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Morning everybody ! Just a quick spot of coffee 'cause I need to visit one of the local lumber dealers and find out if I can afford to purchase some Douglas fir for my new built-in workbenches and a chop saw and radial arm saw table/cabinet that I'm building for my woodworking shop. Each built-in is approx 14 feet long, and I prefer to use Douglas fir since it is a much nicer wood than Southern Yellow pine. (Douglas fir is more expensive than quarter-sawn white oak around here lately. And forget redwood - even if one can find it locally) Douglas fir usually has far less splinters and is tidier looking with no knots. and is usually far more stable than Southern Yellow pine - important when one needs a dead flat surface for precision work. I intend to use two layers of 3/4 MDF for the top and then it will be covered with either 3/4 Melamine faced material for the slippery parts and 1/4 tempered Masonite for the rest. I swear by the tempered Masonite for most top surfaces on work benches because it's economical and very durable, yet forgiving enough to not damage delicate chisles and planes. I always lay down several coats of a clear oil, followed by several coats of wax, to ward off errant glue spills, etc. As soon as these two built-ins are completed. I can start the dreaded drywalling over the 1/2 inch plywood that is being fastened to the 2X4 walls. How I hate to hang drywall - esp the sanding. Most likely will use a drop ceiling since I have an almost 9 ft ceiling height throughout the basement. I intend to use the same materials throughout the separate hobby room where I'll finally be able to put all my modeling spares in a proper place instead of having to hunt thru one box after the other and then work at a makeshift work station, or sit on the concrete floor sorting thru little parts that I barely can see ! LOL Ditto for the layout room less the 1/2 inch plywood on all the interior walls - I use the plywood to fascilitate attaching shelves anywhere needed and for racking resistance on shear walls that are framed above grade, rather than the below grade poured concrete walls. Phil - re: steel 2X4s - remember that they are quite sharp on the edges and may not be the best choice for model RR benchwork - I can envision getting all kinds of nasty cuts and slices when working under the layout in the dark, and tracing a bad ground. Also, it's a lot easier to modify an in-place piece of wood than a steel stud. And that's a lot of conductive material - namely steel - that may or may not play havoc w/ DCC systems (don't have a clue) and the sharp edges may fray the very frail model RR wiring that we typically use. Noise transmission thru a steel framework may pose other issues, as wood absorbs a degree (how much - don't know) of noise and vibrations. The costs of steel vs wood studs are quite close, with the demand for steel beginning to increase as residential builders have started using it for new construction. I still believe that ripping 2X6s and even 2X8s into smaller dimensioned lumber is still the best way to go if one has a table saw. Don't count on the 'big box store' workers to be able to do that for you. They have a difficult enough time cutting a piece of plywood in two, and OSCHA and/or corporate rules and regs prohibit them from ripping such small dimensioned lumber. You may be able to CAREFULLY rip such lumber with a portable 'Skil- type' circular saw and a rip fence. A pneumatic brad nailer would be a tremendous time saver for attaching certain pcs of wood, but I'd avoid using a traditional hammer and nails as that constant banging would throw everything out of wack - including your arms if working upside down under the benchwork. I discovered some really neat self tapping screws- no need for a pilot hole or a countersink - made by a German company called Wurth. I swear by them now for fastening most materials including MDF, plywood and Melamine even when butt jointing an edge against a flat. No need for an expensive dedicated step-drill bit, but a special, but very inexpensive drive bit fis needed for use in an electric drill or 'screw' driver. (anyone needing more info re: where to get these should email me) For gluing up foam core products I use the Liquid Nails that designates on the label that it is suitable for such glue-ups. It's cheap, slightly flexible, and incredibly strong. Plan ahead and use rubber or latex gloves, as it's as ugly to clean off your fingers as polyurethane type adhesives. My fingers have been gray and wierd looking for a week now following a complicated (and messy) glue-up. What is even worse is the expandable foam in an aerosol can -got a lot of it in my hair awhile back while working on sealing up voids under a bath tub in a shallow crawl space. I strongly resembled a mutant 'cone head' when I came out into the daylight, and only Vaseline - one hair strand at a time - would remove it (and about 1/3 of my already thinning hair)! 3M also makes some spray adhesives specifically for foam core products that may be useful for adhering small pcs of broken foam, and for lightly adhering large sheets, since most applications that we use it for are under very little stress or subject to any shear. That stuff is super-flammable, so proceed with caution. Rememebr when I (stupidly) threw a 'what appeared to be an empty can' of it into a construction site burn pile behind my old house, and it exploded like a bomb, and showered the rear deck and the entire back wall w/ flaming debris - a real pain to remove. It set the molded plastic dog house ablaze too. Scared the daylights out of everone, and earned me the 'most stupid' title in our household for sometime. . . Phil - hope to see you when you're in Georgia. Email me for phone numbers, etc. BTW - my model RR club is having an auction on Saturday Feb 26th, if that tempts you any. . . Noah - you can build structures for me anytime you desire - very clean build up. Re: rubber vs. wood bumpers on a loading dock - both have been used, and I recall really banged up large pcs of timber with pcs of concrete and rebar attched to them lining the facing edges of delivery docks, as well as large pcs of rubber - perhaps almost like tubing - that were attached to the wood or directly to the concrete. Remember to scatter lots of debris- busted-up pallets, broken concrete and bits of wood, packing materials, fast food wrappers, and other trash - that migrated into the corners of the dock - and where the trucks wheels wouldn't have driven over it. . .Recall all of the above from my (much younger) days of working in shipping and receiving for various companies unloading box cars by hand -often one parcel at a time and then reloading the same into either the warehouse of into delivery trucks. (yes they had fork lifts way back then - just some of my bosses were too cheap to buy one) Whether it was Nabisco cookies & crackers, restaurant supplies, or fishing tackle - most loading docks were much the same. Der - Liked the viaduct a lot - too bad a similar one would look rather silly in my north Georgia/sw North Carolina locale. Must go and get to the lumber yard. Later everyone. . .Have a great day! BILL
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