Spar Support

Did not make a whole lot of visible progress on the spars this weekend due to a couple of factors. Firstly I decided to replace my table saw in order to get something a little more professional that I could attach feather boards etc. My portable Ryobi saw did an ok job but was very basic without any mitre tracks (It had a sliding tray instead) but this new RIDGID will definitely make things a lot easier when dealing with lumber that is 12' long! - It has all the bells and whistles! So that took some time set up and make sure that everything was adjusted correctly.

I also decided to do some careful planning on how I was going to rip the planks in order to minimize waste and mistakes, which also took some time.

The one visible item that did get done was the support for constructing the spar. I decided to recycle some 8' long MDF shelving that I had ripped out of our laundry room when I installed the laundry room cabinets at the start of this project and that I have been tripping over the last year or so. I ripped it into four 3" wide strips and screwed them together to make the support beam. I was reluctant to use 2x4's for a few reasons - firstly it is super tough to find a 2 x 4 that is anywhere near straight. Secondly with summer coming the 2x4 might be straight when you bring it home, but who knows how long it will stay that way! And lets face it - it's always great when you can re-use something that you already have!

As you can see it turned our pretty good!

MDF Spar Support

Next steps will be to cut the kerfs and attach the supports.

PS My wife has her parking spot back!!!