Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

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GeddyWrox
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by GeddyWrox »

InvincibleCakeEater wrote:
December 10 20, 6:18 pm
I met a girl who is probably the love of my life.
WOOT

Freed Roger
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by Freed Roger »

GeddyWrox wrote:
December 10 20, 8:08 pm
InvincibleCakeEater wrote:
December 10 20, 6:18 pm
I met a girl who is probably the love of my life.
WOOT
well damn that is great.

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haltz
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by haltz »

Popeye_Card wrote:
December 9 20, 1:33 pm
Used my chainsaw mill to slab up a large ash tree that fell in my yard last winter. Built a coffee table for the guest house with one of the slabs.
Funny, I picked up some bookmatched cherry off fb marketplace that's going to end up as a coffee table as well. Just flattened them a couple of days ago. They're individually a little wide for my lunchbox planer so I used a router sled. I wish I had just trimmed them another 2-3 inches. What a [expletive] mess that made.

I did some built ins earlier this year that I'm pretty proud of. 13 feet, wall to wall bookshelves over base cabinets, tied in the baseboards and crown. It looks pretty slick. Always wanted a library room.

I took a leave of absence from the restaurant during this latest shutdown and lined up some remodeling work. It's been fun and jobs keep coming somehow. Everyone's been staring at stuff they don't like in their houses for the better part of a year now and there seems to be a bit of a gap to fill between some drunk you don't want in your house and the pros that are booked out for months.

I decided to advertise a bit a couple of months ago and put up a post in a nice part of town on one of those neighborhood sites. I had to take it down after 45 mins and dozens of messages. It was instantly overwhelming and at that point I only had a couple of days a week to do side jobs.

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haltz
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by haltz »

Congrats ICE

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IMADreamer
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by IMADreamer »

I've used the time not going out and such to really dig deep into flipping cars. I've flipped four cars this year. Two were just daily driver material that was under valued because of scratches and such. Spent a Saturday doing a paint correction and flipped them a week later for a tidy profit. Bought a Lexus RCF, drove it for a week, fell in love, knew I had to get rid of it. Sold it a week later. Sadly I'm at my limit for the year that the state of Illinois says I can sell without getting a dealer license. I'm already hunting for my next flip but Illinois law says I couldn't sell it until March.

Other than that the wife and I have redone a bathroom and bedroom, as well as put in a pretty large garden. We also go fishing a lot. Life is pretty good. We were both saying just earlier this week we are not even too concerned with getting back to "normal." I don't think either one of us miss the hustle and bustle of social obligations.

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Fat_Bulldog
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by Fat_Bulldog »

IMADreamer wrote:
December 10 20, 10:57 pm
I've used the time not going out and such to really dig deep into flipping cars. I've flipped four cars this year. Two were just daily driver material that was under valued because of scratches and such. Spent a Saturday doing a paint correction and flipped them a week later for a tidy profit. Bought a Lexus RCF, drove it for a week, fell in love, knew I had to get rid of it. Sold it a week later. Sadly I'm at my limit for the year that the state of Illinois says I can sell without getting a dealer license. I'm already hunting for my next flip but Illinois law says I couldn't sell it until March.

Other than that the wife and I have redone a bathroom and bedroom, as well as put in a pretty large garden. We also go fishing a lot. Life is pretty good. We were both saying just earlier this week we are not even too concerned with getting back to "normal." I don't think either one of us miss the hustle and bustle of social obligations.
That's cool. I love buying and selling cars.

Fishing and the easy life sounds nice as well. I am definitely enjoying the slower pace of life too.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by AWvsCBsteeeerike3 »

Damn haltz, sounds exciting about the side business. Hope it/you continue doing well and enjoying it.

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Popeye_Card
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by Popeye_Card »

haltz wrote:
December 10 20, 8:34 pm
Popeye_Card wrote:
December 9 20, 1:33 pm
Used my chainsaw mill to slab up a large ash tree that fell in my yard last winter. Built a coffee table for the guest house with one of the slabs.
Funny, I picked up some bookmatched cherry off fb marketplace that's going to end up as a coffee table as well. Just flattened them a couple of days ago. They're individually a little wide for my lunchbox planer so I used a router sled. I wish I had just trimmed them another 2-3 inches. What a [expletive] mess that made.

I did some built ins earlier this year that I'm pretty proud of. 13 feet, wall to wall bookshelves over base cabinets, tied in the baseboards and crown. It looks pretty slick. Always wanted a library room.

I took a leave of absence from the restaurant during this latest shutdown and lined up some remodeling work. It's been fun and jobs keep coming somehow. Everyone's been staring at stuff they don't like in their houses for the better part of a year now and there seems to be a bit of a gap to fill between some drunk you don't want in your house and the pros that are booked out for months.

I decided to advertise a bit a couple of months ago and put up a post in a nice part of town on one of those neighborhood sites. I had to take it down after 45 mins and dozens of messages. It was instantly overwhelming and at that point I only had a couple of days a week to do side jobs.
I was lucky to have a nice bookmatched set that was just under my planer capacity (13"), so I didn't have to set up the router jig. I want to start building some river tables in the near future, so I will have to start doing some router milling to flatten them out - not looking forward to that.

I still have about 10-20 trees in my woods that need to come down (ash, locust, elm, a small cherry, and a larger walnut), so I made the potentially crazy decision to invest in a full bandsaw mill which should be getting delivered in early January. I figure worst case scenario I'll be able to mill a bunch of boards and turn around and resell it without losing much money. Best case scenario I can haul it back to my parents house where we have a bunch of hickory and oak trees that need to come down too. Now the problem is I don't have a great place to store all of this wood.

That's awesome that you've been able to make a pretty good side gig out of handyman/remodeling work. When my company was going through layoffs a couple months ago and I was contemplating what I would do if I lost my job, I was seriously considering making a living out of remodeling, and maybe custom cabinetry. The market for it is just crazy right now.

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Leroy
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by Leroy »

I put up something like this last night.

Image

Just picture it with three fiddles, a mandolin, banjo and a few guitars. Just one slat about 8 feet long. I'm pretty damn stoked about it.

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stlouie_lipp
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Re: Pandemic - What is keeping you busy?

Post by stlouie_lipp »

I played about 80 rounds of golf this spring/summer/fall. Heck, I even played yesterday as it was mid-50s. Keeping my fingers crossed that the La Niña winter will provide the sporadic day to get out.

I've also decided I need to find a winter hobby. I joked to the golf pro at my club that I might come back in the spring with a quilt I made for him over the winter.

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