Barrel stand completed

I have not been working on it since Monday, it has been raining and I have catched a cold from Jean, who got it from her grand daughter... I was doomed from the start, and sure enough, I now have a $&):?!@ man cold .... With my blood pressure medications, there are not many feel better medicine that I can take for it. The difference between with or without medication for a cold? 7 days with it, one week without, except you just feel more miserable. And before you asked, yes I get my flue shot every year, I am a cancer survivor...

Where I left out, Monday

Should have enough parts left to finished it.

Yes, those are plane shavings on the ground, 

my joinery was a bit tight, by design

Wednesday between runs to the bathroom and rains, I went out to the barrel stand, removed the barrel and marked my pieces for the cross member and the angle piece (brace) by the post corner.
Thursday I cut and installed them.  While I was adding a cross member to support the decking boards, I thought I should play safe and add another footing piece under. There you go, overbuilding is my middle name :-)
But that did not happened yet, I was quickly exhausted and went for a nap...

Since I modified my build as I went, I ran out of lag bolts, so another trip to the store...
Wednesday I also had my car at the garage to investigate my AC leak, turned out its only a line, no major components, phewww. But its a special thermostatic line and yady yada, that would be $500 to fixed it... I don't think I ever had a part replaced on that car that did not cost at least $300.
Putting a Lincoln stamp on a Ford part is apparently costlier, must be because Lincoln has more letters than Ford?? :-)
Parts arrived, the car goes back next Tuesday for repairs.

The corner brace I added at the post corner is to be able to support the end of my decking boards.
I could have done it differently, but I figured this will also strengthen the post connection, since there is a lot of leverage with that long post.  I cut a small flat at the arris of the corner post to be able to move in closer the brace and have a flat surface for the glue and the lag bolt.

In addition, I was planing to used a metal post spike to anchor the post solidly. That would further solidified my post, but it proved way overkill :-)

Saturday, I cut my 4X4 center post, including the open ended mortise at one end.

I had a small 20 inch test piece, that I used to set up the cuts with Radial Arm saw. The cut surface are straight from the saw, I did not touched them otherwise. Only difference I took small careful nibbles with the crosscut blade

.

The Radial Arm Saw made quick work of squaring the ends at 16 in 

The large Resaw Bandsaw made quick work of cutting most of the waste 

The smaller Bandsaw, quickly removed most of the bottom waste

Its first test fit, bottom not cleaned up yet. need to go a bit deeper

Back at home quick chisel work with Gerhard's Je ne sais quoi Persuader (Tm)

yield a good flat surface, tested flush with crossmember. Coated with a liberal coat of end cuts preservative and let to dry inside garage. 

In between all these I attended a local African Violet show and presented another of Heather's memorial award, I set up. Heather was their past president until she had to step down due to her cancer...

The Annapolis Valley African Violets Show and sale, with tea service.

In the background, the Red Hat Society ladies 

and with a few shopping trips later came back with enough supplies to add the finishing touches on this project.

My growing collection of "Stuff" for the post.

The Scare Owl will be held by drilling a hole to glue in the broken screw stub, on the post cover which would simply be screwed to the top 

Drilled thru, friction fit. Very tight fit, 

I'm putting a lot of pressure along the fibers...

Scary Owl screwed to post cover

The hose holder will be scraped clean of most rust and given a fresh coat of paint. I tried to match it by memory, close but no cigars.

Maybe I had John Deere on the brain :-)

All the stuff going outside (except the hose reel) got a quick coat 

of clear varnish, to make them weather better

Sunday, I finally installed center support leg, glued the pieces and added more glue to my new work pants (they are really ruined now, Oups) then screw.

Detail of my center support

Lag bolt on one side, two long ceramic coated screw on the other side

I cut an open mortise to cradle and support the cross member. That should be more than sufficient to take on the load. That detail should also make that center leg sturdier. Will not twist off.

And finally mark, cut and installed my decking boards.

I left a good spacing between the decking boards to help drain the inevitable water that is going to puddle on top (Snow, rain, leaks, spill etc)

6 ceramic coated screws on each boards

Since the whole thing is resting on the grass, and could potentially sinked in under the load, I added pavers under the feet,
It could be potentially dangerous if my barrel stand shifted on soft ground, hence the added precautions.

Yes, I splitted my fancy PT cover for the post.

Glued and drying

The hose holder installed on one side of the post and the Scare Owl was installed on the top by two screws, no glue.  May want to cut post shorter??

I could not installed the tap on the barrel. There are no removable top for access. Only a small screwed in screen.

I was going to add a spike on the long post corner, 

but it is proving to be overkill. 

The Owl is just sitting on top for the picture, 

its cap is broken and being fixed.

Now remains to find its optimum location, and install the irrigation system, but that would have to wait, I am exhausted... time for a nap...


Bob, working ever so slowly right now. Man cold dragged me down :-)