New doors and trim

After I got the flooring laid, and the cherry trim done, I was ready to tackle the new doors.  Bathroom had been done last year, so I had four left in the lower floor.   Unfortunately, Mr. I'm-in-a-hurry bought three doors the wrong size.   So I wasted a day having to return and exchange for correct size ;o(  

But pre-hung doors are so easy to install, and using a good air nailer makes it all so quick.    Even so, after 8hrs at the day job, ran to HW Specialties for more cherry, Lowes for some pine, I made it home just in time to take Jack to Thursday agility class. 

When we were done there, I installed all the finish trim around the doors, and made bread in my new clay baker.   Oooh baby, but that's another story.

Shop Class II - tool box

We needed some chicken nuggets and an Angus burger to get our engines going, but we built a pretty sturdy carry-box for grandson's tools.   Good thing the old man has a lot of tools lying around, 'cause the box went home with a few of them.

Looks like we made a happy kid in the process ;o)

Shop class :o)

One of the joys of being a grampa...building a birdhouse.

We hope the Chickadees will move in soon this  Spring!

Laying New Flooring

Time out from making sawdust.

 We are laying a fiberglass backed vinyl in the lower floor and engineered wood laminate on upper floor.   The vinyl is a recently developed product that is very flexible, water proof, warm and laid without glue.

We have too much furniture to move it all out at once, so I'm doing a room at a time, moving its contents to the next while ripping up the carpet and tack strip, laying the flooring, move contents of two rooms back on the new floor and repeat.

Pulled the carpet, and half the pad, while yanking the tack strip.  Lucky me -- tack strip has 1/4 inch nails in concrete--much easier to pull !

 I did the biggest section first, and will adjust the smaller sections to match it.   The 11-6  joint came out perfect and before adding seam sealer, you can't see the joint.




13 ft x 23 ft

Half the painting done

Moved the furniture to the left to pull carpet and pad, moved furniture to right to pull the other half of the 12x24 room.  Laid the new floor material on left, moved all furniture to left.   Laid new floor material on right and  painted the right walls.  moved the furniture to right, painted  left side walls and again moved the furniture to its final resting place. (It's almost as painful to read as it is to do)

I have to get all the flooring done so I can move back in the shop and finish the cherry trim.   I still have two rooms and a couple of closets to do.  I'm beginning to feel like it's time for vacation.   Oh, no -- it's time to shovel 24 in. of compact snow off the roof!  I'm beginning to tire of Winter.

Painting done..now for the trim.

And the shop looks like a tornado hit it with the sqeezing of space ( so I can lay out the flooring to cut) and all the stuff I moved out and trash...

I finished the cherry cap for the half-wall last week.  Last night I made 120 feet of cherry 3/8 x 3 in. base trim got four sticks from each 12' 1x6.  Two coats of wipe-on poly and it is ready to go. 

Cherry Storage Chest

Got an order for a frame and panel storage chest.  15d x 40w x 17h

All constructed of Cherry.

Old School Desk restored

While on Christmas break, we saw an old school desk at a second-hand store, sized for a kindergarden or first grader.   Rusty iron and the wood painted white  -- it looked pretty sad.

Took it home and cleaned off the rust, stripped paint and then repainted the iron and restained the wood.   Amazingly, it is in very good shape, and is adjustable for student height.

School Desk 20-23 in. high-   Chair adjustable too.

Quilt Ladder - QS white Oak

I have an order for a quilt ladder.   24 " x 84 "  with rungs about 10 inches apart.   It will lean against a wall to display/store a number of quilts.

The customer's living room furniture is mostly oak, with several pieces inspired by Arts and Crafts design.

In this case, I will build it with quarter-sawn White Oak and stain.   Shellac will be a good finish for this.

-- 12/1  Boy, I picked up a beautiful board for this project.  Hardware Specialties was just unloading a new shipment of lumber and had some nice looking material.  I picked out a 12' 1x6  and after running it through the planer, it began to sparkle!  Gee, I love to see that flake!

All the pieces are planed and cut to dimension.  Just need to make the finishing cuts and the pinned through-tenons.

Dry fitting parts

Pinned tenon

Rung mortise

Stained and first coat of finish

All done.

Keepsake Boxes

I received an order for two lidded boxes for a lady's young granddaughters.  They will be 12"x18" and 10"  high.  She is on a Christmas rush, so I won't be able to provide the Cedar she initially wanted, but I have some 4/4 Cherry and Cherry veneer that would do very nicely.

I milled and glued up the stock and will be doing 45 deg. miters on corners with contrasting splines.  Since the sides are cut from the same board, grain wraps around corners in a pleasing way.  Grooves for bottom and top panels were cut and top veneer laid on panels. 

However, my 45 deg. cutoff box was too small for the 10 in. boards.   I made a bigger cutoff sled and will finish up the cuts tomorrow.  Should only take a couple of hours to finish the two boxes.   -- Couple of hours=six hours ;o)

Grooves for top and bottom

Top and bottom rabbets

Box 1 glued up

Cutting the spline grooves

Lid separated, walnut splines added. Next round the top edges, add hardware and lift handle.

Finished Cherry Keepsake Boxes 12x18x10




The simple rectangular handle, and brass clock chain lid-holder give them a look of an earlier era.  They will be enjoyed for many years.

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Little Two Stepper - Cherry

Making some small sized two-step stools for the show.   Such a convenient size and less anxiety to stand on compared to the 24 inch model ;o)   No air-sick bag required.

The treads are the same as a stair step...8 inch rise, 8 inch run.  

 Just got all dovetails cut -- checking fit.

2 coats of wipe-on poly

Arts and Crafts Children's Rocker

This is a traditional design in natural Maple.

That dot in the back is TigerEye insert.

The Building Process - a run of five...

parts all milled and cut

Hogging out mortises with drill press. Note step blocks.

Squaring up mortises with square chisel machine.

Dry-fit and trim, repeat...

Three coats poly-wipeon and wax.

Arts and Crafts Emporium Nov 19-20

We have been working hard to get enough product created for the holiday show in November.  Rather than haul furniture down there, we have decided to take mostly gift items and some smaller furniture items.   Easier to transport and probably higher margin anyway.


Lots of cutoff pieces from other projects get made into wine stoppers,  cutting boards and baby rattles.    Resawn spalted Birch sees its way into mitered boxes and Hemlock 2x6 gets resawn also - to make finger-jointed wine bottle gift boxes with sliding top.

Christmas time is for kids, and we made some special child-size rocking chairs in the style of the Arts and Crafts Movement.   Built of Natural Maple, these chairs bear a different look than the Oak of yesteryear.  Grain variation and color make them interesting for young eyes, and  comfortable to sit in too!

Five chairs ready for finish.

Lots of through tenons - 12 per chair

Bottle stoppers ... many with gemstone cabs

steel drops in the back row, cork in front

Lots more in the box ;o)  -- all unique.

Fireplace refacing

This brick fp needs to be refaced and insulated.    It's been around for 30 years, and needs considerable energy efficiency attention.   After I pull down those wierd 'pillars' of brick, I will morter in some Cronin stacked stone tiles, and make a nice wood mantel.

The new stone will be lighter, and be a little more color friendly with the furniture in the house.

The mantle and front of hearth will be cherry to match the cherry  stair rails on opposite wall.

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Wow, I was amazed at how much an effect it had on the perception of room size.   It seems like we added a couple of feet!   Now we're just waiting for the hearth tile to make its way to Anchorage.

Tile arrived just before I went fishing, so I got the hearth finished that weekend.   Now my job is over, time for the paint crew ;o)   BTW, the cherry trim will darken considerably as the UV light does its job.

Deck Rebuild

Just in time for the rain.

 Old deck is a bad combination of poor construction, untreated lumber and inappropriate finish -- black paint! Plus it is about 30 years old.

 I sawed off the deck's unsightly roof.   The deck roof was attached to the house roof extension over slider.   Probably will need some rebuild there too...noticed one corner is damaged from ice-dam issues.

New stairs will drop onto deck boards to cover cement pad.

Nasty, hunh?

Sawed off the deck roof.  Boy this is ugly.

 

 

Deck materials ready

     New deck will be pressure-treated structural members and cedar decking/rails.   We were planning to use stainless steel cable in horizontal orientation instead of the vertical balusters to improve visibility of creek and yard.  However stainless fittings are too expensive for normal people. Next best idea--galvanized electrical conduit, at $2 / 10 ft section.

Cedar will be sealed and stained with  Redwood semi-transparent SuperDeck.    Underneath, I will lay 8x16 concrete tiles to give a clean, mud-free spot for storage.

400 sq ft stained

OK, now to the destruction phase...

An evening with Mr Sawzall and Mrs Sweat---and the deck disappeared.

New deck taking shape.

Halfway done with the deck.  Time for breakfast !

Lower deck done, ready for stairs

New 40" wide stairs

June 12 - Crabapple tree in full bloom