![]() As it was, I had a moment mid-lift where I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but it’s amazing the kind of strength you can muster when the alternative is being crushed like a tin can on an ugly pink floor. One pound heavier and I’m not sure if I would have been able to get it upright. Then, I attached the chalkboards with some metal straps and shims.Īnd all of that was easy compared to the singular task of reaching down, picking up this heavy-ass chalkboard, and then lifting it over my head to prop it against the wall. I nailed these pieces to the back of the frame to create a “lip” the chalkboard could set in. ![]() Instead I decided to rip down some barn wood that was the same thickness as the chalkboard. To set the chalkboard, originally I was planning to cut a notch in the frame pieces so that it would fit inside, but after some consideration I decided that might cost me an eyeball given the number of rusty nails embedded in the old wood of the frame. You can see I set the screws towards the “far” end of the bracket holes so that when I tightened it down, it would bring the pieces more closely together. Since I didn’t have clamps big enough to hold this beast together to ensure a tight fit, I decided to let the drill do the work for me. ![]() I joined the pieces with some very large angle brackets. Luckily I decided to fabricate it in the mudroom to minimize transportation. I also didn’t really comprehend that it would be over two-hundred pounds. In fact, to this day I remain unconvinced of its squareness.Īnyway, I knew the actual chalkboards (which I purchased) weighed around 150 pounds put together, plus twenty-eight lineal feet of 2×6 barn wood, so I had a good indication that this thing wasn’t going to be light-like-a-feather. Have I mentioned how much I love this miter saw lately?Īlso, have I mentioned how hard it is to square a frame that is significantly taller and wider that you are? This is the first time I’ve tried this, and it sucked… There was a lot of time spent pulling rusty old nails out of the boards at this point so that I could cut the pieces down to size. ![]() In order to frame this beast in, the donkeys helped me select just the right wood from the rubble pile…Īnd then I laid it out to get a good feel for how big the chalkboard would be. Let’s be honest, it’s just a little large for the space, but I’m not going to argue with twelve more square feet of room to write down stuff I need to do. I really wanted the chalkboard to be 6×6 to fit the dimensions of the room, but it ended up being significantly cheaper for me to buy two 4×6′ chalkboards. So here’s how this future-catastrophe went down (or, I guess, up): I’m not sure how the big farms do it, but I decided to manage everything by building a chalkboard that could fall over and turn me into a Kit-pancake. Chalkboards have been my organizational medium of choice, as evidenced by this tall chalkboard…īut, surprisingly, neither of these things had quite the, ah, width, to handle all of the stuff that goes on my little farm. Over the last year I’ve told myself that I’m not going to be able to get everything done if I don’t have a good system for managing things. I’m flying by the seat of my pants most of the time. People often ask me how I manage the farm, the house, and the rest of my life (that includes an actual full-time job) without going completely bat-shit crazy. ![]() So let me tell you about this ridiculously large chalkboard that I built. I like to keep things exciting on the farm. Because really, what fun would life be if you weren’t constantly under the threat of being smashed by a very large piece of slate*? I, on the other hand, decided to build myself a six foot by eight foot, two hundred pound freestanding chalkboard. I think it’s safe to say that most people–if they want a forty-eight square foot chalkboard in their mudroom–would go out and buy a couple of quarts of chalkboard paint, roll that shit on, and call it a day. ![]()
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