Thursday, March 13, 2008

Notebook Blogging #7

Sorry "notebook blogging" is getting out late today, after class I decided I wanted to have some fun with drywall so I went to my apartment and fixed some holes in the walls and ceiling. This could be a whole topic in itself, but the quick version is, the apartment above me had some pipe issues and they had to go through my apartment's ceiling to get them, which of course left holes that I figured should be fixed. In case you have not experienced fixing holes in walls I recommend you "accidentally" slam a door open and fix the resulting hole, it is great fun. Or you could just use duct tape like a good friend of my does ;)

Because of the weather our house has been moving right along, no one has gotten injured except a guy named Steve who hit his pinkie with a hammer...everyone kids him about that. I was in charge of cutting all the joists for one side of the house and I have to say good tools really do make a difference. The circular saws we have in class are simply amazing. Even though we have a circular saw as soon as I can, I am buying the one we use in class.

When we finished the sub-floor Mr. T. got up on it and did a little dance number, oh the times I wish I had a video camera! This past week we actually had this thing called the "cultural fair" which I guess is supposed to introduce us to different cultures....All I did was eat great food :p Oh and watched Mr. T. dance. Turns out his little dance move he did on the sub-floor was just a warm up for the dancing he did with his group, "The Crazy eights".

Next week I have spring break, which means I will have an amazing amount of time on my hands. Back in December when I was looking at the schedule the thought crossed my mind that I would go on a road trip up north on spring break but that is not an option at the moment. My grandmother actually has been wanting to go to Boston to visit her sister but she is going to be flying up. Stuck in a car with me did not interest her too much, besides she got her plane ticket free. I have a feeling my mother has plans to use my "skills" around the house, if that is the case, just a heads up, there may or may not be any blog posts next week. :p

5 comments :

  1. Sarah said...

    Ohhhh! I have a project that you can use you "skills" on. Remember that huge bookcase you are going to build me???? You can do that next week!!! I need you to build it so I can go book shopping.... :)

  2. Anonymous said...

    I have to ask - how did Steve manage to hit his pinkie with a hammer? Assuming, of course, that it was unintentional...

    Btw, what model saws are you using? Something with a nice worm drive, perhaps?

    Have you been using framing nailers for any of your projects? Once you've used a good full-head nailgun, you'll never be happy with a hammer again. My Toshiba drives 3.5" commons as fast as I can pull the trigger (or push it against a stud, depending on how the safety is set). Toenailing is also a piece of cake, and you can do many jobs single-handedly that would otherwise require a helper.

    If cheap Chinese (slave-labor!) tools don't offend you, you can get some good entry-level nailers from Harbor Freight.

  3. Will said...

    Yes it was unintentional but I have no idea how Steve hit his pinkie. All I know is he was trying to hit a nail...The saws are not worm drives I know that but I am not sure of the exact model something made by Makita. As for nail guns.... :D For the most part we have been using hammers because Mr. T. said he wants everyone to learn how to use one. But I was in charge of putting in bridging for the floor joists and I was able to use a Bostitch F28WW we have. It was pretty amazing.

  4. Anonymous said...

    I never want to be around a nail gun cause I've heard too many stories of people miss-firing and getting a nail in their skull and not knowing it until years later :o

  5. Anonymous said...

    Abigail, you have to disable several safety mechanisms in order to do that... unfortunately, some "professionals" do exactly that in order to make repetitive nailing tasks go just a tiny bit quicker.