worktable 3 - shelf-portrait

looks like its coming together a bit better now Fran..you will be using it before long...you have done a better job than i could have done..:o)

lol doubt that, Annella! this reconstuction was a triumpgh of BFI - brute force & ignorance! still, it's almost done and hope it'll stay done for the foreseeable future; I'm trying to build in extra strength and weather-proofing

looks great Fran well done you. its great when a plan works..:-)

indeed, even if it didn't work in quite the way one imagined it at the start! but mess or not, it's MY work, every bit of it, and that's a result in itself. :-)

You're doing a great job on those units. It's going to be very handy for you after it's finished. I'm glad yout took the plastic covering off the saw lol.

thanks, Hywel. lol it occured to me to look closely at the blade only after I'd been sawing for a minute with no result!

I think I'll use some more of the scrap to put shelves under the table as well, rather than pile everything up; but that'll be a "new build" and will take a bit of thinking about.

Well done Fran- thats going to be very useful for you in the next couple of months. Its great to make something out of nothing. Ive been trying hard to improve my woodworking skills too. I built some compost bins last year out of old scaffold planks. I used my hubbys circular saw, not so much effort needed - but a bit frightening once Id had the safety lecture!! Let us know how you get on and post a photo of it in its final place

we weren't allowed to learn woodwork at school; this was back in the dark ages, when girls were expected to stay at home till they were married so they wouldn't need to know how to put up shelves etc. But to be "fair", booys weren't allowed to do cookery either - after all, they'd move from "mother" to "wife" so why would they need to learn that skill?

My usual method of construction is to nail or screw two bits of wood together the best I can, and brace corners and angles where necessary - I probably put much too much in, but better than the alternative.

Do you have pics of your handywork?

lol that's the bit that put sme off circular or any kind of electric saw - saw a safety vid years ago, Rowan Atkinson so a humorous take on it, but the message wasn't lost on me. I'm looking for one with safety guards, but that's probably have to be bench-mounted rathher than "freestyle"

On a Scout training course we did chainsaws - at least, the others did! After the lecture about needing to wear safety boots, goggles, helmet and gloves, the chainsaw was offered to us trainer-wearing, helmetless, goggle-less and ungloved onlookers. I was the only one who refused: don't know if I'm the only one who failed or the only one who passed that!

This job seems to be getting bigger all the time: I thought it'd be a three-part: cut tall unit down, shelve both, put top on. But at the moment I'm trying to put boards down to stand the units on to keep them off the damp ground; they're already a bit the worse for wear at the bases, and it'll give me dry storage betweeen them.

Then to put the top on, and maybe to add shelves between the uprights. But so long as I get the top on pretty quickly: my baby mini-Buddleia arrived this morning, and I want to get them unpacked and potted asap

well done Fran for all your hard work,

Fran my hub is trained to use a chainsaw!!! Not sure if thats a good thing or not! Lol. Love your mini greenhousecloches they will be brill to keep your plants cosy and warm.

Please Grandmage, don't encourage Fran to use a chain saw, we'll have a chain saw massacre on here next, Lol

Ooooh no I am not encouraging her Yorks promise!! They are very dangerous.

don't tell meG/M tell Fran, she will end up going out and buying one, I dread to think of the damage she could do, Lol

Hopefully Fran will read this later on!! About two years ago and only two streets away from us a man was pruning some conifers in his garden with a chain saw and his wife was standing on the bottom rung of the ladder making sure all was well! Well her hubb. slipped dropped the chainsaw and decapitated his wife! His chainsaw had no safety cut out switch on it!! and he had hired it out from a DIY store too. All the roads were shut for a day and we couldnt gain access to our road until the next morning. It made the main news on TV. poor man, how he must have felt.

my goodness, that is just awful, that poor woman and her poor husband, my neighbour does that every year and his wife stands at the bottom of the ladder, I will tell her to move in future

Ooooh er thats just awful - the stuff of nightmares!!! I dont think Fran would be keen on using a chainsaw! - Lets hope not anyway. Fran you asked me if I had put any pics on regarding my compost bin project. I did a blog called Hard hat on.... trying to make compost bins. It was a while ago (last September, I think) I hope you can find it. That story has put me off using chainsaws full stop. Time to get the tree surgeons in - I like my head where it is!! You go careful too!

lol there's no way I'd ever use a chainsaw even if I were properly togged up and had all the training certificates going.

I'm wary of power tools, even little ones, and a chainsaw is hardly that. (I read on one of those "stupid notice" sites that some chainsaws had "do not stop the blade with your hands" labels - would anyone NEED to be told that? there must be people that stupid, or they'd not need to put the label on in ).

In general, if it's bigger than me, or has the capacity to bite back, I give it due respect. Even the new cordless drill, which is pretty wimpy by power-drill standards, could bite hard if not used properly.

People in general seem to be so casual about the possible risks - the stories there used to be about lawnmowers cutting their own cables and electocuting the user ... people leaning off ladders at dangerous angles while trying to reach a bit further, rather than move the ladder along a bit ... There's a site called Cheezburger that people post pictures to, and there's a section for awful repairs and hair-raising men-at-wprk - a man being dnagled by his ankles out of a window so he can reach an external fitting - you wouldn't think anyone would be that daft, but ...

Oh, that's awful about the man and his wife! isn't there a regulation that all power-tools have to have an emergency cut-out? if there isn't, there damn well ought to be!

Thanks, Poppy, I'll have a look