The Woodworker and Art Craftsman

My wife's 30th birthday today so as a treat I took the day off and we went to the other side of the county to look at books in Hay-On-Wye.

We both love books so this is a perfect day out for us, topped off with a pub lunch and cakes by the river in the sunshine.

I did manage to buy a few nice books, two carpentry and joinery books that were from the old city and guilds carpentry course (I know this as the man I did my apprenticeship with lent them to me many years ago). As well as this a rather nice "The Woodworker" annual from 1915 for £6.

Lots of interesting projects and write ups to read. In fact its just interesting see the kind of projects they were doing then and the techniques they were using - A lot less screws and nails and a lot more joints.

A selection of projects include:

• A Handsome Window Jardiniere
• Garden Seats Of Roman Design
• Smoker's Cabinet
• Parlour Cabinet Bookcase
• A Household Cycle Stand

And many more gems. Also some good how-to articles on woodcarving.

I'll enjoy reading this!

Wet Room Part 2

I thought I'd add a few photos of the completed wet room as I've been meaning to put them on for a while.

Completed room



Shower



Floor to the wet room with the floor falling four ways to give proper drainage



New window fitted



Antique lock sourced and fitted to blend with current features

 The tiles were travertine, not the nicest to use as they have to be sealed so many times, but they do give the room a really warm feeling and they feel good under foot.
Although this wasn't a massive room there was a lot of work in it and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The customer seems chuffed to bits with it and it's fits in nicely with the rest of their home.

Working In A Rural Area

I'm a bumpkin and I love working in rural areas, and this weeks been no exception.

It did make me smile when I went in to a local builders merchants to buy some scalpings (a type of stone) today and I asked if they sold it in little bags

"Nope only by the ton" said the old chap behind the counter

"Nothing smaller?" 

"We could sell you a tractor bucket full"

The old builders yard, smack in the middle of this little town

I knew then this was my kind of place!

In the end they sold it to me by the bag so long as I filled them myself. I had five bags full, but just like the old fashioned place it is they lent me the shovel and no one checked on me when I was finished, just help yourself and they trust you to do the right thing.

Filling bags myself

Places like this make can make you feel like you're in a time long forgot - and I love it. Much nicer than going to a multinational chain store.

A Woodturning Workshop

The last couple of days have been a nice change from the wet room and other projects to help a fellow pupil from wood turning classes build his workshop.

Removing the bricks from an old pond was easily the hardest part of the job, over two hours with a kango - some of the hardest mortar I've ever encountered!

As this was a log cabin style workshop kit, once we'd got the base in the frame went up quite fast - it just slots together, although the instructions weren't that clear!

By the end of the second day (most of the first was spent sorting out the base and getting the frame half up) We'd managed to get it water proof (minus the doors) and I'd made a start on fixing the singles to the roof.

The shed kit seems good quality, built out of thick timber with lots of insulation it will be a great place for Paul to spend evenings wood turning and with my workshop-less situation I'm quite jealous of all that space he's got to fill.

Making A Window

For the wet room job I've got on at the moment I've got to make small window to replace the current one.

Today I had the day at home to make this and did some "alfresco" joinery between showers. I dimensioned the timber the other day using my little planner thickness so this morning I set about rebating all the stock. This isn't as easy as normal as I have no spindle moulder nor router table so in the end I routed it out using the router handheld, moving the clamps on each pass, and adjusting the depth of cut on each one also - a slow job!

Then using an old kitchen table I found in one of the sheds as a workbench, I set about marking out each joint before fighting my way inside the container to use the mortiser and bandsaw. It was worth the fight though as it saved no end of time, the joints are quite simple mortise and tenon, just with the tenon stepped to account for the rebate. Clamping up on the floor of the container was a little awkward but its made the two frames rock solid. I haven't got enough space to do them both at the same time so they took it in turns!

I had to finish the final mouldings round the outside of the frames by halogen site lights (in light rain) so I could get them finished tonight. The neighbours must wonder who lives next door!

The window is now sat on the dinning room table with the paint drying - I'm not sure who misses my workshop more - me or my wife!

More on this window when I order the glass and get it fitted.

Tree Work On The Smallholding

I'm not sure this is how everyone spends their Sunday but I enjoyed it!

I managed to rope my poor old Brother into helping me yet again this weekend. I have a few trees on our smallholding that want some work doing to them. The first hadn't got its roots on our land but it was overhanging the footpath, it was blocking out a lot of light and was going to make access difficult when I get a tractor up here, so using my brothers special set of skills we managed to get the tree looking a little better.

I love watching him climb and he always makes it look easy, leaving the tree exactly how I wanted it.

The top gate is now a bit lighter and the views even better for Daves hard work.

The second bit of work I got him to do was to drop a poorly growing oak tree that had been strangled by ivy. It was under the canopy of a much grander oak so would never really do any good and i wanted it removed before I put my pig pen down in that corner!

Dave dropped it no problem and helped to dismantle it, now I've just got a lot of clearing up to do and firewood to cut in the evenings. I've planted 17 other trees this last week so I'm not feeling too guilty about getting rid of this one.

(Dave cut the tree high as it was full of wire - someone in the past had used it as a fence post) This lot should help keep us warm next winter (and no doubt I'll get pretty warm cutting and splitting it) and there's no doubt that the neigbours know I've moved in now!

Cheers for your help Bro

New Work Area

Today I had to plane some timber to the correct size for a little project I'm making.

In the old days that would involve going up the garden to my old workshop, cranking up the radio (and heater) and planning away. Now it involves fighting my way to the back of the container, pulling the planner to the front, rolling out an extension cable and doing all the work in the door way so I can see what I'm doing! I'm not complaining, but it does make me want to start to build my new workshop even sooner!Really glad all my machines are on rolling stands, with the smooth wooden floor of the container it makes them easy to drag to the front and then drag back again when I'm finished with them.

I'm also looking forward to building a chicken coop soon so I can get some chickens again - I've already got their first lot of bedding!

Wet room Part 1

I started my wet room job properly this week. Its surprising how much work there is in such a little room. First off I had to strip out the old toilet and shower then remove all the tiles and plasterboard.

Not only had the root damaged the bottom of the boards and broke through the grout, this then allowed the water to travel up the plasterboard making it very weak. The picture above shows how bad its gotten. All the waste got skipped off site giving me a (unlevel) blank canvas to start afresh.

I removed the roots then repointed the wall where it had done any damage. I then started the slow process of battening the walls out to take the plywood. Slow because I want it to be perfectly level to enable easier tiling and so it looks right, the battens before were just fixed straight to the out of level walls and tiles cut to suit which doesn't always look the best.

I did cheat and use plastic spacers which save loads of time (although it's sometimes easier to use folding wooden wedges if you've got the saw set up to make a batch). The plastic ones are useful though as you can increase or decrease the spacing by 1mm just by changing the packer rather than knocking wedges all over the place.

With the external walls insulated its ready to have ply fitted next week and then I can tank it out to make sure its waterproof before I lay a single tile. I've also got to make a new little window for the room so that should be a nice job for a sunny day next week.

Snow Stops Play

Well mine anyway! A list of jobs to be getting on with but its snowing quite heavily and making the place look like a postcard - but one I can't do any work in!

The container is a great place to store my tools but its not as inviting as my old workshop when the weathers bad outside, that said I'm starting to draw up plans for my new workshop/store and where it will go so pretty excited about that - it will be bigger than the last one.

Work this week was varied again and on Wednesday/Thursday I had to expose and inspect some footing on a job I've got on for the next few weeks. When I dug down I found the most beautiful example of masonry footings I've ever seen and the bricks didn't even have a blemish on them. The old boys who built the house I'm working on knew their stuff.

As well as this I've got to completely gut a wet room and then board it out, tank it and tile it. Looking forward to seeing the whole job from start to finish as its been a while since I've done any tiling and it can be quite an enjoyable job.

Loft Hatch and Door Hanging

Nice job today.

Changed a moulded door over to a 15 panel glazed door to start with.

Then added in a loft hatch in the garage as there was no access to the roof.

Fitted lining made on the job with stops and architrave - looked like it had been there from the start by the end. I did however notice that Wimpey Homes had only put 50mm of insulation above this customers utility room and being the nice soul I am I offered to fit the insulation while I was up there fitting some flooring at no extra charge if they got me the insulation.

A nice little job working for nice people - Good way to start the week!

Coppicing - A Bit Of Variety

Another week, another interesting job!
My brother booked me in a few weeks ago to give him a hand for 4 days coppicing along a stream for the same farmer who we did the coppicing for last year. The wood in the area has been untouched for some time and all the Hazel and alder are overstood and need coppicing back, as well as a few ash and birch.
My job mainly involves driving the tractor, operating the winch, hooking and unhooking the wood. This is as well as dragging brash - although my brothers log pick made moving timber easier (a lot less bending down). The weather today hasn't made moving stuff any easier (I think water proof trousers are something you should buy and never have to use!) and it looks worse for tomorrow.
Pretty psychical work but its good to have a change. As well as this it gives me a greater understanding (and without wanting to sound like an arse - respect) for the material I work with everyday of my life.
Mind you, when I normally work with timber I don't normally end up getting this dirty!

Hang That Door

A light week for work (for what I hope are obvious reasons) but I did go and finish a job I started last week, changing 6 doors over.

I removed some tired looking flush doors that had been filled one too many times and replaced them with some new 6 panel moulded doors supplied by the customer. I chipped away at the layers of paint on the hinges and had the old doors off in no time, but then the fun began.

The linings (frames) were all different shapes and nowhere near level or even straight. This made the job a much longer process as I basically had to scribe each door to fit each frame.

To make matters worse the doors supplied (naming no names - B&Q) must have been stacked on a pile of bananas as they were completely warped out of shape ("Oh yes we've had a lot come back" - they said). You might have to open the picture to see how bad.

I added an extra hinge to each door and made sure they were fixed firmly so hopefully they will pull back into shape (they were all working sweetly by the time I left). When I finished hanging them I chopped in all the locks and loose fitted the handles.

Then to make sure the doors wouldn't warp due to atmospheric change (heating) I gave each a coat of primer, helping the customer get that bit closer to finishing.

Off to hopefully finish the job on the hotel tomorrow (yes a Sunday!) as very few bookings mean good access to rooms.

My Greatest Creation

On Sunday at 7.30 my life changed forever. My daughter, little baby Evalyn, was born into this world weighing 6 1/2lb. Both mother and daughter are doing well although very tired
I feel such a proud Dad!

How to fit a Door Closer

Or more to the point, how to fit 40 door closers.

I think I've got it down to a fine art now. The tricky bit is removing the old perko door closer (door closers are fitted here due to building regulations and stopping the path of a fire - not sure if you guys have the same rules in the states) these are fitted in the back edge of the door, sprung loaded and can be nasty if your finger gets caught. I've been using a pair of needle nosed mole grips (you'll get them back dad I promise) to hold the chain while I take out the screws (many have had to be drilled out due to the last carpenter rounding off the heads). When I release the mole grips it snaps together and makes you wince at the thought of your finger being in there (or at the height they're fitted at something worse)!

Then I fit a new overhead door closer (the setting out measurements are forever in my head 68mm, 105mm, 16m, 46mm) pretty easy things to fit if you read the instructions and use the templates - practice makes you faster.

Later I've got to drop back and repair all the doors where the perkos were, but access in a hotel can be a problem and it does hold me up a bit when rooms aren't available. Still the chamber maids are a good laugh and not many carpentry jobs you can wear a t-shirt in January.

Sorry if this is a boring post!

Hospital Job

Don't worry I've not cut a finger off or anything.

"Hospital job" is a term we use in the building industry for a job we can drop on anytime and fill in between our other work. To have a hospital job is great as it gives a little bit of job security, even if its only for a few weeks, it means if a customer cancels at the last minute you've got another source of income for that day or if you finish a job early you've got something to keep you going.

I've got a great one for this winter - Renovating a horse box from a rough shell to holding three horse with living quarters in the front. The only thing I've ever done like this before was when I converted an ambulance into a camper van (then travelled all round Europe in it with my now wife- but that's another story) so this should be a good challenge. The other bonus is the truck is being stored in the larger of my dads workshops (heating in January and good company - I think I'm going to be spoilt!).

The shell is pretty rough (I'm not doing the metal work on the outside - my work is just the inside) and after looking at the kitchen and units in it (and smelling them) I decided to rip them out. The last "coach" builder made a couple of mistakes, like not tanking the living quarters off from the horses so every down hill trip resulted in more urine under the floor - not a great smell. Stripping the carpet off the walls revealed more flies than I've ever seen in one place, the wall was black in places with them.

Still the dirty work is done now. Last week I managed to get a new dividing wall up, insulated and fit the ply floor base, fit ply to the rear ramp and refit all the windows (its also been painted and body work patched up) so its looking better already.

Not working on it this week, fitting 39 overhead door closers in Birmingham, but no doubt I'll be back on it again soon (it's a job that will wait for me).