6.30.2019

Jim unclamped the wood frame for the tabletop this morning and then sanded it lightly...

Then a coat of polyurethane on the first side...

This looks really pretty - even though you'll never see it!  It's birch wood that Jim had in his stash.

Then it was back down in the metal shop - he got the leg assembly welded...

Doing some grinding...

Jim just temporarily bolted on the leg to show me - looks so good!

Jim also used some scrap steel and made this cool arm to keep wood from falling off the rack...

This is a close up of how it will work - it can just slip on the arm of the shelf and is very secure.  He made two so far and has enough scrap to make another one.

 Time for the first power washing of the new concrete floor in the pole barn!

We had a few minutes at the end of the day and decided to do some metal detecting.  We found probably a half dozen square nails but this was the big find of the day.  And it was found about 6" underground and the metal detector showed that it was something other than iron.

It's a Civil War button!    It's actually very pretty - this is the underneath and it has stamping as well as a vine pattern.  Jim did some quick research and it looks like it came from the time period of 1785-1800.  How crazy is that?  Since our property is named Bailey Hill for General Bailey in George Washington's Army, it's pretty amazing to think that this may have come from a soldier's coat or clothing.

High 73/Low 55 - light rain in early morning and then beautiful!

6.29.2019

Jim continued working on the wood frame for the banquette table.  This will be the frame that the Corian top will be glued to.  Using the jointer....

Laying out the design.  You can see he put grooves in the long pieces...

Then he made the tongues on the short sides to connect it together and give it more strength..

Then he glued it...

Then he was back down in the metal shop until he had to stop to get ready for church.  He's working on the leg assembly for the table...

He cut notches out of the connecting pieces so that when he puts it together, there is a complete flat surface so that he can more easily add the wood facade.

This is how the pieces will fit together - the long top piece will connect to the steel table frame and the other side will be bolted to the floor.

Jim did the tack welding...

This is how it will stand up on the floor...

A close up view of the notched connection...

This afternoon, we spotted three young fox playing on the lawn.

They were fun to watch - they chased each other and played like puppies!

High 81/Low 59 

6.28.2019

Jim got a call this morning to set up delivery for our whole-house generator already - crazy since he just ordered it a couple of days ago.  But it's on it's way and should arrive Monday morning!

Jim did a lot of wood prep in the wood shop today.  Besides bringing in the new wood we bought yesterday and getting it organized, he started planing a lot of boards for upcoming projects.  He had some older birch that had a big bow in it - he was able to use his jointer and salvage it.

He glued up some pieces that he will use to make the table frame pieces.

More gluing projects...

Cutting some steel on the bandsaw...

He was showing me how the leg assembly will come together...

When I was walking back up from the mailbox, the house just looked so pretty that I had to take an updated picture!

High 84/Low 65

6.27.2019

Jim ordered our whole house generator last night!  So very exciting - it's going to be an immense amount of work to get it wired up - he basically has to redo the wiring in the entire panel box.  But once that is done we will be pretty self-sufficient here, which is the goal!

He spent time this morning getting the next pieces ready to do steel work for the banquette table frame.  He also did some work in the yard - when we had that short hard rain after we planted grass seed, we had dirt run-off to the edge of the driveway.  We had grass growing in the dirt there!  Jim shoveled that dirt back up onto the lawn in hopes that it will take root where it belongs!

He also wanted to start the box truck but the battery was dead - so that required getting the generator down there and charging up the battery.

Then we decided to take a trip down to Albany.  We had a late lunch at Cracker Barrel (thanks, Mom, for the gift card!) and then headed to Ghent.  Jim was out of both 4-quarter soft maple (for cabinets)  and the 8-quarter pine that he'll use for another door.

It was a fun road trip - we even stopped for our traditional road trip McDonald's ice cream!

High 83/Low 58

6.26.2019

I had to get my haircut and then run errands this morning.  Jim was very busy in the metal shop while I was gone!

This is the mounting bar for the table - Jim drilled and tapped holes in it for the mounting studs.  The table frame will bolt to this bar.

This is the back piece of the table frame - it fits on the studs.  Jim made slotted holes here with the drill press to allow for adjustment when leveling the final tabletop.

 He then began to weld the pieces together - these two pieces of angle are part of the frame, used to connect the frame to the leg assembly.

Jim drilled and countersunk holes in the mounting bar.  It can now be attached to the blocking in the wall, using a flat head screw.

Tack welding the tabletop frame together...

Top frame of the tabletop is all tack welded.  Jim will do all the detail welding probably Friday.

 Jim did some grass cutting at the end of the day.  He also had a Craigslist sale that he had to complete - the guy was supposed to be here about 7:30 but he got lost (no GPS!) so he didn't get here until 8:45!  So dinner was a bit goofy but every time we can make a few bucks and get something out of here that we won't use is good!

High 82/Low 59

6.25.2019

I'm so excited - Jim ordered our first sheet of Corian!  It's a 10' piece so that will be interesting to see how it is delivered.  He also ordered the required epoxy and gun.  This first piece will be for our banquette table top.  The color is Lava Rock - fitting, I think!  It's the middle one in the picture below...

Jim took some measurements today to transfer the dimensions of the table to the wall.

Only Jim is allowed to draw on my walls!

Jim had planned this all out when we were framing, but he needed to make sure the blocking he put behind the wall was in the right spot to attach the table.  He used a small nail just to make sure - everything is in the perfect spot!

In the metal shop, he continued working on the frame, drilling holes in these pieces to attach the frame to the table...

 The frame is really taking shape - Jim drilled a bunch of holes in these pieces as you can see!

Jim will use this 3/8" steel bar (the rusty looking piece) to attach the frame to the wall.  We actually salvaged this steel from our neighbor's pool in Ohio when they got rid of it!  So nice when things can have new lives.

Later in the afternoon, Jim transitioned to some pole barn work.  He made more drip edge flashing and continued attaching it...

Now that the form is off the front of the concrete, Jim could finish the front as well...

He made these little pieces of corner flashing just to finish things off.

High 79/Low 57 - drizzly in morning then beautiful!