What happened to June?

June is gone and now its July! Man the time just flies when the wife is cracking the whip!
I have lots of things to do so I will just do a quick update and get back to work.

the garage project went rather well, the walls were actually plumb. We didn't get to the shingles but its pretty amazing how much work we accomplished in a week of 12 hours days. The project did expand a bit to include a 30x16 cedar deck enclosed with walls and roof. (matching the house was tough) someone didn't know the diff between 2.72/12 and 3/12 pich. Then we did another deck 8x30, the garage itself was 30x32 with 10ft walls.. For a couple of guys that hadn't even built a dog house before, I think we did pretty good. We did get shut down by a couple of thunderstorms.... Something about being on a aluminum ladder and lightning.....hmmmmm what was that? But it did give us a chance to drink a beer or two... Normal people have fun on their vacation, I seem to build stuff!

meanwhile I'm still waiting for the in-laws contractor to install a couple of windows before I can install a couple of false walls for the new shower and utilities. Go figure, that project is expanding too.... Now we get to paint the whole house! Oh well it keeps me out of the bars at night....

shop notes:
finally unpacked my tools from the garage project and decided I needed to install my chop saw with vacuum connection the right way. So I build a box in the wall behind it to run the vacuum line and came out under the bench for the blast gate... Should work great. I also installed the roof fan for the summer, I swear it was 500 deg up in the attic....Whew!
gotta run, have fun hammering!

May is almost gone

Time, Time, Time....
must be the biggest problem I have, lots of projects and no time to get it done. I haven't been totally lazy this last month. All of the typical spring activities and getting the garden ready. The hearth project is moving slowly, I am making my own tile out of field stone. Cutting slices about a half inch thick. The colors are wonderful from red, black and green granite.
I also had to rebuild the step for the garage entrance, I used recycled cedar from an old granary I tore down. Surfaced planed the boards and plugged the nail holes. Turned out really cool.
oh well, this is all the time I have for this month. I wont get back into the shop until June. Working cattle this weekend, removing a garage next weekend and building a new garage for my brother the week after that.....

I know its been awhile, but I have actualy been pretty busy. For my nephews birthday i built this trophy case so he can display all of his trophys. 

My how time flies when you're having fun... this is my first cabinet, and it only took two weekends to build, the special feature here is the slide out tray in the bottom 

Farm Show Final

What a week! The Watertown Winter Farm Show is finally over. Now its time to get back in the shop and complete some projects. Brandon's treasure chest got a first place ribbon. This was a very fun father son project, while I was making sure he had his measurements correct and set up the saws and router. He did all of the work. We used black hills yellow pine and butt joined blanks together, cut out and used the dove tail jig to put the corners together, we rabbited on the top and bottom and separated the lid on the table saw. We used a golden oak stain and polyurathane to finish it off.

Here it is, the final project at the Watertown Winter Farm Show. this treasure chest recieved a blue ribbon and Brandon is very excited about it. Nice Job Brandon! 

Here is Brandon working on his next 4-H project. its a neat little treasure chest. we still need to cut the lid free and stain/varnish then the hardware. ill post pics when complete. 

Farm Show Update

its almost time for the Watertown Winter Farm Show and my son Brandon is busy in the shop building a Treasure Chest to enter for a 4-H project. ill take the camera home this weekend and snap a few photos to post.

other news, i did score 5 solid core doors from the local hospital's remodel project. they are 48" doors and i got them for $2 each. should make some great bench tops.

ttfn

Happy New Year

Its the beginning of 2006 and we just returned from an extended vacation to California. To my dismay we received about 10" of snow which is nomal for this time of year. However the county snow plow decided that my fancy mailbox was just to nice and wiped out the entire row of boxes! This is typical of my type of luck, try to do something nice and someone has to run it over! Oh well, life goes on. So I have a lot to accomplish this year, this would be a partial list, ill have to check back and see if I "got er done" or not.

shop stuff

1. attic floor
2. attic lumber rack
3. paint room benches
4. paint room cabinets

House Stuff

1. re-shingle roof
2. new deck
3. outdoor kitchen
4. fireplace hearth
5. fireplace mantle
6. fireplace enclosure

I'm sure my wife can think up some more as well.

here is the next project, i need to build a surround and hearth for this fireplace insert. hmmmmm i wonder how i should do this.... 

End of November

the end of november is finaly here, and going out with a definate woosh! we had a great couple of snow days, no school, all roads shut down, and nothing to do but play in the shop. at least untill the power died. got the workbench done on the south wall and a little remodel project in the master bath completed and even played with the scroll saw a little.

its snowing again today but not blizzarding, just a soft fluffy flurrie. kind of nice, ill get to use the snow blower again tonight when i get home!

Ahhhh Winter

Winter has come at last, strange that its mid November with above normal temps. If you talk to the old farts they always tell you that back in my day it was -40, 20ft drifts and uphill both ways in the middle of September. Oh well I'm not complaining, kind of nice actual. People are freaking out that the worlds going to end with global warming and stuff. But with the bite the wind has today, I'm not to concerned. A little snow covers the grass today, kind of neat the way the wind blows it in snake patterns along the highway. It wasn't a quiet snow, wind gusts up to 40 mph, coming at you sideways, in tiny crystals, stinging your skin, melting when it hits the ground and leaving a layer of ice on everything. Today's breeze is enough to take your breath away and cold enough to fog your glasses when you come inside. Makes you appreciate a hot cup of coffee and warm boots.

The shop is cold today, with yet another busy weekend I don't know if ill get in there or not. I better check the level of propane in the tank.. I'm looking forward to progress over Thanksgiving.

Oh so slowly

I cant say I'm progressing with a blaze of speed, but I did do the final adjustment for my attic stairs this weekend (try that by yourself). I had to spend a couple of hours cleaning up all the scrap stuff i had laying around, I made about 10 cf of kindling. I wont get anything done for another week or so. I'm being interrupted by a hunting trip. I have lots of plans and lots of projects, I just don't have the time to put it all together...... Still no snow, its been unseasonably warm....Strange....I'm ready to get the ice shack out...

Wow Progress!

I finely made some serious progress on the shop this weekend. Finished the north wall in the milling section, hammered on some siding from an old grainery, and installed some lumber storage racks. Used old oak chairs bolted to the wall, makes a great rack. I also put together some floor joists in the rafters to put down a floor in the attic, I'm going to use that area for storage. I'm also going to make a couple of storage racks for 8' stock up there as well. The big challenge was to install the folding stairs in the ceiling, the used ones I have didn't have a frame anymore. Oh well a little redneck engineering and I have them in place. well its the last day of October and still no snow! The weather has been just to nice, I wont have to burn much propane if this keeps up.

Sporadic

Everything seems to happen sporadically, I got the lathe mounted on the new bench last night. This lathe is an older model and has a motor that is mounted below the bench. I tried it out last night and it works pretty good. Now I need to sharpen all the cutters! With the lathe in the middle of the bench, I have room for the drill press to the right and the scroll saw to the left. I might even put the bench grinder to the right of the lathe so I have a handy sharpening station.

October Update

Finally got back to the shop this weekend. Finished up with the firewood storage and I'm ready to let the snow pile up. I scored some fancy sheet goods from my wife's uncle, oak veneer, walnut, hickory. Now I just need a place to put it. Spent a couple of hours putting together my first permanent workbench on the east wall, its about 14' long. Now I can shift some stuff and move on to the north wall finish that and put a couple of stationary tools there permanently. I am getting close to a final layout but it may take years!

diggen

spent all day yesterday digging a drain line around two walls of my house. i found a break in the basement wall that was letting water pour in when the gutters overflowed. so i patched that and installed drain line. this should let the water flow around and away from the house instead of flooding the basement....

i also ordered the new fireplace... should be here in a month

not quite wood working

just spent a busy weekend installing an electrical system in a friends pole building, ten outlets and eight lights..... i should have setup the lights like a strand of xmas lights... you know when one bulb goes out they all go out.... hahaha, i would have but the lights are twenty feet off the floor and would have been a pain to check them all in the dark....oh well what are friends for?
i also spent a few hours re-taring the flashing on my roof, that should stop the leak for another year..... perhaps a new roof is in my future..

State Fair Update

Brandon sent his papertowel holder and boot jack to the State Fair in Huron SD.....
he won Purple Ribbons on both entries!

great job Brandon!

someone asked what i do in the real world, and i guess a picture is worth it all. this is an ag waste system. i design and construct total containment sytems to keep all of the poluted runoff from getting into the local surface waters.