And it begins, shop WIP

[JTknives]

my string is to outside of posts I marked my holes 3" off string.
Well I took delivery yesterday and we are ready to go.

Got it all spread out for easy access.

Funny becaus the auger showed up at the same time as the building kit. So I ran to get the truck unloaded so I could start drilling holes.

All the holes are drilled.

Thy where nice enough to bring the skid stear with the bucket so after drilling the holes I popped the bucket in and removed as much grass and weed roots as I could. I still have some on the sides to remove but I got mist of it. Don't want that under the slab. I'm bringing in slab base (3/4" crushed rock) to build up my floor about 4".

The augher worked quite well till I hit about 2-1/2ft. It's quite hard down there and full of gravel.

So I'm ready to go. My dad will be helping me mon-wen next week and I'm hoping to have a good start on it.

 

[JTknives]

double post

 

[Frank Niro]

A big but exciting project ! Wishing you a super go ahead on all of it !!!
Frank

 

[JTknives]

We started construction today and it went rather well.
I was lucky my dad came over to help (general contractor) and my two cousins so we whipped it out quite quickly. The blueprints said each post gets a 2ft wide hole that is 3ft deep. Thy gave me 16ft posts so I made the holes 4ft deep. I tell you what holes that big straight up eat concrete. I used 4 yards of concrete and that put me about 6" from the top. I will leave those exposed and let the concrete from the slab fill it the rest of the way. I'm bringing in 10 yards of slab base (3/4" crushed rock) to level out the pad. The slab is calculated to take over 12 yards but the truck can only bring 12 at a time. We are close to the concrete plant so he will run back to top us off. Its nice to see posts in the ground and not just holes and mounts of dirt. Now to just bribe Salem with somthing to get him over the hill

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Now to just bribe Salem with somthing to get him over the hill

If you want I can ship Salems wood to you "on accident"

 

[JTknives]

I got a big fork lift tine I'm dangling in front of him as bate. I snagged a fork tie the busted off at the bend. I'm keeping one half and Salem gets the other. We are making sword anvils

 

[Jrmysell]

Looks good

 

[JTknives]

Ok it's update time, it's been a bumpy road and as soon as things look like thy are going smooth somthing would happen and set me back.

I brought in 10 yards of 3/4" crushed rock and we told him to spread a 8" layer from front to back. He backed up and lifted the bed all the way and released the gate and it all dumbed out in the back of the shop. There was a day spent slinging gravel. I then raked it all out and got the plate compactor and ran it over the gravel for 4hrs. It was as hard as a rock and I was happy. I then ran strings and discovered I was going to get a 3" thick slab on the left side and 5" thick on the right. So I spent hours digging the left side out and levelling with strings and then repacked it. Got done at 10:30PM.

The next day I dug a deal footing at the entrance that was 12-14" deep. The slab thickness goes from a 5" slab across the shop and then gets thicker twords the entrance.

Then we laid down 6mil plastic and started to tie rebar. And everything was looking good. The concrete was planed to be delivered in 2hrs.

I did not get any shots of pouring the slab I don't thing as things got crazy quick. The first truck pulled in and we started to pour and once he was empty he started pulling out and we where guiding him. He got just about out and thought he was clear and hooked a left and his drop axle hooked my from post and snapped it off. It was rather upset be we had no time to deal with it as the other truck just arrived. So we finished the slab.

We ran some gurts around the posts and stopped at the busted post and decide it was time to tackle the elephant in the shop. We made a plan and it worked out rather good all things considered.

We cut the mating post to fit and the gooped it up with gorilla glue construction adhesive and then ran 8 6" long tork screws into it. It's not a load bearing post so we are lucky. But still sucks none the less.

Next we framed in the door openings.

Then we started putting up trusses, starting to look like a shop now.

All the trusses are up and I'm working on putting in the 3/4" bolts.

 

[l1ranger]

looks good - i like that busted post fix too. good thinking on the move.

 

[timos-]

oh man, this is gonna be awesome

 

[kuraki]

So weird to see a pole building going up with no Amish around

 

[Salem Straub]

Man, that's looking good! Nice recovery on that busted post.
I'd come over real soon, except I'm leaving Saturday to drive to southern Idaho to get my 300 lb Beaudry... that's gonna be a big adventure and take me like 4 days. But I'll check back on what you've got going when I return!
Sword anvils... why then we'll have to make more swords... brilliant idea.

 

[Geoff Flato]

Nice work! I've done a few pole barns helping my uncle, biggest was an indoor riding arena. Yours seems to be coming along well!
I really can't wait to get going on my new shop.... So many things I'd like to add, just don't have the space... It's getting to be a pain going over to the museum I volunteer in the shops at every time I need a surface grinder or power hammer....

 

[Robert Erickson]

Looks great! Thanks for the update. Love seeing the progress.

 

[Bull Mountain Custom]

Really enjoying your shop WIP. Thank you for sharing. Keep up the hard work and you are going to be done in no time and way to get creative on the post repair!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I wish I could build a pole barn shop. In the city here any building has to be built like a house ... footings, foundations, slabs, sill plates, etc.

 

[mike-E]

i've never understood city codes requiring garages to be built like a house. then you go to the beach where hurricanes frequently occur and there are three story houses on stilts beside the ocean. just seems asinine, imo.

 

[JTknives]

We are moving right along and got up all the joists up today. My plan of simple shop has gone out the window and we are insulating and sheeting the interior. We are also framing a wall 24ft back which will give me a clean room that is 20x16 (minus wall thickness). I will have a double gang box with outlets every 10ft and each box is on a separate 20amp breaker. There will be 4 or 5 50amp nema 6-50 outlets. 4 in the main work area and one in the clean room. Everything will be sheathed with 1/2" plywood and painted white. I will be using the LED T8 bulbs that are 90+CRI @ 2200 lumens. There is 48 bulbs total with 6 8ft fixtures and 3 4ft fixtures in the main area. Thy will be connected in to make 3 strings 20ft long. The back room will get the same set up but only 3 8ft and 3 4ft giving me 3 12ft strings. This will give both the front and back rooms around 140-150 lumens per square foot. Each string will be on a separate switch except the back room which will be on one switch. So we have big plans for the future of the shop. It's nice becaus it's being built as a dedicated knife shop not a garage that has a knife shop corner.

 

[Robert Erickson]

Love getting the updates from your build! You're way ahead of my build LOL.
Forgive my ignorance but what will you use the 50amp nema 6-50 outlets for? How big is your main panel?

 

[Knife freaky]

Looking good JT!

Man, that's looking good! Nice recovery on that busted post.
I'd come over real soon, except I'm leaving Saturday to drive to southern Idaho to get my 300 lb Beaudry... that's gonna be a big adventure and take me like 4 days. But I'll check back on what you've got going when I return!
Sword anvils... why then we'll have to make more swords... brilliant idea.

That IS quit a journey! Definitely have to see some pics of that!

FYI: when you said you will have to make some more swords I started drooling all over my keyboard!

Daniel.