Manversation

The Men of Manversation and our friend Ruben worked in my garage for about 6 hours yesterday, and in that short time, in utter defiance of the get ‘er done formula I wrote about earlier this week, we actually got everything done that I had hoped for it the amount of time I had planned on. I’ll post some more pictures of the results sometime in the next week or two after I’ve had a chance to clean up and get my lathe stand built, but in the meanwhile, you can have a little sneak peek of the new lumber rack in the photo above. Even with a lot of stuff that still needs to be organized piled high on both workbenches, it already feels a lot better out there now that all the lumber is collected in a somewhat orderly fashion on the lumber rack.

The guys and I worked together very well. In fact, they did such a good job that a lot of the time I didn’t really have much to do and my main challenge was cleaning up the areas we were going to be working on next and trying to keep everyone busy. Bol really helped me out in this area and his skills as a project manager became evident.

The lumber rack and a shortage of drills

The day began with general garage cleanup and clearing a lot of the stuff out of the garage and on to the driveway. Next, we proceeded to build my lumber rack, and with five of us working on it assembly-line style, it came together pretty quickly. Bol and I cut lumber at the miter saw and Nate, Brian and Ruben assembled the uprights of the lumber rack using a spacer block to ensure that the shelves were spaced evenly on each of the four uprights. That way, when we screwed the uprights into the studs of the garage wall, all of the shelves would line up with each other once one level of shelves was level.

We almost hit a snag when the second battery in my cordless drill lost its charge before the first had a chance to fully charge. Bol had brought his cordless drill too, but it was having battery power issues as well and we were almost left without a drill at a key point in the project. Luckily, the first battery, though not completely charged, had been on the charger for about 20 minutes or so at that point and had regained enough of a charge to finish the job. If you’re planning a home improvement project that will involve drilling or driving screws, I suggest asking everyone who’s coming to help you to bring their own drill as well if they have one – you can never have too many!

French cleat

Bol and Brian were intrigued by the French cleat system I had used to hang some of the cabinets in the garage. A French cleat is a great way to hang something like a cabinet, mantle, or picture to a wall. It makes it easier for one person to install something heavy like a cabinet while still getting it level and offers the additional advantage that you don’t have to drive screws or nails through the front of the item you are hanging, which can be important if doing so would detract from the appearance of the item. I found a great video about it from Tim Carter at Askthebuilder.com. If you like this video, be sure to check out his website, it looks like it’s chock full of other useful videos like this one:

Thanks again!

Once again I’d like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for all the help that Ruben and the other Men of Manversation gave me on this project. It turned out great and I couldn’t have done it without you guys! Next up on the “Man Project” menu: Hardwood floors at Brian’s house!