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Above 1200 Sq/FT Restored 1930's Auto Shop

Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.

MG David

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
192
Location
Warwick UK
Thomas, I love the use of solid hardwood. Did you make the stair components in your own basement woodworking shop?
 
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Grizz1963

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
11,966
Location
Rochester, KENT. UK
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That's what speechless looks like in words, above.

Beautiful work continues Thomas and team.

Posts are beautiful. As are the rest of your finishes.
 

BlueBomber

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
3,201
Location
Outside Boston, MA
Thomas, I'm always blown away by really good joinery, especially since my own seems to be so hit-or-miss. I'd be interested in a few of your tips and techniques for getting the geometry right (or to look like it is right) without spending endless hours twiddling with the boards. For example, it looks the risers meet the skirts at perfect 45-degree angles. Did you get the measurements dead-nuts right all the way up each flight of stairs or did you have to adjust and/or shim each riser as you went? Do you back-cut your **** joints by 2 degrees to achieve seemingly seamless joints where every tread meets it's bull nose trim?

Well done, sir, and I'll join the chorus of thanks for sharing your masterpiece with the rest of us.
 

wrigh003

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2006
Messages
783
Location
Birmingham, AL
Holy cow you have stayed busy. I went to look at that index I made for this thing (once upon a time long ago, before I was quite so busy at work and in life in general) and now there's about half the thread uncatalogued.

Sadly I can't make any promises about being able to spend the time to extend it, but I wanted to pop in and say hi. Hope the center of the world up there in Philo is still treating you guys well. :)
 

Thirdyfivepickup

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 15, 2016
Messages
1,940
Location
Portage, Indiana
Thomas, I'm always blown away by really good joinery, especially since my own seems to be so hit-or-miss. I'd be interested in a few of your tips and techniques for getting the geometry right (or to look like it is right) without spending endless hours twiddling with the boards. For example, it looks the risers meet the skirts at perfect 45-degree angles. Did you get the measurements dead-nuts right all the way up each flight of stairs or did you have to adjust and/or shim each riser as you went? Do you back-cut your **** joints by 2 degrees to achieve seemingly seamless joints where every tread meets it's bull nose trim?

Well done, sir, and I'll join the chorus of thanks for sharing your masterpiece with the rest of us.

/\/\/\/\/\ THIS!!!!

Thomas, you remind me a lot of my father. (and not just because you are both named Thomas) He can do anything, fix anything, build anything...

...very little of which rubbed off on me... :dunno:

He would applaud your attention to detail and use of fine quality products. He would especially appreciate your trim work. That's his favorite part of woodworking. He likes to point out good trim work and I always point out bad trim work to him just to get him going. :p

The house I just bought has some terrible examples of hammer marks and misaligned corners on trim. When I first showed the bad spots to him I thought he was going to get the pry bar and start pulling it off on the spot.
 
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BB767

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
3,724
Location
Philo, IL
During the construction of our house, posting here in a timely fashion has been difficult for me to say the least. As I have mentioned, I've put in months and months of long hours on the project but at the same time I wanted to share the process with my friends here.

Frequently when I have posted it's been in the wee hours of the night or early morning. They may not have been the best posts but at least I've gotten something on here. Even though we have moved in, I still find I'm putting in those same long hours in hopes of wrapping the project up. Everyone seems to understand when answers to questions or follow up post are not forthcoming as quickly as I'd like.

In that vein, I will get to your questions so don't hesitate to ask away. If it takes me longer than you think it should to get back to you, a little nudge does not bother me at all.



So with the weather continuing to be fantastic and much of the new home interior construction done, I've been working with Arron on cleaning up the old home site.



He's been manning the excavator and I've been operating the backhoe and together we're tag teaming getting everything cleaned up and ready for spring.



The cleanup work is moving along nicely and we managed to get virtually all the old structure and foundation removed from the site. Very little if anything was left covered up. If we saw it, be it a stray brick or chunk of concrete, it was picked up and removed.



The site grade still needs to be lowered a little more. Arron is bringing his bulldozer to do the final grade work which should work nicely for that. Using the machines weight we've managed to get the fill compacted to around 95% so there should be very little if any settling. After a couple of months sitting, I'll do a final grade and seed the area for the upcoming summer.



The view has changed a lot in a weeks time and will change some more once the concrete work at that end of the driveway is done next month.



The view inside has changed a lot as well. Stand by for more.

Thomas
 

Type3Tim

Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
15
Location
Oklahoma
Thomas,
As with all significant projects; the last 20% of the items on the punch list seem to take 80% of the effort. Hang in there, you and Chris are doing great work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

csp

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
Messages
5,719
Location
Franktown, CO
I built my house ten years ago and still have punch list items to complete. I was so happy to finally be able to live in it that my drive to get everything done withered. Nothing visible really, but there are closets with no baseboard trim, etc.
 

dpljmurphy

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2015
Messages
200
Location
Near Agnew WA
Thomas, having just started a thread I know how much work it is to get one photo taken, onto the computer and posted. You've done it thousands of times, thanks for that effort.

The stairs look amazing, i would be hugely reluctant to take on a project like that without an extremely detailed set of drawings (and even then). To say "nice work" doesn't really cut it! Congratulations!

David
 
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BB767

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
3,724
Location
Philo, IL
Like It Never Was There...



Between the bulldozer and the backhoe...



...and some hand work...



...we managed to get it...



...looking decent. Much of this dirt in the foreground will eventually be placed around the driveway once it's finished. I'm just storing it here for now.



Across the driveway I'll let the site where the old house was sit for a couple of months and then seed it.



It's nice rich soil and should green up nicely. That's the old shop sign in the background right, just to the left of the second tree on the right.



This is looking out one of the windows in the great room. With the old house now gone, you can see for miles distant across my front lawn. We'll see what this looks like in 6 months time.

And that concludes this portion of our program and the old family home. On to other projects in the new house. Stand by!

Thomas
 

realvc

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
394
Location
Lake Norrell, AR
Hey Thomas and Chris,
I can't remember why or how I ever came across your thread. I do remember it was something about a lift. When I saw the pictures of you digging out the old lift cylinder, down in the hole it occurred to me that this man is on a mission.

What a mission it has been. The Y manifold, the race cars, the shop, the barn, the education in floor jack rebuilding, the bench build, the cartree or treecar all that process you like so much where you have the metal coated and cooked what is called again?

Anyway what a trip.
Speaking trips, what about the trip your copy of "Beltsville Shell" is on.

Thanks again. Looking forward to the never ending, on going, on growing tales from the "COTU".

The yard looks great and you have the equipment ready to care for it.
 

mopar4don

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 9, 2013
Messages
103
Jack rebuilding. I would be interested in reading this.
Do you have any idea what page its on?
It may take a while to find, looking through 535 pages!
 

markviii

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2010
Messages
1,310
Location
east central IL
Thanks for all the positive comments. We're making good progress. The settling in process will take some time, but things are moving along.

realvc - you must be having a senior moment or pulling our leg -- powdercoating is a staple at the COTU.

mopar4don - you have a lot of studying to do for the eventual test - you're just lucky I'm too busy right now. To start your quest about the Rotary lift resurrection, look around page 10. Start at around page 22 for the Walker jack rebuild info.

There's lots to learn here and so little time, so watch out for getting sucked into the vortex (although they tell me that resistance is futile).

More to come...

Chris
 
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BB767

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
3,724
Location
Philo, IL
Jack rebuilding. I would be interested in reading this.
Do you have any idea what page its on?
It may take a while to find, looking through 535 pages!

Hello mopar4don and welcome to our merry gang. This might help you. Go to page #1, post #1 and scroll to the bottom of that post. In large letters is:

Thread Index

Click on that and it will take to you an index for the first 274 pages of this thread. There are several posts on rebuilding/restoring Rotary Lifts and Walker floor jacks...







Have fun here and let me know if you have any questions.

Thomas
 

Homebody

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
1,347
Location
Northern Illinois
Both the view from the house and the road are incredible, what a difference a year, a lot of labor, and some coin makes!!:eyecrazy::rocker:

Can't wait to visit again.:3gears:
 
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realvc

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Messages
394
Location
Lake Norrell, AR
Hello mopar4don and welcome to our merry gang. This might help you. Go to page #1, post #1 and scroll to the bottom of that post. In large letters is:

Thread Index

Click on that and it will take to you an index for the first 274 pages of this thread. There are several posts on rebuilding/restoring Rotary Lifts and Walker floor jacks...







Have fun here and let me know if you have any questions.

Thomas

Thanks once again Thomas, you are the man.
 

panthersteve

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Messages
134
Location
Ipswich, Qld, Australia
Hi Thomas

Thought I would give you a Beltsville Shell update

Cheers
Steve

- Lyndon - Sydney, NSW Read
- VMX42 - Sydney, NSW Read
- 1/2 Cup - Shepparton, Victoria Read
- Nursepeter1973 - Western Australia Read
- BBChevro - Brisbane, Qld Read
- Panthersteve - Brisbane, Qld Read Posted to Gatsby 10/03/17
- Gatsby - Canberra, ACT Next
- Terrickdownunder - near Canberra ACT After Gatsby
- Grumblebum - Wollongong, NSW Last!
 
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Lotusnut

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 23, 2012
Messages
114
Location
Cambridge Ontario, Canada
Steve,
There is a third possibility but I am not sure that Miss Chris would fit this scenario. She could just have a slightly warped way of looking at things and see Panthers Te Ve instead of Panther Steve. I know I could see it. Now if you were in the states many of the good NFL Football teams are named after cats like Panthers and th Chetas, PanthersTV could fit.


Hi Chris

Was it late at night or you were in a hurry when posting this message :bounce::thumbup:

Cheers
Panthersteve :lol:
 

Cdubu52

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2014
Messages
618
Location
Pittsboro, NC
Thomas and Chris,

WOW! I made it. About a couple of months ago I started this thread and I have finally completed it. I kept wanting to comment, but didnt want to skip to the end. I didnt want to spoil any surprises, so I waited until I was completely caught up before posting. I hate to say, I have a ton of other threads to catch up on now. Every time I have logged in to GJ I have gone right to your thread and have neglected everyone else. As everyone else has said, your work and your adventures have been fun to watch.

Keep it up, we look forward to stopping by.

Chris
 
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Gatsby

Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2011
Messages
21
Location
Canberra Australia
Beltsville Shell has arrived in the national capital of Australia

Regards

Gatsby

looking forward
Hi Thomas

Thought I would give you a Beltsville Shell update

Cheers
Steve

- Lyndon - Sydney, NSW Read
- VMX42 - Sydney, NSW Read
- 1/2 Cup - Shepparton, Victoria Read
- Nursepeter1973 - Western Australia Read
- BBChevro - Brisbane, Qld Read
- Panthersteve - Brisbane, Qld Read Posted to Gatsby 10/03/17
- Gatsby - Canberra, ACT Next
- Terrickdownunder - near Canberra ACT After Gatsby
- Grumblebum - Wollongong, NSW Last!
 
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BB767

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
3,724
Location
Philo, IL
Thomas, I saw this, and thought it might amuse you!

Pete, you made my day, my week, my month and maybe even my year with that one! :bounce:

........"they make more money than they can spend".......... and that's a good thing after building our dream house! :D



I think that young man caught the real essence of the job but...



...the best part is that girls like pilots. Especially Miss Chris!!!!! :drool:


That was several years ago when I took Chris on 5 day trip to Athens, Greece that I was flying. There were times it was a pretty good jig.

Thomas
 

tomstin

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 11, 2005
Messages
293
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Thomas, in my younger days I used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes. One of our pilots flew commercial as his real job. I always remember him saying: "They don't pay me to fly, I LOVE flying. If and when things go wrong, they pay me for my decision making under pressure!"

Recently while landing in Raleigh late one night, just off the runway we hit some wake turbulence from the plane ahead of us. Low and slow, never a good combination. The pilots gave it the gas and we went around for another try. While exiting the airplane the captain was standing in the cockpit doorway with a look on his face I'll never forget...he was shook!

Been lurking since page 56, wonderful work! And I applaud you taking the time to entertain this audience and appreciate the effort to keep the thread updated.
 

71 MKIV

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2013
Messages
32
Location
Lancaster PA
Must've been doing a check ride for somebody, you're in the wrong seat to be the pilot.
As a mechanic on little airplanes,(as an A&P, then as an avionics installation technician) I find it interesting that you are flying a squadzillion dollar machine, and there is still insulation hanging out between the instrument panel and the sidewall.

Love the job on the stairwell, and then when you get 3 minutes strung end to end would you please update how the 3 phase converter is working? Do you wish it was bigger? Do your machines take longer to start? Is their torque still the same?

Thanks
Steve, DBA 71 MKIV
 
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BB767

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 24, 2009
Messages
3,724
Location
Philo, IL
Back Home Again



We're back home after spending some time with our pal Lou in San Diego. I'll try to get caught up with my backlog here at the house with any luck tomorrow. I've still got some information you might find interesting plus I'll try to answer some questions. Stick with me. :)

In the above picture, those are a few of Lou's timing tags from his land speed runs over the years.





Timing tags are given to racers with information documenting their results from land speed record attempts at various venues. Lou's tags date from 1953 at Bonneville to 1970 with him setting several records over the years. As we have established previously, Lou is one cool dude! :thumbup:

Thomas
 
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