Setting up Grampa's workshop

Well, with all that heat wave is bringing, my yard works is really slowing down.  Time to retreat to the shop downstairs and setting it up for the grand kids.

I just need to clear the floor, tidy up and set up a few human powered machines and voila!

There you go, floor is cleared, and the beam went to..??

Another good reason to get into hand or foot operated woodworking machinery, is that it is a lot easier and safer for the kids :-)

First up to bat was that 6X6 beam lying on the floor
Took some quick measurements and cross cut both ends.  Hopefully I cut enough to get rid of some of the worse twist.

My first idea was to cross cut it using my circular saw, but I negated that because it would make quite a mess in my shop. I do not need bigger messes right now, thank you.
So I figured, lets go old school, using a Disston D7 cross cut saw

Tracking pretty good

And done. According to my phone time stamps, 

that took about 1 and a half minutes. Not bad

Cutting the other end

Nice square cuts, effortlessly.

A well sharpen and set saw is a lot easier...

And what about less messy?  Well, it may had been if I did not steps into the saw dust piles and track it everywhere… it seems... Oups!

That done, it was easy to prop up the beam by myself, my measurements paid off

First location I tried.

Too close to the door

Where it is located from previous pic, have room to move it 

on the other side of joist blocking

Where it is currently moved to.

I like the clearances around it

And it is boxed in between the floor joist and the blocking piece.

Should be plenty strong to hold on. The deep slot in the bottom cement block 

makes it pretty secured as is, but will of course fasten the top with lag bolts or something

Well, once clamped on top, the bottom of the post twisted inward to the left

But there is enough of a flat surface on the side I need (RH)

Will see when I test fit the backboard

Next up is to move the Post drill from the garage to... eventually the shop in the basement.
I would like to strip it and repaint it, lubricate it and yadi yada but I want to set it up pretty well as is, it is after all in good working condition.  So for the sake of expediency, I am simply going to take it out and address a few issues., before hanging it up

Can you see it??

Yes, that back board has developed quite a bow introducing twist

Will make a new board for it out of a piece of 2X6 or 2X8

The back board was fasten to a post by two lag bolts on top, and...

One at the bottom.  May be I'll put two at the bottom also 

to prevent or minimized further twist (??)

So for now, I will take it off its board, do a quick degunking/cleaning with Krud cutter (outside :-)
Maybe this week-end ??

I will source or make a large container to gives the parts a soaking in Evaporust later on.

Up to bat next was my little scroll saw from Delta. That should be lots of fun with the kids, but in order to use it properly, it need to be secured down.

Found a leftover piece of glued up maple of a suitable size.
Again, my first thought was to run to the base woodshop and quickly crosscut it to size on the table saw.
BUT, again, keeping with the theme :--) decided to cleared the saw bench and went at it with a Disston D8 ripping beast. Not the fastest in hard maple but it made quick work.
Did not bother with lines, just quick scribbles on the board and saw...

Well, I'm pretty sure a line would had been a good thing caused I went out in La La Land and veered off. OK no sweat (said the man in a 32C workshop), I will just comes in from the other side and a quick plane pass would erase all...

Well, not really, quite a la la land distance

OK, screw it, just split the difference :-)

I may be blind but I can follow a line blindly, without any line... all bets are off :-)

I want to screw in a batten on the underside, so I can secured it in my leg vise or on top of the bench with one holdfast

Screw to that piece of wood, it should be less prone to tip off.

Found a suitable piece of hardwood for the batten

But that is were I quitted, the humidity is getting to me and I'm running out of clean T-Shirts...

Next I would love to find a foot or hand operated mortise machine, a pedal powered scroll saw and such :-)

First project for now in Grampa's shop would be to make or find some proper stands for the little ones to stand on at the proper height at the bench and drill press and so on.

And since I made my Super HD saw bench as a mortise, drilling and  etc. bench, I should be able to let them work on it more easily. It is currently resting on removable shoes, since I have yet to settled on a "proper height for me".
Translation: When I built it, I goofed and somehow transposed the height as 16 inches instead of my planned 19 inches... Oups.  I simply add a pairs of shoes under to raised it, but I found that I can work at 16 without much problems.

Bob's Grampa workshop, opening soon

Guess what?

That's right, I have been cleaning up the yard, ever since Dennis dropped all these trees on my property.

Can only burn on prescribed days at prescribed time.

That was our first and only fire so far

The weather is now finally summer hot, we have a system stalled above us which is bringing hot temps, day and nite. We have Humidex and heat stroke warnings, for the week. Temp today was 32 with a humidex of 36 C and its going to stay for a little while.
Ken would call that winter weather for his neck of the wood, but for us SkiDoo lovers, it's hot en Tabarnack!!

Inside joke for Ken

Picture a hoard of these coming over  :-)

One of the two maple logs I kept

The tree stump is still oozing out sap, the whole top surface is saturated with it.

That is why normally trees are fell in the winter when the sap is dormant (at its lowest)

Rounding up the logs from around the yard

And some more

I find it very impressive that Dennis cut all that

 from tree standing to this pile of logs in just a few hours.

Took me longer to assemble this pile :-)

Those two Norway maples had their bark infected with that tar spot virus.

See the black on that log

Because the sap was running when it was cut, the bark will separated from the log as it dry. 

Notice the bark and the log don't evaporate the free water at the same rate, causing the bark to crack

The variety of size in my pile

Between my age, my back and the temps I am forced to work mostly early morning, before it gets too hot. And even then, I have to pace myself.  I am no Spring chicken no more … apparently

The pile I have tonite.

All the tree tops and branches on my lawn have been stripped.

I'll check if I can burn tonite??

Between stops were we go on a road trip to visit friends, instead of me slaving away in my yard, its progressing good, I can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

That has been occupying all my time and then we have the grand peanuts over for two weeks.
So not much progress around my shop lately, except that I am still getting it ready for the little ones.
We should play in it soon :-)

Ruby-Jean brought her puppy dog to play with Rudy

Rudy is not quite sure what to make of it.

Should I tear its ears off or just lick it??

Bob, who gets around thanks to Voltaren Emugel.
Oh, Babe, I think we need the Costco size... :-)

And the trees came down...

Since the tractor was up, the next thing was to transplant two bushes that were in the way of the future greenhouse

Look, I still fit in to my old Airforce work dress, and no belt required :-)

Done. Yard clean up, ready to make a mess...

Next up to plate was cutting down some trees. Some diseased, some in the way, some barely alive.
This operation should had taken me a week at least, but thankfully I had help.
Today we had Jean's brother Dennis over for the day to cut down some trees around our property.

We had a few in mind but for now, the priority are the ones in the way of my fencing and the new deck.

The first to come down was that poor tortuous white birch by the old deck

Then if we had time, the plan was to cut down a couple trees that are either sick or in pretty sad shape. At the rate he was cutting and bucking, it took no time at all to get it all done...
It only took him a few hours, I always enjoy watching experience at work.
Where is my I.C. helmet ? :-)

I think I need a bigger fire pit :-)

That poor tree is sick and in the way of a future driveway

Down it went

That spruce get damaged every winter, loosing limbs to high winds.

Down it went. It will also let more sun on the small maple to its right

That tree was loaded with cones at the top

 As we cleared the tree line in the back of my property, we salvaged this old orchard tree

The post on the left is my property line 

I can almost see through 200 ft away, well almost

I salvaged a few trunks for turning into lumber, hopefully.  I wanted to have a mementoes of these trees.  Now I need a friend with a saw mill, hopefully portable :-)

On this site a future archway and picket fence

 

The two logs I kept, both maple.

Rudy in pics for scale :-)

Now I have room for my future shed. 

Property line is tree line in background

On this site future outdoor dining room

But for now, my priorities are to clean up the yard, once more...

The scene tonite

Meanwhile we are still getting temps in the single low digits at night but no more frost warnings... yet...

Bob, tired but happy with progress. A big thank you to Dennis