Flat plywood, clean air.

I'm sure the suspense has been killing you: did the warm-water and reverse-bending routine straighten out the plywood?

Yes. It did. I was amazed. Usually this sort of thing ends up with me realizing I should have paid $85 a sheet for plywood, and taking the cheap plywood and "saving it" until a good use for it appears, and then after a few years of repeatedly moving it out of my way finally taking it to be recycled somewhere.

But this time it seems I can use the plywood. It is flat (or close enough). So satisfyingly flat, in fact, that I used it today as a work table to build ... uh ... what am I going to call this? Hmmmm.

The thing is, my project schedule called for me to arrange for proper shop (garage) ventilation this weekend. The garage has no windows -- just the big door for cars, and two human-size doors (one to the house and one to Tylerland, our fenced side yard where the doggies go to answer the call of nature, chase squirrels, and participate in the neighborhood coconut telegraph of dog-barking. Since I'm building during the cold and wet months, I'll want to keep all the doors closed. But unless I want to inhale a lot of epoxy fumes and dust, ventilation is important.

So my plan was to create an exhaust fan setup I could place in the doorway out to Tylerland. I would open the door, fill the opening with a removable panel made of a flimsy wood frame and plastic sheeting, and make a hole in the plastic sheeting near the floor where I could place a box fan we've had since the Coolidge administration.

But then Pat showed up Friday night with a bottle of Twisted cabernet and a lot of idle chatter about exhaust fans needing to be at or above head level. I googled it and couldn't really confirm it, but maybe she's right. So ....

 

I followed my original plan, but added a shelf two feet from the top of the frame. The fan can sit on the shelf. Don't worry, it's all secure. That's what bungie cords are for. And the plywood sheet--remember the plywood--worked fine as a work table.

I have met my ventilation goals. Life is grand.