Tag: sabbatical

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

After missing Friday, I decided to spend Sat morning on a few things. I went for a drive in the Porsche, and since it was out, I left it out and set up sawhorses and the jointer.

I didn’t have the wood to make the jig and trim boards, but I did need to semi-square two sides. The first operation is the joint two sides, a wide side and an edge. I set up two supports to support things coming in and two on the out. A 16’ board is tough to control and on the video Norm uses a power planer, but I dion’t have one and didn’t want to get one. If I screw this up, maybe I will.

I ran the 12’ 2x4s first and those weren’t bad. They seemed relatively flat on one side after each went through twice. I also did one wide side of each.

With those done I then did the 16 boards. Slow going and probably not perfectly flat, as my instructor would like them, but probably close enough to line up and get trimmed. Once those were done, it was planer time.

The planer runs boards through with it’s own power and just needs support. I supported the boards in for about 6-8 ft and then went on the other side to catch them and ensure they got on the supports.

It was a mess, and I had shavings everywhere. It took 3-4 passes through, thinning the boards each time to get to 1 1/4” thick (from 1 1/2”).

I had a huge pile of sawdust and shavings as the rain came in, and I hurried to put things away and clean up.

Two of those trashcans full of sawdust to clean things out. I managed to just get the Porsche put away as the rain came in.

A good day.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

Mostly a bust today. I slept in, tired from Thursday. Then I had to pick up my daughter from volleyball camp, which ended up taking a few hours and we weren’t back until 1 in the afternoon. At that time, it was windy, threatening rain, and I didn’t get much done.

I did set up the new miter saw, and cut a few pieces of wood for my friend’s horse jumps. That was good practice, but with bad weather, and a night commitment, I called it a day.

Felt like I completely missed a day of sabbatical.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

Today was my first construction effort with Habitat for Humanity. I signed up to participate on a build off 6th Ave in Denver, unsure of what the day would bring. The reminder email I got noted that this was an 8-4:30 commitment, so I planned on working all day, getting dinner, and then class at night. I left early, worried about traffic, and not wanting to be late.

I wasn’t. In fact. I was the first person to pull up to the houses. It’s a duplex build, and is mostly done.

I sat in the car, reading a bit and relaxing with coffee, slightly worried as the clock got closer to 8. Finally at 7:55, a truck pulled up and a guy got out with a toolbox. Another guy a minute later and I walked over to introduce myself. Apparently I was really early as 9 is when the safety briefing is and most people arrive. I helped get things set up and chatted with the two men. One is an Americorp worker who’s spent a year working in Denver with Habitat. The other is a supervisor, working for Habitat full time and managing the build.

People started to arrive, and I talked with a few before we grouped up for a short talk on the history of Habitat and what the mission is, most of which I’d had covered in the orientation for the affiliate and the ReStore. Then a safety briefing, intended to ensure people work hard, accomplish something, but stay safe.

At the conclusion, the supervisor asked people what their experience was. I’d done some woodworking, so he grouped me with 3 accountants that were out in a group of 10 or 11 for the day. Neat that their company donated a day of work. Two were young girls, and I think the gentleman was the boss, and we were doing a cleat and trim for the closet track. It seemed like 4 people was overkill, and maybe a little, but we moved slow, two people measuring and getting ahead by figuring out which pieces of 2×2 and trim would fit and then two of us putting them up.

We finished before lunch and then split us up. I worked with a new guy doing window trim below the sill and the others did baseboard. I was glad as I didn’t want to work on the floor. I also did some caulking around the windows, though not great. I suspect they’ll not use me for that again. At the end of the day, they moved me to trim around the kitchen counter, and I managed to get half the “L” done before we quit at 4.

All in all, it was a good experience, and while it didn’t feel like I did much for the house, I know that it helps keep the costs low for families that will move in.

I left as we finished and made my way over to Lakewood for dinner and class. After eating, I was thirty minutes early, and went in to sharpen my plane and get ready.to work on my boards. The beginning of class was explaining how to get the edge of our board done, square it, and then plane it. We looked at how the planer works, and also the bandsaw, though none of us got to bandsaw.

I tried to get my apron board ready for the planer, getting it close to parallel on both sides. Lots of shavings, and I think I was close.

Then it was back to squaring my leg. It was once again tough. I’d get really close, but have a spot on one end or the other and it was slightly off. Finally the teacher looked at my face and said I had a small spot that was off there.

So I flattened a third side and then worked on the fourth side to square. I kept tipping things, and the teacher watched me, noting that I was working left handed on a right handed workbench. Who knew such things existed?

I continued on and got it square, finally.

Near the end of the night I planed both boards, and sure enough the apron board was close, but definitely a large section on one corner was off. Still, it felt good to get close.

With both boards planed, I then worked on the edge of the apron board. I think it was fairly square, but I was too tired to bother cutting it on the bandsaw. I cleaned up and headed home. Tired.

A good day.

My company, Red Gate software, has given me a 6 week sabbatical. I’m documenting the time with all the posts under a tag if you want to follow along.

The weather is wrecking havoc with my flagpole. Usually it’s really dry in Denver, and I hadn’t been worried about setting up outside and building a flagpole. However rain is in the forecast far too many days, and we’ve had light showers or heavy thunderstorms too often. The jig I built is trash, so scrap $30 and a few hours of work there. Add in the volunteering on Tue/Thur and my plans are slightly wrecked.

I need to rethink things and also plan better moving forward.

First, I think that to taper the flagpole with the jig, I need to get that done in fairly short order. I’m thinking 2 days max to set things up, measure and align the jig, and then cut the posts. If I can do that, then I can always store the pieces inside for a few days until the next step.

Second, that means I need to plan for a couple days of work around the volunteering. I’m scheduled for Tue/Thur, this week and next, which messes things up a bit. I’m thinking I need to move or cancel next Tue’s shift and try to get this moving. Then I can pick up more volunteer shifts after that.

Last, I need to re-examine exactly what I need to do for the tapering and get prepared. Today’s plans, being tired, and having a speaking engagement tonight, mean that I’m going to re-watch the video, plan out the work, write it down, and also order a few other supplies. I’m also thinking to start moving some rocks where the base will go and get that prepped while I have a few half days.

I’m also going to buy a new miter saw. This project, Father’s Day, and a little drooling are giving me a good excuse.

Those are the plans early in the morning.

The Results

How did the day go?

Bad. As soon as I got back from PT, I was doing some planning on paper when the thunder started. I thought I might do a touch of stuff outside, but no go. I iced the knee a bit and watched the DVD for the flagpole again, making some notes so that I understood exactly what I needed to do. I have a better idea of how to get the jig set up and cut things quickly.

It was sprinkling outside as I measured some space in the garage to see if I could store wood. I could, so I went shopping. First I ordered the glue from Amazon. I’m not sure how quickly I’ll need it, but I will need it and I don’t want more delays.

Next I packed up and went to Lowes. I’ve been eyeing miter saws, trying to decide between a 12” saw, a 10” slider, or splurge on a 12” slider. On one hand I’d like to invest in some nice tools. On the other hand, I don’t know if I need to. I’m still an amatuer, and not sure how mich “fine” work I’ll do. I was really thinking the Hitachi C12FCH 12” saw, after seeing some good reviews. However it doesn’t have indent adjustments and that worries me if it’s not square. I can adjust things, but I’d like to have it easy.

The DeWalt 12” is pricey (the slider is crazy), but then I was wondering if I needed 12”, and if I spent $250 on the DeWalt, should I just go $400 for the Hitachi slider. Part of my concern was that most of these are large, needing 24”x24” in some cases. Most space than I want to give up.

Then I saw a few nice reviews on 10” sliders, including the Kobalt Lowes brand. At $200, that’s hard to pass up, and width often matters more to me than height. So I decided to hit Lowes and grab one, along with the flagpole wood. I spent a few minutes looking thought the 16’ and 12’ boards to get some that were quartersawn, hoping to prevent some movement.

I got back, and in sprinkling rain, I unloaded wood. That was about it for the sabbatical. I had an engagement at the Denver Women in Technology group, and that was my evening.

Tomorrow is up early for my first Habitat Build.