Winter brings woodworking headaches
It took me 25 minutes to cycle to the shop one day this week. Usually it takes me about seven minutes.
I would have driven, but the road wasn’t plowed and I thought it might take a while to get there. It snowed about 6″ the night before; enough to take me and my son (school was closed) about an hour to shovel the driveway before I headed to the shop.
My pants were soaked by the time I arrived and I felt like I’d cycled uphill for an hour, but I really can’t complain too much. I enjoy spending time on two wheels, even if the winter weather makes it extra challenging.
Things can always be worse
At least I can toss my pants in the wash at the end of the day to clean them. Strangely, I wish I could put 4×8 sheets of 3/4″ thick plywood in the laundry, too. That would have been very handy last week. We got a few inches of snow then, which sadly coincided with the day I needed to head to the lumberyard and pick up a bunch of sheetgoods. The roads were pretty clear, and the sun had melted just about all the snow on the main roads. The rural roads were another story, though, which I found out the hard way.
They were plowed, but the lack of traffic, and the fact that they were likely plowed last, meant there was still a lot of snow on them. A bit of sun turned that nice, white snow into brown slush at about the same time I cinched the last tie-down on the trailer. Off I went, with 10 sheets of plywood and a couple large pieces of cardboard on the top sheet to keep everything clean. I travelled about 300 metres down the road to the nearest intersection, when I thought I should hop out to check on the $1,000 worth of material I was towing.
It was ugly
Sloppy, brown slush covered much of the cardboard. Because the cardboard wasn’t quite as wide as the 4×8 sheets, there was a 2″ wide strip of wet, brown, nastiness down either side. Even worse, the front edges, right near the corners of the sheets, were sopping wet with the same ugly slush that my rear wheels kicked up.
Considering I was only one percent of the way home, I decided to head back to the lumberyard and see about covering these sheets properly. Three more large pieces of cardboard and a piece of wrap about 3′ wide by about 12′ long were what I found – enough to cover up the sheets pretty well
On the road again
Back down the same 300 metres of long, nasty country road, and I again checked the load at the end of it. No worse for wear and off I went. Right away, the roads were better after that first intersection. Dry pavement all the way to the shop, thankfully.
I finally got to the shop and could bring the sheets in to check on them. I cleaned each of them off as well as possible, which took a while. I used a small piece of plastic laminate to scrap off the frost and sand, then set them all up in front of a fan to dry them out quickly. I was worried the dark areas would stain, as these sheets were all veneered maple, but thankfully I could mostly cut these areas off, or place them on the unseen side of the workpiece. The parts also sanded up quite nicely, so I’m thankful for that.
Bringing this load of material home sure caused me some stress, but it worked out okay. Next up is to complete the maple storage unit and deliver it across town to the client’s home. I’m hoping for a stretch of warm, dry weather next week, as I don’t want to show up at their home with a coating of brown slush on their new storage unit.
At the Shop
This is what the trailer load of plywood looked like once I got back to the shop. The second batch of cardboard, coupled with the large piece of plastic wrap, worked nicely. I just wish I would have used it before setting out the first time.
The Corners
Once the cardboard and plastic were removed, you could see all the frozen slush that initially got spread all over the leading corners of the sheets.
My thought was a roll of shrink wrap, which you can leave in the car (like truckers use on skids). It’s more waterproof than a tarp and can be the same shape as whatever you’re transporting. Wrapped around the edges of the plywood with cardboard on top and you may have arrived unscathed.
Not a bad idea, Ian.
Dean – yes, there are tarps in Ontario. I even have three. In hindsight, I should have brought at least one. With the roads generally so dry, I was caught by the fact that the only slushy road in the area was the one that leads to the lumberyard. Part my bad, for not being prepared. Part bad luck. Life goes on.
Don’t they sell tarps in Ontario?
Rob, maybe you should consider making a cover for your trailer out of exterior plywood. Something like two partial sheets with an overlap at the centre seam. The lip on the top looks like you could attach it there some how. My wife’s Opa did something similar years ago on a snowmobile trailer. He also added 18 inch sides to it, to mount the overlapping top. We moved from Winnipeg to Hamilton with it. Everything inside the trailer was totally bone dry when we got down to our destination. The only downside was having to go back to collect our snowmobiles later in the year. Did have lots of plywood for a few projects though.