up to

Hokay, so, here are some of the things I've been up to this week:

Finishing up window and door trim at Tandem Glass Studio and Gallery

Sweeping up hand plane shavings. Some of us do it the old fashioned way. (Mainly, I didn't have the power planer with me.

A hand plane shaving so thin that its translucent.


With two small ratchet straps I was able to pick up my snow plow with the tractor.


And drive very slowly and carefully around the back of the carport.

Getting the snow plow into a spot for storage turned out to be a lot less work than I expected.

As I mentioned in the last post, I spent Monday through Thursday out on Swan's Island raising a timberframe for Connolly and Co. I caught a cold on the first day, so I didn't enjoy myself as much I might have otherwise, but it was a very successful raising overall. Swan's Island is located about 8 miles from Mt. Desert island, the home of Acadia National Park. It is accessible only by private boat and the State of Maine Ferry. Here are a few photos of the chaos:

Bent 5 of the barn frame going up.

Bent is now vertical as we walk it over to its proper place.

Bent 4 up and braced off. See the shed dormer taking shape.

Setting purlins in bay 4.

Flying a dormer/post/ridge assembly into place in bay 3. I am at the peak on the left.

Bringing the ridge/rafter peak joint together for a perfect fit.

Raising bent 2.

Flying the last set of purlins complete with the traditional sprig on the last piece.

The crew.

J.R. of J. R. Williams Crane Service. The man behind the levers.

The finished frame.

Close up of shed dormer.

The 4000 sq. ft. log home we stayed in Monday through Thursday.

The Great Room in the log home.

View from the deck at the log home. There is a light house in the distance.

Waiting for the ferry back to Mt Desert Island and home.

Ferry rides are still exciting to me.

Ye olde sailboat in its current condition, in storage that is.

View from the stern under the tarp.

And from the bow.

Looking pretty awkward with its fellow boats out of water.

I've got my work cut out for me this weekend. I pressure washed the boat trailer in preparation for Rustoleum's Rust Reformer primer and a new coat of blue paint. I've got to hook up the lights and bolt down the pressure treated longitudinal rails and the keel rest. I've scribed a template for the hull cradle, but I still have to cut the actual plywood. The stern jacks are still an issue. I don't feel like spending $250-300 on new equipment. This afternoon I'm making an impromptu trip to North Conway, NH towing like 10,000 lbs of equipment.

Next week, more work, more gardening, more boat stuff and hopefully a bit of climbing.

---w---