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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Chrismas

Custom built box. I used furring strips to make the frame. They were held together by cardboard gusset plates and contact cement. I then made cardboard stiffners. All in all it was a well engineered box. The box and the bench damn near didn't fit into Angie's van even with the seats out.



Claire liked it:)


Just faking


Cameron loved his blocks - his favorite are the round ones that are approximately 2" in diameter

bastards

my recall Walker yard sign was stolen yesterday
According to Wisconsin State Statues 943.20 this is a class A misdemeanor. Fines not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 9 months, or both. How interesting that the fine is exactly what Deb and I lost in take home pay per year.
I have now been flipped off, had my sign stolen and had somebody try to run me off the road - what's next?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

first coat

We put the first coat on last night. The waterlox really brings out the color.














Saturday, December 3, 2011

been awhile

29 days ago I went to Shawano to buy wood to make the greatest granddaughter in the world a Christmas present. This picture was taken a week later (12 November 2011). The first week I glued up the panels for the 'box'



Today (3 December 2011) I did the final glue up - (still have to glue the lid though)





Had a major screw-up. Should I even post that? It wasn't a screw-up, it was preplanned - yeah, we'll go with that.
I cut the back panel too short. I was ready to send my procurement department (aka Deb) to Shawano to buy more wood when Don (http://donurness.blogspot.com/) told me to make it look intentional. Pure genius - I love the way it turned out.


Tomorrow the finishing department (aka Deb) gets to work:)

Saturday, August 20, 2011

grouting stairs

How do I grout the tiles on the stairs? There is no room for a float and the wood trim that goes around tile sticks out so using a float is almost impossible anyway. The first stair took forever and I was at a loss. I wanted refillable caulk tubes. Deb found some online and they claimed they were reusable. I bought 2 (large) and they are not reusable not to mention they were not plastic and would degrade with grout and cleaning even if it was possible to get the plunger thing out. The cost of those damn tubes was outrageous:
$6.67 for the tubes
$9.00 for handling
approx $7.00 for shipping
It worked though - problem was I didn't have enough tubes.

I bought 2 packs (4 tubes/pack) of caulk at Menards and threw out the caulk, got the end caps (plunger) out and washed them. These tubes are reusable (plastic). To get the plunger out I had to cut the tip to make a bigger hole than I wanted so I saved one tube just for the tip so that I could slide it over my to big hole in the tube to make a smaller hole. Today I did a test run and it worked perfectly.

The tube






These are the stairs I did with the first tube we bought online


newell posts

I have started the trim on the newell posts. The 'skirts' on the bottom are almost done which is what these pictures are. I made a prototype (forgot to take pics) of the cap but its a work in progress. Not 100% happy with the cap design so I need to play with it more.









kitchen table

A couple of weeks ago I was home for a few days and made our table. Deb and I designed it by the campfire on a Wednesday and it was done except for the finishing less than a week later. Its obviously finished now - just need chairs.

The table is alternating cherry and ash strips while the legs are 2 cherry strips sandwiched between ash strips.









Tuesday, August 16, 2011

a simple math lesson

square footage of the earth (approx) - 5,490,300,420,633,600.00 sf
daily lightning strikes (approx) - 8,640,000 strikes/day

square foot per lightning strike - 635,451,438

assuming strike area of a Suburu Forester is 225 SF (15 ft by 15 ft)

probability of a lightning strike on any given day assuming that any portion of the earth is as likely to be struck: 1/2,824,229

Deb finally got her Suburu back after its lightning strike on or about July 5th - it only took 5 weeks

Maybe Deb should buy some lottery tickets:)

Friday, July 29, 2011

bats, irony or let it snow.

How do I title this post? Our wood stove was delivered today. The chimney that goes through the roof has had insulation stuck in it since August. While we waited for a stove I didn't want heat loss through it.

Today when the guys came to install the stove the first thing they did was pull out the insulation and about 2 dozen flying bats came out with them. It truly was an amazing site. I took about a half an hour to get them all (hopefully). I have a small short fishing net that I used. Some I killed (accidentally) and some I was able to catch and release (sort of like fishing). The irony is that I plan on making bat houses this winter and put them up in the spring. I wondered if I would be able to attract them - I guess I should have put up houses earlier as one way to get bats is when they are displaced from a home. Apparently the contractor neglected to put in an insect screen. They fireplace guys will be back next week to take care of the problem. Poor bats.

(one of the last 2 bats)


Installation went quick - maybe an hour.






Thursday, July 21, 2011

Coefficient of thermal expansion

The wood around the hearth is ash flooring with the grain perpendicular to the floor. I never accounted for expansion and contraction and as the wood expanded it pulled the nails out and pushed the wood away from the corners.






This probably shows the problem the best. I reinstalled the wood but the corners are only about an inch on each side with a 3/8" gap to the main run on each side (forgot to take a pic). I will then put a piece of 1/2" by 1 1/2" piece on each side which will allow the main run to expand.




My breakfast bar also seems to be affected but to a lessor extent.

New Toy

I bought a chainsaw. Its a Stihl MS 290. It works good. We have gone foraging for wood maybe 4 times. I also made a sawbuck for cutting wood. Because of my experience with the table saw I bought a pair of chaps which are supposed to protect you. I feel like a dork wearing them but its safer.

The finds after 2 trips.

Update

Well I haven't written in a long while. Thus far I have done the following:
1) The loft bathroom is finished. I trimmed the ceiling, floor and door.
2) The loft ceiling trim is finished (finally) and I installed floor trim till I ran out. I need a more baseboard and shoe molding.
3) The stairs are varnished.
4) The drywall around the stone wall is finished and painted.
5) All casement molding and rosettes are installed.
6) The stair spindles are installed.

Things left to do:
1) Trim where the stairs and railings meet.
2) Grout the stair tiles.
3) Varnish the floor in the great room (pretentious description in a cabin with a footprint of 720 SF). Deb will varnish on Friday and Saturday.
4) Install the mantel (today)
5) Finish trimming and grout the hearth.
6) Sand and varnish the wood around the hearth (today).
7) Install 3 remaining door knobs.
8) Make the cabinet doors.
9) A bit of trim around the breakfast bar.
10) Finish all baseboard molding.
11) trim the newel posts.
12) Go fishing.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

The Museum

Went out for a trip in the yak a couple of days ago and I was rounding a small island to begin the trip back and to my utter amazement I found a cairn museum. These pictures are in no particular order.









This is my addition.