Simple Clamp Rack

For a long time now I've wanted to increase my number of clamps in the the shop. They seem to be the one limiting factor on large glue ups, and as I was once told you can never have enough!

Clamps!

So using my brothers wholesale account I have upgraded my collection. I talked a few weeks back about clamps and what I'd go for if I was to buy more. In the end I've gone for a good sized set of them.

They are a cheap brand but there's not much to go wrong with a clamp. Some of the castings are a bit out of square on the end but I always put a piece of wood for them to press against anyway.

Sash Clamp - T bar Or Not?

I was once told that as a carpenter I'll never have enough clamps and nothing could be truer! 

Every job I do at the minute I seem to be using every clamp I have. Or to be more accurate, every clamp I like. I have a large selection built up over 20 years and it's a right hodgepodge and there's a few clamps in there I don't like to use unless I have to.

The Shed Sanctuary

We never put a healthy shed down!

I've got a bit of a problem when it comes to sheds. I love them.

Man maketh the shed and Shed maketh the man.

The frame had to be repaired in a few places

So the week before last when I got offered a couple of sheds, so long as I took them down, I couldn't say no. The larger one, although rotten in quite a few places, was 8ft by 14ft and built using quite stong timbers - ideal for a little undercover work area to make a few bits and bobs until I can build something bigger.

The new floor

Last week I repaired the rotten sections of the frame, bought timber for a new floor and then this morning me and a friend got cracking putting it back up. Once we'd got the base levelled on legs onto paving slabs (it is only temporary after all) the rest didn't take long - if it wasn't for the fact we had to keep stopping for April showers!

Placed behind my over full container

 The roof had to have a few timbers replaced as they were like bannas and its completely rotten in some of the boarding so I'm planning to just cover it with tin (its got a blue tarp on at the moment).

I think this picture makes it look bigger than it is!

I've still got to repair a bit of rotten shiplap, build a step for the front, wire it with lights and sockets and tin the roof but other than that its almost a complete low cost temporary workshop!

Still needs some more work doing to it.

A Woodturning Workshop

The last couple of days have been a nice change from the wet room and other projects to help a fellow pupil from wood turning classes build his workshop.

Removing the bricks from an old pond was easily the hardest part of the job, over two hours with a kango - some of the hardest mortar I've ever encountered!

As this was a log cabin style workshop kit, once we'd got the base in the frame went up quite fast - it just slots together, although the instructions weren't that clear!

By the end of the second day (most of the first was spent sorting out the base and getting the frame half up) We'd managed to get it water proof (minus the doors) and I'd made a start on fixing the singles to the roof.

The shed kit seems good quality, built out of thick timber with lots of insulation it will be a great place for Paul to spend evenings wood turning and with my workshop-less situation I'm quite jealous of all that space he's got to fill.

Moving House

Well today we signed on the dotted line, so hopefully I wont jinks it by saying that we're moving house!

We've managed to buy a smallholding of five acres with the beautiful backdrop of the Malvern hills. This is something I've always dreamed of and maybe we're mad to do it but it means we're be able to live a life that's much more self reliant, growing more of our own meat and vegetables, have space for children (in the not so distant future) to run around in and the space for me to build a large workshop and develop my business.

Where we live now has been a great home to us but I've always craved more space as I was brought up on a farm. I've built a lovely workshop but its size enables me to have only one project on the go at a time and I have to lug my tools up and down the garden to the van as its at the far end of the garden.

[Picture of my current workshop]

The garden is also full to bursting with two greenhouses, 9 (now deceased) chickens in two pens and raised beds full of veg, as well as two allotment plots in a nearby village which was just too far away to "pop off" to.

The new house means I'll have a good base to build my carpentry business from as well as trying to give my future children something near the upbringing I had, involving hard work, fun and with lots of time spent together.

Above is a picture of my new "temporary workshop" (although it will loose the wheels at its new destination) in my fathers workshop after its green paint job, this is until I can build something a little bigger.

I've now got to work harder to pay the mortgage but its now for the thing I always dreamed of, with my wife who I want to spend the rest of my life with.

Feeling quite scared but very happy! Watch this space!