Charpentier

The last week turned out to be a bit of an adventure.
After a few phone call, someone going to Liverpool passport office for me and a ferry ride, I ended up going with a friend to work in France for the week!

Leaving England behind

 The job was to fit a flight of stairs, handrail out a balcony and to second fix as much of the house as possible. We got loads done over some really long days.
Unfortunately the stairs were a nightmare to fit. Whoever had measured them to fit had given absolutely no tolerance to get them in. They had winders round a complete 180 degrees so things became a little difficult. It would have been much easier if they'd had gone in before the house was boarded or plastered. We got them in in the end but we did have to cut the wall in a few places to make them fit.

These stairs were the most awkward I've ever fitted

Not much space to get them in

 The balcony handrail also took some thinking about, this went in easy once we decided on our method and looked really smart when they were finished

Balcony to be hand railed off

 The only difficult with them was clamping the handrail to the newel posts as the glue went off. Tom and me managed to quickly knock together a wooden clamp that could be wedged up so the glue could go off over night, leaving a perfectly tight joint in the morning.

Clamping the handrail together with a quickly built clamp

The adjustable end of the clamp

Balcony handrail finished

 Tom and me worked really fast doing the second fit together, I think we were both impressed with the amount of work we got done in the time. We had a good system going and each stuck to a certain job to increase speed and keep the quality high.

Tom routing hinges out of the doors

Oak doors, pine linings and MDF architraves and skirting fitted.

All in all it was an interesting experience. I enjoyed working with Tom Weston again - who is an excellent carpenter (I think we both learnt a lot from each other) and made good friends with the plasterer, Rick, who came out with us. We worked hard and did a serious amount of hours, but I was missing my family by the end of the week so I was glad to come back to a rainy UK yesterday.
I learnt lots and got some good stories to tell, not much more you could ask for really!

Building A Walk In Wardrobe

This is a continuation from the Building A Stud Wall Step By Step post I did a while ago. The stud wall was built to divide an odd shaped room into a bedroom with a large walk in wardrobe. The customer wanted two long shelves with hanging rails under and a set of large shelves at the far end.

Finding good fixings was the most important part of fitting these shelves as they're so big they need to be secure



With a timber fixed round the outside I added the timbers to carry the inside edges of the shelves

Check everything is level (I used a laser level around the outside so I was fairly confident!)



Add the MDF forn long shelves and the sides to the rack of shelves at the end, along with timber supports

I also completed the second fix carpentry work hanging the door and fixing the skirting and architrave



All the shelves fitted ready for some varnish



The wardrobe from the outside - looks like it's always been there. Just need to stain the woodwork to match in with the old

A nice job and the customer is really pleased.

 I also agreed to paint/stain it all for the customer so I've made quite a few visits in the evenings to try and get it done but its tricky as I don't get back till late and all my other time is booked up, mind you it's better to be busy than not!

Replacing handrail

We're getting through the second fix upstairs now and during this week I've replace the old handrail with some that matches what is in the rest of the house.

What was left of the old handrail

 I decided it was best to rip it all out and start again, this way I could make sure I got some solid fixings and make sure it won't move.

Ripping it all out and starting again

The first job was to add the newel post at the top of the stairs. This one had to be strongly fixed as it's what everyone will grab and swing on as they walk down the stairs. The old newel post ran right down to the floor, so I cut it off flush with the top of the stairs and then made a 12" long halving joint to fit the new newel with. As the old post was 3"x3" and the new one is 4"x4" I had to make this halving joint more like a giant L shaped rebate so it would fit over the top of the old post, glued and screwed it was rock solid when I finished.

Adding the newel post, this has to be solid

 The rest was fairly plane sailing, the newel posts already had mortises in them but the tenons on the handrail had to be added on, taking a bit of time (I did these by hand as it's sometimes easier this way), I fixed all the handrail and newels in position then replaced some of the flooring and added the spindles. The flooring I replaced so it finished in line with the new newel posts, it also had a round over moulding on for the apron lining to butt into, giving a nice detail. By doing this all my spindles could also be fixed from the underside giving a much better fixing.

The finished handrail from the top

It was then a matter of adding the apron lining and doing all the finishing touches like pelleting the screw holes, sanding them down and punching in any nails. The bottom of the old newel post also had to be packed out so that it was the same size as the new one



I decided at the start to replace the apron under the handrail as well and it looks much better all being new

The joint connecting the new newel to the old post.

Anyone else had a hand railing project they've done lately?

Completed Curved Architrave (almost)

The underside now re-skimmed and the architrave filled and painted

The Plasterer, Justin, has now re-skimmed the curve under the architrave to a mirrow like finish and the woodwork has now had it's first coat of undercoat. So although it's not completely finished it gives a good idea of what the finished product will look like.

Justin the plasterer trying to show off the "guns" under the freshly coated arch

A near mirrow finish on the plasterwork sets the architrave off great, just a couple of coats of paint needed then it'll be finished.

Good feature for the room

Fitting Skirting To A Curved Wall

I always like doing the out of the ordinary jobs on site. I like it even more when other trades have to ask you how you did it!

A relatively tight curve

This was the case with some skirting I fitted to a curved wall today. It was quite a tight curve and it wasn't a quick job to fix it on, but with a bit of preparation I got the skirting to perfectly match the curve of the wall.

Kerfing out the back of the skirting, as the curve was tight I needed lots

How's it done? Well you can read any good book on carpentry and it will tell you about "kerfing" the back or front of a board to make it bend round a curve. But until you try and do it you yourself you'll never know if you can do it properly or how close the cuts will have to be. A kerf is the width of material removed by the saw blade, adding lots of these evenly lets the wood bend a certain amount.

A good, even curve

This curve was quite tight and as the skirting had a moulding on it I could only trench the saw so deep on the first pass, I "kerfed" the back of the skirting for the length of the curve leaving a 2mm bit of wood in between each cut. I then trench cut deeper at the base of the skirting where it was thicker to remove even more wood. I then removed some wood from the back with the electric plane to try prevent it from cupping as all the tension had been taken out of one side with the cuts.

A job that when it's done right looks really good

To fit it to the wall I first fixed the short straight run, then started to bend it round the curve. To make the wood bend easier I first poured some boiling water on the back and trickled it over the skirting as I bent it round until I could get a fixing on the far side. I then added plenty of fixings to prevent it moving when it drys out.

Another enjoyable, usual job.

Anyone else have to fix curved work lately?

Making Curved Architrave

The main job I've been on has given me plenty of unusual projects where I've had to do some thinking. Curved architrave around an arched opening is the latest one.

I formed the arched opening some months back where the curve was to be semi-segmental, but since then the customer has changed their minds and decided that they want it to be semi-circular. I'm to build the architrave out and then we're to bring the plasterwork out to match at a later date.

Clamping boards up - the red light is from the heater.

 Making anything curved on site is harder than you might think and involved many more steps than putting architrave around your standard square door frame.

The architrave has to match the original architrave mentioned in a previous post. This is built up out of two parts. A thin flat layer with a bead on, then a narrower moulded section that is fixed to the outside of it.. To start to make the curved architrave I had to make the flat section first. I decided to leave the bead off for now and attach that later, as no router cutter would shape it in the same way as it is on the original (two cove cutters wouldn't look quite right). I planed the timber down then clamped boards up together and left them to set (with a heater chucking some heat on to them - the barn isn't very warm!).

Rough cut with a jig saw

 I then rough cut the curve with a jig saw. Drawing the lines on with a homemade compass and pencil. If you were just making one side of something curved you might be able to cut it free hand but any imperfections and flat spots would stand out on what is to be matching sets.

Using a homemade router jig

 To make sure every piece was identical I made a jig for the router with two points for it to be fixed to for each cut (inside and out). I screwed the wood down to prevent it moving while I routed it. The screw holes on this first piece will be covered by the second set of architrave.

The first layer fixed around the arch.

I then fixed this architrave around the arch using plenty of adhesive and pins.

Same jig but with another point to make a narrower set of architrave.

 The second set of architrave used the same jig but with the addition of some extra points to fix it down. I also routed a large groove in the ply base of my jig so a bearing guided cutter would then run against it to create the moulding without having to take it off the ply. I used my larger router for this and as the cutter was new it cut the moulding cleanly in one pass.

The second set fixed on top of the first

 I then fixed the second set of architrave on top of the first and switched the kettle on. This wasn't for a drink but instead to fill a 4" pipe full of hot water. The only way I could think of bending the beading to fix round the first set of curves. This involved leaving the wooden bead in the pipe to get hot and steamy before running up stairs to fix it on. I had to move pretty fast as it soon cooled down, it also had to be in quite short sections so it didn't twist as I fixed it. Only managed to complete one side last night though as it got too dark and the lights weren't working on site.

It was dark when I took these pictures but I'll get some close ups next week. The beading is fixed on these as well. It also needs a good sanding down.

A couple of day of firsts - Never made curved architrave before and I've never bent wood using hot water.

I really enjoyed the challenge of this project, even though many people won't know the effort that went into creating a seaming simple set of architrave. I love the fact that after over 10 years in the trade there are still completely new projects to test my skills and keep my brain working, I can't think of a more enjoyable job than being a carpenter!