Sabbatical–Day 6 Grrrr

After a semi-relaxing weekend, I was ready to get going this morning. However things weren’t going my way.

Catch Up

I spent part of Saturday catching up with a few things. Since I got cut short last week, I spent a few hours getting my plywood cut out and ready for the jig. I worked with a straightedge and cut 3 8” strips out.

I then used biscuits to join them together and I had a long, 24’ base that I set on my workbench. I used some clamps to hold things down and let it dry.

However the weather didn’t cooperate. A light rain and wind Saturday, and then a big storm with hail on Sunday. As a result, all of the work I did on Saturday morning was a bust. The plywood warped a bit and the biscuits came out on one of the joints.

Monday

When I got out there this morning, one of the joints had pulled loose and the other one was badly warped. As I look at it, I think the jig is toast for this project. Not a hue big deal as I can re-use the plywood for scrap work, some other jigs, some shop stuff.

However it meant that my plan to add the cleats for the jig were ruined this morning. Not a big deal, and I decided to make a few small buckets to hold spare parts, which will be handy as I do other work.

I started cutting some pieces, and I was ready to assemble a few little drawers, but nailing brads didn’t work well. I left to go to Pilates, and when I came back, I realized that I couldn’t get these assembled today without other brads. I added them to the list, along with marine wood glue and more plywood.

I then decided to work on some horse jumps, which I’ve needed to do. These are good projects, and items I’ve never built. I set up some 4x4s outside on the bench and drew lines across.

Next I started to hog out the space in between my lines, using a circular saw to cut things down. A lot of sawdust being made today.

I managed to complete the two dados (slots) and then I took the two pieces and stuck them together. A couple of deck screws held them and I had the side of one jump.

It went pretty quick, other than lots of sawdust, so I did 3 more, giving me two jumps. The cross pieces went on the list as well.

I did manage to get a few other things done outside as well. I sharpened a bench chisel and a couple of turning chisels outside, which I’ll compare to the ones I do in class with waterstones.

I also built a small shelf to hold my circular saw, so that it has a home rather than laying below a workbench. My plan is to get this into a drawer or mount it on the wall, but that’s for another day.

At that point I had to knock off and cook dinner for the kids. Not a lot done on the flagpole, but I did get a list of supplies to purchase tomorrow or Wed morning and I also realized that I need to get my jig setup and covered if there’s weather. Nothing in the forecast for now, but once I get more plywood and put this together, I’ll need to cut my flagpole pieces quickly.

I do need to also buy my long pieces, but I’ll do that when I get other supplies. I learned a few things the other day about wood grain and warping, and I’ll put those into play and pick out some good pieces. That might have to wait until Friday or Saturday, when I have time to go through a lot of wood at Home Depot.

I’m also still debating what to do about the miter saw. Mine is old and not great for cutting larger pieces of wood. It also won’t bevel pieces, which I need to do for this project. I’ll likely drool over a few saws Tues or Wed as I pick up other supplies.

Tomorrow is volunteer day for Habitat.