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03 April, 2009

A Day's Work Completed In Two Hours

Man, you just can't beat that, eh? Well, you probably could, but since we're heading into summer, April and May tend to be our really dry months. They're also some of our hottest - or at least muggiest.

Doug, who lives down the street from us, said that the temp today was supposed to be in the upper 80's, but factoring in humidity, the heat index, and some other mumbo-jumbo of meteorology, it will feel like 110. It does.

Consequently, two hours work is about all I'm good for. Then it's a nice long, cool shower, and... TA-DA - Pool Time! That should be in effect for the rest of the afternoon. Some days, you just have to throw in a nap for good measure too.

Here's what I'm working on now. I'm using an expanded-metal screen material for the bottom screens on the back (street-side) porch. The upper part will be traditional nylon screen in bronzed aluminum frames that I have done at Texaco. Our Texaco doubles-up as a filling station, and a glass and screen shop. Such a deal (BTW, Texaco is pronounced down here as Tex-a-co, with the "a" sounding like the "a" in at).
The Work Space - Saw in Place
What I'm doing for this project is, using a fancy quarter-round mahogany moulding that I got from Shipyard, I miter-cut with my trusty Craftsman Compound Miter Saw (what a cool tool. It even has a laser guide), then screw the outer four sides in place. Then I position the screen material in place, and do the same cuts and screw in the inner four sides. Ends up looking pretty good, even if I do say so myself.

The shot below shows the space in the porch railing where the today's first screen will go.
Screen Location
I thought it would be good to show me actually at work. Notice - no beer around. I am somewhat safety conscious.
The Artist At Work
And, here we are with the left shot showing the day's first screen in place. The second shot shows both the first and the second in place. All that's left is clean up, and put the tools away. And I'm done for the day.

My tee-shirt is as wet as if I'd jumped into the pool already. Plus, I'm covered with sawdust. Man, is that shower going to feel good.
The Completed Day's Project
Two Screens, In Place and Mounted
Right now, I'm cooling down as I write this, then it's to the showers, a nice bologna sandwich, and then... Pool time!

2 comments:

sandy a said...

that expanded metal looks good. When i first started reading the blog today, I was expecting that heavy stuff like you use as deck plating on a 4-wheeler trailer or something.

Dave Rider said...

Hi Sandy,

It's really cool stuff. I think it's actually aluminum, and is pretty fine stuff. I'll see if I can get a close-up shot of it to post later.

Dave