Planning ahead

[Greg Mann]

I haven't been a member too long so maybe this ground has already been plowed. Do any of you have funny stories about projects that turned out too big (or almost too big) to get out of your shop? My father-in-law once got a 4,00 lb. metalworking lathe into his basement. I used to fall out of my chair laughing when he told the story about how they did it. They were truly lucky no one got killed! Don't be shy.

Greg

[David Brown]

Built my daughter a dresser/ book case combo, then found it would not make turn in hallway,/ duck for door(it was tall) figured it out soon enough, still in cellar, and then had to CUT in half, add moldings and it is now two piece, cant really tell, came out fine. now I make a stick/ frame and condirm any close calls before building, so traal me about the late move?

[Tony Falotico]

Got about 60% completed with a fire truck bed for my grandson (Christmas present), bed in the truck bed, desk in the cab, toy box under the hood........... Designed to fit in the room he was in. Out of the clear blue sky, Daughter and Son in law decide to move, new bedroom to small. Many parts were re-cut and used in other projects, several still in shop..........

Ended up buying him a captains bed for Christmas!

[Pat Salter]

I built a set of computer desks for my oldest son who lives in an apt. When we tried to get it into the room we found the hallway was too tight/small for the hutch/bookcase. Fortunately I was able to make some "slight" modifications and we got it to fit.
I tell people all the time that the difficulty is not in the craftsmanship, it's in the planning. :cool:

[John Miliunas]

Egads, just as recently as this last Winter! Made some simple display shelves for my daughters room to go above the windows. They were to fit in dado's I cut into Oak rails and then screwed to the studs. Kind of a "floating" shelf, if you will. LOML decided on a simple profile for the edge of the shelves, which I accommodated. First, I made them fit tight. Real, REAL tight! :rolleyes: That's OK. Got one up and it looked fine. Got the other up and, after a LARGE amount of pounding with a rubber mallet, got the next one up and screwed in from the topside of the rail. Oooooops! I managed to install it with the profile upside-down! :mad: After a LOT more pounding, I finally managed to free it up from the rail. I let the sweat dry off a bit and regained my composure, while I waited for LOML and LOML Jr. to quit laughing. I resumed the install, only to find that, about halfway through, I was doing the same exact thing all over again! :o Yeah, I finally got it right, but only AFTER I sent both of them out of the room! (I could STILL hear them chuckling!) :cool:

[Greg Mann]

Hey guys, no good deed goes unpunished. Good stuff!! Keep 'em coming.

Greg

[David Brown]

ok, Type. I ment to say"Tell me about the moving of the heavy lathe"

[Greg Mann]

ok, Type. I ment to say"Tell me about the moving of the heavy lathe"
It's been years now and he has passed away so memory dims. They started out by butressing the stairwell, laying steel plate over the steps, and using rollers until they got it to the 'balance point' where it wanted to tilt onto the plates and sled down on its own. They had a guy with a tow truck backed up to the garage and used his winch to ease it down. The funny part was hearing him tell about crawling back and forth over the thing to check on the clearances every couple inches. Ironically, it only stayed down there for about 2 months before he found a shop to get started in and they had to winch it back up!

Greg

[Frank Pellow]

It's not quite the same thing as building something too big to get out of the shop, but I do have something in my old basement workshop that is too big and heavy to get out.

Back about 30 years ago when my basement was one big open space, I purchased a massive (and I do mean massive) steel desk from my employer (IBM) when they were modernizing our office. With the help of 3 strong friends, I moved it into our basement. Later on, I partitioned the basement and the desk ended up in the workshop. I did not really want the desk anymore (and I certainly did not want it taking up space in my workshop) but I realized too late that it could not be moved out. We had a company-paid move on one of our our assignments to England, and I thought that I would just get the movers to extract the desk. No luck. So, I am stuck with the desk. With the construction of my new shop building, this will become a storage room and maybe we will find a way to utilize the desk.

[Lee Schierer]

When I made the pedestal bed frame for our bedroom set, I made it all one piece. It was for a queen size bed. Unfortunately I failed to account for the height in determining the turn radius to get into the bedroom. I ended up having to put one end into the bathroom, swing the tailing end around to the bedroom door to get into the bedroom. This also required the vanity in the bathroom to be removed completely.

I just hope I'm around when someone tries to get it back out of the bedroom and doesn't know the trick that was used to get it in.

[John Miliunas]

I just hope I'm around when someone tries to get it back out of the bedroom and doesn't know the trick that was used to get it in.

Well, one hopes you WILL be around for the next move, but maybe you should tape some extrication instructions to the back of the headboard! :D :cool:

[Chris Thompson]

Not something I built, but similar.

In college we had this couch which was, honestly, as comfortable as it was ugly, which is to say, incredibly comfortable. It was the perfect thing for dorm rooms and college apartments.

One summer we decided to store it at a friend's house, we carried it up the stairs into the unfinished loft in his father's detatched garage/barn.

A short time later, his father decided he and his friends needed a place to play poker away from "the wives". And he finished that loft in stud walls and drywall, and added an airconditioning window unit and a big space heater.

About a year later (out of college), my friend was moving out of the house and wanted to take the couch, he called me over to help load it onto the truck as his father had a broken ankle at the time.

We could have cut that couch into quarters and it still wouldn't have fit through the door, around the corner, down those steps, and around the corner at the bottom. He had very nicely built his poker area around the couch and it wasn't going anywhere.

Well, that was his story at least. His wife, my friend's mother, whom he had built the room to escape from and smoke his cigars and play poker, threw an absolute fit, and cowed him into submission. :)

My friend and I then proceded to take hammers, crowbars, and a sawzall to cut the door out of the room, and the wall on the outside of the stairs away. Couch came down fine like that. :)

My friend did help his dad rebuild after his ankle was better. :)

[Jim Becker]

Not quite a "shop" faux pax, but the cherry desk I made for Dr SWMBO a number of years ago for my first real furniture project was a real trip to get into our smallest guest room when we moved her office there from what is now the dining room. I had to remove the top and really work hard to get through multiple doorways, even after taking the doors off...'took me almost two hours to manuver it 25' from our master bedroom, partially into the bath, then into the second bedroom, into the mini-hall at the top of the back stairs (couldn't bring it up there...stairs too narrow) and then into her office. In some cases, there was less than one of those proverbial hairs of clearance as the unit was carefully moved about.

I think it's safe to say we are not moving any time soon!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Not a project but a tool. Last fall LOML insisted I buy a new model table saw on this particular Sunday because it was the last day of a sale. :D They didn't have any demos set up.......I bought it.....assembled it in my very small shop attached to my carport. Did I mention that I don't have room to use a table saw in my shop and have to roll it out onto the carport to use it? :confused: Well.....you guessed it.....I got it assembled........took one look at the depth of the saw and grabbed a tape measure......Yup.......wouldn't go through the 36" door!!!! :eek: :o :rolleyes: I did, however, install a 48" outswing door. I bought the door on Monday :) .......found a contractor on Friday :D .......New shop has since been built and is awaiting me to get away from work, the "honey-do" list and begin caulking and painting, electrical and insulation. :D :D Have since installed new 48" door in "carport shop/shed" and the LOML loves the door and it's outswing feature. ;)

[Sparky Paessler]

Most large projects that I build can be a trial getting them out of my shop in the basement of my 1920's home. The entrance to the shop is a 49" tall 30" wide door. There is also a tight 90 turn before you get to the door. I have to be really careful what I build will go out this door. (If I can get it out of the shop I can get it in anywhere!). The fun part is my Unisaw, 3hp shaper, 15" planner all came in this door! It is on my project list to dig this out and install a 6'8" by 5' door.

[Greg Mann]

LOML wanted a rolling cart to put in the laundry room. My first real project. Took some measurements for the spot she had in mind. We got involved in other things and I misplaced my dimensions. No problem, I had 'em in my head. Got it built after too long and, you guessed it, too big by an inch. I offered to build another one and she agreed but said I didn't need to make it 'so nice just for the laundry room'. I told her these were learning experiences and there was no way the next one could not be nicer than the first one (right guys?). Remembering how long it took me she said we will make this one work. So now that we have moved the w & d, switched the overhead cupboards, installed a new hanging bar, moved two shelves, and sawed a section off the dirty clothes hamper, it fits! I'm just happy I didn't need to move the sink!!:o

When I started this thread I forgot a bit about how my wife and I shopped for our present home. At the time, I was not into woodworking but we are serious kayakers and the first criteria was easy access to storage space for the boats. We had 3 at the time, plus a canoe. Then we got into building the skin-on-frame kayaks. Over the years we have sold 3 and given one canoe away and we still have seven. They are like clamps, you can never have too many.:D It helps that LOML also paddles, so she's addicted too. Looking back, that need for access and space was a big help when I got addicted to woodworking. The kayaks have been moved into a finished part of the basement (walkout with a sliding door):) and the WWing stuff has taken its place in the unfinished part. Of course that's getting tight and when I start talking about using space 'on the other side of the wall', LOML doesn't share the same enthusiasm. We're negotiating.
Greg

[John Miliunas]

Over the years we have sold 3 and given one canoe away and we still have seven. They are like clamps, you can never have too many.:D

LOL :D That may be true, but I've had occassion to use just about ALL of my clamps at one time. How do *TWO* of you manage to man seven canoe's and/or kayaks at the same time? :confused: Ooooo,ooooo! I know, I know: Use your clamps to attach a whole bunch of boards across the top of them and have a party barge! :D :cool:

[Steve Beadle]

Most large projects that I build can be a trial getting them out of my shop in the basement of my 1920's home. The entrance to the shop is a 49" tall 30" wide door. There is also a tight 90 turn before you get to the door. I have to be really careful what I build will go out this door. (If I can get it out of the shop I can get it in anywhere!). The fun part is my Unisaw, 3hp shaper, 15" planner all came in this door! It is on my project list to dig this out and install a 6'8" by 5' door.
Hey, Sparky! Did I read you correctly--a 49-INCH tall doorway? That sounds like a doorway to Santa's workshop--you know, where all the elves work!
I see you're from Johnson City, Tennessee. I lived there for three years (1977-1980), while going to school at the Emmanuel seminary, across from Milligan College. Sure loved our time there! That was where I really started getting into woodworking, too.

[Betsy Yocum]

I recently built a bird cage a/k/a a mansion for my sister's bird. Humpppp what a project - had no clue how to build or design the thing which is exactly why we took the moulding off the doors and had to bring it in on its back to get under the ceiling fans - once we got in the door. The mansion weighs a ton by the way - used 3/4 lumber - its over six feet tall and just a shade over 36" wide by 4 feet deep. There's only one spot in the house the thing fits and that's the dining room. Sis wants me to move the bird to the porch so he can have fresh air - I say have a fan blow on him - that thing ain't moving again! - Now first thing I do when starting a project is measure my openings! Sis has since moved out of town - and yes - I still have the bird - was not about to try to move it! I understand these birds can live into their 60's - so when I move - the bird gets sold with the house as part of the contract!;)

[Jack Young]

A Twist on the Theme-

Most of us are collectors of some sort. I have a desk, made by Drexel back in the 1970s, which is a copy of the Washington Desk designed by Thomas Sheraton for George's inauguration. It's a beauty, veneered in mahogany, in need only of a bit of retouching. It's a long dude, and its narrowest dimension is 31 7/8", which means it coudn't go through any 32" door in this house we bought in 2000 because of the door stops. When we got it to my office, we hit one of them. The movers were worn out by then, as was I, so I took a hammer and killed the door stops. In it went, to become an essential part of my horizontal filing system until the LOML decreed months ago that it had to go downstairs to another room. Too much clutter. This meant passing through two more 32" doors. I rebuilt the two downstairs door frames to accomodate, someday, one a 36" door and the other a 32" one should anyone wish to add a door at either site and have now replaced the door stops to my office door. The downstairs ones are but passageways now, and they work just fine, all finished out in Bartley's Dark Brown Mahogany stain like all the other trim I've been redoing. I don't think either of my two sons want the desk, or have room for it, so I might sell that part of my heritage to get the lathe or whatever comes up next in this insane obsession I have developed around woodworking. But whenever it happens, that sucker will come out of the house with ease.

Funny thing about doors. To the ultra-conservative, the door is never open. To the ultra-liberal, the door is never closed. In neither event does it serve as a door. (Not sure of the relevance of this, but throw it in for whatever it's worth)

Jack Young

[Jim Becker]

ISis has since moved out of town - and yes - I still have the bird - was not about to try to move it! I understand these birds can live into their 60's - so when I move - the bird gets sold with the house as part of the contract!
Naa...the bird will go with you. It doesn't take long for them to become "family", especially when you care for them day-in, day-out. We have two and I can't imagine not having either around. (And until I met Dr SWMBO, I was a cat person...)

[Greg Mann]

Naa...the bird will go with you. It doesn't take long for them to become "family", especially when you care for them day-in, day-out. We have two and I can't imagine not having either around. (And until I met Dr SWMBO, I was a cat person...)
Probably true, Jim. But the cage may stay behind.;)

Greg