Up on the roof!

If I'm honest it's been a while since I've done any proper roofing (besides sheds and porches) so I was quite keen when I got offered a days work giving a mate a hand to finish putting a roof on. He'd put all of the large trusses on the previous two days, but due to there being a large open plan area in the middle of the house, the central section had to be "cut on" as the large attic trusses couldn't span across this as it would close it in. This would be really difficult on your own as holding and fixing these rafters is nearly impossible without a little help.
We also added a gable over the front door and used diminishing trusses to cut it back into the main roof, this goes on faster than you'd think. Lastly we added the gable ladders so the roof can stick out past the brick work. These were really awkward to fit as we had little to stand on and ended up like a couple of monkeys working across the roof. It was the first time I'd worked with this mate and I was quite impressed with him and the amount he'd managed to do on his own the days before (he's also working with a broken wrist!)
This weeks work has not been so glamours. doing some maintenance work on a school in Sutton Coldfield replacing two rotten "beams" for a company I've not worked for before (although one of my best mates now works there - hence getting the couple of days work). In the end the job wasn't as bad as we thought as the beams were just a 3x2 frame clad in ply, it was tricky not to do any more damage to the old perspex roof but we managed it in two days when the firm we were working for had allowed quite a bit more time than that.
I think the whole lean-to should come down as the rest of it wasn't in a much better state. I really felt for this school, all the buildings were wooden and everything was rotten, you could easily kick your was through a wall if you wanted to.

MDF Pantry Unit

Not the most exciting of project. MDF is not the nicest stuff to work with (as I've said before) but it's a cheap material and makes a custom unit affordable.

This unit was made out of just over one sheet of MDF, total material cost £12 plus paint and glue. All the components were rebated into each other with the router (trenched in) so that the 1/2" (12mm) thickness board was then strong enough to carry all the cans and bottles it needed to over its 30" width. To make sure all the groves align I rout the complete sheet first then cut the sides from it, no chance of any errors that way the sides and the back have to match up!

I then glued a complete frame around the front to make it stronger and to make it look a bit more substantial (also stops the tins falling off).

The down side to a project like this is that it ties my little workshop up during the finishing. It has to be sealed, undercoated twice and then glossed - that's over four days, with drying times, where I can't make a dust. Still it looks OK and its a practical unit that I'm sure will be used for many years

Ash Bowl and a Hobbit Door

I had a small job this week to make a pair of half sized doors for an outside shed, which houses a pressure washer. Nothing very fancy, just ledge and braced door made out of TG&V, the job was made a little bit harder by the left hand side block work being (very) out of plumb. They looked good when they were done and it was a nice job in the February sunshine.

A more fun project this week was turning my first bowl with the grain running across the piece. This has been a little project at wood turning classes for the last couple of weeks and I managed to finish it on Thursday night, it's made out of ash, sanded to 600 grit and finished with Liberon finishing oil. I quite like the shape but it's not a very practical bowl because of it!I also managed to obey the main rule that my wood turning teacher preaches which is to have no evidence of how the piece was held on the lathe.

A Heavy Project

Before Christmas I was asked to make a FLB gate (Framed, Ledged & Braced) for a customer who I'd been working for. With the snow and Christmas getting in the way I only managed to get the timber from the saw mill the other day (sapele).

The cost was quite high because they wanted it to match their existing gates which were 55mm thick.

The project took a little longer than I would have liked due to the fact that the stiles were 125mm wide - more than my little morticer could handle, they all had to be finished off by hand.

The gate looks nice sanded up, but it's so heavy and difficult to move - I'm not sure I'll be able to hang it by myself (or even get it to the job in my little van)!

Mobile Workshop

I've gone mobile!

I've decided that the best way to use the space I've got in my workshop is to make everything move.

My planner-thicknesser already had a mobile base that I brought for it years ago, it works really well. I can tuck it in a corner when not in use (or under the mitre saw work bench I made the other day which still needs a top).

So I decided to go the next step and buy 2 more Axminster mobile bases for my morticer and bandsaw, this way I can push them up to the wall when not in use and have the middle area for assembly of larger projects when needed. I've been working on a large gate/outside door this weekend and so far having these machines mobile has been great (I think it will encourage me to keep the floor well swept so they move easily - not a bad thing).

Now if I could just sort out an extraction system better than a tub and a shovel...

More Work Benches

I've had a nice couple of days making some work benches this week (amount other things). A bit bigger than the ones I built before, this time they're 5.3m long one way and 4.3m long the other.

[The corner where the benches are to be placed and my mitre saw set up and waiting]

[The frame in construction]

I was told that it has to be strong as heavy generators and engines would be taken apart on them. I settled on making it out of 4x4 legs with and 8x2 top rail, the rest of the frame being made out of 4x2 (all halving jointed together) with 4 lengths of 8x2 as a thick top.

[The finished bench - not a great picture but it was getting dark]

This is a seriously solid bench (It is also bolted to the wall) and the guy I'm working for came over and slapped his hands on the top of the bench and said "Thats it - Now your sucking on the right teat!" (a bit vulgar but it made me laugh).

Door hanging

I'll just share this because it made me laugh.

I went to a job yesterday for someone I do quite a bit of work for to take out a door and frame and replace it with new ones. When I got there the door was locked (I could get to both sides of it though) so I rang the boss for the keys. He says to me "Oh yeah, you've got to break into it first!"

Talk about moving the goal posts!

Still, after grinding off the hinges it was quite a nice straight forward job (besides having to plane the frame down to get it to fit in the opening).

A Unit for our Kitchen

This is a little job I did over the Christmas break but only fitted on Thursday night due to how long the old paint I used took to dry!

Our kitchen is small and very short on space, so my idea was to build a cheap lattice/shelf unit type thing to house Kilner jars to hold all of our store cupboard ingredients (oats, rice, pasta, etc).

For cost I made it out of one sheet of MDF (£10 from Magnet - really cheap and they gave me a free t-shirt!(I also walked out with his pen by accident an unintentional bonus!)) and some paints I already had (although I wish I brought some new gloss as it wouldn't dry!).

It's really simple construction, I trench cut with my little 1/4" router where the shelves crossed into the sides and then it's held together using a good glue and a few pins. Trench cutting using the guide clamp I've got is so easy - but I think the last time I used it was when I converted a ambulance into a camper van (but more of that another time). The back is just rebated into the unit and the two end panels were cut to fit over the skirting. It glued and clamped together really easily.

I sealed it before painting (anyone who uses MDF knows this is essential), I'm sure the finish would have been better if it had dried faster (less dust to sit on it) or if I had used a spray gun instead of a brush (I think I need to build a shed to finish my projects in!)[Looks quite good with the jars in place and our new retro scales]

I think I might build something similar for the utility area and for storing shoes under the stairs as its so cheap with MDF and quite easy to clean once painted (I'll buy new paint though!).

If I was a Butcher...

...Then this would be a sausage.
This weeks not been great, although I had some nice work Monday and Tuesday finishing an oak floor for Mum and Dad (it still needs one more coat of oil) the rest of the week has been spent doing building work on an industrial estate. Not too bad in itself but the site is used for a diesel generator centre so all the timber has dirt and oil all over.
One of my first jobs there was to build a reception desk out of the worst 2x2 rough saw timber you've ever seen (hence my reference to sausages) and then clad it in ply, to be fair when it was clad it didn't look too bad and then I had the idea of getting the carpet fitter to cover it in carpet it looked even better. Quite a cheap reception desk for them in the end.

On a different note work isn't exactly flooding in at the moment so I've got to decide whether to keep doing work for builders (and start calling a few) or to start advertising for my own work. Too many decisions in this world! Ideas on a postcard please...

Happy New Year

Well last year is not going to rate as one of my favorites ever but I'm looking forward to what this year can bring. Last year I struggled to come to terms with leaving site management but I know now that I'm happiest with a chisel in my left hand and a mallet in my right - so why fight it?

This has given me a sense of direction and I plan to be in a position to be able to be a little more particular about what I choose to do, including working more with the raw materials (e.g seasoning wood for turning and some rustic projects I have in mind) and hopefully work on some interesting projects that I can be proud of.

Anyway, I've sharpened my chisels, put a fresh coat of linseed oil on my tool handles and stripped and cleaned out my nail guns - I'm ready to start how I mean to go on.

Now then, who wants to hire a carpenter?

Christmas Presents

The one advantage of the downtime I've had meant that I could finish all the presents for Christmas.
These ranged from silly little snowmen tree decorations for the ladies in my life:
To a cold frame for my mum (I forgot to take a picture of it finished):
To a bowl from a Alder burr for my wife using a tree my brother cut down 6 years ago on the farm (quite pleased with this as its my first bowl and quite tough wood):
To a carving gouge with a new handle (and a little round mallet to go with it - no picture again) for my brother:
I've also got 2 raised vegetable beds to make for the mothering law but it's not really the right time of year for that. I hope people don't mind homemade gifts

Down time

Well the work I had booked in for this week was all outside, so that means no work this week and no money. The joys of being self employed.

[Workshop in the snow]

If I can get to the timber yard tomorrow then I have a paying job I can do (a sapele gate) but other than that I'm trapped at home.

So time to make the most of my situation I managed to get to the builders merchants today and buy lots of 3x2 and 4x2 to try and organise my workshop a little more. The plan is to build a small bench for the bench mounted sander I've just brought, and a larger one to site my mitre saw wit a place to roll my planner out of the way.

I've made the first bench today sand turned an area like this:

Into this:

My work benches are all made fairly easily using halving joints glued and screwed together, they should last a few years and if we ever get a bigger place I can take them with me.

What goes on behind those walls?

Sometimes the best sign of a good tradesman is the fact that you can't see he's been there.

That was the case the week before last, as we were battening out an old brick wall. In the end all you could see was a perfectly plumb plywood wall but behind that there were all the timber grounds to straighten it out, full of wedges and packers, once its tiled there will be no clue a carpenter was ever there.

The shower floor will be another example of this. as we were raising the floor up 6inches anyway the customer decided that they didn't want a standard type shower tray. Instead they wanted one that was sunk into the floor. This meant positioning the trap to the shower and then making the floor fall in four directions into it, bit of a test of my geometry skills! It will then be tanked before the tiles are laid.

I've also been doing plenty of wood turning this week (due to the fact that we can't leave the village due to snow) but most of it is presents so I can't put them on here just yet!

A sad tradesman

The village carpenter is easily one of my favorite books. It's a book that makes me long to be born in a different time where craftmanship was appreciated and skill was hard earned. I love to re read parts of this book and it really inspires me to try harder in my trade.
The reason I mention this book is because something minor happened that reminded me of it on site today. There is a lovely sad bit in the book where Walter Rose describes how he lent his saw to labourer to cut wood and he later found it broken, when he talks about this saw you can feel how much this misuse hurt him.
Well today I lent a labour a chisel - it will now have to be re-ground (big chunk missing). This doesn't bother me too much, but the misuse and treatment of the tool does, I hate lending my tools to people but when I do I hope they treat them with the same respect that I have for them, normally they don't!
This coupled with the fact that I've been putting UPVC fascia on (in the rain) to a new extension where the brick work isn't even anywhere near level leaves me with little doubt about where the British builder stereotype comes from.

Trying to match architrave

Matching old architraves can be a pain. Friday was my last day on working on the old rectory until next year and one of the final jobs I did was to make up some architrave.
I did this by ripping down some MDF and putting a bead on it with my little router and fixing this to the frame. I then went to fix on some normal architrave on top of this but it looked far to big, so it was back outside in the cold to rip down the architrave until it was the same size as the other. All glued and nailed it matches in well (I also put in the blocks at the bottom of the architrave like the rest of the house), just needs a coat of MDF sealer and a lick of paint.

Stay Sharp

I'm obsessive about keeping tools sharp and I hate to see people using tools that aren't. That's why yesterday I had to take my current work mates chisels home and sharpen them for him.

He'd brought them new and used them straight out of the box, wrongly assuming that they were sharp from new, a mistake I've seen a lot of people make (in fact I'm sure I thought it at some point).

[Sharpening using an oil stone on my trusty saw horse]

Honing is what gives a single edge tool its sharpness

On site I carry an oil stone to hone a quick edge onto my chisels and plane irons (one day I'll get a diamond stone but for now this does a great job), back at the workshop I use my secret weapon - a reverse running grinder with a felt wheel (the green one on the right hand side in the photo below). This sharpens blades in seconds to a razor edge whilst hardly taking any metal off the tool, it's great for curved tools like gouges - something that most people struggle with otherwise.

[My "sharpening staion" in my workshop]

The grinder on the left (the white one where the wheel needs dressing) is used if the tool needs regrinding (if its been honed too many times and started to "nose over" or if I've hit a nail and taken a chunk out of it), fitted with a number of jigs this enables me to sharpen pretty much everything I've got from woodturning chisels to plane irons.

What systems do other people use? I'd love to hear about them.

Fixing handrail

The house We've been working in also runs as a B&B. The trouble is guests are a little heavy handed with the handrail on the stairs, banging bags on them as they walk up.

The handrail itself had become really lose and their were 6 spindles missing at the bottom and quite a few loose ones on the way up. Time to get out the glue!
There were some spare spindles I could use from another handrail that had been taken down previously. I first had to clean out the filler from all the mortice's and then cut each spindle individually with a little tenon on the end to provide a good Strong fit. I glued and screwed the tops to the handrail after cutting the mitre to suit. In the end it firmed up the whole handrail and the new spindles matched in pretty well, a quick polish and no one will no I've been there!
I've been asked to come back next year to finish off another handrail that has been altered, but this will be a bigger job involving turning a new newel post and altering steps, but one I'm looking forward to!