The Old Barn.

Not to add to the adventure but is it possible to downsize the parts barn to hold one shop while suppling wood to fix the main one? Reason I ask is over the years I've found metal and wood working don't go well in the same building. Especially if it's above the metal shop area. Sawdust no matter how well contained gets everywhere.

In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :

I dont think so. The big barn has so much wrong with it that the only real option is to tear it down and rebuild using the parts to build a smaller building. I'm not capable of doing the tear down because it's just too tall and the roof is too steep for me. Plus the structure is so compromised that I dont think it would be safe. My interests are starting to shift to the point that I dont think I will be doing much metal work or fabrication. Just mechanical repair and maintenance downstairs. I get what you're saying about the dust. I know it will be an issue, I will have to see how big of an issue, but i think it's going to be one of those things i just have to live with. 

I made my first trip to the hardware store for this project. I am super proud that I made it this far before having to buy anything. I went and got the stuff for my electrical service and some odds and ends stuff. As per the usual it was more expensive than I expected. A 100a breaker, 150 ft of 2-2-2-4, a 100a subpanel, and 250' of 12-2 romex. I will probably start trenching this week once my direct burial cat6 cable shows up this week.

frenchyd said:

gearheadmb said:

If you're curious how many times you can drop a Stanley leverlock tape measure off a roof before it stops working, the answer is three.

Its served me well for a few years now. That'll do, tape. That'll do.

Do not throw it away!!!  

get a pair of tin snips and cut it every foot 

spread them around your shop.  

I already have enough problems with accumulating too much "stuff". I'm just gonna let it go to the big toolbox in the sky.

I got the metal siding put back on the west side after work tonight.

It definitely needs a coat of paint, thats on the list.

I've been getting a decent amount of work done on on the barn. I finished replacing the roof

I cut my rafter tails on the new rafters and added blocks to the old rafters because they were a little soft on the ends. Then I took some of my wider inch boards that had some bad spots and ripped them down to 1x5 for fascia boards. I also got the rest of the metal siding on the front wall.

The tractor and flatbed bale wagon have been awesome for this project. The wagon holds all the materials, serves as a giant work bench, and can driven right up to where you are working. I have my miter saw set up on there, and I clamp long boards to the edge of the bed so I can rip them with a circular saw. My scraps and cut offs go in the loader bucket and when it gets full I drive it over to the fire ring and dump them. It was also invaluable for hauling all the heavy oak timbers and long 2x's. 

Amazon brought me my underground capable cat6 cable. I guess that means I need to start digging my trench soon. I'm looking forward to having electric out there, but I'm not looking forward to digging 110 feet of trench. 

I got all but 6' of my 120' electrical trench dug. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy being miserable. I'm exaggerating some, it wasn't that bad, but crossing the driveway really sucked, so did passing by the big maple tree, since I was to not cut all the roots. I did have my oldest son helping. He's 12 and is starting to work more like a man and less like a kid and it's awesome to see him growing up.

I got the electric feeder line into the basement and the breaker panel installed in the barn. I need to go pick up a few things from lowes to get hooked up to the main panel, but I should have electric tomorrow if all goes well.

WE HAVE ELECTRIC!!!!

This was just a quickie job to get some temporary lights up until I decide what I want to do for permanent lighting. But this will be great for getting things done after work now that the sun is setting earlier and earlier.

That will make life easier.

Let there be lights! 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Let there be lights! 

And there was lights!

gearheadmb said:

But this will be great for getting things done after work now that the sun is setting earlier and earlier.

Speaking of sunsets, we get some pretty decent ones here

I'm having a bit of an existential crisis. So the barn still has tons of the PO's abandoned junk. Lots of it. 95% of it is steel or wood. So the plan for this weekend was to load up a pickup load of scrap tonight, haul it in tomorrow morning, get a fire going and burn the wood that isn't worth keeping, and repeat until the building is cleaned out. That has always been more or less the plan. But now my true nature as a packrat is trying to take over. All that steel whispering "you're gonna need me, you're gonna miss me". I haven't even started yet. I'm not even looking at it in person. I'm at work thinking about it. I'm dreaming up things I "need" to make out of this stuff.  A trailer from the roller conveyor table frames. A stove pipe for my woodstove from the big auger. Those are just the things I thought of this afternoon. "Imagine all the things could make from the rest of this garbage. I should definitely keep it, I dont want to have to buy it." This is my internal monologue. I'm afraid a year from now the barn will still be an unusable mess storing all these treasures I couldn't possibly part with. Its difficult. I need help.

The only way you will ever regret and need any of the stuff you scrap is if you scrap it to make space to work on future projects.  Meaning if you don't scrap it you won't ever be able to use it. 

Maybe dedicate some space to kept treasures.  Like pick an area or build a shelf to keep whatever you can immediatly see a use for and scrap the rest.  If the wood is old roughsawn barn wood stack it outside and offer it for free on FB marketplace or C-list.  Again keep some amount for useful scrap but purge everything else.  Get the space to WORK in and gladly go source parts in the future when you can actually use the barn for projects. 

I came home and got my pickup truck loaded down with scrap steel. It wasn't as bad as I predicted. There is plenty of stuff that I could look at and say that there's no way I can use that, so it went in the truck. There were other things that I probably won't use, but I'm going to tear apart and save parts off of, like electric motors and gearboxes, and throw away the rest. The bad news is that after loading the truck full it doesn't look like I even made a dent. I'll just have to keep chipping away at it I guess.

A lot of my used future unknown project steel get  stored outside (off the ground.) If it rusts away to nothing before I need it, that's ok. It was meant to be.

Fantastic sunset picture.

Four loads of scrap sold and the divider wall removed.

Before

After

Awesome sunset....I see MAJOR work space...carry on all is not lost bro

I don't care what anyone says, that's progress.

In reply to CJ (He's Just an FS) :

Thanks. I worked later than I had planned last night to get wall down, and I'm glad i did. It is one of those visual milestones that makes it feel like I'm really getting somewhere. I kind of needed that, there had been some days that felt like lots of toil with no progress. Now I can see things taking shape, and I'm visualizing possible layouts for the shop. I feel good.

Are those old motors sitting in the middle of the floor at the back?

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

Are those old motors sitting in the middle of the floor at the back?

I was thinking PTOs

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

Are those old motors sitting in the middle of the floor at the back?

I was thinking PTOs

They are 3.5-1 right angle gear boxes.