over and then I can get onto today's project: putting up cleats on the side walls so I can hang up tool shelving, pegboards whatever and make them movable should I change my mind about what goes where. but before that I need to make a stand for my little table saw so I can use...