Mistakes were made...
We have emptied the shipping container and moved on from that phase of this crazy adventure. During the summer months, I
checked the machine surfaces for signs of rust. However, I stopped checking regularly since we had no issues for the first 6-7 months. Then, the cold weather came in, and mistake #1 was made. I quit checking for rust right when the condensation started showing its ugly face. I estimate that the last month of storage in the shipping container was full of condensation nights or mornings. Luckily, the container was not level. The container sloped to the right and to the rear, so only one of my
machines really got the worst of it. My poor planer table looks horrible. Lots of rust and definitely a few hours of work are on the to-do list to get it back to working condition. Luckily, the planer was the only tool that got it bad. Unintentionally, I haven't shown it on camera yet. You'll see it when I get the time to clean it up. Also, we didn't get any significant mold issues on our personal belongings and only lost one wall decor print.
Mistake #2 was a big one. More accurately, mistake #2 was a 980lb mistake. I also mistakenly referred to its weight as 1,100lb. Anyway, I had a mental lapse in judgment and thought it would be OK to pull the jointer pallet forward by simply looping a strap around the base of the jointer. Oh, the instant regret. I should have looped the strap inside the pallet like we have been doing,
and instead, I pulled the jointer over onto its side. Luckily, the fall wasn't from a considerable distance, and the pallet in front of it took up a lot of energy on the way down. I think so, anyway. No visual damage at all to the jointer and my dust collection barrel just got a minor 3-4" dent. Easily fixable. Regarding the jointer, I think it was just knocked out of calibration. Annoying and frustrating, for sure, but it could have been way worse. Nobody was hurt, and metal was scratched. A
few years ago, I would have blown up with frustration and anger. This whole new land adventure has prepared me to better accept, adapt, and move when plans go astray. It fell, oh well, time to move on.