Garage storage area part 4

 After cutting all my joinery for the grid, all dadoes and half lap, with the Radial Arm Saw, I was left with a lot of small ridges which need to be cleaned.  

Where I left off last night.

Surface left by the RAS.

Usually quick work with a chisel and hand router (Stanley No 71), but in this case, there is a boatloads of them so, I`ll take a while.

Even probably longer since my right thumb is currently on Medical leave, sigh!

I continue to be amazed how we used our dominants hand`s thumb so much in everyday tasks, which complicates things a bit right now.  Never mind yielding a sharp chisel... :-(

My goal was to have all four frames assembled by the end of day.  Ahhh  seriously doubts that.

Took me almost all day, but I came close to my goal. In between 2 naps, lunch and diner breaks, this is where I got and how.

Managed to figured out how to use a chisel while sticking out my thumb

and using my other hand to protect it.

That worked pretty good, only banged my thumb once :-)

Probably invented a new, very long French litany of  swear words 

Surface left after a few minutes with a chisel.

Did not bother with the router, would had to make a suitable base extension to use it

 Made a quick and dirty sanding block with a piece of 2X4

 and a 80 grit sanding belt.

A few passes to ensures nothing is left standing up, done.

By 7 PM I had all my pieces cleaned up ready to go downstairs for glue ups.

Being too cold inside garage overnite.

But first, need my Voltaren and a quick nap, before proceeding

Meanwhile, during my breaks been revisiting my needs for the top of the platform.  As it stand right now, there is NO Pressure Treated  (PT) lumber anywhere on my platform or grid.  If I was to put down some 5/4 PT Decking as I was thinking, will need different fasteners finish than just Galvanized to resist corrosion due to the chemical formulation used.  Throughout the years, those formulation have changed a lot, each ones have different corrosiveness to various fasteners.  There is little chances of figuring out which variety I have on hands (left over) unless I was to buy new stock.    It will also makes the platform top surfaces uneven between the 5/4 decking and the 3/4 plywood..  Mind you, I plan on covering the open area of the platform so maybe not a concerns?

If so, may as well buy something else more suitable.

3/4 inch Spruce Plywood?   Similarly, I need to decided how I am going to cover each cubicle floor in the grid.  My first bright idea was to cut strip 66 in long in plywood, one for each row.  Problem is plywood comes in 48 X 96 inches (4X8), to cut 3 strips would required 2 sheets with lots of left over.. 

Then it finally don on me that I just gave myself a ton of work I could have avoid.  I thought I was being clever by assembling on the flat my 4 frames of 2X 4.  That way I saved a a good four inches, keeping the grid down to 66 in long. 

Instead of running 66 in long plywood strips, it would be more economical to simply makes bottoms at roughly 20X 31 in.  Problem of course becomes how am I going to attach my pieces on the inside sides?  I have inset my side supports flush with the vertical members, I would need cleats.

Guess what would have provided cleats??  What if I did not cut dadoes and half lap and instead lay the sides members on top of vertical members, instant cleats... Dang, too late, now I need to make and installs cleats.

In my defense, I had a few design changes on the fly and besides it will be stronger this way.

Besides I could had gone nutso and dovetailed the whole thing... just because... :-) 

So after my nap, I dry fitted my parts, assembling all four frames.  A few pieces are sticking up, being a tad tight, quick plane pass will fix it.  I also need to cut one side of the dividers lap joint to accommodate the front inset horizontal pieces (3).

Four frames dry assembled.

Piece on top is a scrap piece of the front horizontal dividers.

Using it to test fit dadoes and ensuring I got my two end frames 

pieces oriented correctly. 

After glue up, will need to cut my long horizontal dividers (66 in long) Qty 3.  Then the back dividers are to be cut into French cleats, the middle one is a regular flat pieces.  These will sit on top of the frame, for the French cleats to work.  Once secured by a couple screws to the cleats, the weight will be borne by the wall and the platform and be very well supported and secured.  I know, overkill :-)

All that to say, at the end of day,  got almost four frames assembled, I'm happy, times for my pills and a scotch :-)