Log Cabin Wood Shop - Nifty New Work Bench

The past few days were spent constructing the bases for my center work bench/table and lathe base. The center work bench top is 54" x 64" x 2-1/4" maple and weighs a ton. Good thing I put it on casters so I can move it around. It is interestingly reminiscent of Darryl and Cathy's kitchen center island. I also mounted two wood vises.

Next tasks will be to make a base to hold the table saw along with a router table. Both will end up being flush with the new work top so I can saw larger sheets of plywood, using the work top as the outfeed.









The lathe base is made from 6x6 fir posts. I may need to add some sand ballast to weigh it down which helps when doing the initial rough cut of out-of-round chunks of wood.

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Inside and Move-in

Since my last post we have completed the interior of the shop. This included the ceiling and gable 1x6 tongue and groove, the trim around the walls and windows, the lights, and the electrical. So, the inside is done. We were able to move all of the equipment from the garage into the shop...what a cool thing.

The garage is now wide open ... almost room to park another car!

In the shop, I have been organizing and putting things away, but there is still quite a bit of work to do. Many thing aren't where they will end up... but at least it's clean. I plan on building a large workbench in the middle of the room, using a 40" x 8' maple top I acquired with the help of my brother Darryl. I will also construct a lathe bench, a grinder table, build a miter bench area, and build shelves to store completed projects.

The large work table will sit where the table saw is show above.

It is so cool to have a large heated space to work on fun projects!

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Roof Completed ... Really!

Thanks to some unusually warm weather and rain over Thanksgiving (and some careful shoveling and sweeping), we were able to put up the metal roof today, as well as install the chimney flashing. What a huge relief to have that up going into winter. I was literally putting in the last screws into the last piece of flashing when a big storm and rain came. So now the roof and flue pipe are REALLY winter-ready and I can focus on the inside for a few months.

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Snow, Door and Stove

The good news is that we received the metal roofing for the shop ... the bad news is that we now have 9" of snow on the ground which is likely to stick around until March. So, putting up roofing is not likely to happen.

We installed the wood stove and fired it up. This is a old Washington Stove Works "trash burner" that we bought around 10 years ago, originally

intended to be put in the big cabin. It is kitchen cabinet size, so I suspect it originally went in a kitchen along side cabinets. The upper part is the fire box which is really small, so it only handled kindling size wood or small logs around 3" diameter and 15' long. It has a a cook top, a built in damper and a removable soot box.

The past two days were spend building and installing the front door. It is made from 2x6 tongue and groove pine (same as the floor). As mentioned before, it is made as a dutch door, but I haven't cut it half yet. I still need to put in weather stripping and a door knob. Deb was disappointed that the cool cross supports are on the inside, rather than outside, so I may add more stuff on the outside. I bought some 15" gate hinges on ebay, which work really well.

Tomorrow, I'll probably frame in the windows and maybe start in on finishing electrical.

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Inside Work

Now that the roof is done* and water tight, we had a chance to start working indoors this week. None too soon, because we have had snow a couple of days this week. So, we installed the electrical wiring, layed down a visqueen vapor barrier in the crawl space, insulated the floor, and installed and stained the 2x6 flooring. Then we insulated the ceiling and gable end walls. And installed the wood stove triple wall pipe and mounts.

You'd think that now we'd have a warm cozy cabin, wouldn't you? Well it is certainly easier to get warmer (from last night's low of 9 degrees), but we still have tarp for a front door and clear plastic covering the windows, so keeping the heat in is a challenge even with insulation.

So tomorrow is door day. I plan to make a nifty

dutch door (just like Dick Proenneke's Alaska cabin less wooden hinges). For those of you not familiar with Dick's story, I highly recommend you read "One Man's Wilderness, An Alaskan Odyssey", quite inspiring.

* Roof is covered with tar paper

awaiting arrival of the metal roofing material

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Log Porch

Yesterday we finished the log porch. Hats off to Debbie for tirelessly peeling every log. Working with 9-10" irregularly shaped round logs is an interesting experience. It was a nervous feeling to hack into those nice logs - one mistake and you'd have to start over. Notching along the long log to allow the beam rafters to sit level was a bit of work too.

Next task is to lay the 1x8 T&G boards (pre-stained by Debbie) on top of the rafters, put up the facias, and cover it with tar paper. Then I start on electrical until the metal roof arrives.

Log Cabin Wood Shop - Weatherproof Roof roof roof

The last couple of days were spent finishing the roof of the shop in preparation for forecast snow. The snow never came (but more is forecast for later this week), but it sure is a nice feeling to have that roof there to protect the logs and interior, even if it's just tar paper right now. While the tar paper would last through the winter just fine, we're ordering the metal roofing and hope to be able to install it in a few weeks.

The perimeter overhangs are covered with 1x6 pre-stained boards, so we won't have to stain those nasty soffits from a ladder getting a kink in our necks.

Deb then covered the windows and doors with plastic to further keep rain and snow from blowing in. We have the windows and will install them once we get the porch done. That door looks pretty slick, eh?

Today I started on the porch logs.