Harpoon

House progress has been steady but not worth mentioning in a while. Finally grouted the fireplace, hung more drywall in the addition room, almost finished the drywall in the bathroom, made a room in the garage and hung drywall on it. Nothing is done though. However this isn't all about houses this is about projects and here is the latest.

I'm not a holiday person and definitely not a costume person so my Halloween costumes tend to be sparse and allow me to wear my regular pants. This year I'm going as a cetaphobe. Cetaphobia is the fear of whales (Cetacea being the order of marine mammals) and what better place for a cetaphobe than the mountains in the middle of a continent? Any way the costume will consist of carrying around a harpoon. Harpoons aren't the easiest to come by so making one out of scraps in the garage seemed the way to go.

First the haft. This is a piece of rough cut red oak left over from a table I made years ago. Through it through the planner, drilled a hole for the shaft, routed the sharp corners and put some boiled linseed oil on it.



Then the metal bits. The shaft is left over round stock from a treadle lathe that has been on the back burner for the last few years. The hook is from some sheet stock (14g?) left over from armor making days.



I forgot how to braze. After four attempts and a trip to the Depot I gave up and used silver solder. Maybe it was because the flux I was using was from my great grandfathers welding equipment? It looks better with the silver solder anyway.



Cleaned up the metal and put some rope on it.



I also resurrected the guillotine. It is shorter due to some of the parts having been used for other things but it still cuts melons with frightening efficiency.

Summer update

It didn't seem like much was getting done but I was wrong.

In July I took a 2 day class on straw bale construction. It was by the same teacher that taught the natural finishes class and although she has a lot of experience and is good with sharing it I was much happier about the hands on the other class had. The class used to be 3 day and losing a day was noticed. We did get to tour some pretty cool houses in various stages of construction.




Then the last of the siding was fixed. It doesn't look like much here but it is a vast improvement. Now the house can be painted. There was also an issue with the gutter that was leaking water back behind the soffit. I'm pretty sure the cause has been located and some flashing should fix the issue.





There is a curve in the transition between the kitchen tile and living room floor. This means that there is no way to buy a transition strip. The first thing that had to be done was that I had to make a decent router table. The straight pieces were pretty easy and although I've got to redo one that is too short they are essentially ready for varnish. The curved piece is a whole nother story. Probably should be it's own post once it is complete.





Some fun was had too. Got to go on two hikes so far this year. I'm looking forward to the kid getting old enough to come along. Next year or the year after?

The end of blah

It has been close to two months since I posted anything. An extended illness and spring business have contributed but mainly nothing has been finished enough to take a picture. That and I just didn't care. But now I care and respond with more than just 'meh' to the overwhelming list of things to do.

I did most of the wiring in the garage. There are shop lights and outlets hanging from the ceiling now. The outlet thing is a great idea that I got from way back in high school shop class. Yes, I've been waiting nearly twenty years to hang an outlet from the ceiling. Also finished the drywall in a corner of the garage and was able to put up a work bench and hang a bunch of cabinets in the corner. The garage is organized unlike it ever has been now. It was so inspiring that I started to make more cabinet doors for the kitchen. A race has started, will my son start crawling or will I get doors on the lower cabinets first? Right now it is looking like he is winning the race.

The garden has a bunch of tomatoes taking off, some peppers too. My initial planting bug got side tracked by illness so a number of veggies haven't been started or were just planted in the last week. The pea harvest promises to be disappointing this year. Going out and eating peas right off the plant was the highlight of the garden last year and I'll miss it this year.

The chickens seem happy. I've got a gross story to tell so if you have a weak stomach skip to the next paragraph. My compost turner was overly wet and the green to brown ratio was way off on the green side and well it stank, a lot, I'm surprised the neighbors didn't call the police kind of stink. So While trying to fix the compost turner (hint: drill drain holes in the bottom!) I was using a 5 gallon bucket that got infested with fly larvae. My first response was to drop the lid and promptly go back inside. After some refection I braced myself with the knowledge that maggots only like rotting flesh and that the chickens would like a tasty treat. Next came a lengthy process of scooping out maggots and rinsing them to reduce the chance of the girls getting botulism. The chickens LOVED the maggots. Every time I walk out the back door now the chickens jump up and run over to the end their run and make a hooting/honking noise.
It kind of made it worth the grossness. I fed them the larvae a couple more times but now there are no more maggots. I've started doing research and found that people harvest Black Soldier Fly larvae for their chickens and that there are plans for building harvesters and people that will send a batch of larvae in the mail. More to come as experiments progress...

http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/


The half bath has all of it's drywall up and the plumbing for the vanity sink has been installed. Just one last light finish coat of mud and a light sanding will be it before breaking out the texture gun again.

There was also an earth plaster experiment in garden that was a partial success but the three days of rain that occurred before I got to put the lime coating on negatived a lot of the work. This will eventually get it's own post.

And lastly the exciting part. The list!

Addition
o Find a heater option
o Raise bedroom wall
o Replace windows
o Rewire lights
o Check sub-floor
o Replace siding
o Backdoor, sliding?
o Walls, more drywall!!

House
o Sidewalk, mud jack?
o Paint outside
o Addition gutters
o Spread driveway gravel

Crawl space
o Seal vent cracks
o Insulate between floor joists
o Spray fungicide

House - inside
o Cabinet doors
o Grout fireplace
o Make floor transitions
o Paint floor trim

Bathroom - Half bath
o Install new vanity
o Light fixture
o Drywall
o Power; GFCI outlet and light
o Tile floor
o Re-seat toilet

Garage & yard
o Wiring
o Insulation, walls and attic
o Attic vents
o Drywall
o Build room in garage
o Stone paths
o Put up side fence & gate
o Trim branches on neighbor's tree
o Repair back fence

Conclusions

A piece of cedar fence post that was a bit curved on one end and so rejected from a fence project finished off the compost turner. With a proper crossbeam the frame is a lot more stable when over turning it for replacing the drum.


After compressing out the cracked that formed there was 18mm of space. That comes out to 9% so the mud in my yard will work for earthen plaster. Yay! There is quite a few items on the list in front of that though.


There are 4 drawer fronts ready for staining too. Nice weather makes a difference.

Midway

It has been a while since I posted progress. I was waiting for something complete to post but that just isn't happening until the weather improves. Next week should be in the mid forties so something might happen. Here are a couple of unfinished projects in the mean time.

In the summer compost breaks down pretty quick and a 5 gallon bucket lasted most of the summer. Then it started getting cold and I just had to come up with a better solution. First stop was craigslist.org, 2 steel 55 gallon drums for $30.


I cut a hole in the top about 12" x 12" and then cut out a larger piece from scrap sheet metal that was in my garage. Added some hinges and a latch that were from old cabinets that I cleaned up years ago and put some old paint on for a finishing touch. Sometimes it pays to never throw anything away. Also drilled some holes in the sides to let gases escape. I've a plan for pvc pipe with holes drilled in it to help get air to the compost, it's still a half baked plan though.


Mixing compost so that air gets in speeds the breakdown process and prevents anaerobic bacteria from creating methane gas. The next step is a frame to hold the drum on a pivot to make turning it easy. A few years ago I made a trebuchet and it was fun to play with but time to move on so the frame from the trebuchet will now be the frame for a compost turner.


The base will need new cross beams since the drum is much wider than the throwing arm was. Since trebuchets were medieval siege weapons I went with the old school carpentry and didn't use any glue or nails. That means that making new cross beams takes time and needs warmer weather. It is a simple enough process though. Drill two holes that are the width and distance of the tenon, as seen in the picture, then chisel out the middle. Drill a hole for the peg and then insert peg.


I saw a number of compost turners with plastic drums on the internet and it just doesn't seem like the plastic would hold up. In fact it doesn't seem like the steel will hold up so I reinforced the hole with a 3/4" washer that fits the 1/2" conduit pipe with a little to spare, I would feel better if the washer was welded on. 1/2" conduit seems like it is just barely strong enough, I wanted to start with something thicker but then I would of had to fabricate a reinforcement and it was cold in the garage. Why haven't I spent more time putting up the insulation and drywall in the garage? After putting up a 4x8 sheet of 1/2" drywall by myself on a 10' ceiling I decided to wait till warmer days and recruit some help. Anyway, the base will have wheels on one end to help move around the yard but also to aid in swapping out the drum. Once it is done the non-wheeled end can be upended to place the drum on the ground top up. Then the axle can be slid out and the frame wheeled over to a new drum where the axle gets put back in. More on that later.



The other project is earthen plaster. My yard is mostly clay and clay is a main ingredient in earth plaster but not all clays make good plaster material. There are some easy and basic tests that can be done to find out what properties a clay has.


This first test is to put some dirt in a glass jar with some water and shake it up. Then set the jar down for 24-48 hours and take a look. The sediment in the jar will give a rough idea of how much sand, clay and silt is in the dirt. The bottom will be sand, then silt and finally clay. This is almost pure clay. Sand will have to be added to make an earth plaster.



The next test is to make a box to test shrinkage. Some clay will shrink a lot when it dries and some hardly at all. My area is know for it's bentonite clay which expands and shrinks considerably with moisture and is a poor clay for plaster. This was some scrap maple from the kitchen cabinets and a couple of coats of varnish. There is currently mud drying out in it, since it is so cold it might be a few days before I know what kind of clay I have. As long as the clay shrinks less than 15% it should work for plaster. The test box is 20 centimeters long which comes out to about 5/8" maximum shrinkage.

Plaster recipes have anywhere between 2 parts sand to 1 part clay to 4 parts sand. Really it depends on the clay and the quality of the sand, river and beach sand should be avoided. To find the right mixture start on the low end and keep adding sand, take notes. Two things should happen when the right mixture is found. One is if you take some of the mud mix and roll it into a cigar shape, 1/2"ish round by 5"ish long and slowly push it off of your hand. If it crumbles falls apart add more clay. If it breaks about halfway you have a good mixture. If it doesn't break and just curls as it is pushed off of your hand then add more sand. Another test is to roll a half a handful into a ball and let it dry. If it easily disintegrates then add clay. If it takes pressure to break and crumble it is probably good. If you can't break it with your fingers then the mix probably needs more sand. It should also be mentioned that less water is better, add just enough to make the material workable.

The goal is to build a green house in the back yard out of earth plaster and then coat the outside in lime plaster. Really it depends on how long we will stay here though. It is fun to play with in the mean time though.

Drawer front and door how to.

I wanted to do this all in one piece but the garage is frozen and it will be a while before work can continue. The following covers the building of 4 drawer fronts.

First the wood needs to be cut to length.



Next is putting the horizontal pieces (rails) through a dado blade to produce a cut that is as deep as the vertical pieces (stiles) are wide and 1/3 the thickness of the boards. The jig I made to help keep my hand away from the blade is blocking some of the view. This creates the mortise.



Then the rough tenon is created with a bandsaw. Bandsaws don't have the cleanest cuts so a little chisel work and sanding is needed. This could also be done on the tablesaw but I like having both set up and not switching back and forth.



After some sanding fit all of the pieces together and mark where the center of the corner is. Drill 1/4" holes (it hasn't been done yet in the picture) where the lines cross at the end of the mortise pieces. Then put in the tenon piece and mark the center on the tenon. Make a second mark about 1/16" or even less away from the end. Drill on the second mark. This will cause the 2 pieces to be sucked tight when the hole is pegged. Because of this trick I made the first several without any glue.



I'm tried something new with this set and used a plug cutter to make the plug. Before I was making dowels out of small pieces of walnut and that was just plain tedious.




Next will be the glue up, routering the back for the panel and putting in a panel. Last will be stain and varnish.

The first doors

Little by little...

Wood stain

There are a number of finishing pieces of wood that will be ready to install in the kitchen next week. This one will cap the island wall. It was a shame to stain this piece of wood, it was so beautiful. The wavy cross lines are still visible but they don't glow anymore. If it was up to me all of the wood would be just sanded and varnished. Sundays goal is to grout the tile and by Tuesday I'm hoping to have 4 more drawers in. Wish me luck.

Drawers

There is even silverware in them! 8 more drawers and 12 cabinet doors to go. But it feels good to have something look done. The counter backsplace can be seen in the picture too. There is just a couple feet of tile left behind the stove and the grouting can be done. Then it'll be like a kitchen, a kitchen with no cabinet doors.

Door and drawer faces

Only 23 more to make!

Cabinet and tile progress.

In my typical style a little of everything has been worked on with nothing finished. Some of the face frames have been stained, varnished and installed. It is hard to tell be the cabinet on the right has a face frame. The tile back splash design was finally decided on and almost half of the tile has been laid. The kitchen might actually be done by the end of August, yay! The big project for Saturday is to replace the 8'x5' living room window.

Distractions

I've still been working on the kitchen but there has been some distractions in the garage. After reading about how to make a hollow mast for a sailboat I wanted to try it so I decided that the tile table that has needed a base for years would be perfect. It's called the bird mouth method. Take eight strips of wood and slide them through a table saw with the blade at 45 degrees then flip them over and do it again cutting out a 90 degree notch on one side. First I tried with a 90 degree router bit but they didn't come out very clean and well routers just aren't my favorite too. When done the strips will have a V notch in one side. This picture kinda show what they should look like.



Then line the strips up into an octagon. I wish I'd taken a picture of the glue up since I had such a hard time figuring out how to clamp it all together. Some places I saw used hose clamps but most places just didn't mention how. I ended up wrapping string around semi-loosely and then twisting sticks in the string to tighten it. After the glue up the corners that are sticking out need to be planed down. In the end you end up with a pretty beefy nearly round chunk of wood that is not only lighter but stronger than if it was a solid slab.

Minor stuff

Things have been happening, just nothing that seemed complete or worth writing about. I've felt like the ADD poster child the past few weeks. Ten minutes into doing something I goto the garage for a tool, find another project and start working on it but then start to clean up the garage when I can't find something only to find another project to work on and evenutally I come back inside to get some water and realize that I forgot the tool that I went to the garage for in the first place over 2 hours ago. Perhaps it is time to get back to making lists.

The yard has 4 rasied beds and the sprinklers are mostly done for the garden and trees.

There are more cabinets in the kitchen but it is still lacking tile on the counters. That weird shape on the wall is test paint. The color was too dark but experiementing with painters caulk has proved the stuff to be well worth the effort.

I fixed a friends chair, built a bow and a cabinet on wheels in the garage. Spent several hours organizing the garage. Not that you'd notice in the picture. Much dirt has been removed as well, the 4 yards of topsoil that was delivered is now less than 1 yard. Next is to get gravel delivered so that the driveway will be less of a mud pit.

Stands

Since most people have the past two days off of work it has been pretty slow. That gave me a chance to play with Google SketchUp and make some plans. Since the stands that go with a washer and dryer are outrageously priced I decided to make my own. These are pictures of the carcass, there is also a drawer and the front will be white melamine to match all the other white in the room. It's going to be unbearable in there. The stands are done except for the melamine drawer fronts.






They are made out of 3/4" birch plywood. They are joined with biscuts and the lower rails are reinforced with screws. A fully loaded washer weighs less than 300 lbs. so me and the gf got on one and rolled it around. That's when it became evident that the screws would be needed for the lower rails. Someday soon I hope to be doing laundry on top of 'em.