Making Sawdust

I don’t get out to the garage often enough, or at least I haven’t made time. I’ve had lots of excuses over the last year: it’s cold, it’s a mess out there, no spare wood, etc. So a few weeks ago I made it a point to start going out there. It’s relaxing, and I have no shortage of things I need to do. Day 1 was mostly cleaning, but last weekend I spent some time working on a miter saw stand but ran out of parts. Today it was time to get more done.

First stop, Home Depot. That’s always fun and I got a few things I needed to move forward and headed home.

I’d gotten the base cabinet built, but couldn’t attach caster or get the upper shelf on. Today I did both those things, first getting casters on with #10 screws. I was worried they wouldn’t hold, but they did fine. Next I needed to drill the holes for the bolts that hold a shelf above the cabinet. The shelf is lifted up with the bolts, allowing me to level it and also adjust the shelf height for different saws.

It felt good to get that done, and I was tempted to then iron on the birch trim, but I needed to sand things down first. It would have been a good day to do this outside, but I decided to do a couple other things.

I am constantly looking for space to set things down. Or looking for space to hold things and keep organized. I decided awhile back that the french cleat system would be best for me on the walls, and so today I added a french cleat to the side of my workbench. Mainly because I was looking for a place to hold my drink and also a small project bucket.

So those were my next things. I cut a hole in a piece of plywood that could hold  a water bottle or drink, and then screwed another piece below that to give me a holder. I attached it to a french cleat and it hung on the side of my bench. It needs some finishing and a clear coat so moisture isn’t a problem, but this is good enough for now.

Next I used a similar design, building a 1’ x 4” shelf that also hangs on a French cleat, allowing me to dump all the project pieces for the rest of the miter saw cart in there. That means I don’t have stuff in bags all over the place, and since this is a removeable bucket, I can hang it on a French cleat on the wall and put another one down for the next project.

I had more to do in my last hour, but I ended up tackling a little more cleanup, separating out some boxes so that I could see more of the North wall, and then blowing out the filter for the shop vac. It was clogged and wasn’t sucking things up, so it was good to clean that out.

The garage looks much better, especially after I put in 4 new bulbs in the lights above the workshop area. Lights work much better when the bulbs work.

A good day, or a good 4 hours out there. I’d like to get out tomorrow, but I’m guessing that I’ll have more than enough to keep my busy getting ready for our vacation.