The Shop - Dimensions

Two miles. The other day I had a woman tell me, under oath, she could see a certain intersection from two miles away. “Two miles?” I asked. “Yes, two miles”, she said. “We are talking about two miles, as in 5,280 feet per mile miles, right?”

“Yes,” she said furrowing her brow. “If your son were playing in that intersection, and you were two miles away, would you be comfortable telling someone whether they could drive through that intersection at 60 m.p.h.?” “Absolutely.”

Eighteen feet by eighteen feet. Just the other day, I told someone my shop was 18’ x 18’. “How big is it?” “18’ x 18’,” I said. I should have been asking myself if I were talking about 18 feet, as in those twelve inches per foot feet. I realize now I thought my shop was 18’ x 18’ because I made an 18’ beam and cut it to length on site. But, after a little tape work last night, I realize the workable distance from the back to the front of the shop is 17’1”.

That does not sound like a significant difference. But, say you needed to get across a river full of alligators (and you were not lucky enough to know someone that drew a MDWFP permit), and there was a vine hanging near the bank. You decide to swing on that vine across the river. So, you leap and start your swing, but you let go at 17’1” – a sharp variation from your original plan would quickly overwhelm you.

Or, say you were going to build a canoe in your shop. If you had a 16’ strongback in an 18’ space, it would give you a foot of clearance on each end. Not perfect, but not impossible, and a good starting point. Shave 11” off of that and you almost cut your already limited workable end space in half.

So, this is where I am at - I have to build a configurable 16’ strongback. At this point, I reckon I will make the legs out of either angle or channel iron, with a plywood torsion box on top. I can then run a cable and turnbuckle between the legs and cinch everything down taut. At that point, I can attach the legs to large, lockable casters. Or, I can lay down 3’ of track at the legs and allow the strongback to move forward on mounted trucks. I am sure there are a number of options. I just do not want to be like the (hopefully apocryphal) man that stuffed all the wood and tools and various ephemera into his basement one winter, and in the final preparation for the maiden voyage had to remove part of a wall to free his glossy new canoe.