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I installed two different kinds, inside the shop I installed a giant Big Ass Fan in the center of my woodworking space and four smaller Hakui fans on the covered porch.

If you aren’t familiar with the Big Ass Fan brand, they make crazy efficient and stunning looking equipment. If you watched the shop build you’ll remember that I installed their lights. Since I wanted to place this 7’ diameter fan in the center of my woodworking space, I first started by taking out the light that marked center of my ceiling then also removing a few ceiling panels where the fan would need to go.

This size of fan requires a mount to be fabricated that will span across the bottom cord of two trusses which is why I’m having to take down the ceiling panels to expose the bones. If you don’t want or require such a large fan there are models that will allow you to attach the fan to one truss which would mean you wouldn’t have to expose the trusses.

I fabricated my mount from two pieces of angle iron backed up to one another. I first cut them to the length needed to span two trusses then joined them together by drilling a hole dead center for a nut and bolt, using my Triton Super Jaws and a pair of vise grips to hold them in place for me. I repeated the steps in order to make two brackets at the same time.

After getting those punched I moved the pieces down to the ground, separated them, and drilled two holes on the flat portion that will be sitting on the truss.

With those together now I grabbed the hardware that will attach to these mounts in order to hang the fan from. I positioned it in center and marked the location of the holes that needed to be drilled out. When punching through metal I always work up to the final size hole if it’s somewhat large. So for these I start off with punching a 1/4” hole, then step up to the final 1/2” size which is the bolt I’m using.

Once I got those tighter I ran the wiring through the center tube for the electrical bits then dropped that down in the center of the mount. Now it was ready to set into place. To keep it from moving I temporarily clamped it in place while I crawled up top and attached it with lags to the bottom cord of the trusses.

Something I really love about this fan is the wall mounted remote, it’s more of a speed indicator as it not only turns the fan off and on but also dictates how fast or slow it spins.

I didn’t want to run the wiring on the outside of my ceiling material so that meant I had to crawl up into the attic….let me remind you this during the heat of summer!….and get into the tiny tiny point on the far side of the roof in order to feed down the wire to Brian. My recommendation is if you are building a shop, even if you don’t install fans at the start, leave yourself a wire from where you’ll eventually want the controller to the placement of the fan. Just coil it up and leave it in the attic so you don’t have to do all this crawling around.

Alright, next up was mounting the motor into place, which might take two people because it’s pretty heavy.

Next up was mounting the airfoils. These do come in different diameters but mine are 3’ long, which including the center hub span, makes this fan 7’ total. And let me tell you….it’s crazy how much air this fan can move, and also how still and quiet it is. Even when I crank it up all the way you don’t hear any sounds from it other than the air itself moving.

And that’s it for the installation part of the big fan, so next was throwing back up the ceiling panels that were taken down earlier. To get around the fan’s stem I used a rotary tool to make a cut around it.

While I was mounting fans, next I moved to the porch. I love working on my covered shop porch when the weather is nice enough so having the option to get some moving air out there was a must for me. For this area I’m going with a smaller Big Ass Fan called Haniku. These fans have over 1000 options for finishing combinations but I went with Carmel and Black to match the cedar beams I have on the porch.

These fans are ultra quick to assemble. It was honestly as simple as attaching the fan blades, attaching the center tube with the wiring in it, then adding both hubs that keeps the top and bottom ends of the tube looking nice once it’s mounted.

Haiku has won more than 75 international design and technology awards and one thing they strive for and hit, is ensuring their fans don’t wobble. I found out they have a 13 step process to hand balance each fan so you won’t have to be distracted by the repeated off balance rhythm so many fans make.

After I mounted the bracket on the ceiling where I wanted the fan, I placed the ball into the socket, that’s what I’m describing it as at least, and turned it on. These fans also come with a remote and allow you to control the speed. Ha we were laughing because there is an actual “whoosh” button : )

Also, big high five on not only the quality of the fans, but also the instructions, and even making the remote magnetic. Just from head to toe, from aesthetics to function, everything on these products screens thought, effort, and quality.

If you’re looking at mounting fans in the shop or even in your house I can’t recommend these enough. They are highly efficient, exceeding the Energy Star requirements for ceiling fans, extremely quiet, and have a customizable look for every space.

If you’d like some of your own, check out the Big Ass Fan website here.

And while you’re checking things out, check out April Wilkerson merch here.

Ok, that’s it for 2018! Not only was I able to build my shop this year, I was able to put a big dent in my to-do list for outfitting and personalizing it. And that’s a great feeling. Thanks for coming along.

I’ll see you in 2019.

The post Installing Shop Fans – Big Ass Fans appeared first on Wilker Do's.

Let’s start off with a storage solution for extra saw blades and all those accessories. Between my track saw, circular saw, miter saw, table saw… and then I also have my dado stack, insert plates and all of the interchangeable inserts. I’ve had a big pile sitting on the floor next to my table for a while.

As I often do with shop project, I looked through my scrap wood and found chuck of cedar that will work well for this project. I started off by marking down one edge every 1”. Then I set my table saw to 45 degrees and made the cuts line up to my marks.

After working down the entire length of board I set my saw back to 90 and ripped it right down the middle.

I placed a French cleat on the back as well as on the wall then started loading it down with my blades. Starting off with my larger diameter blades at the top. I made an identical one for my dado stack.

For my insert plates I cut two triangles at the bandsaw, drilled a pocket hole into each, then attached them to the wall to create a shelf I could set the inserts on.

Next I started working on a battery charing station. I have one charger from each manufacture so I wanted a simple shelf that could keep them all together and organized for me. I again reached for some scrap, this time going with 3/4” plywood. I measured the chargers I have to store then cut a bottom and a back to create a shelf.

Before joining things together I laid the chargers out on the shelf and marked off where the power cords of each, fell on the shelf. Then I cut this location out over at the bandsaw. This will give me a place to route the cords later on.

I stuck things together with Titebond Original wood glue, using my Super Jaws to help hold things down, while I pre drilled and used screws to attach the two pieces.

Next I cut some wings that will not only give the shelf some support but also act as the sides of the lower shelf that will hold the extra batteries. To make getting the shape of this side wing easy, just set your shelf on end and trace the profile. I made my lower shelf 4” but measure your tallest battery and see if you need yours to be taller. After getting it cut at the bandsaw, I once again used glue and screws to attach things.

Now I just measured in between the two side wings and cut a shelf to fit between. I added in a few French cleats on the back then set it in place and loaded it down with power tool batteries and their chargers.

I did add a power strip, and this is so I can plug all my chargers into the strip then plug the strip into the wall.

Alright then the last thing I decided to do was installed some ceiling mounted, steel storage racks made by a company called SafeRacks.

I have installed this racks in my garage before so I already knew how quick they were to install and just how handy they are at getting those larger items that I need to store, off the floor and away from the valuable lower wall space, and up higher where they are still assessable when I need them.

I started off by placing the ceiling brackets into the joists.

After getting these attached I went back down to my workbench and started assembling the vertical arms. This is where you can adjust the height of the entire unit. To determine the height of mine off of the ceiling, I measured the totes I would be storing and decided that 3’ would be plenty.

After getting all four set to the same length, I hopped back up on my scaffolding, very quickly attached them, and then started putting in the cross members that make up the body of the shelf.

These SafeRacks do come in a variety of different sizes but I went with the 4’ x 8’ model, and airing on the side of cation once again of leaving myself extra room for extra inventory, I installed two of them. I’m not sure what the weight capacity is for the smaller racks but these 4×8’s are rated at 600 lbs. So that’s quite a bit of stuff these can hold!

I actually built another storage solution for the shop and that is this finishing rack which holds all my paint/stain/tube of caulking/and glue bottles. This was a few weeks ago when Triton Tools and Matt Cremona came to visit and Triton actually captured the project and produced a full video with a lot of fun behind the scenes included. Click here to check that out.

Be sure and watch my full video at the top for a more detailed tutorial of these projects. I hope yall enjoyed this one and I hope ya’ll go out there and clean those shops! See you on the next build.

The post 4 Shop Organizing Projects appeared first on Wilker Do's.

Last week I modified a trailer to go get some logs, this week I’ll be slabbing them up. As milling is an entire world of it’s own in the woodworking niche, I learned a crazy amount in just a few days and I’m going to try and cram as much of that information into this video as possible, so lets gets right to it.

There are two main methods for milling logs: a bandsaw mill like Matt Cremona’s…

…or a chainsaw mill. I’m going with a chainsaw mill…..for now. Tractor Supply is now a supplier of Husqvarna equipment and I’ve partnered with them to use the Rancher 460 chainsaw with a 24” bar on my mill. Note that the chainsaw you buy has specs on the longest bar it can support. So if you want to cut certain diameter logs, be sure to buy a saw that can support it.

I’m actually going to jump ahead because there are a lot of components to this one so let me show you the final outcome before I get into the details of each one.

The components are: the chainsaw of course. Next is the mill which is a railing system parallel to the chainsaw bar that guides you for a straight cut.

On your very first cut, you need a flat reference for the mill to ride along, which is what these rails here are.

Then something I put on mine but is optional is a winch. This is mounted to the mill then hooks up to this bar you see here.

Now that you see what I end up with, let get back to the beginning of putting it together. I started off with the rails that will go ontop of my logs to give my mill a flat reference for the first cut. You might have seen people use a ladder for this application before, but I went with rails made by the same company who made the mill I’ll be using which is a family owned business called Granberg. They are called EZ Rails and do come in a variety of different lengths but I went the 10’ rails which come in two 5’ sections that can be used separately or together. They have these cross bars with spikes and this is how the rails are attached to the log.

Next I switched out the stock chain on my chainsaw, which is a crosscut chain, to a ripping chain. Just like any other saw blades, the teeth are designed with a certain task in mind and if you are going to go from crosscutting to slabbing, you need to invest in a ripping chain. The teeth are filed to a steeper angle on ripping chains since it’s a much more aggressive cut since you are cutting along so many more growth rings lengthwise.

After getting the chain on and tighten down, I moved on to assembling the mill that goes around the chainsaw. This is the railing system that is parallel to the blade, and it can be raised or lower to determine the thickness of your slab. Since I have a 24” bar I went with the 24” mill from Granberg.

And just a fun fact, Elof Granberg, who started the company, designed the first Alaskan chainsaw mill back in the 60s. So anything milling related, the company has.

You can see that the chainsaw now fits right into the mill then tightens down on the bar to hold onto it.

Like I mentioned earlier, an add on I opted in for is a winch on the mill. This will drastically reduce the amount of work I manually have to do to get the saw through the piece of wood and I’ll show you how this works in a few mins.

First I want to set all that equipment aside and quickly build a log stand so I don’t have to cut these logs on the ground. Since I’ve never done this before I wasn’t sure what set up would be best, so I went with some 2x6s with a steep angle cut in at both ends on my miter saw, then a hole drilled in the center. I flipped them around to be opposite of one another then stuck in a bolt with a few washers and nuts. I used two nuts so that I could keep this joint pivoting which will make the stand foldable.

After repeating to make three the same, I lined them out, used a clamp to hold them in an open position with the feet flat on the floor, then placed another 2×6 to tie them together, and to also create a hard stop. A 2×6 was placed on both sides and now you can see it can fold up and be stored or transported, but then quickly deployed to be used. Depending on your length of logs, should determine how many of these Xs you include on your stand.

Ok! After all that assembly I was finally ready to get a log set on my stand and to start milling. Cody used the tractor to snatch onto a log on the trailer then set it in position. Now the log doesn’t have to be perfectly flat but the next step is easiest if it is somewhat flat, so I first started up my 460 and took off a high spot.

With this being the first cut, I started by placing my EZ Rails in place. Again, these will be the flat reference for my mill to get a straight first cut. I lined up the cross members so that the spikes, or dogs, would all land on the log then I hammered them in.

With it attached I next leveled up the rails. You don’t need them to be level along the length of the log, just across the log, I don’t know if you can see but there are two leveling screws at each one of these cross members to make this happen.

Then the last thing to attach is the winch’s anchor point. If used, this is attached to the end of the log so that it can peak up in between the two rails. And you can see here that once you start the saw and get the mill set on the rails, the winch cable goes from the reel to this anchor point then attaches back to the mill. This allows me to keep my left hand on the throttle of the saw, and my right hand on the winch to advance or back off on the cut.

A few things I want to say:

1) Beware folks because this is highly addictive. I want to slab up everything now to where if you stand still long enough in my shop, I’ll start attaching the rails to you!

2) This operation can be done alone but it’s kinda a lot and is sooo much easier if you have a second hand around. You’ll see Brain there cutting wedges for me and placing them as I get further into the log. This is to keep the slab from pitching your bar and binding.

3) I tried moving the mill along without the winch just to see the difference and I’ll say that the winch makes such a huge difference in how much effort is required. I 100% recommend it if you get into this.

After getting through my first cut (which took 6.5 mins btw), I set the top aside then started on the second cut. Now that the log has a flat reference along the top I no longer need the EZ Rails, I can just set the mill directly onto of my previous cut and start the process over again. The only thing I had to do before making this cut was to adjust the depth of my mill to the slab thickness I wanted. I set it for 2” then got after it.

I am really shocked at how quickly I was able to get through an entire cut, this second cut took me just under 5 mins to make. The main components for making that happen is much like any other cutting tool in the shop…..the right power source and a sharp edge. This Husquvarna had no issues chopping through this oak, mesquite, or even pecan which are all pretty hard woods. This work does use up the bar oil though, so make sure you are keeping an eye on your tank.

Now I won’t lie, I was pretty disappointed at this oak when I got a look inside. I was hoping this thing would be beautiful but the log was apparently pretty old and very dried out so the inside was really cracked and honestly not something I was interested in keeping. Looking back on it though, I think testing and tuning, getting things figured out on a junk log is a pretty good way to go. Like anything else you learn so much on your first go and I still had a blast.

I didn’t have any more long logs but my neighbor offered me a short pecan and mesquite log so I jumped at those to try next. You can see that instead of cutting the tops of my log stand down, I just shored up the bottom with some scraps. This is because I’m not yet sure what the average diameter of log I’ll be getting is, and I didn’t want to cut them too short but note that it is an alternative to filling up the bottom.

Something else I did when the log got smaller was use the log jaws in my Super Jaws. These are a set of jaws with blunted teeth specifically designed for grabbing onto logs. Oh and a helpful tip I got from Instagram is instead of placing the log level lengthwise, place it downhill so that gravity can help you when you are milling through.

As far as keeping things sharp, I sharpened my chain after every third pass which might be excessive but I’ll learn with time where the sweet spot is on sharpening. In the past I’ve always used a file to sharpen the teeth but Grandberg has this 12v electric sharpener that attaches right to the bar. It hooks up to a truck or car battery so I used the battery from the log snatching trailer to run it. Even if you don’t get into milling this sharpener is worth getting.

The last thing I had to slab up with this crotch piece of pecan, after making the first cut I stuck it in my super jaws to make the remaining cuts and just look at how cool this one came out!

The next step is to set the slabs aside to dry and a general rule is it takes one year for every inch of thickness. So a 2” slab should be left to dry for two years. For video sake, lets say it’s been two years and these are now dry and ready to be used to make something.

I’ll first need to flatten the slab. Since it’s much wider than a jointer the most popular method for flattening slabs is called a router sled. You can make a home made jig but my friends over at Woodpeckers Tools heard I was slabbing and asked me to try out their new slab flattener coming out later this year. If you are familiar with Woodpeckers then you’ll know they excel at precision which is exactly what a flattener needs to get the best results. Everything needs to be level and stay level to give you a perfect cut across your entire slab so you don’t have a lot, or any post clean up work to do. The jig has two long rails that I temporarily attached to my workbench, then it also has a sled that sits onto these rails. Inside this sled is where a router base is set so that it can slide up and down the length.

After taking my time to get everything set up, I positioned my slab and set the depth of my router bit to start removing material to flatten the slab. I’m using my Triton 2 1/4” Router since I have my larger 3 1/4” in my table. Then for a bit I’m using a 2” flattening bit and also a bit extender made by Infinity. If you don’t have this extender and you just have the bit in your router, it’s really common for the bit to run out of throw and not get down far enough to hit your slab.

With things set up you can see how it works. The router base moves along the sled then the sled moves along the rails. Allowing you to gradually move over the slab in order to flatten it. That is a wicked cool tool if you ask me.

If you have never flattened a slab before then here are a few things I learned from my experience.

When working with a piece that has a slight twist in it, you first need to shim it up and keep it stable to flatten it. I would find the two corners that were rocking then stick in a few wedges.

Next I set the bit according to the highest spot on the slab so that it starts off with removing the high spots. This means you aren’t removing material everywhere on the slab on the first pass. The objective is keep removing all of the high spots pass by pass until you are finally removing material from the entire slab, meaning it’s all on the same level and is flat.

I set the bit to take off about 1/8” material. Also remember that with a larger diameter bit, you will want to slow the speed of your router down. I have my router set to 2 out of 5. I start on one side of the slab, move the router across then bring it back. Once I bring it back I move the entire sled down the slab to advance the cut. And that’s it, it’s just a matter of repeating until I make it across the entire slab.

Once I get the slab down to where I’m removing material from everywhere evenly, I change the bit depth for a final smoothing pass. And this is to just to cut down on some of the marks left behind from the rough cuts, but honestly if you keep your bit sharp you’ll be amazed at how perfect the surface feels.

I hope you found this informative. I cant believe the mount of information I learned in just a week! And of course, now I cant wait until I have my own inventory of wood that I’ve milled up myself. Stay tuned for my next video which will be turning live edge slabs into furniture.

The post Chainsaw Mill: How to Slab Logs appeared first on Wilker Do's.

Maybe it’s because I now live in the country, or maybe it’s because I’ve been hanging around my buddy Matt Cremona too much….but I want to play around with milling some logs. I intend to build a chainsaw mill next week then tackle the giant Matt Cremona bandsaw mill in early 2019. Before that though, I need to modify a trailer so I have a way to go pick up logs and haul them home. That’s what I’m doing this week.

The premise is to make and attach an arch to the back of a trailer that can pivot forward and backwards. You connect a winch to the arch, then you can tilt it forward to grab onto something, then winch the arch back to pull it up and onto the trailer.

Now that you see what I’m going after, lets get into building it.

This project might seem big, and I suppose it is in size, but it’s actually a pretty simple build. Also, I’m using it in this case to haul around logs but it’s also worth mentioning that this design would be good for lifting and hauling anything that’s big and heavy that you can get a chain around. I personally have a lot of rocks on my place I’ll be going after next.

I started off by cutting the tubing I’ll use for the arch to length. I’m going with 1/4” material for almost this entire build. We don’t have the stellar tree diameters that you in the north do, but I still want to build this thing heafty so I’ll always have the power should the need arise.

For the mean time I only cut the four bottom parts of the arch. I didn’t want to weld the complete arch on my shop floor then the risk it not fitting exactly right on the trailer. So next I started prepping these parts to be welded. I started by sticking each one in my Triton SuperJaws and grinding in a bevel on all the edges that would be welded to another joint.

Then I moved the parts back down to my floor and stuck them together. I first tacked them into place then welded them close. For this project I’m using my Power Mig 210 MP Machine and if you’ve been wanting a welder it’s worth noting that this machine is currently on sale. You can save over $400 until November 8th, 2018 by using the promo code PM999 at check out over at LincolnElectric.com

Now Cremona has his arch mounted permanently to his trailer, but not yet knowing how often I’ll use mine, I wanted the arch to be removable. I’ve been traveling a lot recently so Cody actually tackled designing this removable system for me. Then on top of that he even cut out the parts needed with my Torchmate CNC so everything was ready for me to assemble. Annnnd he even got footage of it! What?! What a guy. I do have these tool paths available for download in the plans section of my website if you’re interested.

These mounting brackets have a bottom plate that will be attached to the deck of the trailer, then two vertical plates that will sandwich either side of the arch. Then all three components will get a hole so a pin can be placed all the way through. This will create the pivot needed but also make the arch removable should we want to use the trailer for regular hauling.

I started these off by lining out the placement of these side plates, the important thing here is to make sure they are parallel to one another. You wouldn’t want that arch pivoting up and having an interference issue.

I’m using a 1” diameter pin and to give it a little more support than the 1/4” plate material, I welded on some collars, just cut from a 1” steel pipe, onto the outside of both side plates.

Next I set it onto the trailer and threw a level on it. Not surprisingly, the deck of the trailer needed some attention before the plate would be level. Note: you do want to make sure your trailer is level before reading level on this bracket. To fix my unleveled situation I used my 4” belt sander to take down the high spot on the deck. After fine tuning the left and right I moved on.

With that done I moved to working on reinforcing the bottom side of the trailer with some steel. For this I’m going with 1/4” angle iron and the important thing is for this angle iron to line up with the holes in the mounting brackets. Instead of welding the brackets to the trailer, they will be attached using nuts and bolts so they too will be removable. The arch will be removable with the pin but should we need/want to remove these brackets as well, then we easily can.

So back to placing this angle iron, I first transferred over the hole location from the mounting brackets to the side of the trailer. Then I cut the angle iron to length and stuck it in place…be sure to leave room for not only the bolt but also the washer. I used some scrap wood to build up the deck some so I could get a clamp in place to hold it while I set up to weld.

I placed a piece like this in line with the front holes as well as the back. Then started drilling the holes through the deck and through the angle iron. I am using 1/2” hardware but started off with a small bit then stepped up a few times until getting to a 1/2” bit. Oh and the important thing here is to make sure these plates are parallel to one another, just like the plates on the brackets. You want everything on the same line so that the arch doesn’t run into anything going up or coming down.

Once all eight holes were drilled, I stuck the hardware in then tightened everything down.

Now while I was working on all that, Brain was working over at my puny drill press, punching a hole through both of the uprights. It was a 1” hole through 1/4” material so it was a job that required patience. By the time I was done with the deck, he was done with the holes so I took the uprights and smoothed out my welds with my grinder before pinning it onto the trailer.

To attach them to the trailer, I set it in place between the two vertical sides plates on the mounting bracket. Then moved to the end of the leg so I could lift up on it, align all three holes, then shove the pin through. It’s worth noting these pins come with a hole in the end to place another pin to keep this pin from coming out. Which of course is a good safety. And now you can kinda see how it will work….

After getting the other side mounted I squared up both uprights to each other and the mounting brackets, then took a dimension for the final arch piece. I cut it to length then welded it in place. It’s not only easier moving the arch into place, building it this way but it’s also a safer bet over fabbing it on a shop floor, moving it into place on the trailer, and hoping everything lines up.

With that welded up, the last bit on the arch was to weld on some gussets over each one of the seams. These I hand cut with my Tomahawk plasma cutter because I used thinner material. For these I went with 3/16” material. I only placed these on the front of the arch so I have four total. The middle two were easily done with the arch laid down but the fender wheel of the trailer got in the way of the outer two so I stood it up to complete these.

Now while I worked on the arch Cody and Brian were figuring out how to mount a winch to the trailer so it could work! I actually went out of town the day they were working on his portion and unlike earlier, they did not get me any footage, but here an overview for ya.

Cody cut out a giant plate on the CNC plasma cutter to fit in the tongue of the trailer for the winch to sit on. He welded it to the bottom side of the trailer instead of the top side so that when the winch is under load it will be getting pulled into the tongue vs being welded from the top it would just pull against the welds.

The winch and battery were mounted then a heavy duty D Ring was welded onto the arch to create a grab point for the arch.

And that’s pretty much it! Next we just had to go find a log to test it out. A buddy offered two down oaks at his place for us to remove so we loaded up and took off. They both had giant root systems still attached so I first cut those off to make hauling them up on the trailer easier.

I’m already considering some add ons to make hauling easier. Somebody on Instagram suggested adding Jacks to the back end of the trailer, which I think is a great idea. Then I’m also playing around with the idea of ramps with rollers in it to make getting the log up and over the trailer lip easier. But we’ll see! Of course if I do any modifications I will be sure to bring you guys along.

If you have doubts about what something like this can handle then be sure to check out Matt’s Instagram and YouTube channel as he lives where the beast trees are but his arch trailer hasn’t met one it couldn’t handle yet. Also he has been into urban logging for years and has a ton of knowledge on the subject.

That’s it for this one. Watch my video above for a better look at this project. And stay tuned for the next video where I build a chainsaw mill and slab up these logs. I’ll see you soon.

The post Building a Log Hauling Trailer appeared first on Wilker Do's.

This week I’m tackling a problem that I’m thankful to have, and that’s having so many clamps! Noticed I didn’t say too many, as there is no such thing. Recently a local cabinet marker retired and sold me his entire stock of Bessey clamps. And instead of adding to my wall mounted system I’ll be building this mobile rack so I can wheel all of my clamps over to a work surface instead of carrying them a few at a time. Lets jump into how I did it.

When doing a basic search for mobile clamp racks I ran across this Infinity Tools video and loved the simple but effective design using plywood so I started off by replicating the body.

I started by setting the boards on my workbench and drawing those two unique side shapes on a sheet of plywood then using my track saw to cut them out. These look like an Erlenmeyer Flask where it’s wider on the bottom and narrower on the top and I can tell you now that I’ve built it, that the rack doesn’t feel at all top heavy, even when fully weighted down.

The rack does take two sheets of plywood to complete the build and you’ll notice that I’m using a new assistant in my shop. It’s a new panel carrier to hit the market called Hercules Dolly. Instead of woman-handling full sheets over to my workbench, I’m now able to set the front end of my sheet on the Hercules Dolly then very easily maneuver the sheet over with no effort at all. You can place the dolly at the front if you need to drive it around items, or more near the center of the sheet to take more of the load or to give you a good balance point should you want to also use the dolly to help lift the sheet of plywood.

If you’re interested my friends at Hercules Dolly have given me a 10% off coupon code for y’all. For the next two weeks, if you use April at checkout then you’ll get 10% off your Hercules Dolly.

After getting both sides and the bottom cut I started joining things together, using the help of these right angle clamps.

Next I moved the entire thing to the ground to make attaching that center board of plywood easier. I laid it on it’s side and marked off where the board needed to be place then laid down Titebond Original wood glue. I stood the unit up to attach it with screws and even though I had that pencil mark on where the board needed to land I found it easier to cut a spacer, clamp it in place, and just butt the board up to it then screw it down. After getting done with one side, I repeated on the other side.

Next was more glue then attaching the front lip to create a bottom shelf. These I screwed in from the sides but then I also flipped the unit over to attach it from the bottom. Here I took the chance to also secure the center board in a few places from the bottom as well.

I wanted to make the unit mobile so next I added some heavy duty casters and I do recommend investing in some good casters for projects like this. I first beefed up the area they would be mounted to the rack because it will be hauling around a good bit of weight when it’s fully loaded down. I chose to mount these pads on the inside of my unit to avoid adding height to the rack but if 3/4” doesn’t make a difference to you, these can also be mounted to the bottom so they aren’t seen.

My friend and fellow content creator Maker Gray was hanging out with me so I recruited her to help me test out the rack. I better get out of there before we decide to start throwing knives or something. haha.

Alright now to move on to customizing this unit to really be functional. This is where things might vary for you since everybody’s clamp collection is different. I recommend pulling out every clamp you own, pull a few dimensions, then dictate the number and placement of the holders that will make the most of the space for you.

All of my holders are extremely simple, put together with wood glue and brad nails then attached to the rack using pocket holes. I didn’t use any glue when attaching the holders because as my clamp collection changes I want to have the ability to move things around and reorganize.

Since I have so many Bessey K Body style clamps, I’m dedicating an entire side of the rack to them. I sped up the process by batching out the holders by tapping the plywood cuts together then running them through the bandsaw all at the same time. This creates the triangle support piece on the bottom side of the shelf. After drilling a few pocket holes in each shelf I attached things with glue and brad nails.

To save on space, I’ll be storing all my really long clamps vertically but all the medium sized clamps horizontally and it’s extraordinary how many clamps I was able to jam in doing it this way. 42 if you’re wondering!

Just a tip when you’re placing these shelves, set one screw but be sure to throw a level on it before setting the second. This will make things look really tight and sharp in the end. Once I placed enough shelves to mount all my clamps of this style I attached a small lip to the front of each holder to keep the clamps from being able to slide off while moving the entire rack around. Oh another tip for you: I discovered that a shelf would hold four clamps if I placed them all facing the same direction, but if I alternated the heads then I could fit in six clamps on each shelf. So if I need more room in the future I could consolidate and free up more space along the bottom.

Alright, now onto the other side. I had a few more extra long K Body style clamps so I first included a similar shelf on this side to house those. But then I started making shelves suited to hold the Rockler Surefoot bar clamps, which since I’ve never owned K Bodys before, have been my main go to clamps for glue ups.

These clamps are aluminum and very light weight so I kept their hanging brackets much simpler and left it as two shallow triangles with a few pocket holes in them to attach to the back. Now I had something unique planned for this side of the rack so I made sure all these hangers along the top would keep the clamps on this side inside the side walls of the rack itself. I’ll get to my reasoning later on, but note that if you don’t want to do any add ons like me, then you can make these brackets protrude past the side walls and hold more clamps to fit your collection in.

With the left over room on this side, I started making brackets and placing my other clamps including these Bessey KliKlamps and Duo Clamps.

Moving on to storing my F Style clamps. For this, I took inspiration from my buddy Tyson who did a really cool three layer wall mounted rack for his collection.

I started off by switching my blade to a dado stack that matched the thickness of the clamp’s neck. BTW another new thing in my shop I’m loving are these insert plates from Infinity Tools. Instead of cutting a slot in a new plate, they make a permanent plate with a slot for a removable insert. Once I cut into a new one, I write directly on the insert what cutting size it’s for so I can easily grab for it in the future.

I had to share that because I think it’s way too cool. Anyways, for cutting the slots equally you can of course measure across your board and mark off where to cut then manually move your board along, but I ended up using a really neat new jig put out by Rockler that makes this task a cinch.

The jig works so that you can set a metal gauge on the sacrificial fence to match the width of your dado cut. This way after you cut one slot, you can place that cut on this gauge then it will space all your other cuts equally for you. You’ll see that I went ahead and stacked two boards together while making these cuts because I wanted two boards for the top of the clamps as well as the bottom. Or at least that’s the case for the larger sizes.

To attach these holder I stuck with a few pocket holes along the bottom and secured them directly to that center board.

Now another thing to consider if you tackle this project is to place your clamps according to what you use most. My most reached for clamps are the bar clamps so I placed those in the prime position on my rack, then the F style clamps along the bottom. But if you use these more often, then place them higher an other clamps lower.

Oops – I skipped over the miter clamps. This was an easy shelf with some holes punched in it to match the diameter of the threads on these clamps. I added some triangle support wings then used pocket holes to attach it.

Then finally the last style of clamp I wanted to hang were these wooden hand screw clamps. These were the easiest as it was just a stumb out scrap piece with some pocket holes to attach it. You can see I made two different sizes for the three sizes of clamps I have.

I’ll have to play around and see what I end up using this bottom shelf mostly for but in the mean time I used it for accessories to gluing such as my gallon bottle storage, these tiny clamps that I placed in a bin, and these right angle clamp it jigs I so often reach for.

Keep in mind you could stop there on the rack but I had a few more ideas for add ons to take the unit another step further.

First thing was a glue refilling station. If you keep your small glue bottles close to full then you don’t have to squeeze as hard while applying. However, going from the gallon jug to the smaller one is always a challenge but Titebond has got our backs with a new pump to simplify the task. By adding in a shelf for my gallon jug to sit on, I’m thinking I’ll not put off filling up my smaller bottles as long as I normally do. Then on the same thought process, I went ahead and made another shelf for my small glue bottles to be housed in.

Ok this next add on is something I was very excited to try but understand that it’s an experiment so I might need to make some adjustments in the future.

What I’m aiming for is to have a glue up rack on my clamp rack. This will eliminate taking up workbench space for any small glue ups, which for me covers about 90% of my glue ups.

I wanted this attachment to be removable so I came up with a design that incorporates a French cleat. I started by making these cleats over at the bandsaw then attaching them to the rack on either end. This set up could end up supporting a good bit of weight so I went ahead and used wood glue on these.

Next I cut a board to length with a corresponding 45 degree angle cut on the bottom to fit into these cleats.

Then I made some dog ears, or some stand offs that I would cut and then attach to this board. These are so I could not only push out a metal rod from the board, but also provide the rod some support across it’s length.

With that looking like it would work I next started figuring out how to modify these Rockler Surefoot clamps so that I could hang them from this metal rod. These clamps already come with two holes punched near the end. I enlarged the last hole to match the size of my rod then took it to my bandsaw and cut away some material in order to create a hook. I cut in this hook on all my 24” and 36” long clamps.

Now you can see what I’m going for….. the glue up rack is removable so I can have it out of the way if needed but then quickly set into place when needed. Then I can hang my clamps with this hook and I can place the clamps anywhere along this rod. If I have a short boards for glue up then I can place two really close or four close, but then if I have a long board glue up then I can go up to 4’ wide with my clamp spacing.

There was still more to figure out though. Instead of having the clamps hang vertically I wanted to have them angled out some to make feeding in boards easier and to also push the glue up away from the rack for dripping glue to miss it. To achieve that, I first cut off the 45 angle in between the two cleats. This is so I could extend this board down further so I could attach another board to push out the clamps, but a little bit further than where it would currently land.

I took the rack off to make attaching this board easier but I didn’t use glue as again this is an experiment and I know I might need to make adjustments in the future. In the mean time I left it at predrilling then using screws.

And Volia…..that does exactly what I need it to do. I’m so excited to play around with this in my next few glue ups. Keep in mind that you could easily build this rack by itself and place it anywhere in your shop that you place a mating cleat. I went ahead and placed a cleat on my lumber rack so if I don’t want it on my clamp rack for some reason I have another option for it other than my workbench surface.

Ok last attachment for this Swiss army clamp rack….adding in a roll of brown construction paper and a roll of wax paper. It’s very handy having a roll of each in the shop to protect surfaces from getting gunked up due to painting, finishing or glue up. I placed a few dog ears along the top surface then threaded another length of metal rod through. These stand offs are attached by pocket holes, facing out, so if either roll needs to be replaced in the future it’s an easy task.

Now I’m sure a lot of you will suggest to add a bandsaw blade to the rack to make tearing off this paper easier, but I did this for my other roll over on my out feed table and I can tell you that moving a pocket knife across the paper is far easier than moving the 4’ wide paper across a stationary blade. But to each their own of course.

Aw man, I lied. One more attachment. I glue station takes up one side of the rack, but the other is still blank so I added on a cleat so that when I’m not using the glue up rack, I can store it on the clamp rack itself. This keeps it assessable for use but also keeps it from just lending up against a wall somewhere, taking up space.

Ok, and I’m not lying this time. That really does do it for this clamp rack. I haven’t quite figured out where I want to keep it yet, but for now I’ll place it in this corner.

I think I’ll have to come back and add on a handle on each side to make grabbing and pulling this thing around, easier. Check out the plans section of my website if you would like a set of plans for this one.

I hope you enjoyed it because I loved this project. I like things having a home and being easy to find. I hope this inspires you to make a clamp rack of your own.

The post Ultimate Mobile Clamp Rack appeared first on Wilker Do's.

There was actually two months time in between my first visit (when the first two videos were made) and this second visit when we made this video above. In that time, Anne completely cleared out the site by removing the old shed she knocked over prior to us starting on this one. She also leveled out the land and caulked and primed most of the tiny house.

Bonus for this part of the build: George Vondriska came to help as well!

This week we started off with the electrical. First using a chalk line to mark the heights of the electrical boxes. Actually I held one end of the line but then while George started nailing on boxes, I started screwing down the floor. Anne and I used nails when we were putting it together, but adding screws will prevent squeaking over time.

While we were keeping busy there, Anne was going around the studs drilling holes in order to run the Romex. Anne figured out where she would be placing her panel then we started routing the wire. She actually plans to do solar in the future but while figuring out that process, we stuck with the traditional method of power. The tiny house will have a few boxes along the lower walls, a few light scones above the windows, then 6 outlets in the ceiling for lights or maybe fans.

Working as a team, George would work ahead and drill the holes needed, while I followed him running the wire. I’m not sure if you can see or not but Anne placed the level across both our ladders to hang the Romex wiring from so she could feed it to me as needed. This is a great solution if you don’t have a spool caddy.

After getting all the wall outlets and switches wired in, we ran the wiring to the ceiling lights then started on insulation. We went with pre cut and faced batts and started on the ceiling as it’s the worst. What we found to work quickest is George and I would be on the ladders with Anne passing us the batts. I would feed in my end and staple it down. Then pass it to George where he would repeat on his end of the batt. All the while Anne would be cutting another batt to size to fit the wall cavity my ladder was currently positioned in front of. By the time I split the batt down the center and fed it behind the wiring in the cavity, George was done with his securing and would pass the stapler back to me.

All three of us got a kick out of trying to perfect our timing on this. : )

When it came to the walls, it seemed to go even quicker as most of the bays were as easy as taking a batt out then stuffing it in the cavity. However, we were working with just a single stapler so we ended up with one person stuffing (making sure to split the batt and place half behind the wiring), one person stapling, then the third person measuring the odd ball size cavities and making those cuts needed. This kept all three of us busy and knocked the job out quickly.

Alright, up next was drywall! Which I was stoked about as I’ve never done drywall before. With the ceiling going to be the most difficult, we started there. Also you want to start on the ceiling so your wall boards butt right up to it.

We first made a helper in the shape of a T. This will be used to hold up the drywall sheet while we have time to secure it.

Now folks, I know this to be called a dead man, and George knows it to be an old lady……which are quite different. Either way, you can see how it works here. George and I are able to lift the sheet into place, then when we were happy with it’s position Anne could kick in the dead man which allowed us to rest our shoulders and start attaching.

Before attaching the panel though, George would first cut out around the electrical boxes with a router and a bit called a roto zip. It works similar to a flush trim bit except it’s much smaller and is designed for this specific application.

Then using a collated gun, which is a drill that feeds screws off a magazine clip, I would start attaching my side to the studs. Since there was only one collated gun, George would use a regular drill to drive in screws on his side. At least enough of them to hold up the panel so he could hop down and start lining out the next sheet and I could finish up the attaching.

A few other things I learned that are helpful on this step is to mark all your studs and rafters on the panels before setting them into place. This way you can very quickly go through and attach it. Stagger your seams just like with any other sheet application. When you start on a second row use a full panel and start in the center of the room then work your way out. Oh, and if you use a regular drill for drywall, look into a special bit for drywall screws that will prevent you from overdriving the screw.

You’ll notice that the drywall we are using is green, that’s because this is moisture and mold resistant. Anne noticed it was only going to cost $60 more to use this kind of drywall over the traditional kind and with it being in the forest and in Washington she decided it would be worth it.

After getting the ceiling knocked out, we unloaded the rest of the drywall from the truck and into the tiny house so it would all be on hand to quickly throw up. The sheets come in a pack of two and just a tip, as you unload and stack them, peal off the paper ends and flip the outside panel so it faces the same direction as it’s partner. This way the entire stack is all facing the same way in the end and you won’t have to do a bunch of flipping around when you’re rockin.

With the ceiling done, next we repeated the process and knocked out the walls. We very quickly got into the groove of two people holding the panel up, while another attached….this was mostly my job because once I discovered the fun-ness of that collated drill I wasn’t willing to give it up…..When the sheet was attached enough to stay up, George would cut out for the boxes while Anne would measure for the next board and be prepping it with cutting it to length or height, then also laying out the stud lines….or going back with the regular drill and sinking any screws that didn’t properly seat with my gun. It is really important for the next step that you don’t have any scew heads protruding.

Now we were in Washington and dancing around rain the three days we had to work, so with a break in the rain, we decided to attach the roof before taping and mudding.

You should remember from part two that Anne and I already progressed the roof to sheathing, roofing paper, and drip edge but were waiting on the metal roof to be delivered. So now it was as simple as passing the panels up, laying them down, and attaching them. While these panels are large, they aren’t that heavy so I was able to tilt it up to the roof then George was able to pull it up all the way and create a stack on the roof to use.

One panel wasn’t long enough to have the overhang Anne was wanting so we started off by cutting a panel up to create a starter strip. Starting at the bottom of the roof we made a few spacers to make sure the overhang was even then another spacer to use as a guide on where to place our screws. This just keeps them in line and makes it look sharp in the end.

After the starter row was complete we started laying down full panels, over lapping each one by one corrugation and again using a spacer to make sure the overhang was even along the top of the roof. This was my first time laying down a metal roof and I must say I’m a fan. It was easy and it looked very sharp afterwards. Total I don’t even know if the roof took us an hour to complete.

Still taking advantage of the let up in rain, we continued on with the outside work. Moving over to the soffit. For this we used some plywood that Anne had on hand which happen to be some 3/8” material and cut it to size with a circular saw. And this wasn’t all that bad. Soffit on my shop was horrible and I think scarred me for life! Or at least my shoulders for life, but using boards only 8’ long made it extremely manageable. Tip for this step is to go through and mark all your studs on the siding before throwing up the soffit. If you forget it isn’t a big deal as you can just measure, but it does speed things up if you remember and mark. We attached them to the studs with a framing nailer.

It was in the middle of this step that George had to fly back to WI so we said our goodbyes but got back to work. Since Anne and I were already on ladders we went ahead and cut and threw up the remaining trim work needed.

But after that, the only thing outside left to do was prime and paint but we decided to leave that and spend my last day in Washington getting further on the inside.

Now Anne plans to do a nice reclaimed barn wood floor eventually but in the meantime we did a second layer of plywood for the subfloor. We tracked in a ton of mud through building so we made sure to sweep before laying these sheets down and also made sure to stagger the seams from the previous layer of treated plywood.

That was of course a very simple step. Next we threw up a few sheets of cement board. This is because Anne is including a tiny stove in the tiny house. She will eventually plumb an exhaust line that will vent through the ceiling but for the mean time we just took care of the floor and walls by cutting a few boards then attaching them in place. Later Anne will cover these boards in stone and create an accent section that should look pretty adorable and cozy.

Even though it’s far from ready to be installed, we at least wanted to unbox the tiny stove to set it in place and see how it would look. Pretty adorable and cozy if you ask me.

Alrighty, now on to taping and bedding! Again this was a first for me and I will tell you now, that I loved this step. I wish I had more time to dive into it and get really good at it. Anne taught me what she learned from doing her shop build then we took off on it. It took us a second to figure out the best way to work efficiently but we eventually came to Anne going around and taping all the seams then me coming back and mudding.

We used mesh tape for all of the seams but paper tape in all the corners. Anne was having a heck of a time with the corners, particularly on the ceiling, but a friend suggested wetting the tape before applying it and Anne said this made all the difference in the world. So just a tip if you’re new to drywalling.

We made it a point to complete the first coat before calling it quits that day so that it could be setting up over night and allow us to apply a second coat before I had to head back home. The next day we started the day off with the second coat hoping it would dry by afternoon time frame so we miiiight be able to get a third coat on, but no such luck. With all the rain Washington was having when I was there, there was too must moisture in the air for it to dry quickly. No problem though.

This last day was Anne’s actual birthday. We ended up eating two different kinds of birthday cake for breakfast, spent a few hours mudding together on this awesome little house we built together, then spent the rest of the time playing around her farm with her lovable animals. I just want to say that I feel very blessed to have found a friend who thinks this was a perfect day.

Be sure and watch Anne’s YouTube channel to see the rest of the progress of Tiny House and I hope you enjoyed this series.

(If you haven’t seen part one and two in this series, you can check out part one here and part two here)

The post Tiny House: Part Three appeared first on Wilker Do's.

In my previous video I covered the building process of a Tiny House up to the point of applying house wrap. Check the description if you’d like to watch the first part and get caught up. In this video I’m picking up right where I left off.

As I mentioned in the last video, we skinned two walls with siding before standing them up but didn’t skin the other two because we were worried about taking the chance of placing the siding without the walls next to each other, as these two pieces should mate up flush. So we started with attaching siding to these two bare sides.

If you look at the foundation, you’ll notice that we attached some 2x material temporarily to give us a lip to set the siding on and make attaching it easier and quicker. Also, it’s worth noting that this siding is overhanging the foundation by about an inch and this is so when it rains the water will run off to the ground instead of having access to the bottom plate of the wall.

We wrapped around to the front and repeated, by first placing the 2x material to the foundation then setting the material in place to be attached. However, you with building experience probably already caught our mistake…..see the windows need to be installed before the siding so that the window flanges are behind the siding. We knew this but simply got caught up working and moving, and forgot. Unfortunately that meant we had to take down the siding we just put up, pound the nails out, then set them aside.

To install the window we first cut the house wrap. This is similar to the big double door in the previous video but on windows you cut in a capital I, slicing horizontal along the top and bottom then a vertical slice in the middle. You can wrap the side excess around and staple it to the inside of the window framing but then for the top you cut two diagonals from each corner to create a flap. I’ll show you why in just a few seconds.

Next was to prep the windows. Anne salvaged these windows from somebody throwing them away so we first did a little bit of cleaning then placed a heavy line of Titebond Weather Master Ultimate Sealant along the left, top, and right flange. You want to have a continuous bead here but you want to leave the bottom clean so that if water does find a way in, it has a way to run out.

We then placed a few wedges on the window sill then being careful not to get sealant all over our hands, we placed the window inside the opening and ontop of the wedges.

On the inside, Anne centered the window in the frame, then on the outside I leveled it up. Once everything looked as it should, we attached it with a few nails through the flange then used tape to seal off first the left then the right side. Now you can see where that flap we created earlier comes into play, it’s folded down and over the top flange of the window then the tape is applied. This is so if any moisture does get behind the siding, it will be guided to stay on top of the window and house wrap instead of behind it.

Alrighty, now that we corrected that, we once again applied the siding. We still used the temporary blocks on the foundation to make it easier, but this time we had to cut out for the windows before placing the sheets up. To do this we would grab some measurements, make the majority of the cut using a circular saw, then finish off the corners with a reciprocating saw.

We would set it in place then tack it with a few nails then while I was finishing the nailing, Anne would be making the cut out for the next sheet. Getting into a system, this step goes quickly, you just want to make sure to pay attention to the tongue and groove orientation as you are making yours cuts so that the sheets line up properly to each other. It’s really easy to get things flipped so just a step you want to take the time to double check things on.

Moving around to the front we repeated the steps for the house wrap and installing the window but once we got the window to a stage where one person could handle it, we took measurements for the cut outs so Anne could be working on the siding while I finished the window.

Working in this manner is how we were able to complete so much in just a few short days. Where we would divide up tasks so that as one of us finished up something, the other would be starting/prepping the next thing.

Up next was starting on the roof, as you saw from the finished build the tiny house has a lean to style roof with just a single pitch. To create this, we started building what I know to be called a pony wall. Where we build up a small wall in the front that the rafters will rest on but the backs will rest against the double top plate. We built this pony wall using all the cut offs from framing the building, as all the pieces needed are short little guys. I not only cut the pieces to length but also cut the roof pitch angle on the tops.

Since the rafters will be placed 16 on center, these are also placed on 16 centers. Pulling a tape across the top plate in order to mark their location first, then attaching them with the nailer.

Once making it to the end and getting all the cripples attached, we placed a single 2×4 across them all and attached it. This will create a solid resting place for the rafters in the next step.

Next up was to cut all the rafters, which is made from 2×6 material. The backs of the rafters will have a birds mouth cut in so it sit down onto the top plate. This cut is made with a circular saw but then finished off with a reciprocating saw.

The front of the rafters will have a seat cut but it is also made with a circular saw for the majority of the cuts then finished off with a recip saw.

Anne and I worked out the system where we first made one board to act as the template for the rest. After testing this template we used it to trace the cuts needed onto all the other rafters. We are working with limited space as we only have the door way to utilized as a workbench, so instead of flip flopping around to make all the cuts needed, I would make the long seat cut with my saw, pass the board to her and she make the opposing cut with her saw then finish it off with the recip saw. This allowed us to work quickly but not be in each others way.

Now to attach the rafters. To make things go quick we first marked off the 16” layout on the back top plate as well as that pony wall top plate. This way we could get a rafter in place and very quickly see where it needed to be aligned in the front and back then attach it with the nailer.

You’ll see that instead of relying solely on the back birds mouth cut to line up these rafters, I’m pulling a measurement on each one from the front and using that measurement/mark to line up to the front top plate. I didn’t know if this was really needed, but I can tell you it worked like a champ as when we went to attach the sub facia, it was incredibly straight and in line.

Just a side note: By placing the rafters in line with these cripples, then also in line with the studs of the wall below, it just gives the whole structure a little more integrity.

We repeated the process all the way down. Another system tip to work quickly is after I got my end stuck, I would pass the nailer to Anne, but while she was working on sticking her end I would be grabbing the next rafter and setting it in place. It’s little things like this that combine into a lot of time saved at the end

Next up we added a few cripples to both of the side walls then starting attaching the sub facia. We were working with just a single ladder tall enough to get to the roof so we attached a temporary block so Anne could pass up the facia, have something to set it on, and something I could pivot it on, while I aligned it to the rafters and nailed it in place. You can see I’m using my speed square to line it up to the top of the rafters. Anne would push or pull it until it lined up.

We repeated the process along the back, and I don’t know if you can see it or not but we left an overhang on both the left and right side because up next we will be making the fly rafters. Which is what creates the roof overhang on the left and right of the building to match the front and back overhang. Anne would cut then pass all these pieces up to be attached.

And that my friends is the bones of the roof complete. Now we just need to deck it.

Since it’s just the two of us, getting the full sheets of OSB up to the roof was a little bit of a challenge but Anne came up with a great way to make it happen. She first laid a sheet on the tractor bucket and attached two feet on either side. We strapped that down to the bucket and used it as a platform with a shelf for the rest of the boards to be loaded onto. We very quickly unloaded then loaded the sheets from the back of the truck.

Yes, we took the time to carve a path wide enough for a truck to get to the job site because we were tired of carrying everything back there.

Now the bucket could be lifted as high as it could go then Anne just had to rotate one enough for me to grab it then pull it the rest of the way up to the roof.

Being resourceful is just as good as being strong.

Anne isn’t a huge fan of roofs so I did the high work while she stayed on the ground to make all the cuts needed. I would recommend this system instead of making cuts up on the roof because the sawdust creates a very slick surface.

I started off at the back so I could create a walking surface as I worked towards the front. The first sheet was ripped down so that it landed center on a stud then the next sheet could be a full one. On the second row, we made sure to stagger the seams by one stud then continued on the same until the entire roof was decked.

With that complete, we then started laying down the roofing paper. We started at the back because when you lay down paper, you want to overlap it so that if waters finds a way in, it won’t be able to get to the decking.

If you start at the front, the overlapping row will look like this and water running down hill will flow right into this seam. However if you start at the back, it will flow right over the seam.

The paper comes with printed lines on it to indicate where to place the overlap, so we laid down row after row. Using a slap stapler to attach it and pulling it tight so there weren’t any wrinkles in it.

The last thing we were able to do on the roof, because we were waiting on the roofing material to be delivered was apply the drip edge. This is a quick step as you simply nail it on all four sides, using a pair of tin snips to cut the corners so it can wrap around it.

Like I said, we were waiting on the roofing material to show up, so we moved back down to the body of the building to finish it up. First we applied house wrap to the pony wall we built earlier. You can see we left a flap of house wrap on the lower walls, and we made sure to tuck this behind the new layer then staple it at the same time.

Next we placed Z Flashing down on the lip of the siding before placing on any upper siding. This has a profile where a part will tuck behind the upper siding but then lip over the bottom siding, and this will guide water out and away from this seam instead of it being a potential spot where moisture could get in.

After taping the top part of the Z flashing, we filled in the rest of the pony wall with siding.

Alright at this point we only had a few more hours to go so the last thing we tackled was all the trim work. Well not all the trim work as we didn’t get to install the soffit so the top trim was left off, but everything else….the corners, the windows, and the bottom trim was cut and attached. And isn’t it funny how much of a difference trim makes on the entire look?

The last thing we did was install the door. We held off on this as long as possible because the floor of the house was our main work area. After we threw the door in, we also did the little bit of trim work around that to call it complete!

The last thing we did was install the door…which turned into a mini project because apparently I modeled the size of the reclaimed door Anne had wrong. So the opening was about a foot too large.

It was a pretty awful feeling, but I will say that at least the hole framed was too big vs too small as too big is a much easier fix. We centered the door then filled in the sides with some extra 2x4s. It’s one beefy door frame. Then to get a really clean line to patch in a piece of siding, we set up a straight line fence and used a circular saw to rip a clean edge on both sides. This allowed us to almost seamlessly extend out the siding and cover up these 2x4s.

And honestly, even though it was embarrassing to make the mistake, it was a simple fix that can’t even be seen now that I’ve seen the building caulked and primed. I’m taking it as a lesson learned – and I learned to measure twice and to not go into a project thinking you won’t make a mistake. Instead, go into a project with the attitude of any mistake can be worked through. Because it happens to everybody.

Stay tuned for the third part to this tiny house build. Until then, I hope y’all enjoyed this one, I hope you learned something, and I hope you’re building something of your own. See you soon.

The post Tiny House: Part Two appeared first on Wilker Do's.

So you probably get the idea here. If you plan to employ this tool for some medium to light duty metal cutting on something like metal shelving, bolt tails, light duty chain and so on, chances are it will perform perfectly for your needs. Occasional pad lock cutting for someone who owns a storage building facility would fit pretty well in the operational range of these electric cutters but you may be getting close to it’s limits. Finally, if you’re interested in cutting something like rebar in a production or job site capacity, you may need to look into something with a few more buck-wheats as the motor will not be able to push through it….something tells me a big brother option is on the horizon however…

Two more things worth pointing out are the replaceable jaws and the work horse of a battery that powers this rig. Working this tool as a replacement bolt cutter for your company or business is probably gonna require replacing the jaws at some point along the journey. Ryobi has you covered here with replacement jaws available through Ryobi. Simply remove the stockers by backing out the two 1/4” bolts which hold the jaws in place, slide in a new set, and you’re back in the race. Following all of the material I cut up to this point, the only physical damage I can see is superficial in the paint and shows little to no real deformation at all.

On the other hand this 6.0 Ah battery is one you can push until you’re little hearts content and may very well outlive you and I both. This battery is optimized for the entire line of Ryobi ONE+ products and features a built in fuel gage so you’re always one button away from understanding the current charge level. With the 6.0 Ah battery installed, Ryobi reports a working potential of over 200 cuts per charge with this particular tool.

Thanks for stopping by to learn a bit more about this fun new tool from Ryobi; I really appreciate it. This review was provided in support of the ProSpective Campaign sponsored by The Home Depot. They supply the tool and I supply an opinion. The links in this review are affiliate links and provide a small kick-back to the website which helps to keep the wheel turning. Regardless, I genuinely appreciate your support.

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In this video I’m going to be tackling a bunch of small tasks that focus on organizing my shop.

Just coming off building it and moving things in, everything is out of place and more than that, nothing has a place. It’s not only frustrating because I can’t locate anything, but also intimidating because so much needs to be done. Of course, it’s one of those things that needs to be done a little bit at a time so this week’s to-do list is a bunch of small things that are not challenging or even time consuming, more a matter of just taking the time do them.

The goal is to not necessarily set things up the way they will be permanently but more so to get things off the floor, out of boxes, and off all my horizontal flat work surfaces.

I started off with pegboard as it’s a dead easy solution to get a lot of things put up quickly. You can purchase 4×8 sheets right off the shelf and throw them up, however I took the time to paint mine just to give it some color.

To make a simple boarder, I grabbed some 2×4 material and ripped it down at the tablesaw. This was the night before I had finally got power hooked up to my shop, so I was still having to work with my job site saw on the porch.

After ripping the boards down, I also cut in a rabbet at the table saw so the pegboard would have a recess to fall into on the back of the frame. I gave the frame a quick coat of paint then while that dried I took the time to make a stencil from my logo to transfer onto the pegboard.

To make a stencil I print off the design I’m after and cover the entire page in clear packing tape to give it some rigidity. Then I used an exacto knife to cut it out. I suppose I could have kept the negative side of the stencil instead of this positive side, but regardless……I could now place the stencil where I wanted it on my board and trace it out to paint.

I grabbed some help to move the pegboard inside to the frame then set it inside so that it rested inside the boarder I made. I attach it to the boarder, I used a fast drying CA glue from Titebond called Instant Bond. I switched over to Titebond Original when gluing on the support strips along the back, but then called the board done and ready to be hung.

Now you don’t have to take it from me, but I recommend grabbing another person to help hang the board. It isn’t that it’s heavy, it’s just awkward to hold.

If you ever come to my shop and notice how busted up my pegboard frame is, you’ll know why. But meh, it gives it a story ; )

I admitted defeat and called in help to lift and hold it in place while I secured it to the studs.

While working on pegboard, I also hung my old board from my previous shop. When I was moving out, I didn’t have the heart to leave it behind or throw it away. And even though I’ve change my logo, I again love the story behind it and am glad I held onto it.

Having these two boards up, made a huge difference in helping me clear off my flat surfaces. It gives me a dedicated spot for my safety glasses, my chisels, my glue brushes, my tape measures, my hammers….all the tools I use a very regular basis.

For all my extension cords I threw a hook into the wall. I started them off high but then I decided to add some French cleats to this nook to store some extra hardware bins I had in a box, so I moved them down.

Again on the hardware storage, I have a master scheme that I can’t wait to tackle for all my hardware, but it will take me time to design and execute. So in the meantime I will use this temporary solution so I can get rid of the box they were in and also have my remaining hardware on display for my use. I do have a video on making these bins in three different sizes and also a free template if you’re interested in making your own. They are a little time consuming but a great use of scraps and they last forever if you put in the effort once.

It was at this point the shop’s power was actually flipped on and I got to use my cabinet grade saw for the first time in the new shop. Needless to say I was happy.

I put it to use right away making more French cleats for my walls. Which is a piece of wood that has the top cut at a 45 degree angle. I started off by hanging all the holders I made previously in my old shop. This included my plug and paddle bits, my hand tools such as side cutter and wire strippers, all my screw drivers and wrenches. Then I moved on to making new holders for new sets of tools such as my forester bits.

While a lot of bits come in their own very nice cases that keeps them organized, I don’t like things tucked away and hidden. I like things visible, and easily accessible. I did use the box to copy the layout of the bits though. I use any scrap of 1x material I had laying around and lined it up to the row of bits in their box then transferred the hole location to the scrap. Then I could take it to the drill press and punch a hole the majority of the way through.

Since I wanted two rows of bits on this one holder, I used the table saw to bevel the top of this scrap then Titebond wood glue to secure it to a piece of 1/4” plywood. This plywood piece is acting as a backboard for the holders to be secured to, so you can use anything you have laying around. I used brad nails to hold the pieces together while the glue had time to set up, and now you can see how it will work once I’m done. The bits easily fit in their place, I can keep them organized and tell at a glance if any are missing.

I repeated the process to make a second row right underneath the first. Now I could cut a cleat with a 45 at the top to mate into the 45 degree cleat I placed on the wall earlier.

Simple enough right?

I repeated the same exact process for my router bits. I used the layout in the box to layout my scrap board then turn it into a holder. On this one I made sure to leave plenty of extra holes in both 1/2” shank size and the 1/4” size because it seems like I’m always acquiring new router bits. However, when I eventually fill these up I can either keep making holders to expand left and right, or even replace these to include more layers downwards.

This is a very quick and easy way to organize any bits so the next time you have a few scraps you’re tossing out, take 15 mins to make a few holders then place them near the work area you would most likely be needing them. You could even take it a step further and write the sizes of the items in front of their hole so you know exactly what they are, or what’s missing if it isn’t put back.

Moving on to clamps. These have just been piled up on the floor like everything else so I started off by grabbing some 3/4 plywood cut off from sheathing the inside of my shop. You don’t need huge pieces for almost any of these projects, so remember to search through your scrap wood first.

I started off by marking off by measuring how deep a shelf would need to be to store four clamps, then I measured out a triangle that size. Since I’ll need a few of these, I rough cut my boards in squares then taped them all together to cut once at the bandsaw.

Next I used wood glue and screws to attach these to a backer board. I also used the help of two spacers to speed up this process but it goes so quick either way as it’s very easy.

Before hanging my clamps up, I first did something I should have done years ago but never took the time to do. When a friend gave me these pipe clamps, he made these wooden blocks for the pads. They not only extend the footprint of the clamps some, but they are also easier on the project when clamping down. You can see he used two screws to hold each wooden pad into place which is a good idea, but often the pad slips out. Instead of messing with the screws any longer, I applied a little Titebond Instant Bond, applied pressure for a few seconds then repeated on the other pad. This permanently attaches the wooden blocks and removes the headache of messing with keeping them under the screws hold.

To hang up the clamp rack I placed a French cleat on the wall, making sure to grab studs on this one since the clamps all together aren’t light. Then I hung up all my clamps. It’s surprising how little room they take up when they are organized.

Up next was cord reels. I have a ton of outlets along my wall, which is great. But I placed outlets at every light so that I could eventually also have hanging cord reels over work areas in the center of my shop. These are Rockler Extension Cord Reels that are 30’ long that has a 12 gauge wire to support any heavier tools I want to run.

I decided to place two on my woodworking side and two on my metal working side. The first being right by my mobile workbench. Since I have a duel outlet by my light, I used the open outlet for the reel. Once it was secure into a rafter, I set the length of the stop so that I could easily walk under it without knocking my head, but also easily reach up and grab a hold of it to use.

Oh one of my favorite small adjustments, just because I’ve never seen this gadget before, was the solution to this light problem. See when the door is open the light is almost wasted, and I wanted a way to isolate it from the rest of the lights on the circuit so that when my bay door is up, I can switch it off while the others remained on. I found these remote controlled outlets on Amazon that gives me the power to do just that. All I had to do was plug in an outlet to the outlet on the ceiling then plug the light into the new outlet. Now I can just hit a button my remote and turn the light on and off! I think that’s neat.

Annnnd the coolest part is I still have five other outlets I can use around the shop for this one single remote. I have no idea what those uses will be, but I’m sure something will pop up.

The last thing I did before calling it done was to organize the drawers of my tool box. I’m constantly needing to find a home for a lot of little things – from drill bits, to hair ties, to carmex and extra ear buds for my hearing protection… And this Rockler Drawer Organization System is by far the best system that I have come across for this task. As you can see, you can pull the units directly out of the box and easily click them together to form individual trays that is 100% customizable by either leaving the rows empty or positioning trays or dividers to suit your individual storage needs. The tray sections are actually made from a synthetic rubber so they can flex. And, you can actually use a pair of scissors to cut them to different lengths. Once the rubber trays are down, you can leave them as-is. Or, you can customize it even further by placing plastic bins or dividers anywhere along the notches in the trays.

And with that organized, I’m calling my to-do list done!

As I mentioned before, nothing too crazy and nothing too time consuming. But it is amazing how much more efficiently you can work once things are more organized. I will of course keep continuing to evolve my shop over time. And I will of course continue to show you guys updates along the way. In the meantime, I hope your shop is evolving and is a happy place for you, too.

The post 5 Shop Organization Projects appeared first on Wilker Do's.

In two previous videos I have shown how I built two different gates for my property. One to the house, and one to the shop. This tutorial/video shows how I got them both installed, which was a pretty big ordeal as they are both large and heavy.

The location of the gate is pushed off the road so that an entire truck and trailer can pull completely into the driveway, off the road, before hitting the gate.

Also, before punching the holes in the ground, I waited until I built the frame for the gates so I could get an exact measurement on how far apart these holes needed to be. They need to be pretty accurate because you only have a few inches of play in both directions. And since I live on solid rock, I had to hire a contractor with a rock auger bit to punch all eight holes.

The holes were about 30 inches deep and there are 4 posts at each gate location. Two for the main posts and two for the sub-posts that will support the main posts that the gate is hinged to. These sub-posts give the main posts much more rigidity.

I started by mixing up concrete and setting up the main posts that the gate will be hinged to, as well as the two sub-posts. All of these posts are left tall at this point and will be cut to their final size after the gate is installed. We made sure all of the posts stayed plumb while they were curing.

For the stringers, I used a smaller diameter pipe. To butt up flush to each other, the ends of these stringers need to be profiled. Cody found this awesome free software online where you can type in the angle and diameter of your pipe and it will spit out a printed template that you can cut out, wrap it around your pipe and trace it to cut. I used my Tomahawk 375 Plasma Cutter to make these cuts.

The main thing to pay attention to here is that you want the profiles to line up to one another. The center of the dip on one end is center with the dip on the other end. We then put the stringers in place to test the fit. And then took off a little bit here and there with a grinder until both sides rested snugly.

I then used a grinder to clean up the posts at the welding point to get a nice weld. And then welded them in place by hooking up a generator to my Lincoln Electric MP210 machine.

The angles of these stringers were chosen because the bottom of these posts is the most secure, being knee deep in concrete. However, the higher up you go, the easier it is to pull the post over. So, you want the stringer placement up high on the post to provide as much support as you can get.

I then put on two coats of primer and two coats of paint.

Moving on to the mounting the gates. We started off with the shop gate. I pulled a straight line down the middle on the hinge side of the gate. And another down the center of the hinges. It’s worth noting that these hinges are rated for 700 lbs. Which is well above what this gate weighs.

We first set a 4’ level on the gate to get it plumb. And then placed the hinge in its spot to get it plumb with a smaller level, using a magnet as a resting shelf.

After getting the hinge where I thought I liked it, I tacked it in place and then welded it shut.

Huge lesson: we found out that the barrel of the hinge wasn’t welded on straight from the manufacturer, which created a big problem of course. So the lesson is to plumb the barrel of the hinge and not the mounting plate. To fix this problem, I cut through the two welds holding the barrel on, just enough to move the barrel over and push it into plumb. I then welded it all into place.

We then used the 4’ level to span from the top hinges down to the bottom hinge to make sure they were on the exact same line. It’s really important to take your time on this step so that the hinges wont get bound up by being misaligned.

Ok, now time to get the gate down to the entrance to weld on the second part of the hinges. Cody wrapped a strap all the way around the gate and lifted it up with the tractor to move it, which worked beautifully. We moved slowly down the driveway so that Brian could keep the gate steady. And then they slowly crept up to the gate to set it in place.

We piled scrap wood on one side and a floor jack on the other to prop up the gate to the height we wanted the gate to be. We then put a level on the gate and then used the jack to raise or lower the gate into level. Once the gate was level, we then scooted the gate into the posts until both of the hinges were resting flat up against the posts.

Now using a magnet, I attached the second part of the hinge. We then used a level to make the gate completely plumb. I tacked the hinges in place. And then we again checked level and plumb before I welded them closed.

And the moment of truth: We were able to let off the tractor and the jack and open it up to see if it worked. And it looked great. We celebrated with a happy dance.

Now that the gate is installed, the second main post can be set. You want to wait until the gate is in so you have a little play over the amount of space between your second main post and the gate. I mixed up a little more concrete and set the second post, leaving about an inch gap. The post came out super nice and plumb, with a super nice and even gap.

Next up was installing the other gate leading to the house. We repeated almost all of the previous steps with just a few differences. One difference was in the stringers that attach the sub-poles to the main poles. This time, we welded them on horizontal instead of at such a steep angle like the ones for the first shop gate. I personally think it looks way cleaner keeping them horizontal.

We plan to add concrete to this driveway in the future, which will require an additional 4 inches of room underneath the gate. So to account for this, we mounted this gate higher (8 inches in the air) than the other gate.

After we got the gate welded on, we once again had that really cool moment where we were able to back off of everything and watch the gate open and close for the very first time. There’s something really cool about building something so huge and then seeing it function and operate.

To finish up I cut all of the posts to their final height. I cut the main posts to be about level with the gate itself. I primed and painted all of the poles and did some touch up paint on the gate where needed. Since I had two bags of concrete left over, I went ahead and filled up both of the main posts that the gates are hinged to. Then to cap off the posts, I ordered some 3 1/2” post caps that are domed on the top that will just slip right over the posts.

The very last thing I did was cut out a small metal flap and welded it to the back of each gate so it will reach out and grab that main post and keep the gate from swinging past it.

I don’t know what it would cost to have these gates built. But I can tell you that we only spent about $1200.00 between both gates. We still need to buy the actuators. But I can still guarantee that is a lot of money saved since I built the gates myself.

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