Leaderboard

I finished the Garden Arbor that I started last weekend. I wanted to give Kris something to enjoy and get rid of the old, half rotten gate posts(sans gate) that had been spanning the brick path to the back grove. It's made from construction grade 2 x 4 and 2 x 6, with a couple 5/4 deck boards as well.

I just remembered that I never posted any pics of the final product. Well, almost final. I still need to paint the base mold, but the books and mess have all migrated to their new home.

I paid the bills as trim carpenter for quite a while. Custom kitchens, coffered ceilings, full room built ins, the whole shebang. After 25 years in the refrigeration world, I dove back into carpentry to start on our "new" house's( built in 1890) library. I went to Harbor Freight and got their Hercules 12" compound sliding miter saw with portable stand, the Hercules 10" portable table saw and ordered the Powertec rolling, folding table saw stand on Amazon and got to work. I have to say, the Harbor Freight tools I just got are so much better than the "professional" equipment I was using 25 years ago. At 1/4 the price we paid for the "pro" tools back then. It's actually ridiculous. They are really not even comparably in quality and performance. So, here is the start of our built in library.

Carpentry finished. Ready for putty and paint. Kris wants to use a period correct finish with "Milk Paint" so I was able to cheap out on the materials a bit. 3/4" "Sande" plywood for the carcass, a couple cherry picked pieces of 1/4" underlayment for the backs and poplar trim. I made one mistake in planning. I neglected to check the floor for level before buying my moldings and did not account for the 1" out of level over the 84" run. Not a huge deal. I'll just cut some filler strips before Kris paints. This turned out pretty good, but up close and personal, you can see the 25 years of slack! Seeing as they will be painted, good enough is good enough. I have to say, the Hercules saws are punching way above their price point. It was a joy to work with them.