Today started out with office work. I joined Walt and Jeff in the office at 8:00 and Jeff set me to the task of figuring out how to get LBC registered as contractors in Washington state for a job they plan to do in Vancouver. I printed out the forms I found on the Washington Dept. of Labor and Industries and I called the Secretary of State's office to try and find a company that can serve as a registered agent for LBC in Washington. Lots of bureaucracy. We then went on a drive, first to the house off Vista where we poured the concrete in the basement, then to North Portland back to the house where I was on the first day. (I found a brief description of the North Portland project on the architects' blog: http://hiromiogawa.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/north-portland-residence-breaking-ground/) Esteban was there laying "ipocork floor throughout the enitre extension.

Really great looking, cheap flooring.

From there we headed to Creative Woodworking NW, LBC's supplier of lumber and cutter of much of their molding. The Lorence Brothers are going to build a new office for Creative Woodworking NW inside their giant warehouse in SE Portland so I got to look around their current office and the warehouse. Walt and Jeff pointed out to me a few multi-thousand dollar pieces of lumber and a few quarter-million dollar pieces of machinery. Check 'em out: http://www.creativewoodworkingnw.com/.

And then it was back to the office and the shop.

Jeff and I got some pizza for lunch and then the three of us began creating Adirondack chairs. We used a very hard, heavy wood: ipe. Jeff had a set of pieces already cut, so I traced a couple then Walt traced the rest while I cut pieces. Then Walt sanded while I continued cutting. We didn't get all the pieces done today, but we did the sides and arms and a few of the brackets for the back. We'll finish them up later this week in all likelihood.

Tool of the day: Bosch Barrel Grip Jig Saw. Although I went through several saw blades in less than two hours, this saw still did a great job at cutting through the hard ipe wood. I didn't need to get too detailed because the sander could smooth things out, I may have ripped into the plastic sawhorses once or twice and my forearms were dead by the end, but it was a sweet tool to use.