If I’m going to go on a tear and execute a build project I absolutely love to have everything I need/want on hand to build it. That means laying out cold hard cash for materials, consumables, tech, tools and hardware so that once I’m in the mood, I can press play and go off about my business. But that also means that I need to be stocked up on various screws, bolts, glue, tape, drop cloths, and have the wood acclimated to my work space long before I begin. Buy more clamps here, a larger orbital sander there, more sanding sponges, a nicer rubber mat to stand on for hours on end. It takes time, effort, planning, and yes money. Lots of it. Spent weeks or months before you can possibly have the chance to utilize it. Which isn’t all that much fun, but when you’re neck deep in the “thing” I sure as hell don’t want to stop in order to go visit two or three hard ware stores to find a thing I need. Hate that. Mood killer. Joy sucker outer! Obstacle making fun time murdering pain in my ass. So I stock up ahead of time. Now I am no Adam Savage. I don’t have that kind of income, nor capacity go store a whole hardware stores worth of stuff. But my most commonly used screws, bolts, glue, and sandpaper I keep in stock. I just have too! I’d never get anything done. I’ll give you an example.
With the right tools a job can be started & finished (depending on complexity mind you, always with the caveats this guy!) With ease and you’d think, oh! You’ve wasted your money on that concrete drill. But no. Because I have the correct tool, and bit, I’m not sitting out there for hours chewing through bits and batteries to bolt on a new cover for a vent. Bam-bam four holes drill. Squee-squee for tapcon bolts put in, nice and firm with the correct tool. I could be about that all day with a hammer, drill bits, and a socket set, swearing and sweating my ass off. But nope, ten minutes and I’m in, out, cleaned up, and on to something else. Perfection. All because I went ahead, while sale watching, for a concrete hammer drill, and the appropriate bit, and sized falcon bolts. Bought them at a convenient time, and was able to utilize them to complete a job, nearly headache free. If I recall I lost a socket bit in the grass by the garage on that job, but that was me being clumsy, and not a tooling error. I tripped and knocked the bit off the end of my impact gun because I hadn’t put the socket on properly. I did however end up finding that bit, like five months later. Which was awesome. I don’t know if I owe a squirrel or chipmunk a thank you for that or not.
Anyway – I’m gearing up for springtime so I’m on the look out for an upgrade to my bandsaw, and a better office chair. I sit kind of funny, I guess, and I tense my thighs a lot in my current chair, so I need to find a better seat, one that doesn’t leave me feeling hobbled after a three or four hour stretch of intense work. And bandsaw wise, I want at least a full 1hp, but would ideally like 1.75/2 hp if I can find the right deal. Plus a 3 tpi blade for resawing. As it stands I have a good load of Ash, but it’s too thick for what I want to build, and seems an awful use of resources to turn 60% of each board into planner chips, when I could resaw them all and use 90% of all of it, if I make them a half inch thick, or three quarter in thick on the bandsaw. My eight boards becomes 24 or 32 boards after a day of resawing. Well worth the trouble/hassle of making all those cuts. I’ll leave one at full thickness because a trestle table build is calling my name!
I’d love to get a sawmill up and running too. Process logs for my own stash of building materials. Oh what a hoot. I’d run a chainsaw mill if I could get a big enough, cheap enough saw and Alaskan mill set up for the farm. A sawmill would be far faster and have better results than a chainsaw mill, but would also be ten times the price. What do time and effort have to do with anything! Bah! The saw mill also needs a skid steer, and a sheltered place to work. I’ve given it a lot of thought over the last three or four years. Don’t forget about having to assemble the whole thing. Leveling out the beams and whatnot. It’s a whole thing. Plus building a suitable pad to work on. Plus some form of shelter from the worst of the sun/rain/snow. Making stickers, and stacking piles of wood everywhere for atleast 2 to 3 years before you can sell a single slab, or use one yourself. It’s a commitment. Plus additional tools needed to roll, and turn logs, getting rid of saw dust, burnable waste. Pretty soon it’s a real big spreading, all consuming issue. I’d still love to do it a few times a year though. Strange dreams I have here when it’s cold outside.
How did I get here? Office chairs, and bandsaw for resawing, which got me to thinking about milling, chainsaws, and massive life consuming saw mills. Ha. Funny how that works. Well, it’s Thursday, and tomorrow is a PA day, so I need to think about what I’m going to do to keep these kids busy. We have taekwondo tonight, but beyond that it’s any bodies game! Ciao Bella.
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