In the rafters...

Hi Everyone!  One of the things my brother did while he was here for Christmas was to help my dad re-enforce the rafters (the new boards in the pictures below) in our shop.  The shop/machine shed was built about 45 years ago by my grandfather, my Uncle Bill and his boys.  It's called a pole shed because of the poles that are sunk into the ground and then attached to each other by cross boards at the top and the bottom and the rafters sit on top of the top cross boards with the hole thing clad in corrugated metal sheets.

The last year or so, we've been watching a few cracks develop in the middle rafters (sorry, no pictures).  When the wind blows here on the hill, it really blows.  In fact, most days we have at least a breeze.  And I don't like to be in the shop when it's really windy.  It's really loud in the shop and if you look up, you can see the roof moving up and down which has helped to make the rafters crack.

Dad and I couldn't have done this alone and didn't have to thanks to my brother.  He and my dad used the bucket on the tractor to push the new boards up, raising the roof to bring it back where it should be and than attached the new boards with no less than 60 screws.  This eliminated the bow in the cracked rafters and thus shirring up the roof.

Where it bowed, it held water that dripped into the shop and now it runs off the roof like it should.  So thanks to my brother and Dad, we've gained years of life out of that old roof!  Now to just figure out which dust system to use to contain all of that sawdust I generate.... Thanks for stopping by!

Shop time...finally...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!  I hope you had a good week.  I know I had a productive one.  I wanted to share with you a little of what's been going on in my shop.  The weather finally turned around making it bearable to work out in the shop this last weekend and this week.  And since I'm behind because of the heat wave we had, I've spent most nights after work out in the shop until 9 or 10 pm, trying to get caught up.  I have two craft fairs coming up and I'm not as ready as I would have liked to have been by this point.  The first is the Essex Labor Day Market on Monday, September 5th and the second one is the Red Oak Craft Fair on Saturday, September 17th.  I haven't been to the second one before and normally I like to have at least a couple of weekends in between shows, but this year I only have one weekend in between which doesn't leave much time to replace inventory.  So that's why I'm building and building and haven't stopped to paint anything, yet.

So this is what the shop looked liked this morning before I left for work.  I have three completely built benches and two that are almost done.  And then that box (top right hand corner) is a storage coffee table/storage bench that is built except for the top.  I will post about each of these soon.

This bench I started Tuesday afternoon and finished everything except the seat/top of the storage, last night.

This one I started on Sunday afternoon.  I had cut almost all the wood when the sun came out and heated up the shop (it has a metal roof and gets pretty warm).  So I packed up all the pieces and moved the building party into my living room so I could keep building.  The dogs weren't too happy, but I sure was more comfortable!  Then I moved it back out on Tuesday and finished it up in the shop.  I still have to make the seat/storage top.  And I can't decide if I'm going to make it or buy a sheet of plywood for all three of the storage benches that still need a top.  I'm going to need to inventory my lumber and see if I have enough to make them or if I need to spend a little money to get some plywood. 

Hopefully this weekend is just as productive as last weekend now that our summer visitors have gone home and my mom is finally feeling better.  One of the benches in the first photo is for a client that called me last Saturday and ordered it.  I of course didn't tell her I was in the middle of making things for two craft fairs, so I slipped it into the workday on Sunday and Monday evening and I'll be painting it this weekend.  So more to come.  Well, take care and have a great weekend!

My nephew...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday.  My nephew Quinton has been here for three weeks and today he is returning home.  My parents are meeting his Mom part way between their home and his home. 

This was his first trip over by himself and we had a great time.  He was a big help to me in the work shop and we made a few things together.  He helped exercise my dogs in the pasture, climbing hay bales with them and running them until everyone was tired. 

Hard at work in the workshop.  Making all sorts of things.  We had a good time together!

Thanks for all the help and the great memories!  Have a great rest of the summer Quinton!