Tomorrow in construction class, we will be working on a door, so today we made a door jack, a stand used to support a door while you’re working on it, so it doesn’t get dinged and scratched.

A month ago, my instinct would have been to go to DoorJacksRUs.com, but now I see that if you have a shop full of tools, you can improvise to make the stuff you need to make other stuff.

Another case in point, the dust filtration system in the shop (see images below) has a broken piece that can’t be replaced, so we’re making the part ourselves, with a press used to bend sheets of metal.

When I signed up for this class, I joked that I’d be spending a lot more time at Home Depot. After seeing how self-reliant builders can be, I’m beginning to suspect the opposite.