Building the stand for the grow bed

I woke up today determined to get some more work done. I picked up a 2"x8"x12' board the other day thinking that I already had my 2"x6"x12' board. I did not so I needed to pick one up today. I drove down to Home Depot and got it. I love the looks on their face when I pick it up.. I don't know why but it seems like they are just wondering what I could possibly want with that board. I bought it by itself. Ok fine onto the project. Here are the supplies I am using today.

     1 12' 2x6
     1 12' 2x8
     2 10' 2x4
     1 lb. 3" deck screws
     1 Dewalt Drill
     1 Framing Square
     1 SkilSaw
     1 Quick-Grip 546 Mini Bar Clamp ( Like a second person BIG HELP!)
     1 Philips bit for drill
     1 Set Saw Horse
      Safety Glasses
I want to reiterate that I am not an experienced wood worker but I am a computer geek so what you read next will probably be comical to most people.


I took the 2x6 and I place it into slots that were in the saw horse. This held up upright and I was able to lay the 2x8 directly on top of it at the edge. I used the bar clamp and it held up the 2x8 so I could screw it together without having to hold up all the weight of the board and so it didn't slide around. This worked beautifully.

 Here you can see the bar clamp.

I took this opportunity to test out my cordless drill again. As you probably guessed it was able to screw a total of 1 screw before it was out of juice to screw it all the way in. I quickly switched over to my corded dewalt drill. This board is going to be cut in 35" sections So I knew I should mark these lines first and then I knew not to screw on the lines. Genius I know... I used a screw about every foot just making sure that after the cuts that each section will have adequate screws to hold it together. 

Once I was done it was time to cut the sections (35" sections) Since I previously marked it I didn't think I needed to do it again. I was correct.. I grabbed my skilsaw and plugged it in. I lined up the blade to the line and cut through the first line like I was a pro. keep in my the section isn't free because I didn't cut through the 2x6 only the 2x8. I went to the next line and started to cut when all of the sudden the blade stopped moving. I was lost. Why wouldn't it cut through this part and it cut through the first. I tried and tried but i couldn't get the thing to cut. I said screw it for now and pulled out my jigsaw and worked it very hard and ended up cutting the rest this way. This is a horrible thing to do but I needed it cut. I finished cutting the 4 sections and I read the directions for the skilsaw for the second time and found out the optimal position of the depth gauge (I didn't know it had a depth gauge) Apparently the blade is supposed to go about 1" below the wood and by default it was going around 2"-4" below the board. I fixed this. Sorry I don't have pictures for the next step but I am sure you get the idea of what it looks like.

These are my pieces cut up. If you analyze this picture you will see that They aren't even probably has to do with my skill level. Is 0 a level?

My next set of instructions were to get 2 of the 2"x4"x10' boards and per directions screwed them together. I still don't understand why i wouldn't just use a 4x4 but I decided to follow directions just this one time. I only had 3" screws so I screwed in at an angle as to not puncture the other side. This board is supposed to be cut into 54 3/4" pieces so I don't think I had to worry about where I put my screws. I used my handy bar clamp again to ensure the boards didn't slip and I didn't have a problem. Now that I got the boards screwed together I decided to test my skilsaw again. It was like a butter knife going through hot butter. I was soo excited that this worked out. Unfortunately because it was soo thick I had to flip the board over and cut through the other side.

All I needed to do now is to take 3 of the sections I cut above and screw it at an angle to secure it to my newly created 4x4. It should look like this. Well that was enough work for the day. Talk to you later!!