The Wood Tour

I got up early Saturday to go tour a lumberyard. It was one of those "strongly recommended" items for my class. I wasn't sure I'd go, but then I wanted to get some more info about picking out wood, so I dragged myself over there at 8am.

There were about 40-50 students and a few instructors, and we got a tour of what this lumberyard does, how they get wood, why pricing changes, etc. Most of it was interesting and informative, but not tremendously useful. However I did learn a few things about picking plywood and choosing certain boards. A few things about making tabletops and surfaces as well that I wasn't thinking about. All in all, an interesting morning.

It was motivating after Fri night's class. The second one and we spent most of the time getting checked out on machines, having to straighten and square all six faces of a board. I did that quickly, then showed off my drawings and the instructor decided a tool tote was my best option. This is the picture of the one I'd sketched.

With time short in the class, I'm not sure I'll mess with the two types of wood inlaid, but I am thinking to follow the design fairly closely.

The second half of class was learning how to make a drawing, which I did in high school drafting, but not since, so I'll need to practice with that. I tried today to do it on the computer with SketchUp, but couldn't get it to move things as I wanted, so I'll do it by hand.

The rest of the day was mostly a variety of chores. I painted the trim on the shed, painted some of the back railing behind the house, then dug out part of the old flagpole, only to find a 2ft cube of concrete around the post. That stopped me until today. A trip to Home Depot had the guy convince me a sledgehammer would work to break it up.

I did that a big today and knocked off some pieces, but still lots to go. I also managed to get another coat of finish on the cutting board and today I put rubber mats on Tia's teeter totter.

Quite the weekend.