While we’re not out of the woods regarding frost just yet . . . I mean, okay, I’m literally in the woods so being out of them isn’t exactly going to happen spontaneously 🙃 . . . so it’s too early to sow my 5# bag of wildflower seeds, but spring is definitely happening. I’m hearing froggies and definitely more birdsong, too. There are visible signs, as well, like these egg masses in the drainage channel along my road.
I think they’re frogs, but we’ll find out in a couple of weeks for sure!
These little yellow things seem egg-like, too, but I have no idea what they are and their being singles rather than clumps is mystifying.
As I was clearing leaves from a culvert and as I moved some leaves away, I saw a black floppy wiggle that turned out to be salamander’s tail, not the snek I thought it to be!
And early flowers, too. Some people call them weeds. Apiarists call them first pollen sources of the season. I call them welcome bits of brightness.
It’s nice to see – and hear – the land waking up.
Meanwhile, the new, more powerful inverter has arrived but I required some additional tools and parts to install it, so it’s not ready to power up just yet. In anticipation, though, I have started on the interior of the workshop that isn’t just the walls and insulation and such. First up is a combination workstation that features the table saw, router table, and thickness planer integrated into one 6ft square area.
The outfeed table isn’t here yet, but this shows the router table deck now in place of the extension table on the saw (which is covered in other tools and supplies as I’m working).
This is where I’m going with it: a big table behind the saw that supports workpieces as they exit the saw that also doubles as infeed support for the router, which will share the table saw’s rip fence. The thickness planer (gray box) will swing down and out of the way most of the time but when in use, the table will support work as it exits the planer, too. The ladder in front of the router will be bit storage.
It’s not a beautiful bit of furniture — it’s very rough, just built from construction lumber, nails, and screws, but that’s all it has to be. Quick and easy and not especially precise, either. The table needs to be oh so very slightly lower than the saw deck, slick so parts move easily on it, and well supported. It’s all that. Pictures of the finished thing when it’s a finished thing.
Why build this now? Aside from feeling like I’m starting to get the shop together, the other reason is that building this eliminates the router table cart and the planer cart and thus condenses the footprint of tools in the shop (the outfeed table for the saw was going to be there regardless), making more room for everything.
Also, when the power supply is ready, I want the table saw fully ready to use it! I should have all the necessary parts and tools on hand by this weekend, but for a welcome change, I have some social engagements so construction is unlikely.
In other completely random news, this piece of firewood, when cut, revealed an eye! Two side-by-side become some very watchful bookends. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them, but for now they do NOT go in the stove as firewood.
