Oh her dismay when she realized instead of helping out I was only going to cause her more work to cleanup after I used it for iron-on edging!

At least I didn’t ask her to help with the sanding. Biggest issue was the heat because I had to do it out in the sun and was dripping with sweat (which inevitably ended up on some of the pieces so I had to redo)

I have yet to stain a single piece of work (so far all painted or pressure treated for outside) and was looking forward to using it on this piece, however my mom wanted au natural and since these are shelves a good protective coat so I tried out MinWax Polycrylic and rolled the first coat since it dries fast (especially in 90+ with direct sunlight). Unfortunately the roller didn’t leave as smooth a coat as I sanded it even and went with a foam brush which went on much nicer but had to be applied at a break-neck speed.

A couple 2×4s laid across the rails make for a good drying bed

Day three went a bit bumpy because it was overcast, started to rain a couple times, and I left the camera inside!

I cut the support slats and finished the side pieces for the shelves. I then had to figure out what tools to pack since space was at a premium (driving 350 miles, leaving space for beach gear, and room for me to pickup a new dust collector on the way back).

Final results will be posted as a project later today.

So I grabbed my hatchet, and went to work looking for Wood!

I ran across a large Red Oak and took it down a notch or two.

I was feeling rather cocky until I got to the stump, we called it a truce and I headed on my way, but not without first giving it a little what-for.

Now that my maniacal side was appeased, I went to a local plywood manufacturer who was liquidating and picked up about 50 full sheets on the cheap.

Here are five sheets of Birch ply with poplar core for a future tool cabinet and two sheets of 1/2 MDF core (with sometype of veneer) which I’ll be using for some shop jigs (only $3 sheet for the MDF core! If only my truck springs were not already crushed flat!)

The real motherload was a pallet of quarter-sheets with a diamondized UV topcoat in several species (birch/maple/hickory/cherry/oak). They’re 1/2” ply-core but were such a deal because there is a defect/blemish on each, normally not larger than a dime and easy to cut around. Some dark cherry and hickory staging on my TS.

A closeup of the Red Oak topcoat, pretty good quality and major timesaver for small projects.

The pallet contained a total of 150 pieces, making a pretty impressive stack.

While at Woodcraft the other day I also picked up some Hard Maple/Walnut/Purpleheart for a future box design. It’s a Beta

You might be wondering if we’re actually gonna get to any real woodworking yet, and the answer is …

Nope. ‘Cause I picked up a jointer the other day and as you can see in the photo…

… it needs a bit of work. The night before I put in three hours, a bunch of Rust Off, Wet/Dry Sandpaper, Synthetic Steel Wool, and sweat resulted in…

Before you can do any real work, gotta start off with some coffee ... Yeah Baby!

With that outta the way, I could actually start my first project of the day. Since my shop is so small there is no dedicated outlet near the jointer so I grabbed the wheels I was going to put on a future 2-stage collector and built a mobile base (this photo reminds me that I still need to add an emergency OFF kick-board).

The main project for the weekend is to build some pantry shelves for my parents beach cottage. I always have, and always will, abhor moving & cutting plywood. However I finally did a much needed task and build a guide for my circ saw (using one of those precoated sheets) and ripped a 2×8x10 to make two sacrificial arms to span my sawhorses.

You might wonder why one arm is a bit shorter than the other …

I found a bit of a weak spot. And as to why there is an old tractor blocking the entrance to my shop (made moving all those sheet goods just peachy!)

Shore is hard gettin cher outta tha way wiffin them thar wheel missin’

Appalachian Interpretation Rim’s rusted out

Deranged folk with power tools, sounds like a good combo to me!

Odd, it’s 90 out with 90% humidity and I smell someone burning oak in their woodstove … now why do I see smoke coming outta my wood?

Installing a new 20T blade and flew through the remaining sheets. What a moron I was to put off building that setup, I broke down all four boards in the time it used to take me to do one sloppily.

Now is it measure once, cut twice, or draw it with three different measurements and take a WAG at the medium?

Those arms proved they can multi-task, too bad they are 1/2” short to clear my jigsaw blade (but I got plenty of scrap to boost it up)

And here are the shelves ready for the wings to get a final cut on the TS.

With that I had to come inside and watch the girls. Now that they’re in bed its time to play video games and get ready for tomorrow tasks!