Vicious circle of toys

[ww_kayak]

OK, I do find this funny. Everything I have been doing the last couple of years really boils down to the fact that I want a big a s s shop so I can build stuff. Wood, metal, plastic, it doesn't matter. So I bought some land to build a house... OK all I care about is building the shop. This meant I needed a backhoe, which led me to tractorbynet last year. Reading the "Build-it Yourself" forum led to taking some welding classes and buying a welder. That led to taking some machining classes and buying a bridgeport mill. OK, stay with me. Now during the summer I'm back thinking in terms of building a timberframe home. Some web surfing led me to the massiehouse. One post mentioned using an old CNC mill to cut knee braces. That led me to the CNCZone, which I was amazed to find out what people are building for a so called "hobby". Now, 2 years later, I come back here for a couple ideas on an extra strong rack to store steel stock, and what do I see, but references to CNC plasma cutters and the CNCZOne.

So, I just wanted to say, good stuff, and I'm glad I'm not the only nut. BTW, I did build a pair of bucket forks from the info I found here.

 

[napabavarian]

You are a sick sick individual!

I hope I can be like you when I grow up

 

[JimR]

You sound like me. You have to have everything, to build everything, so you can enjoy using it. It does get expensive unless you are buying used tools. That way you can save some real big money to pay for the toys you make or fix up.

All I need to do is empty my garage so I can have the room to use the tools that I have bought. Someday I will get this done.

Nice forks and one heck of a load you got there. My tractor would be on its nose if I tried to do that.

 

[srjones]

I knew I had a problem when I started buying tools to *build* tools that don't exist

...
I started with a few tools and built a deck.
Then built an addition to the house.
Then started on new house, but first had to clear the land.
But I needed a tractor to move stuff around.
Then I needed custom attachments to do specialized tasks...

 

[JimR]

I knew I had a problem when I started buying tools to *build* tools that don't exist

...
I started with a few tools and built a deck.
Then built an addition to the house.
Then started on new house, but first had to clear the land.
But I needed a tractor to move stuff around.
Then I needed custom attachments to do specialized tasks...

It gets worst than that. I started a Resto project on our 1750 farmhouse and 1840's barn. It is post and beam construction. I had sold my tractor years ago. Now I needed one for hauling logs for the barn resto project. There goes $9200.00 for the used tractor. Then I needed a big saw for cutting beams and a nice planer for ripping the logs flat. I found a nice set of used Makita's for sale for $400.00. The saw has a 14 5/16" blade. The planer is a 6 1/8" wide. Then came the miter saw. I thought a 10" would be good. Wrong, I needed a 12". The old table saw I had didn't cut the mustard either. A new table saw was purchased for $459.00. Then I needed a dust collector as I was turning the barn into a dust bowl. I picked up a nice Delta 1 hp. That one didn't cut the mustard. It was too small. Now I have a 2hp Grizzly that I stole cheap for $100.00 that does the job just fine. Then I got to try a wormdrive saw. Nice tool, I just had to have me one of them. Lucked out on that one and bought a used 8 1 /2" Skilsaw for $50.00. I needed a wood lathe to make 1" pegs to hold the barn together. That was my next purchase. Then along came a used Walker 8" joiner. That is a nice tool but a real bear to set the blades on. Ladders, O boy, did I ever need ladders for staging. I bought ever used aluminum extension ladder I could find that was cheap in price. I can always sell them later on after I'm done. A nailgun for framing was needed. Large long ram hydraulic jacks to lift the barn were needed. I picked up a 12 1/2" Delta Planer cheap for planing the roof boards and floor boards to size. I needed a radial arm saw and router. I burn wood and got tired of my hydraulic 3pt woodsplitter because it is so slow. I picked up a splitter that has a 2 1/2 second time cycle so I would have more time to work on the resto project. That was $1500 used. It never ends when it comes to tools or the money runs out first. I could really use a backhoe now for some yard work next year. That will have to wait till I can sell off some other toys to buy one.

 

[srjones]

What, no chain mortiser? Everyone needs one of those... I do, anyway.

 

[JimR]

What, no chain mortiser? Everyone needs one of those... I do, anyway.

I guess if I was doing a complete frame I would have bought one of those. They are pretty neat and work well. I do have a few flat and corner wood chisels that I bought for the job. They work pretty well along with my chainsaw. You can cut holes with a chainsaw if your good. I drill out the four corners with a 1/2" drill bit and run the saw right into the beam nose first. I use a square toothed chisel chain on my saws. I found this chain is the best for nose diving. You just need to be careful. There is very little margin for error when nose diving with a chainsaw.

 

[ww_kayak]

It gets worst than that.

Oh trust me, I have added and removed that Big Foot beam saw to my "shopping cart" more times than I can count. I have already aquired a nice collection of Barr framing chisels and slicks and have scoured ebay for 2" shipsman augers. Although... I'm sure that after a few "hand made" mortises I'll be looking at that chain mortiser again . I am picking up an 8' step tonight because the others are too small or too big. Oh, and I too, have been researching dust collection, which led to cyclone dust collectors, of which there is a large community of DIYers for those too.

 

[EddieWalker]

A poster on another site has this quote.

"Could have bought it for $100 brand new, but I "think" I can build it for $300."

Sometimes I find myself doing this....

Eddie

 

[John D]

So Tom. did you get that big A shop?? I did but now that I got my tractor and found this place I need a bigger one? jb