My Self Built Campervan

I was little sad the other day, well not sad but nostalgic. I'd pulled my old camper van out of one of my fathers sheds to start her up and give the engine a bit of a run.
It was when doing this I realised that now with a baby in tow there was no chance we'd ever be using her anytime soon, and perhaps its the time to sell her to allow another couple the chance to have a bit of an adventure travelling in a camper.


My other love, only 16,000 miles on the clock but time to sell her.

When I bought this camper it wasn't strictly speaking that. In fact it was an ambulance, a St. John ambulance to be exact. At the time of buying the van it had only 8,00 miles on the clock, been stored in a RAF hanger the majority of its life and only been to village fetes. Mint condition didn't do it justice. As soon as I saw it I knew what I was going to do to it.


Kitted out as an ambulance

I gutted it completely giving me a blank canvas to work on, then set about making everything from scratch. It took a lot more planning than you'd think to get everything to fit in and because this type of van isn't your normal camper there was none I could copy!

Building the units from scratch

Adding the Beech trim to the fronts of the units

Units ready for worktop and doors

Sofa/bed - one pull and it becomes a bed. Made with rock and roll hinges.

It took a few months of late evenings but in the end I got there. On the day we were due to leave I put down my screwdriver, started the engine and drove to France. Siren blaring of course but no time to check anything. The van was even fully wired for 12v and for 240v, had a gas hob and sink with a tap, a complete camper.


Parked up in a Campsite in France

The inside (my wife made the covers)

We've travelled a few miles in this old van

The first year we went away in it we drove 4000 miles round Europe in 5 weeks, through 7 countries and 19 campsites. It was after this holiday that I knew for 100% sure that Claire was the woman for me (anyone that can put up with me in a small space for that long deserves a medal) and I asked her to marry me later that year.
In fact this van was even where we spent our wedding night (I'm such a romantic)!
So although I think the time has come to sell her we've certainly had our fun out of it and I much rather someone else took it off on another adventure rather than it spending the next 20 years locked in a shed covered in dust.
And from a woodworking point of view this will always be one of my favourite projects and one I smile of when I think about it.

The Shed Sanctuary

We never put a healthy shed down!

I've got a bit of a problem when it comes to sheds. I love them.

Man maketh the shed and Shed maketh the man.

The frame had to be repaired in a few places

So the week before last when I got offered a couple of sheds, so long as I took them down, I couldn't say no. The larger one, although rotten in quite a few places, was 8ft by 14ft and built using quite stong timbers - ideal for a little undercover work area to make a few bits and bobs until I can build something bigger.

The new floor

Last week I repaired the rotten sections of the frame, bought timber for a new floor and then this morning me and a friend got cracking putting it back up. Once we'd got the base levelled on legs onto paving slabs (it is only temporary after all) the rest didn't take long - if it wasn't for the fact we had to keep stopping for April showers!

Placed behind my over full container

 The roof had to have a few timbers replaced as they were like bannas and its completely rotten in some of the boarding so I'm planning to just cover it with tin (its got a blue tarp on at the moment).

I think this picture makes it look bigger than it is!

I've still got to repair a bit of rotten shiplap, build a step for the front, wire it with lights and sockets and tin the roof but other than that its almost a complete low cost temporary workshop!

Still needs some more work doing to it.

Old Wooden Water Pump

Hole bored right through the beam by hand

I was going to put these pictures on and ask people to guess what they were but I was so impressed when I saw it I thought I'd have to just do a post about it.

The end of one length of pipe

These are parts of an old wooden pump from a friend of my fathers' farm, pulled out from a well that must have been sealed shut for 100 years and nearly 50ft deep.

The "bucket"

The well itself is impressive but these beams are something else! I'm almost a 100% sure they're elm from what I know about the subject and they would have been felled and worked on straight away, green,  before they could develop cracks. Drilling out the centre would have removed the heart wood and the cause of most of the cracking and this would keep each piece water tight. The augers to drill it out were long (obviously) with different blades that attached on the ends, they normally started with a 2" cutter and then worked up the cutters to get a 5" hole in the finish (I didn't measure these but it looks about that).

Picture showing the length

As this well was so deep there was quite a few sections to the pump and each would have been joined with hot suet and cloth (from my research).

The well - about 50ft deep dug out by hand - These were some men!

If anyone is interested in more information on how these were made there is a great chapter in the book "The Village Carpenter" by Walter Davis (quite possibly my favourite book ever) where it is describe in some detail.

I think this is a real testament to old craftsmanship, to think there would have been wells like this all over the country up until a couple of hundred years ago is amazing, now the knowledge to create them is almost lost, only what is written in books - I wonder if one has been made in the last 50 years? With something like this the knowledge sometimes needs to be in the muscles not just the head and only if we tried to do it would we see what other techniques and tools we'd need.

A rare treat to see this, really made my day.

I'd love the opportunity to make an old wooden pump and see it work.

Utility Room Revamp

Nice Utility room revamp finished last week (except for some key hooks and stain).
This involved replacing a old fire door with an oak ledged door and antique style hinges and latches, removing all the old units and replacing with some solid pine ones, I didn't make these but fitted them and I made the corner unit to match, as well as another cupboard door on a different unit. I persuaded the customer to go for a granite worktop as its in a high traffic area and it wasn't much more than a long lenght of chipboard worktop, but it looks a hundred times better! For this I made the template for the granite company to save the customer money and speed the process along.

door made on site to match the others

Corner unit made on site to fit the space available

New Utility units with granite worktop

Key holder, letter tray and coat hooks, all lovely oak, yet to have finish applied

New Oak Door fitted with antique style hinges (not sure why it keeps loading this way round!)

Antique brass bell sourced and mounted on a oak plinth as the finishing touch

I also made a few accessories, like the brass bell plinth outside and the key holder (hooks to be fitted), letter tray and coat hooks. I should have taken more before photos but i think it all looks quite posh now!

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!