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I'm just posting a line here to mark this thread so I don't have to search for it again. I have more to post but I am out of time right now.


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robinson46176 wrote:I'm just posting a line here to mark this thread so I don't have to search for it again. I have more to post but I am out of time right now.


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A 'Temporary' condition I hope!:D

Diana and I have been busy most of the day making room on the main floor for all of those Xmas decorations that have been residing in a 3' x 24' area at the south end of the woodshop. It's been going pretty well but has involved moving a lot of “stuff” and shifting some furniture and large a number of large old heavy wooden boxes commonly referred to as either a seaman's trunk or a carpenters chest. Most full of stuff of course. I love those old wooden boxes of all types and reproductions of some of them is one thing I would like to be making in the shop.
Now for the minor glitch... We have all heard stories about some guy building a boat in his basement and not being able to get it out. Well, I can get the two sets of simple quick and dirty shelves I made to hold the Xmas decorations out of my basement just fine thank you... The trouble is that there is no way I can get them into the first floor of the house. They are 3' deep, 8' long and 6' tall and sturdily glued. Not a really problem, especially since they were a simple build I will just cut them in half at the ends and middle of the frame. The shelves themselves are just loose sheets of OSB held in position by the frame. Once the frames are cut and in the house I will just use some scraps of the material I used to make them to splice the frames back together. Three splices on each end and two in the middle. I will not glue those just in case I need to move them again.
It going to be nice to gain that 3' x 24' section back in the woodshop. It is going to be even better not having to carry all of those boxes and big plastic totes up and down the stairs anymore. I felt that it was becoming too big of a fall risk as well as a lot of work.
Speaking of work... It seems that while I was not paying attention to things I have maybe changed the plans for my outside door. There is a picture of the outside "pit" on message 21 of this thread. I have the current opening through the basement wall at 5' wide and 7' high. I'm very seriously thinking about making that door a 9' x 7' door and cutting a few trees to make room to cut the pit on out about 50 feet farther as a driveway. The dirt moving is free, the only real expense is the driveway drainage which will involve installing several tile laterals across the drive and filling those with stone on top of the tile so any water can quickly weep down. Then at the bottom I would install a couple of slotted drain channels all the way across that drive. That and a bit more cost for the bigger door. I already have the steel "I" beam to put over the door.
It sure would be nice to be able to back into the shop to unload lumber etc.
I'm still working on the details on that project.

Here is a picture of one of the antique wooden box / trunk / chest I was speaking of. I love these old things. This one has some shelves and a drawer inside and a shallow tray at the top rear that reminds me of the tool tray across the back of many traditional wood working benches. It is 44" x 22" x 24" tall. (the furniture dolly is from Harbor Freight )
I have seen hundreds, maybe thousands of these things of all kinds but I have never seen another one with a lid like this one. This one has been on the farm since at least the 1940's. My father kept it in the barn and just tossed old electrical parts in it. I moved it into the house and we found it to be already fully housebroken.
About all of the old ones were made as a single item to serve its owner / maker so you almost never see two exactly alike.
I thought I would post the picture in case someone was looking for a project idea. I'll try to get pictures of the others as I get them moved. One has a couple of drawers at the bottom that you open from the outside but that can be locked by inserting a dowel or metal rod from under the lid. Another opens only at the top but has sliding trays in it.

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Thanks for sharing those boxes. They give inspiration for some design ideas. I love the old antique and retro stuff.

That is an interesting piece, what do you know about it?

Here are a couple of pictures of the chest with 2 drawers at the bottom front. I bought this one at a yard sale years ago for $5. It had a broken piece at the back of the lid. I repaired it with a kind of weathered piece of tulip poplar so it wouldn't show up as much. It is deeper front to back than the first box. Based on holes that have been repaired with dowels I believe that this was made from recycled lumber. I have had it maybe 30+ years and it looked really old when I got it.

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Farmer if the expense is little more than a door cost and some digging I would certainly make the basement drive in capable. That would save you a ton of lifting and such just moving wood in an out. Plus you could always work on something so big you would need to move it by trailer.

Go for it!

Ed in Tampa wrote:Farmer if the expense is little more than a door cost and some digging I would certainly make the basement drive in capable. That would save you a ton of lifting and such just moving wood in an out. Plus you could always work on something so big you would need to move it by trailer.

Go for it!

Yep, that is my thinking.


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