back-to-back-to-back to the future (part 2) or; how to load a shed onto a trailer.

So... I have failed you, my faithful followers. I thought last week was going to be a blog-a-thon, an epic outpouring of posts, witty comments, pictures and all that stuff, but you know what? It wasn't. That's what's up.

I'm already over this whole Back to the Future themed thing, I figure you probably didn't get it in the first place. It's cool. I am going to talk about the future though, my future. It might not seem like it, but this shed I built has a lot to do with it. 

I built a storage shed last week for the (actually a, they have two) Farmer's Market in Lexington, Va. They wanted something around 6'x6' to keep tables, bins and the occasional unsupervised child who touches all the vegetables in during the 6 days a week they aren't peddling produce. "So what?", you say? "That's the same stuff you do every other day...", you say? Sure. But, the difference is in the details.

The Farmer's Market convenes weekly in the front parking lot of the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington. People, horse-people, travel to Lexington from all over the country to compete, spectate and otherwise participate in big-time horsey events at the Horse Center. Basically, it's a magnet for people that might like to buy something rad from me. So, I'm excited to now have a sweet rustic building out in a high traffic area, I'll put a little sign out eventually. This is the whole "future" thing I've been talking about. Although this build was commissioned, I'm planning on building a few more little guys, coops, sheds, or whatever that I can peddle at various locations. One of them being the Rockbridge Community Festival in two weeks, where I have reserved a booth space. Another being Black Dog Salvage, where I talked with one of the big dogs who'd like me to bring down a coop. I'll be on the lookout for few more venues throughout the fall to get geared up for the busy season.

Part of this whole changeover (from strictly commissioned work to build-for-sale work) calls for some small measure of standardization perhaps, but also allows me to get back to building whatever the heck I want to build. Hopefully, it will all go down as follows. I would like to have several many pre-built coops on hand, for the folks who like what they see in the ad or at a show and want to "buy it now". This will allow me to keep my schedule cleared up for the folks who want that one-of-a-kind magic. Also, to facilitate the preservation of my sanity, I will probably need to implement some kind of delivery policy in the near future. 

Until I get some better equipment, I've built a contraption to take a little bit of the headache out of getting a building on and off the trailer. It's basically just a giant dolly. Of course, I maxed out it's carrying capacity on the first go-round. Read on to see how it works.

Skipping a few steps... all the "six footers" used in the walls were pre-cut before this project was schemed up. Special thanks to my "apprentices" Coulter and Joel. The cart is on the bottom, as you may have guessed.

*POOF* you've got shingles.

I bought this 5,000 lb winch and mounted it to the front of the trailer to pull the cart up onto it. We're running it off of the lawnmower's electrical system for now.

Farm jacks, if you can't think up at least three fantastic uses for these in your daily life, you're doing something wrong. When the wheels started bowing out from the weight of the building, I put the whole thing up on blocks and added a couple more wheels.

After lowering the building back down on the little cart/dolly thing, we got it lined up to roll up the ramp and on to the trailer. It was surprisingly easy to move, all the wheels are on casters so it can easily spin around.

There may have been a little back-and-forth going on here. When the wheels aren't lined up in the same direction, you have to give it a little extra umph to get them spun around.

Coulter's clicking the button to reel it in as Joel and I await cataclysmic disaster on the other end. Wyoming observes the whole endeavor with contempt.

Stubbornly determined to set things right, she approaches the sight.

After screaming her head off and waving her finger about; she returns, satisfied with a  job well done.

I paid extra money for crusty old hinges at Black Dog. What's next? Blue jeans that already have rips and tears?

The cart is totally awesome and the winch pulls it like a dream, but apparently the little wheel in the center of this photo is a bona fide quitter. Actually, the ramp was a little steep for this job, putting most of the building's weight (I'm spitballin' it at 1,500+ lbs) on the back two wheel. The building came back off the ramp and we jimmy rigged it up onto some pipes to roll it up again, which I might demonstrate some other time.

At the Horse Center, and guy in a Ford Ranger wrapped two heav-duty tow straps around the building and just pulled it on out with his truck. Very cool. They had a level site ready with a gravel pad for the building to sit on. I will address the importance of this in the near future, when I roll out my delivery policy.

Last thing, because I'm supposed to be talking about the future. I promised to show you guys how to make rope from a tree. I have the pictures and it will be the subject of my next post, but here's the point of it all. I want to make this blog a destination for people who want to learn something, or at least get some really cool information. Isn't that why we surf the web? So, I'm going to try my best to integrate more fun instructional stuff, and less travelogue, "here's what I did today" type stuff. Part of this might be a little series type thing I put out on the side. I'd like to call it "one tool wonders" where I cook up little projects you can do with just one basic tool (maybe a different tool each time). It would be a monthly thing with pictures and maybe a video that goes out to my subscribers (of which there are few at the moment). Cool? Somebody give me some feedback.

-F.W.