productive weekend
I managed to get a lot done this weekend!
Friday night:
- The work bench in the lower barn looks like it was cut to fit around a support beam, but it was a good foot away from it, so I moved that back.
- Another work bench (stupid old with cast iron legs [maybe steel, but heavy none the less]) was against the outside wall under a broken window. I moved the table next to the other and redid the trim on the window (it's still two pieces of glass, one with a big chunk gone form a corner and insanely dirty).
Saturday Jen and I went to DMV to transfer our licenses from NY. We were both missing some docs and had to go home to get them, but it worked out in the end. I went over to my frined Tim's house to hang out while people worked on SCA armor and ended up fetching Jen and going to dinner with Tim and his wife, our friend Jay, and another local SCA guy.
I went to bed at 1am last night, but woke up at 8am.. :-(
I decided to spend the day tackling barn projects rather than veg on the couch.
- I cut some 2x6, had Jen help me position them under the old (metal leg) table's feet and bolted it all together with lag bolts.
- There is about a quarter inch height difference between the two tables now, but the masonite on the old table is all torn up, so I'll probably replace it with 1/2 plywood and have the two close to one level surface.
- I decide to "fix" part of the upper barn floor; there was a section where someone cut out the planking and decking presumably to put in a stair (which would have been crazy narrow). I removed as many screws from 2 rows of the decking as would come out and pulled up the plywood. That gave me access to four beams to straddle with the repositioned planking. I pulled up every second board that was completely uncovered and shifted them to bridge over the opening, cut back the remaining planking to the middle of the beam (so the new planking had a solid base) and started filling the gaps... I had to scrounge some planks from a storage rack I wasn't using, but I eventually filled all of the spaces and now have a pretty stable floor.
- The fun started when I tried to get the tongue & groove plywood edges to go back together... I managed to get two half pieces back in place, but the whole (4'x8') sheet is giving me grief!! I either need a helper with a pry bar to guide the tongue in or I need to loosen the screws on the next row of decking... I KNOW I don't want to leave the gaps or cut off the tongues! Although, I think either of these options will be "OK" if I go back over the whole area with an additional layer of 1/4" plywood in a crossing pattern.
- I also mounted a piece of chip board (more of the storage rack I stole planks from) onto the frame that acts like a bulkhead for the stairs from the lower to upper barn... There was a sheet of 1 inch gatorboard insulation there, but something fell thru it at some point and no one fixed it; this creaped me out and triggered my OCD - it HAD to be fixed!! I would have used 1/4" plywood, but I had the chip board on hand. It needs handles inside and out, but it works and it's closer to solid now.
My hands hurt good from driving nails! :-)
I am contentedly exhausted right now... :-)
I've been strongly considered doing SCA fighting again.
- The helmet I think will be safest for me starts at $300 (possibly off the shelf) and goes up to over $1000 with an eight month wait...
- Arm armor to match the time period of the helmet is going to run me about $120.
- Leg armor to match the time period of the helmet is going to run me about $140.
- Shoulder armor about $70.
- I haven't seen a breast/back plate yet for less than $250
- I'll need new hockey gloves, a new sword, a new basket hilt...
- I've been given a shield blank, I just need to cut it to shape/size and strap it...
Friday night:
- The work bench in the lower barn looks like it was cut to fit around a support beam, but it was a good foot away from it, so I moved that back.
- Another work bench (stupid old with cast iron legs [maybe steel, but heavy none the less]) was against the outside wall under a broken window. I moved the table next to the other and redid the trim on the window (it's still two pieces of glass, one with a big chunk gone form a corner and insanely dirty).
Saturday Jen and I went to DMV to transfer our licenses from NY. We were both missing some docs and had to go home to get them, but it worked out in the end. I went over to my frined Tim's house to hang out while people worked on SCA armor and ended up fetching Jen and going to dinner with Tim and his wife, our friend Jay, and another local SCA guy.
I went to bed at 1am last night, but woke up at 8am.. :-(
I decided to spend the day tackling barn projects rather than veg on the couch.
- I cut some 2x6, had Jen help me position them under the old (metal leg) table's feet and bolted it all together with lag bolts.
- There is about a quarter inch height difference between the two tables now, but the masonite on the old table is all torn up, so I'll probably replace it with 1/2 plywood and have the two close to one level surface.
- I decide to "fix" part of the upper barn floor; there was a section where someone cut out the planking and decking presumably to put in a stair (which would have been crazy narrow). I removed as many screws from 2 rows of the decking as would come out and pulled up the plywood. That gave me access to four beams to straddle with the repositioned planking. I pulled up every second board that was completely uncovered and shifted them to bridge over the opening, cut back the remaining planking to the middle of the beam (so the new planking had a solid base) and started filling the gaps... I had to scrounge some planks from a storage rack I wasn't using, but I eventually filled all of the spaces and now have a pretty stable floor.
- The fun started when I tried to get the tongue & groove plywood edges to go back together... I managed to get two half pieces back in place, but the whole (4'x8') sheet is giving me grief!! I either need a helper with a pry bar to guide the tongue in or I need to loosen the screws on the next row of decking... I KNOW I don't want to leave the gaps or cut off the tongues! Although, I think either of these options will be "OK" if I go back over the whole area with an additional layer of 1/4" plywood in a crossing pattern.
- I also mounted a piece of chip board (more of the storage rack I stole planks from) onto the frame that acts like a bulkhead for the stairs from the lower to upper barn... There was a sheet of 1 inch gatorboard insulation there, but something fell thru it at some point and no one fixed it; this creaped me out and triggered my OCD - it HAD to be fixed!! I would have used 1/4" plywood, but I had the chip board on hand. It needs handles inside and out, but it works and it's closer to solid now.
My hands hurt good from driving nails! :-)
I am contentedly exhausted right now... :-)
I've been strongly considered doing SCA fighting again.
- The helmet I think will be safest for me starts at $300 (possibly off the shelf) and goes up to over $1000 with an eight month wait...
- Arm armor to match the time period of the helmet is going to run me about $120.
- Leg armor to match the time period of the helmet is going to run me about $140.
- Shoulder armor about $70.
- I haven't seen a breast/back plate yet for less than $250
- I'll need new hockey gloves, a new sword, a new basket hilt...
- I've been given a shield blank, I just need to cut it to shape/size and strap it...