Steve's workshop - Painting the outside walls

[Steve Maskery]

Well it is the worst paint job you ever did see, but the kitchen corner is finished.

Those of you who have visited my house will know that the first thing you see is a very scruffy office where you might well expect to see a dining room. But I've actually made a start on doing up the house itself. The spare bedroom now has a dado power rail and half of it is painted. When that is done (tomorrow, if I can shift my lazy bum) I can empty my own bedroom and do that up whereupon I can start to think of moving my office upstairs and start to think of making my house into a home again.

 

[paulm]

Looks good Steve

Cheers, Paul

 

[Benchwayze]

Cider? We used to call Scrumpy, Coffin Varnish in the Andrew... I tried it... Once, and I knew why the name! :shock:

Steve, I would certainly like to see your new shop, but the problem is the Doctors have stopped me driving for a while; something about a suspected 'mini-stroke'. Can't see it myself, but I suspect when I tell my Insurance Company, I will have to give up driving anyway, on the grounds of cost!

 

[woodshavings]

Hi John,
The no driving normally only last for 30 days and not notifiable to the DVLA.
Your TIA is "just" a warning, not a sentence!!
John E

 

[Benchwayze]

John,

My 'TIA's were remarkably like attacks of 'Ocular Migraine'. I've had them for years, but previously the effects were confined to a slight disturbance of vision; like looking through a cracked window pane. There is plenty of warning, and they last about 15 - 20 minutes, so if an attack comes upon me whilst driving, I have plenty of time to stop, and allow it to pass over.

In the hospital though there were also effects of disturbed speech, hearing and tingling in the fingers, all of which passed off with no effects whatsoever. I was told that this can happen with the migraines, and is not dangerous, and very temporary. So I am inclined to think the 'diagnoses' of TIA were a case of better safe than sorry.

Either way my reflexes were all normal, and the scans could find no evidence of a bleed in the brain. (They actually found a brain, which was maybe a surprise to me!)

Thanks for the heads up John. I will have a word with my doctor, when the 30 days are up. I might even get me off this horrible Cloppydogrel blood thinner. (Spelling!)

So maybe I can look forward to some visits here and there, and can carry on as normal!

Cheers
John

 

[Marathon]

Hi Steve
Just joined UKW. Why not keep the RSJ and use it a support for a 'trundle bock' to move stuff about the workshop ?

regards :roll:

 

[Steve Maskery]

You may remember that I originally made a couple of temporary doors to fill the large opening on the left of the building. They are just 4x2s, skinned with 12mm OSB. They've done their job, but are as ugly as sin. So it's time to do the job properly.

I can make them any thickness I want, as the door stops are just planted on and are easily removed. The existing fix is about 65mm thick, and allows for a bit of insulation between the skins. However, if I started with 3" timber and prepped that up, I can foresee some potential problems...

My P/T is a Kity. It's a decent hobby machine, but you couldn't really call it a professional one, the beds are relatively short. This makes planing long boards flat a bit of a challenge. Secondly, even if I did get them flat today, I doubt if they'd still be flat tomorrow. So I have decided to laminate two pieces together, like Glulam. It won't help with the first problem, but it should definitely help with the other.

So a couple of weeks ago I went to the timber yard and bought some wood. I've made a door for Ray's barn, and I'll post some pics of that when we get round to hanging it, but now I have the opportunity to build mine.

I'd expected to get 10" boards, but 9" were the widest they had. It's fine actually. Ripped down, even the boards that were cupped became quite satisfactorily flat and straight.

It goes to show the importance of having a riving knife. This kerf closed up completely.

Another advantage of laminating is that if a board has one clear face and one with knots, the clear faces can go to the outside.

I'm using Cascamite for the glue-up. It is strong, doesn't creep, totally waterproof and has a long open time. I used to have a nice little set of electronic scales which were ideal for weighing out Cascamite, but it's gone, so I'm measuring out by volume, my unit being the Eggcup. 3.5 Es of powder to 1 E of water. It's just the right amount to glue one stile. In this picture, there is a stack of 6 boards, but only the centre two are glued, the others are just acting as pressure pads. The thicker the sandwich, the fewer clamps I need and the more evenly the pressure is spread through the joint.

So I have a few days of gluing up stock before I can get round to doing any actual joinery, but it should make for a topnotch job.

 

[monkeybiter]

Excellent way to resume the thread! I'm watching this keenly, I made the same 'postponed doors' decision a few years ago!

I can see the sun trying to get into your workshop past the old doors in pic no.1, why not throw them open. Mine are smaller but IMHO it still makes for a nicer workshop experience.

 

[Steve Maskery]

I tried to open them but there is a pile of timber stacked outside, preventing me from doing so. I could open them enough to measure the thickness though, but not the whole way.

 

[monkeybiter]

I would highly recommend shifting the timber before the summer [such as it is] is out, I find it very beneficial to my mood, especially with these longer light evenings.

 

[Racers]

If you need a hand come hanging time give me a shout Steve.

Pete

 

[Steve Maskery]

Thanks Pete, I'll take you up on that.
Yesterday I machined up the blanks. They've finished at 66mm thick. That will allow for 40mm insulation, but will also mean that each one is 50% heavier than the one I've just made for Ray. That one I could just about manhandle on my own, I think I shall struggle with these. One stile in particular weighs a ton, it's a lot more resinous than the other three.
I hope I don't regret this.

 

[Racers]

Thanks Pete, I'll take you up on that.
. One stile in particular weighs a ton, it's a lot more resinous than the other three.
I hope I don't regret this.

Sounds like one for the bottom of the door!

Pete

 

[lurker]

If you need a hand come hanging time give me a shout Steve.

Pete

I will try to get too
Have been meaning to visit

 

[Steve Maskery]

The more the merrier.
Bring your crane...

 

[Racers]

I have a Heron, will that do?

Pete

 

[lurker]

The more the merrier.
Bring your crane...

I can bring my mates Derrick and Jack but my German friend Hoist can't make it

 

[flying haggis]

this was parked near to where I live, I will see if the driver has a spare half hour to lift your doors!!!

 

[Woodchips2]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That is one BIG crane!

Regards Keith

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've just got Pete's heron joke.

After gluing up the members, there was quite a bit of planing to do, but they have stayed pretty straight and true. Not perfect, but not bad either.

So I marked them all at the same time and cut them to length.

I rather wish I'd left some horns on but I didn't. I was quite shocked to find that one stile was only just long enough. Less than a mm to trim. I thought I'd left several inches.

Then it was time to pull out the mortiser and cut 28 mortices. The top and bottom mortices are twinned because of the thickness, the centre rail needs just one.

I looked up mortising in Ellis, just to see what he said, as I don't do big stuff like this very often. He doesn't say much, but he obviously doesn't like them:

"Double tenons [I know them as twins] should be looked upon as a necessary evil and be sparingly employed, as two thin tenons are not equal in strength to one thick one of corresponding substance." Hmm. I really think I don't agree with that at all. In a thick door, the joint becomes more evenly distributed, the surface area for glue is doubled and the beam strength is unaltered. Methinks he is mistaken.

However, it is true that they are more of a challenge, as not only does each tenon have to fit its own mortice well, but they have to be exactly the same distance apart as the mortices, or else each one fouls the entry of the other.

So to handle that I don't alter the setting of the morticer itself, I simply cut one mortice

and then insert a 25mm spacer behind the workpiece to cut its twin

The bottom rail has two pairs

Finally, each one was set on a wedge to cut the flares for the wedges

This bit was a pain actually, as there was a lot of faffing about with that roller stand. I think it would have been better to have just chopped out the flares with my 1/2" mortice chisel and a mallet. I still have the mallet...

The next job will be to cut the tenons.