Friday, April 11, 2008

Power Tools


In my spare time I attempt to remove myself from the information technology sector and look for other interests and hobbies. One of those interests that I partake in is working with power tools. I'd like to call it woodworking but I don't feel right about putting the things that I slap together on a level as high as that.
The Monday after Easter our wonderful church gave the staff a day off. Since Jennifer didn't have the day off with me I had to find something to occupy my time until she got home.
All of the houses in our neighborhood are pretty much the same and I noticed that my neighbor next door had constructed a shelf for his wife in the two and a half feet of wasted space between where the fireplace juts out and the wall of his house. I thought to myself we have that same nook and it could be used as a storage space for our gardening stuff. So, I made some rough measurements, sketched out a prototype, and went to Lowes and picked up some lumber.
(a funny side note is that I forgot that my rope which is usually in my car wasn't in there so I used a singe bungee cord to affix the six 10 foot pieces of lumber to the top of my car. only by the grace of God did it all make it to my house unscathed.)
My favorite part of this project is the fact that no holes were drilled in the masonry of the house. I used dowels to fit between the bricks and wedged the rest of the wood around. So, when we leave we can take our shelves with us.

Materials used

  • 4- 1 5/8" x 6" x 10'
  • 2- 2" x 4" x 10'
  • 1 - 7/16" dowell rod
  • wood screws

Tools used
  • Good old fashioned hammer
  • Skill Saw
  • Drill (various bits)
  • Saw horses
  • Clamps
  • Tape Measure
  • Pencil

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks good.. I do alot of other things in my "spare" time. We're currenty remodling our house, just did laminate floors in the livingroom/kitchen/dinning room. Painted the walls, baseboard and crown moulding. It's always fun. :)

Foster said...

Justin, I'm very impressed. This was the only project that I've done yet that wasn't a horrible mess. I'm still scared to do anything major to the house. It is pretty committing which, in my opinion, is why working on your own house is so admirable.

Anonymous said...

Have you ever seen the seinfeld skit where he talks about the male ego... he says think about the guy driving a car down the road with the mattress on top... and he is holding it with his arm.. "I Got it I Got it"...

Foster said...

That is hilariously scary for 2 reasons. 1) Because of how close to reality that actually was and 2) how often my recent life has resembled an exact plot from Seinfeld. Jennifer and I just got back from a vacation to the Dominican Republic and we had several people reference the episode where Kramer brought back some Cubans who were actually Dominicans.