Time to Work

 

I took these pictures on the second day of staying home, thinking that I could post my progress every day, you know, since I have time on my hands.

This was five days later:

So, if left to my own devices I take about two hours to get up and going in the morning, and apparently on a broader level I also take two weeks to start getting things done.

At thirteen days we start to see something;

And the next day some real change:

I don't really mind tidying up, I'm just a procrastinator.  It's amazing how satisfying it is to have the space cleaned and set up.  Lots more to go.

Now, I haven't been a total couch potato, this has given me time to get some important work done around the house.  I'm splitting and stacking the logs out back, which led to making a saw buck, finally putting my birthday adze to good work.

  

 

 I'm also making a cat door for Mr. Neil.

And we're still working on the hallway floor.  I bought a carbide scraper to clean up the floor boards.  

An interesting side-note: I got these curls as I was using the scraper, and they reminded me of shavings from a tool I just learned about, the Yari Kanna.  It's a fascinating traditional tool from Japan, and was used to smooth the surface of boards and beams.  It's basically a modified spear that can be pulled along the wood.  I'm sure it takes some real skill to get nice shavings.  Cool stuff.

Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy!

It's here!  Many thanks to my wonderful wife for getting me a great Christmas Present: 

The Anarchist's Design Book, by Christopher Schwarz.

I've been enjoying bits and pieces from the digital version, but there's nothing like the real thing.  Now, time to build stuff.

 

I Haven't Got a Leg to Stand on: I Have Three Legs To Sit On

I set myself a little task yesterday, to see if I could make a stool in one hour.

Luckily I had a slice of elm already cut, so that saved some time

Unfortunately it was sitting out in the rain, so it was wetter than an otter's backside.  

I tried to draw out some of the moisture with shavings that were laying around

I've had this black locust sitting around so I cut that to length for the legs.

   

I'm still getting the hang of this froe; I think I just need to whack it harder.

   

I tried to use a drawknife but my weak bench was moving too much, and I had a lot of material to remove so I went back to the chopping block and grabbed a hatchet.

Skipping the drawknife I used a scrub plane to rough out the legs and shape the tenons.  I was running out of time so I left the shape very rough.

The seat was mostly flat, I just evened-up some of the marks from the chainsaw, then bored holes with a slight angle.  I didn't bother working the underside, but I did clean off some of the soft and wet wood along the edge.

       

Fitting the legs was just a matter of trial and error.  I knocked the stool against the floor to really seat them, and then cut off the tops.

Is it pretty?  No.  Can I take it apart and clean it up later?  Yes.  Is it functional? 

Of course, did I finish it in one hour?  No, it was two hours, but it's done and I can use it.

Hee-Haw

Yes, I have saws, and a power planer.

But you forget my secret weapon:

Asinine Persistence.

What Happened?

A project 18 years in the making

   

Okay, so I appear to have lost some photos; what you should know is that after laying out the letters I cut them from the tape.  Then, I soaked it with vinegar...

Take off the rest of the tape, buff up the rust, rub it all down with oil and...

Voilà

Safety First!

Or Second.

Definitely Third.

Oh, Crap; be right back.

(and mama's on speed dial)

File under: Stoned

 

 I made this blog to highlight things I make, so this is a bit of a digression, but today I made an amazing discovery.  While cutting a hole to put the light switch by the front door (I know, I know; crazy idea, but bear with me) I ran into uncuttium: further inspection [hammer] revealed a switch box.  I know, right!  It's like someone anticipated my desire to turn on the lights as soon as I enter the room, or turn on the outside light as I'm standing by the door.  Crazy.

 I now have the slight hitch of turning this single switch into two, but I have some ideas, and then there are more wires to nowhere (I hope) to deal with.  Goodness knows why they covered it over in the first place.  It looks like it was covered with plaster, which means it was abandoned long ago, but not before being wired up.  Strange.

The lesson I'm taking from all this is to sort out all the electric right from the start.