Waterloo Boy Overhaul

No such thing as a
2" x 4"

I'm sure everyone knows that a 2x4 is not really 2"x 4". In reality it's 1½" x 3½". And that makes things a royal pain in the butt. I needed a real board to make skids from. And if I can't find one, I'll make it. This is the story of the planer.

First, I came home with a nice cedar 4x4 and cut it in two. Then after drilling mounting holes and such, I discovered that the whole assembly was too wide to fit under the engine flywheels. Not to be stopped by such a trivial thing, I decided to trim the excess width with the circular saw. The fact that the blade didn't go deep enough to do it in one cut was not a problem, I'll just turn it over and cut the other side too. Not. End result, one screwed up skid. Well, I'll not be foiled by a mere piece of wood, so it's off to Lowe's and this is what I brought home.

I also picked up a treated 4x4 while I was there and it was off to the races. I planed the whole thing at once so I at least knew they would be the same width. I had to go from a 3 ¾ width to 2 ¼ , talk about making a toothpick out of a tree! Having accomplished that, I had a very nice set of skids...and a new planer. I'm glad I used the treated wood as they are already covered with oil and grease and other goodies. I'd been really P.O.'ed if it had been an oak plank with a nice finish on it!

Here's the engine sitting on the skids for the first time, so far so good. Lesson learned here: put the block on by itself and then assemble the rest of the engine. Don't ask how I got this all together and then got it on the lift table.

And so it goes....

One screwed up cedar 4x4: $14.95
One pressure treated 4x4 to replace the one I wrecked: $16.97
12" Delta Shop Planer to make the piece right: $199.00

Having a nice pair of skids for my Waterloo Boy:
Those damn things cost me $230.92
Priceless my ass!

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Lets crank this beast up