Any Thoughts On Security?

Yesterday I learnt that someone my brother works with had their tools stolen. Although I know this is a common occurrence, it really bothers me. How could someone remove the means by which this guy supports his young family and pays his mortgage?

Useful padlock

Apparently they took the lot, and it got me thinking about my tools and how dependant I am on them to earn my living. As well as this I also learnt today that a building firm I sometimes work for had their yard and offices broken into with computers and tools stolen.

Thinking "It'll never happen to me" is the wrong way to look at the problem, so is "if they want to get in, they'll get in" that people often quote when you talk about the subject.

When you're at work in a city or town you have to accept there's a risk. When I was working in Birmingham I even got into the habit of putting a magnetic "Window Cleaning" sign on the back of the van, figuring that a thief was much less likely to want to break into a window cleaners van containing a bucket and sponge, than a carpenters with tools. Unfortunately that doesn't look very professional so could only be used when I was parked in "dodgy" areas.

What tips and ideas have other people got for keeping their tools safe and secure either on site or at home. I'll be keen to read any ideas people have got.

How To Patch A Floor

Removing or moving a wall can sometimes mean that a floor has to be repaired. This is what happened today at work.

the area that needs some new boards

The repair was to be over a small area, ideally I would have preferred to take out a longer section of flooring and replaced the boards over a larger area. But this area is going to be carpeted and the two sets of boards in the different rooms don't match up (in line or thickness) so we decided this was the best course of action.

Both sides trimmed out to finish half way on a joist



To start with I removed any nails I could before using the circular saw to cut the floor boards back so the ends finish half way on the joist, this means that the boards have something to rest on and they are supported. Make sure your saw is set only to the depth of the boards or you'll be weakening the joists!

The floor boards in the different rooms are different thicknesses meaning one side had to be packed




The one room has floor boards a slightly different thickness to the other so I had to use packers to bring it to the same level (you can just make your own out of wood, but these plastic packers are great as they come in different sizes and are ready to use).

All screws have to be pilot holed and countersunk so the boards don't split

I fixed the boards as I went and as the screws are near the edge of the boards they all had to have a pilot hole and countersink to save splitting the wood. I also made sure that all the original boards I cut were fixed down as well as I had removed some of the nails from them earlier.

The finished repair ready for carpet

A basic repair but when it has carpet on top no one will ever know I've been there!

Studding

With the structural work of the prison ceilings done I decided it was time for a change. I had enjoyed the prison job and it was a very different experience (counting tools in and out, etc) but the drive was killing me and there was only boarding left which could be left to labourers.

I'd had a phone call a few weeks earlier from a carpenter, who I knew from when I was an apprentice, offering me some work in a large house that he is renovating . He wanted people who could put quality first and had experience of working on large high spec projects. The job sounded right up my street so I jumped at the chance.

The location is beautiful, with rolling Herefordshire countryside all around, miles from anywhere - very different to working in Birmingham, no need to lock the van here!

Studding under the roof truss

I started on some large stud work under a roof truss.

Using a chalk line to line up the noggins

I'm pretty sure there's no more enjoyable prospect than a pile of clean straight 4x2, a nail gun, a mitre saw and some stud walls to put up.

High ceilings make it interesting

Adding the ply which is part of the sound proofing for the room

I do love being a carpenter! I had a great couple of days and I'm going back after the bank holidays next week. Hopefully there will be some more jobs like this to get my teeth into.

Anyone else got a bit of their job they love?

Ceiling Repair

A Bit of Restoration Work

This is some work I did a few weeks ago for a long standing customer. They live in a beautiful old Rectory in a near by village and I love working on the house.

The work was a semi emergency repair to a ceiling in one of their B&B rooms. I say "semi emergency" as I was there to look at some other work they wanted doing and she showed it me this as "future work" but I thought it was a little too dangerous to leave any longer.

A past leak in the roof had cause the lath to rot and plaster to crack

I arranged to do all the work while they were on holiday so there would be no disturbance to them and it would be all painted and cleaned up by the time they got back.

Getting the scaffold up there was the hardest part, it all has to go up slowly to avoid damaging any walls, door or paintings. I also cut sheets of ply to protect the floor and wallpaper.

The loose plaster removed and rotten lath - the roof is no longer leaking!

I only had to touch the cracked area and it came down on top of me! Messy job - I wouldn't have wanted to leave this repair any longer!

Now for the bit of controversy - the modern repair.

I'm afraid to say that no lath went back up. Instead two layers of plasterboard to bring it out to somewhere near the same level as the old plaster. And also no lime plaster was used just multifinish as this repair needed to be finished in the week with paying customers due in the B&B at the weekend - no chance of waiting for lime plaster to dry!

I first framed the hole out to make sure there was plenty of fixings for the plaster board, then cut the boards so there was minimum gaps all the way round.

The hole boarded out ready for plastering

I got my friend, Sean, to plaster the repair and blend it in with the old ceiling, I like using top tradesmen I can trust when it's not my area of expertise and I've known Sean for many years andhis work is always of a high standard.

This repair may crack slightly in the future at the joint between old and new, but that can be filled if needed and will blend with some of the other cracks already in the ceiling, i do think this will be minimal though from past experience.

Sean plastering and blending it in

I then waited a few days for it to dry before giving it about 5 coats of paint and removing all the other evidence that I'd been there.

She was a happy customer when she returned from her holiday! No mess and a B&B room ready to hire out with no risk of a ceiling dropping on any ones head!

Oak Key Organiser

The other day I finished the key holder mentioned in utility room revamp.

The finished organiser

Hammered in hooks

With blacksmithed hooks and painted black label holders above to complete the look, I'm quite pleased with the way it came out. I'm glad I made the effort of routing a grove as a border round the outside otherwise I think it would have been too plain.

What? No Picture?

Well for last week I've been in a high security prison and I'll be there for a few more weeks yet. I should stress that I'm working there not doing hard time!
Although the job is quite far from glamorous I wasn't really in a position to turn the work down.
There's quite a few downsides to this job, I can't take any pictures of the work we're doing (for obvious reasons) but we're basically removing 8 suspended ceilings and replacing them with timber ones. I'm running the job and its a nightmare to organise deliveries at a certain time and the materials can only be outside for so long - the companies supplying the good never quite understand until their delivery has been turned away.
On the plus side our guards are nice enough and it's certainly an interesting place to work. Shame it's taking me 3 1/4 hours to drive home each night - long enough to put a dampener on any job!
Anyone else worked in an "interesting" place?

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.