A silver lining? Duck Off Episode 7

[lurker]

Start up a second thread about your face mask batteries and a solution might be found.
Could be useful to others

 

[Myfordman]

How do I rotate photo's - they worked fine this morning?

Always take then with the volume control buttons downwards and you wont need to rotate them.

 

[marcros]

I have been making a bit of progress, but having to do some legal work for a case in early May as well, so writing time is at a premium.

Today I had a few bits of wood from my usual supplier. As I can't drive to my barn in the Midlands currently, I ordered some stuff last week. This has nothing to do with the kitchen units construction. It's actually to make a corridor to connect the new kitchen to part of the main house. This lot is all 6" by 6" at various lengths, all for doing plates. It is about a third of my order, made over the phone about 10 days ago. The delivery driver unloaded on his own as we observed social distancing ~ (laziness from me).

I will be getting a load of 8" by 8" posts next and a lot of 4" by 4" infills.

Some sawmills are still working, but I suspect they are only dealing with regular customers that they know and trust. They said they are being inundated with calls from the DIY market who want a bit of wood.

This lot was harvested last year in May.

is it still classed as green oak?

 

[AJB Temple]

Yes. As far as I am concerned. It is not soft, like freshly felled though. I intend to use it later this year. Just getting stocked up ready for action.

 

[AJB Temple]

Delivery topped up this afternoon. I made 10 braces today as well, as I was up in my main workshop. They are stacked up near the oak pile.

 

[AJB Temple]

Just in case Saint Simon (from another thread) is reading this, I ordered this before lockdown. The guys who delivered it need the money, and observed social distancing fully. :twisted:

 

[AJB Temple]

This thread is having a hiatus. About a week ago I started receiving rather aggressive messages referencing this project and I was made aware that harvested photos are appearing elsewhere. Since my only intention was to provide some entertainment for forum regulars I was a bit disturbed by this, especially as my wife is not keen on me posting images that might identify us (some members here are well aware but they are definitely not the problem).

Sorry about that. Work is proceeding anyway, albeit a bit slowly, and I may well publish the rest later.

The internet can be a weird place.

 

[Droogs]

Sorry to here that, I was enjoying this. But all the best with it and hope to see more later

 

[Steliz]

About a week ago I started receiving rather aggressive messages referencing this project and I was made aware that harvested photos are appearing elsewhere.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Lons]

About a week ago I started receiving rather aggressive messages referencing this project and I was made aware that harvested photos are appearing elsewhere.

Care to elaborate?

Yes I'd be interested as well as I've enjoyed watching your efforts, my back hurts just thinking about all that heavy work. :shock:
If the unwelcome messages were via pm you can report them. There's always someone who's a nasty piece of work.

 

[AJB Temple]

Elaboration will be counter productive. It was by anonymous (to me at least) email and has been reported to police. Who are too busy to be wasting time on this kind of stuff but have still taken details.

It's a pain as I have a backlog of photos and writing. I might post some bits without photos for now.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The world's full of hypocrites. My neighbour, a parish councillor, was moaning to me yesterday morning that it was disgraceful that people were going out in the lockdown. Yesterday afternoon she had a friend around to fix her car, while she entertained his wife with drinkies in the back garden. :?

 

[AJB Temple]

This is exactly it Phil.

I have not left my own land and property for over three weeks at all, but I have had a small number of trade deliveries, one of which was posted on here with photos. Foolishly I identified (by recommendation) a supplier. None of them breached lockdown or social distancing rules, but did not stop a certain person trying to cause trouble and issuing threats. My wife was deeply unimpressed hence the post hiatus.

In the meantime I have been devoting some energy helping my local surgery (remotely obviously) to deal with some IT glitches (for free) so that they can contact vulnerable people automatically with key data about prescriptions. Their usual IT provider is not available due to C19. (I am not in the IT profession officially, but I can code). Odd times, and some odd behaviour from some people.

 

[Bm101]

You have a pm AJB.

 

[AJB Temple]

Seen it thank you. And action taken 8)

 

[MikeG.]

Damn, that's a pain. Not just for us watching, either. :wink: :lol:

 

[AJB Temple]

Resumption of a series about making a kitchen in a barn that is part of my house. This barn had been altered a bit. I wanted to install 5 metre wide sliding glass doors, which meant taking a stud wall down. The roof is fink trusses (I hare fink trusses), and I wanted to remove half of them (every other one) across the central part of the roof only - so just removing the bottom chords .n the centre span,

I have worked with a good SE for years (used to be in the property development business) but as luck would have it he was on sabbatical in Australia for 6 months, so Google was consulted and a local one came round, did drawings and calculations. This was a year or so ago.

The remaining fink trusses were reinforced across the whole span. In fact I did it at double the SE spec: he said reinforce one side with specified structural redwood and various fixings, and I decided to do both sides. The reinforcing also included adding ply along the sloping inner faces of the trusses, as I wanted to create two insulated loft spaces.

The wall opening was created with oak posts and a beam, which I made, all tied in to the remaining walls and rafters. This aspect is fine. As long as the roof doesn't sag. If it does sag there is enough stress on the oak beam in the centre to make the glass doors hard to slide.

He previously said said a certain amount of sag was in spec. Getting him to say how much was like getting blood from a stone but I eventually found it in the the building control stuff. Actual sag was double. So, I have another little chat with the SE and he comes round, complete with social distancing and a mask etc, and gets his very nice Leica laser tools out and after about an hour of huffing and puffing agrees that he must have made an error.

I have excluded most of the tedious details here, as the work involved taking some old pine posts and cross beam out, that he said could not have been structural. (I agree, they did not look structural).

In short he admits liability and and an insurance claim is in progress. He also refunded his fee. To speed everything up I have agreed with the insurers that rather than suffer the disruption of rebuilding the centre part of the structure (which will entail a lot of replastering and months of delay to myin-situ kitchen build, if they agree a settlement figure (which they have) I will mitigate by adding a supporting post. This is no big deal for me as my original design envisaged a post adjacencies to a large kitchen Island.

Anyway, I stick a couple of Acro's in and crank the roof up with the aid of a short bit of scaffold pole as a winder.

Then I make my DIY version of a crucifix, what with it being Easter and everything. (I struggle with this cross veneration business - it was after all a Roman instrument of torture). Basically it's just a T post.

Took me a whole day to make the oak cross. I couldn't believe it. Pressed the crazy new planer into action (that will be illustrated soon). Had to do scalloped corners as the piece of oak I had was a bit rough here and there.

It's roughly three metres high and across the sign posts is about 1.8 meters. My big challenge was to raise it tight up against the fink trusses, with zero drop when the Acro's are removed. That was solved with the adjustable steel foot that you see in the photos. This is German and will withstand 4 times the required downward force here. Very well made but the supplied torx bolts (it requires about 14 to fit it) were garbage. First two broke, even with pilot holes, when driven in with the surge driver.

 

[AJB Temple]

The jigsaw is a heavy duty 240v Milwaukee. People always complain that jigsaw blades wander and will no do a vertical cut in thick material. This is always caused by blunt or wrong blade and bad technique.

This oak is almost 3inches thick. It is very well seasoned and hard. The curve cut is spot on 90 degrees and this is the finish straight off the saw. Reciprocation on zero, saw set to wood (it will also do metal) and a sharp blade with not many teeth per inch. Cut very slowly. Blade does not wander about or bind. I was really pleased as it saved me lugging this heavy plank up to the workshop. (I did a test cut inside the line first to check it would not wander).

That adjustment that allows the blade to reciprocate in a forward plane is to be avoided if you want a good cut. It speeds things up but we want accuracy and good finish, not a bad job done fast.

 

[AJB Temple]

OK, I agree it looks a bit like my very own statue of "Christ the Redeemer" (Brazil) but this place has more oak than a forest and it will look in keeping when the room is finished.

I am in two minds on the point. Might snip it off. Took me all morning to erect it, getting it perfectly positioned, tight against the trusses, and dead on vertical. Luckily the floor has about two feet of reinforced concrete. The black limestone slabs are an inch thick and were fully bedded on wet mortar.

The most tricky job was getting a dead on accurate mortice hole that I could slot the arm through. The arm is 10 " deep by the way. It looks bigger in the photo than it does in real life in the room.

 

[MikeG.]

Not convinced by the totem pole, but I haven't really got a picture of what you're going to end up with in there, so take my scepticism with a pinch of salt. It might be fine as part of the grand scheme, despite not being a traditional sort of structure.

Nice to see you forced into doing chamfers. I think they're so important.