It starts

It’s time to get things underway. Today I headed down to the hardware store to buy some supplies so I can get started. Having moved towns recently, there is next to no scrap pieces of wood lying around so I picked up a couple of pieces of 70x19x900 pine to make the sanding board and a single piece of 70x30x900 to use as cauls. A piece of 190x19x900 will suffice in making the body brace - I hope.

I also bought a small metal ruler which has the imperial – metric conversions on the back. I am not old enough to remember a time when Australia used the imperial system of measurement (ceased 1968), so when I watch the StewMac video, I get lost on hearing one 16th of an inch etc. Better to have a handy reference near by instead of making a stupid mistake.

I picked up fresh PVA glue, 2 good quality 300mm clamps and some spring clamps that will no doubt come in handy. Last of all I got some motor body filler to make the curved shape on the cauls for clamping the end blocks.

I’m not overly concerned with the expense of this project and I am basically keeping a record of the money I spend to give those that follow a general idea of what to expect. Keeping that in mind, I should break up the record of my expense below into two different classes. Obviously, if I already had clamps and scrap wood lying around, I wouldn’t have needed to buy it. I think I’ll record the cost of items that are consumable, sandpaper, glues etc separate from other expenses.

So, once I finish all the other weekend duties, I can get to making braces, boards and cauls.

Time taken : Time stops in a hardware store.
Tools used : Credit card.
AU$'s spent : Consumables - glue $5.34, auto body filler $7.00 = $12.34
Sundry expenses - clamps $42.65, wood $10.78, ruler $4.97 = $58.40