I've been gone for a while...... I'm sure you've all missed me!!!!! HAHA. Well, I always miss you folks. I've been doing work at my dad's lake house. I replaced a few railings, replaced a small deck, replaced a few boards on the dock, and have been doing a lot of painting----- which I both hate and am TERRIBLE at!
Anyhow, I drove back from the lake early this morning, dropped off Bean at my house (my dog... for those of you who don't know), changed clothes and went on to my brothers house. I thought he was joking when he said the company asked if a tractor trailer could back into his property........ and no, nothing is put together, just lots of hardware and pieces. Anyhow, some of you have already heard this. But, my only complaint, once I was helping with the "tree house/ sky scraper" was that they didn't have a hand plane around.
It's a hand plane's dream..... soft wood (red cedar... probably eastern), and boards that don't quite fit together. Although my brothers method seemed to work--- hammer some shit and force it together enough and it will work..... just a few swipes with a hand plane would have made the boards fit perfectly. Unfortunately, the two hand planes that are normally with me at all times are having a vacation at the lake.
As I watched family members "drill" (electric/battery powered drill) screws into this entire contraption, some screws going a good 64th of an inch in too far, I was left alone screwing in my screws by hand. My brother used to look at me like I was crazy (OK, he still does). But now he looks at all the boards put together, and the screws that are exactly "flush" not sticking out or burrowed in, and he knows those are the boards I dealt with. OK, it's silly to care that much about "craftsmanship" with a kids swing set thing. But, that's who I am. And my brother knows it. That makes me happy.
Cheers to hand tools and hand planes
bird
