Woodworking Time!

Now that my Tuscan house is all covered up, I've started on the process of making the frames that hold the front and rear windows and the roof vent.  Taking the advice of Nancy and others on the NSSO group, I purchased a neat little gadget called the Kreg Jig Jr.--they have a bigger, more expensive version, but this size was fine for me. 

Since I've never worked with such things as saws--at least the electric versions--or drills, I needed some initial practice time.  It really wasn't that hard--well, the jig wasn't hard to do.



Next came the sawing the 1x3s into 7 foot lengths and 15 inch lengths--with a circular saw, a pretty heavy circular saw.  Ted set a work area up for me on the front porch because of the rain.  I'm definitely having problems cutting a good straight, square line!  It's not so hard on a panel, but on a little 1x3...That problem reared it's ugly head when I went to put it all together!!

I got pretty good with the Kreg Jig.  I got the 2 window frames done pretty fast.  This is where my sawing problem showed up...Because the ends on my short pieces weren't cut square, they didn't fit correctly on the longer pieces and the openings ended up not being square and just a little larger than they should have been--by that stupid 1/8" again!  I sure hope this doesn't come back to bite me later!!

The last panel that I had cut for the ceiling was just a little too big and fit a little too tight between two other panels that were already on.  That panel is sagging.  We tried putting an oak support on the roof and stapling the panel to it, but all that happened was that the sagging panel pulled the oak down and bowed the oak!  I'm going to cut a new panel, take the original one off, and put the new one on.  Hopefully, this will solve the problem of the sagging panel!! 


ADDED NOTE:  Last night I was at a Boy Scout function where I ran into the man who sold me my poor, pitiful Scotty.  It took me most of the night to get up the nerve, but I finally confronted him on the condition of the camper.  He swears he didn't know, but Ted didn't believe him.  I'm not sure if he was telling the truth or not, but it did make me feel better to finally get it all off my chest, face to face with him.  I'll be emailing him the address for this blog so he can see just what I've gone through.  Yes, one day this will be a wonderful camper, but I was not looking for a project camper--I was looking for a camper to hook up and enjoy camping in right away.  I guess I can be proud of all that I have accomplished and all that I have learned along the way and still have to learn.  And my Tuscan house will be a gorgeous camper one day!!