From there to here

I had hoped to get more done this weekend but work took precedence.  Reinforcing how uncool I have become, I completely forgot it was a holiday weekend.  When I was offered two shifts of overtime I jumped on it.  A few hours later I realized why no one else wanted the shifts, It was New Years Eve!  Oh well, I'm glad I have a job where there are opportunities for extra income.  With so many out of work, I am blessed with stable employment and a secure future.

I have had a few emails and comments asking about my experience in wood.  I hope I've made it abundantly clear that I am a boat building rookie and honestly I don't know what I don't know. However I am willing to try and I believe nearly anything is achievable with enough effort.  Being an amateur woodworker for the past 17 years or so has been a wonderful part of my life.  

I started after I bought my first house and finally had a place to set up a shop.  I always liked building projects whether it was scale models or model rockets, just creating something was fun.  I always enjoyed wood shop in school and I had a lot of fun doing small remodeling work with my father. When I reached a point in my life where I had the space and a little money I started building my workshop.  

This really is the golden age of DIY.  Anything someone could be interested in is available for discovery on the internet.  If you like it, then you'll surely find hundreds of others who like it too.  So I took my meager construction skills and began searching the web and reading books.  You eventually have to start creating saw dust and I started off small with cutting boards and small shelves.  I learn by doing and through doing I learned how to make "stuff"

I have made most of the furniture in my house.  I'm proud of these things but I know all of their flaws and that is why I am reluctant to sell things I make or take on commissions for friends or family. Everyone always says they don't care about minor mistakes, or that they don't even notice, but I do.  I would feel weird selling something to someone if it was not perfect.  So here are a bunch of the things I have made over the years.  It's not everything but a good sample of what can be done with some initiative, tools and wood.

Boat Stuff -  Lofting:

I did find a little time to actually make some boat progress.  Santa was generous this year with 4 gift cards to the happiest place on earth, Home Depot.  I was able to buy some Douglas fir 2x8's, red rosin paper, screws and a few other items.

I just could not find a large wooden floored room that I could hammer nails into.  I did the best I could and created a partial lofting floor in the boat shed.  Before I built my framing table I used the five sheets of OSB to give me a 4' by 40' lofting platform.  I cut up some of my yellow pine 6x6's and placed them four feet on center on the building cradle.  I then laid the OSB and screwed them into place.

I unrolled the red rosin paper and used masking tape to hold it in place.  Everything is flat, level and properly aligned to give me an accurate base line to loft from.

I hope to begin the actual lofting process this weekend and I'll have more details next week.  I've never done this before so hopefully I'll have some good examples of what and what not to do for those getting ready for your own project.  I'll also go into a little depth of my impressions of the process and how hard it is.  As I have read, Generally, lofting is thought to be a bit intimidating for the amateur boat builder.  We shall see!