Still Livin'

Just a quick post here to show that The Fuzz is still living.

1st

We would like to report that The Fuzz and His sweetie did make it back home to the woods safe and sound.

They did have quite an adventure, being gone about 3 weeks this time.

 Maybe The Fuzz will have more to say about that later.

But for now... no.

But he has been busy since their return.

There was a bit of yard work to catch up on.

And He finally got around to working on the "bricks".

Going back...

Way back...

To the start of the Pond Project.

A close look will show that there were more than rocks involved in this delivery.

The Bricks were to be used for the Fuzz's shop,

in the "carport" area where he parks his bike, and works on larger projects.

This kept being put off for various reasons-

some not all that good.

But now it was time to get it done.

New steps!
Of course it is not exactly finished.
The Fuzz needs to add a bit of mortar to the bricks on the edges, and sweep a bit of sand into the gaps between the bricks.

But it is a big improvement.

Power Tools

It is sort of a long term project, But The Fuzz is still working on getting his shop together.

One of the things on his wish list was a Drill Press.

Not having a lot of room in there, or a lot of money to spend, he had decided to go with a bench top model.

Having come onto a bit of cash, Our Fuzz decided now was as good of time as any.

So after checking around a bit on line, he headed over to the brand new Harbor Freight Store.

I guy could spend a lot of time in there, just looking and lusting after guy stuff.

Well, here's what he came home with.

Step 1 was to unpack it all.

Actually it was not all that difficult for The Experienced Fuzz to assemble this brand new piece of equipment.

There was a bit of a complication in mounting the thing.

Amazingly enough, in his whole collection of bits of everything, there were not any bolts suitable for mounting it to the small work bench.

But he was able to improvise something for the time being.

He will have to do this properly in the future.

But for now, here it is!

Exhausted

Well the Old Fuzz has been down in his back again.  But he did manage to make it out for a camping trip.  Of course he let the other folks do most of the work!

But he hasn't been completely idle out here in the woods.

The old clothes dryer was getting pretty rough.  It had a tendency to catch the clothes in the edge of the tub as it turned. Even if they didn't get torn, they would still get a really nasty stain from all the rubbing.

So a replacement was ordered and delivered from the local Home Improvement Store.

They would have taken the old one away, but The Fuzz figured that the motor could come in handy for something else someday.  So he decided to keep it.

His Sweetie laid down the law on this.  I would NOT remain in the yard, no matter how well Our Resourceful Fuzz tried to hide it.

So with his back improving a bit, he decided it was time to strip the thing and take the rest to the Recycle Place.

When he finally got down to the motor, he found it was connected to this squirrel cage.

With just a bit more work, he now has this cool exhaust fan for the shop!

(when he gets around to installing it)

And tomorrow the carcass gets recycled.

What Else?

So...

What else has been going on lately?

Well,

Just those “little things of daily life” of course.

The Fuzz has been doing a bit of reorganization in his shop.

The original plans called for moving a chest freezer in there.  But it was decided to drop that idea, since it is fine where it is at the Old Place.

And so now, there is a bit more usable space for The Fuzz!

He moved this small workbench to another wall.  Now there will be room for a more substantial one for those bigger projects.  Of course he still has to build the thing.  And knowing Our Fuzz, that could take a while.

And he also added a window!  The plans call for 7 small windows in all.  This is only the first one.  And of course it still needs glass and all.  But he'll get to that... eventually.

But for now there is a bit more ventilation and light available.

Of course there is still a lot more to do here.  New shelving, more windows etc.

But that will all come in it's time.

Slowly Progressing

Where do the days go?  It seems like forever since That Fuzz has been here.  But life goes on, out here in the woods like everywhere else.  He is still working on getting that workshop together.
Yesterday he took the trailer into town to the Old Place.  There were a couple things he wanted for the Shed/Workshop.  The first was this fine shelf.

He did get it moved in alright.  This should help get some of the clutter off of the floor, although there is still plenty of clutter.

And then there was this other shelf.

It will be fine for the smaller items, cans of oil, etc.  But first it will need a bit of cleaning.  One of the items previously stored on it was the grease gun.  In the summer heat it had a tendency to leak a bit.  Once Our Fuzz gets that taken care of, he'll move it inside and fill it up with more greasy clutter!

Table Saw

Moving along here with this Shed Project, The Fuzz took the trailer into town to get his Table Saw.  Of course this puppy is a hefty little puppy.  So the only way for The Fuzz with his questionable back to handle this, was to disassemble it.  While this was time consuming, The Fuzz and his hand truck were able to handle the components in this manner.  The collection was safely transported back to the woods for reassembly.

He also took this opportunity to install some casters under the stand.  This will enable him, or His Sweetie, to reposition this massive piece of equipment easily when necessary in these close quarters.  And that will be necessary from time to time especially when it is needed to rip longer boards.

As can be seen, there is still a lot of work to do here.  But as they say,"One foot up, and one foot down..."

Powered Up

It's way past time for an update on our ongoing Shed Project.  The Fuzz admits he has been a bit slack.  But we might as well face it, he's like that!

Well, for some time now, although he has been moved in, sorta, he has been powering all his equipment with a pitiful little drop cord, plugged into  the side of the trailer.  This has not been a particularly good situation.

The end at the trailer

The end at the shed

Well some of the Young'uns finally pushed him into action.  The 1st Son, and 4th Son in Law had been threatening to come out and help with this project for a while.  And in truth, The Fuzz was not looking forward to burying 100ft of electric cable all by his lonesome.

He had already made that fateful trip to the Home Improvement Store for the expensive wire, and now there were no excuses left.

The guys got to work with pick and shovel, while the girls hung together inside.

The weather was nice and the work went along OK.

By the evening the wires were buried, and connected to the main breaker box*.

The Son in Law spent the night and helped with the interior wiring the next day.

And so, we now have real power.

The next thing will be to get some of the bigger things, like the table saw, moved in there.  And of course there will still be a lot to do, making workbenches, shelves and the like.  But things are finally coming together.  It's been a long term project, but is turning out pretty well, The Fuzz thinks.  


*...where The Fuzz blew up his little multi meter trying to test things.  That was an exciting moment.  240 volts can be pretty impressive!

Moving In (a little)

The Fuzz hasn't only been tearing around the countryside on his Motorcycle these days.  Earlier this week he was over at the Old Place loading up a trailer full of toolboxes and such.  

Since the Shed is now more or less secure, he's been moving stuff out here to the Woods.  And things are beginning to come together just a bit.

There is now a place to put all the tools and equipment he's been gathering for years.

Of course, it all still needs to be sorted out.

The next phase of this long term project will be getting some power out there somehow.  At this point that involves a long drop cord.  But something a bit more permanent is needed.  The Fuzz has it in mind to bury a line out there.  But that will be a lot of work!

Continuing to Move Along

Well here we go.  The Fuzz is attempting to post this from a fine, brand new computer. 

He's not sure how things will work out yet, but it may be Ok.

He's also reporting that he finally got both doors up on the Shed Project.

This means it can now be locked up.

He also managed to move his tools out of the corner of the living room, and into the new Workshop!

Of course, there is quite a mess to straighten up out there.

But, this was a major step!

And here's an interior shot.

Things Still Continue to Move Along

The Fuzz is continuing to work on these doors.

Now that the tracks were up, the next step was building a frame.

Wanting things to be as stable as possible, he decided to take the extra time to make some lap joints at the corners.  
But with the table saw at the Old Place, he had to improvise as usual.

So he used the old "Multiple Saw Cut"* technique to cut the frame pieces, and cleaned them up with a chisel.

After laying the frame out, he covered it with a piece of plywood, and used screws to fasten it all together.

Mounting the hardware got a bit tricky, hence we have no pix of that part,  (Our Photographer's attention being occupied with other matters at the time)

Once the drilling, countersinking, and hunting for the right wrenches was finished, it was time to hang the door.
Our Fuzz had to struggle with the heavy thing, but of course being a guy, he insisted on doing it himself.
But he didn't hurt himself seriously, and we are able to post some pix of the first door in place.

Of course there is still the other door to take care of.  But that should be easier since now The Fuzz has some idea of what he's doing.

And we even have a pix of the interior.

*Crude, but effective.

Things Continue to Move

The Old Fuzz is not so pressed for time as he once was, so he is able to take these projects at a more leisurely pace.  Of course some would argue that he never was one to be rushed on a project.  There are still a lot of half finished things around to make the point.  But he is making progress here.

In a previous post he mentioned some complications, and how he dealt with them.  Well, things continue to move, if a bit slowly.

He did manage to get the rails, or tracks, mounted, at least temporarily. 

The "temporarily" part comes in because it will be necessary to lower the one track in order to slide the door itself back in.  The Fuzz figures it will be easier to build the doors on the floor rather than whilst they are dangling from the tracks.
And assembling the doors is the next step.
The Fuzz has included a few pix of the tracks in position. 

These double door should open up the work area nicely.

Of course the Doggies don't understand all the fuss.  As long  as there's a porch to lay around on, they're happy.

Complications

Well, when The Fuzz went to mount the rails for the sliding doors on the shed, he found that this one had a dent.  Said dent was bad enough so that the rollers would bind.  It was possible to force the rollers though.  That might have been the easy way, but it wouldn't be the cowboy way!

 Careful measurements showed The Fuzz that the track was supposed to be 1 3/4" wide.  

 So The resourceful Fuzz went to his toolbox and found his 1 3/4" spacer. (which also happens to be a 30mm socket*)

 But of course with the ding there, the socket wouldn't slide into the position where it needed to be.

 A piece of scrap* left over from the framing (The Fuzz has a tendency to hang on to these things) was driven into the slot.  This enabled The Fuzz to position this special tool correctly.

 Pounding against the plywood floor was ineffectual, so the rail was backed up* with this splitting maul.

 The Fuzz then hammered around the original ding, thus bringing the rail into a reasonable semblance of what it was supposed to be.

 It worked, and now there is no problem with the rollers or track.  

*Another handy Techno-Tip

 

A Little More Progress

It's about time for an update on the progress of The Fuzz's Workshed project.
Really there hasn't been a whole lot of progress lately, in spite of the fact the The Fuzz is no longer involved with the "9 to 5" (in his case, 7 to 5:30)
But, he did manage to get the last 2 pieces of the walls up.

Now the next step will be the doors.
As can be seen in the pix, the plan calls for 2 doors that will slide to either side.  This will open up the center of the "shed" to the open area, and hopefully increase the usable workspace.  It should also provide good ventilation.
So now, The Fuzz will have to find a couple of tracks to hang the doors from.  After that, he will be able to actually lock the place, and begin moving in some of his tools!

The Current Status

The Fuzz apologizes for delaying this post so long.
Here is a look at the current status of our Shed Project.
The Fuzz has most of the walls up now. But this was not easy, working by himself. Here is a look at a technique he used to raise and hold the plywood panels in place.
Our Resourceful Fuzz used a lever arraignment. (A&B at right) Using this, he was able to hold the panels, by standing on the lever (A) while getting a couple of nails in, to hold things together.
And so things actually are progressing here, if slowly. The Fuzz was now able to move his motorcycle into the "carport" area. This will eliminate the need to tarp it up every night.
This is a shot of things in the morning, before leaving for work.