Thursday, July 13, 2006
The ‘Beast’
Or that's what we decided to name it. I wanted to name it The ‘Bitch’ but my wonderful wife questioned the wisdom of angering such a machine with an insulting monicker. It is an old Milwaukee 3/4 HP angle grinder. I cut a disk of wood that fit behind the blade and limited the cutting depth. I was able to slice right along the walls with relative ease, at least on the long straight runs.
Also found a neat trick to do with the sawz-all blades that works real well. About 3” up the blade bend it off to one side a little. This allows you to get in close to the wall. Not as quick as The ‘Beast’ but had I figured it out ahead of time I never would have bothered with The ‘Beast’ in the first place. The ‘Beast’ was neither as dangerous or as hard to control as I thought it would be. Found out later what I constructed is called a “flush cut saw” should you ever need to rent a proper one. The ‘Beast can not be borrowed, I have already taken it apart as a deterrent to keep me from ever using it again. A picture of the work in progress.
With the floor removed we needed to find a source for fir flooring. It is not something the hardware store stocks locally. They had the tongue and groove but it was the fancy Blue Pine and would not match. One of the guys who work the yard recommended a local sawmill who might have some in stock. The place was Silcox Ranch and Lumber out of Thompson Falls. Great guys who gave me a much better deal than the price in town. for $120 I bought 3 times the lumber I needed to do the floor. This way I can be very selective about what I put down, matching the old floors as best I can and still have lumber left over to do trim and build things to sell in the co-op.
I just want to end with a shot that proves just how good I am. The ability to drive a nail through the sub-floor down into the floor joist and bisect the main 3/4 inch hot water line is not something you can learn. Your born with it.
Also found a neat trick to do with the sawz-all blades that works real well. About 3” up the blade bend it off to one side a little. This allows you to get in close to the wall. Not as quick as The ‘Beast’ but had I figured it out ahead of time I never would have bothered with The ‘Beast’ in the first place. The ‘Beast’ was neither as dangerous or as hard to control as I thought it would be. Found out later what I constructed is called a “flush cut saw” should you ever need to rent a proper one. The ‘Beast can not be borrowed, I have already taken it apart as a deterrent to keep me from ever using it again. A picture of the work in progress.
With the floor removed we needed to find a source for fir flooring. It is not something the hardware store stocks locally. They had the tongue and groove but it was the fancy Blue Pine and would not match. One of the guys who work the yard recommended a local sawmill who might have some in stock. The place was Silcox Ranch and Lumber out of Thompson Falls. Great guys who gave me a much better deal than the price in town. for $120 I bought 3 times the lumber I needed to do the floor. This way I can be very selective about what I put down, matching the old floors as best I can and still have lumber left over to do trim and build things to sell in the co-op.
I just want to end with a shot that proves just how good I am. The ability to drive a nail through the sub-floor down into the floor joist and bisect the main 3/4 inch hot water line is not something you can learn. Your born with it.
