Cabinet construction

Here I am going through the main part of the build of the big storage unit for the shop.  I wasn't sure about how I was going to build it, so I just started and went from there.  I have also tried to be a bit more "ruthless" in my editing.  I am still experimenting with this You Tube thing.  I have not found my comfort zone with it yet, but it is a neat experiment.

Well, here it is!

Another video

I have been getting some footage of the cabinet build.  I muddle my way through figuring it out while doing some preliminary work.  Otherwise known as the job before the job.  Stay tuned because I have a few parts to this that will come out in short order.  I have been putting out longer videos and I think a shorter format will be easier to digest.  So, enjoy this first part.

Thanks for dropping by

It gets worse before it gets better

Hello again.

I have been a little busy for the past week.  After posting the Spidey box video, I did a bit of maintenance on one of my guitars.  I made a video of it which is uploading to You Tube as I write this.

When that was done, I figured it was as good of a time as any to get some storage built.  This first unit is going into the back left corner of the shop and I alluded to it in the shop tour video.

What? You haven't watched it?.....OK, go back in time on the blog and you will find it,  I will wait here while you do it.....................................

Done yet?.............OK

So, in order to build in that corner, I have to take everything out of it.  There is a lot of stuff crammed in there.  Including the sheet goods left over from the shop build that I will be using for the cabinet.

All this needed a new spot while I built, so I did a fine job of cluttering up the rest of the shop moving it.

Now, before I can build a cabinet onto the wall, the wall needs to be completed.  I went to the lumber store and picked up a couple of packs of Roxul insulation.

I put that into the wall cavities, going a bit farther than I needed to.  I will eventually get it all insulated, but this is the part I need done now.

After that the vapour barrier goes on.  I sealed the plastic to the bottom plate of the wall with some acoustic sealant caulking.

Then it was time to sheath the walls.  I used 7/16" OSB, left overs.  The rest of the walls will be done the same.  I will be able to hang things just about anywhere I want with this instead of drywall.

It's a good time to paint it now.  I put on 2 coats of latex.

I built a couple of shelf frames when that was done.  For this I just used some old 2 x 4's.  At least I am using up some stuff that has been lying around for a while.  I ripped the front and back rails, and the left side rail that will get screwed into the studs.

I then screwed it into place, attaching it to the side and back wall.  Using the height of the plastic tote that will go under there for reference and a level to make it, well, level.

I ripped another sheet of the OSB to the depth of the cabinet and, using a level again, screwed that to the side of the shelf frame.

I did the same thing at the top of the cabinet ( I am using the full 8' length of the wood) to get the basic shape.  From there I put some left over sheet goods, cut to size, on top of the frame, then loaded the shelf to get an idea of how high the next shelf should be.  This involved taking the window air conditioner out of the window in the house for the season.  Proof that there is more to the job than just the job itself.  Before long I had a good start on the project.

That brought us to the end of Friday.  On Saturday we went to Sally's parents place for lunch and generally took it easy.  I spent about an hour rearranging the stuff on the shelves so the things I use more often are handier and doing a bit of de-cluttering of the shop.  Today, being Sunday, is the day for the annual Cider Fest.  A small affair in town with very cool displays of old farm equipment, bake sales, and vendors.  I saw my friend there that I buy hand tools from and he had a table set up.  Of course I could not resist looking through everything and having a chat with him.  He has a few things I want back at his barn and I told him I would come visit in the spring.  I would like to get a Stanley #45 with a complete set of knives for it.  So that is in the plans.  What I did find today from him though was this:

An un-restored Record #78 shoulder/rebate plane.  I guess I have an idea for another video now, getting this little gem into shape.  I thought it was a good deal at $20.  It even has a second mouth opening in the front for the blade so it can be converted into a bull nose configuration.  Too cool.  It will someday be put back to the life it was made for in my shop.

So, that video of the guitar maintenance I mentioned....

I always need and am thankful for "thumbs up", "likes" and "shares" on the videos.  Not to mention subscribers.  I am trying to grow my channel a bit and it is things like these that show I am on the right track.

Well, that's it for now, as always...

Thanks for dropping by!

Videos are out

Well, it was a nice day and we went to London to give my son his birthday present.  The harvest is in full swing now and throughout the length of the trip we saw fields full of equipment.  I would bet the farmers are not sleeping much these days.  Getting as much done as they can before the weather changes to rain and slows them down.

But today it was sunny.  My son is in good spirits and health and what more could a parent want than that?  He really liked the box, and we had a good visit.  We took him out to lunch at the Early Bird and had a really good meal.  I had a Philly Cheese sandwich that was delicious.  After that we walked a bit around the Covent Marketplace, kind of an open air market, only indoors.  Lots of local produce, meats and cheeses, restaurants and a plethora of other vendors.  We didn't get home until 5 and we are still full.  I started uploading the videos almost right away and here it is after 8 now.  It takes a while with my connection speed, which is why I do them in standard definition instead of HD.  I record in a lower resolution too as I only have a small point and shoot with limited memory and battery life.  It is a Canon S100.

So there you go.  With a payout of about $40 you can do this too.

On to the business at hand.  The Spidey Box videos.  It is in 2 parts because they are a bit lengthy.  It just kinda took on a life of it's own as I went through all the footage.  I hope you find them entertaining!

Part 1:

Part 2:

As always

Thanks for dropping by

Coming soon

Just a short note.  I have the project video all done and edited and ready to go.  It is a present that will be delivered tomorrow.  I don't want to chance spoiling the surprise so I will be posting it after it is delivered.  It came out long, so it is in 2 parts.  I will try to have both up sometime tomorrow or the day after so stay tuned for the first project that comes out of the new shop.

I will be making a new one soon too, not a build, just a bit of maintenance on one of my acoustic guitars.  I have a bit of clean up to do in the shop first and then going to get on that.

Thanks for dropping by!

Getting ready

I seems as if summer has slipped by.  As always, the rhythm of the seasons progress as we do our dance around the sun.

Most of the days are filled with getting things ready for winter.  We have the pool drained, cleaned, and packed away now.  A job that takes about 3 days to do to our satisfaction.  Sally has been getting her flower gardens prepared and cleaned up too.  I have been picking away on this little project here and there, and getting some footage of it.  I hope I can make a decent video out of all the clips.

Battery life is a big restraint.  Seems that I just get going and they go dead and need recharging.  The few times I have been able to get out to do anything eats them up in no time.  I keep looking at proper cameras, but I just can not justify the expense with so many other priorities.

The new shop is a joy to be in.  I must admit that most of the time I am confused in there though.  I don't know where everything is and I hesitate trying to think it out.  It is almost like working with your non-dominant hand.  I am also really rusty.  I have not done any real wood working projects for almost a year and my meagre skills have withered.  Still, it is time I enjoy and it is only a matter of time before I get things sorted out and start moving around the shop in a more natural feeling way.

 You can tell in the footage I have that there is a lot of hesitation and stopping to try and think things through.  I am not one of those folks that take to the camera naturally.  There is so much to getting a shot right, but I am learning as I go along.  Perhaps it is skill in editing that makes it look good.  All the folks that influence me seem to either have a knack for the camera, or have the resources to do multiple takes.  Of course, they could have outside help too.  A good producer/camera person could make a difference.  I will continue on though and learn as I go.  The inspiration I get from all the You Tube channels I watch is still keeping me going.  Speaking of which.  If you go to my channel on You Tube (just look up "Jim Dockrell") and click on the little tab marked "channels", you can find links to all the folks I watch.  Most are folks who are creating something.  Not all are on a schedule, but all put out stuff I find interesting and entertaining.

I still have not got the new cord for the shop yet.  I just have not gotten around to making the trip yet.  I do, however, need to get a big storage unit built in one corner soon.  The window air conditioner in the house needs to come out and I need a place to put it, along with a bunch of other stuff already in the shop.  So that is coming up soon.  I am going to insulate the wall first and this build I plan on doing some pictures for this blog.  So stay tuned for that.

I have been a bit slack in posting here lately.  There was a week of extreme humidity that made me feel a bit under the weather and there was not much going on to speak of, so not much to write about.  Now that it has cooled a bit I hope to get at it a bit more.  I am not sure what the dead of winter is going to be like in an uninsulated shop.  I have my eyes open and looking around for some sort of kerosene or propane heater for while I am in there.  It also means I have to gather up all my finishing material and drag them into the house again this year.

I did meet up with a guy interested in doing some of the electrical work I need done.  He is working with the neighbour I hired to do the roof.  The two of them also know a heating/gas guy they may be able to connect me with to get a permanent heating solution in there.  They also handed me some nice boards.  2 of ash, and one of cherry.  All of them are about 10' long and 6 to 8 inches wide and just over 1/2" thick.  I already have some plans for some of it.  We found a nice piece of art work that needs a frame, I thought a cherry one would look nice.  The wood is sitting on my shop floor in the way right now.  I need to find a spot for it.  Another reason to get that storage unit built.

Well, I guess I have blathered on enough for now.  I am hoping things are going well for you all and that you are doing things you like with people you love.  Until next time...

Thanks for dropping by.

It's not that easy

to make a video.

I have been tinkering around in the shop, working on a project I have in mind.  

I thought I should get footage of it to make a build video for my You Tube channel.  Sounds easy, just put the camera on the tripod and hit record.

No.

First of all, the ash that I had originally planned to use, left over from my guitar build, is so dry and hard my hand planes will hardly touch it.  So I put it through the planer and got it to the thickness I wanted.  Then my inexpensive hand saw just skipped over the face of it and marred it badly.  So I tried to cut a bit more off and then true it up with the hand plane......no success again.  Not being the kind of guy who gives up, I am changing the wood selection to pine...easy right?

Well, there is more to this process than just choosing the wood and banging it together.

Other technical difficulties have been battery life in the camera, and the size of the memory card.  I just discovered that when you take the battery out of the camera and charge it, the camera reverts back to a high definition mode that eats up space on the card like mad.  So I lost a whole bunch of footage, or rather, the camera filled up and stopped recording.

There are other pitfalls I am discovering too.  Like when you hit the tripod with your elbow you get lots of footage of a floor and only the sounds of work in the background.  I guess I wasn't paying attention.

  I am currently running the shop on an extension cord (as shown in the previous video) and I must unplug the lights to run the table saw.  The limiting factor here is the cord itself.  Despite being a decent outdoor cord, it cannot handle the power requirements of it all at the same time.  

Good news is that the cord is plugged into a 20A circuit, so there is enough power there to do it.  I am going to replace it with a 10 gauge cord meant to hook up a recreational vehicle to park supplied power.  It is rated at 30 amps so I won't have the worry of overloading the cord and have it burn through the insulation on the cord.  Once that is in I ought to have enough power to have the lights and table saw going at the same time.  Which will be good for the videos.  While there is enough light naturally in the shop, it looks very dark on video without the lights.

A step at a time.  The only way to find out how things work out is by doing and improving as I go along.  But for now, I am waiting for batteries to charge so I can get back to it.  Here is some raw video showing what I mean about the light situation.....this is not going on You Tube, so it is kind of a blog exclusive.

About all I can do right now is sit back and chuckle at the situation and keep trying.  I hope I can grow the channel a bit and provide some useful video for people to enjoy.  It is not exactly instructional, but a lot of what I watch on You Tube is just folks being creative and making things.  I am not making any money off it, that is not part of the plan right now.  I hope to provide some free, entertaining video with an extremely low budget, in hopes that others will be inspired to do the same. 

 I would also like to keep it so that the average child can watch it without parents needing to worry about what their children  are exposed to.  Coming from a background of factories, mines and shops, I have frequently used and have been exposed to all kinds of profanity.  It is something that I have worked on changing for several years and you will not hear it on my channel.  It is tough to change a lifetime of habits, but it is important to me to have respect for my viewers.

  

Oh, another pitfall....the bandwidth on my internet connection means it takes a long time to upload things.  I could get a better connection speed, but that is not in the budget and that would go against what my purpose is here.  If I can do it, so can anyone else.  I am not very proficient with computers and editing video and such, but I have a bit of a stubborn streak that I am relying on to get this done.  So, until next time....

Thanks for dropping by!

Edit:  Upon my reviewing of this entry I noticed that the You Tube logo is on the video, so it may not be so exclusive after all.