It's a Start

 I've spent the past few days getting my shop (garage) cleaned up and organized in anticipation of the eventual delivery of my empennage kit in four months or so.  As of May 2021, that's the estimated delivery timetable, but honestly, I don't mind.  I need time to prep and do research, and this gives me that time.  And with the amount of crap my kids and I put in my garage, I'm going to need every minute.

Part of that prep is creating the EAA recommended workbenches.  Most builders I've stalked via Youtube recommend the benches (two of them) for building the kit, and they seem to work really well, or so it appears from the videos.  I also dig the idea of having a workspace on wheels.

If you run into trouble building this, maybe give up now

Because the world is still fouled up from COVID, lumber prices remain stupid expensive - particularly for 2x4s.  I know this because I'm in the early stages of building a backyard fence, and have generally found that fence pickets and posts are reasonably priced, but 2x4s are stupid.

Because of this, I looked around my shop to see if I had any 2x4s I could repurpose.  I actually had one uncut 2x4 and several pieces - enough to build one of the 60" horizontal pieces, 33" legs and two leg doubler pieces.  

One leg done.

I have several additional 2x4s currently comprising the base of a flight simulator project I intend to tear down as a part of clearing my garage and consolidating my resources into one project.  Never thought I'd be scrapping for lumber, but with untreated basic 2x4s going for $15 a pop, it feels good to make progress without corresponding adjustments to my expense counter.  

Also, not counting this work towards the build time - doesn't seem right, though I will count any expenses for tools or products  directly tied to the build (anything I wouldn't really use if not for the RV build) to the counter to the left.