Transplanted Yankee Here

[Ken Couch]

Hi everybody. I just retired in January and moved down here from Massachusetts as fast as we could. We finally bought our place in Randolph county and moved in July 15th.
I guess I've always enjoyed little odd jobs with wood and now I hope to get started with some real woodworking as soon as I finish up the shop Dutch Barns put up for me.
While I do the wiring, insulation and drywall I'll be looking for some used machinery like a jointer, lathe and a 14" band saw.
I look forward to meeting some of you guys I get the chance.
Ken

 

[Monty]

Welcome to the Forum! (... and to the South!). We're glad to have you!

Never heard of Dutch Barns, but I just looked 'em up - a company in Greensboro, right? (link) How big is your shop? Must be nice to start from scratch!

 

[Ken Couch]

Hi Insomniac and thanks for the welcome. That's them all right. They do good work and are great to do business with. Think they will give me a discount on it if talk nice about them? I haven't payed them yet. :lol: It is just a 24x24' standard wood frame garage. The LOML and I tried to make it resemble our house, with the same roof pitch and siding. That's the only way she would tolerate it in our yard. I was looking at much cheaper steel buildings.

Now I have to figure out how to setup my shop along with my lawn tractor and assorted other gardening stuff in there. About the only thing we miss from New England is a cellar for storage, other than our grandchildren of course.
Ken

 

[SteveColes]

Welcome to retirement:eusa_danc So far Iove it.

 

[DaveO]

WELCOME ya'll keep moving down here, can't blame you much, where else can you find at least 9 months of mosquitoes and high humidity. I am a re-located Yankee myself..18 years above the Mason-Dixon and almost 18 yrs. below. I am glad that you found us and look forward to reading what you have to say, and seeing what you can do. Ask Steve for your own album and show us some shop progress pics. Dave

 

[Monty]

Now I have to figure out how to setup my shop along with my lawn tractor and assorted other gardening stuff in there.

Lawn? Gardening? What are these things of which you speak? You need to get rid of all that stuff PRONTO.

 

[Jay]

I agree Insomniac I consider them curse words myself. lol Being from Mass. I trust you are a BoSox fan. Go Sox! Okay I may as well admit I am a transplanted yankee too.

 

[frankson]

Ken,

Welcome to the site.

Why can't more Woodworkers relo to Wilmington,NC? I'M jealous as it sounds like the Raleigh area is buzzing with clubs, Woodcraft, etc. Enjoy the comradery.

I too am a yankee, from Manhattan, who relo'd to FL for 9 years and then moved to NC in '03. Locals refer to me as a "half-back" - as in could'nt make it all the way back up north...made it half way back.

 

[sapwood]

Another welcome to NC Woodworker Ken!

The Dutch Barn shop sounds a lot like my shop, except MUCH LARGER :roll:

My 12 x 14 was called an "Amish Shed" and I did the electrical, insulation, and interior walls. The siding was 5/8 inch douglas fir with real 2x4 studs, a little thicker and more weather resistant than some of the other offerings. My only complaint is that the roof overhang is only about 4-5 inches.

Good luck and look forward to seeing your progress.

Why Not?
Sapwood

 

[Ken Couch]

Wow! Now I feel like I should look in here more often. Even though the member list shows this is a pretty new board it's quite busy. There must be a lot of woodworkers in NC. Thanks to what looks like a great bunch of guys for the welcome.

I did take some pictures during the barn raising. I'll try to put some on here soon.
Thanks again.

 

[brenthenze]

NC is the "furniture capital of the world," or so I've heard! I for one would love to see the pics of your barn-raising--I'm in the market for a new building myself, which so far means that I spend several hours each week visiting barn plan and barn restoration websites, drooling over the pics. (That, of course, in addition to all the rubbernecking at farm barns along the road.) I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

[Ken Couch]

I am having a problem putting pictures on here.
Can anybody tell me how to convert a JPEG image to a file that this site can use?
I'll appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks in advance.
Ken

 

[DaveO]

Hey Ken, the forum handles JPEG quite well. Steve just posted a tutorial on how to put a picture in your post. Basically it needs to be hosted at a site, if you have a gallery here that will work or the public albums. Once the picture is hosted you use "insert image" function at the tool bar on top (it looks like mountains with a black sun and yellow background) and copy/paste the url of your image (found at the bottom of your hosted pics, or with a right click and then click on properties) into the box. Steve's tutorial comes with pics and the correct terminology (I am a computer idiot), I believe it is posted in the digital photo forum. Good luck, it's not to hard once you get the hang of it. Dave

 

[Ken Couch]

DaveO

Thanks for the heads up. I'll go see what I can do. I am a slow learner, but I'll try.
Ken

 

[cloudancer]

Ken, Welcome to the site and I hope you enjoy it here in NC. I just wanted to jump in and add my voice to the call for pictures of your new shop.