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.
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...
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.
It's finally time for the new roof, and that means I need to resolve the issue of the rotten molding. I hadn't realized it was rotten, but a closer inspection revealed bees, and a fascia full of insulation and squirrel scat. Fun times on a ladder!
The problem with replacing old stock is that new molding will not match your original profile: The new stuff looks the same, but it's thinner. You can get specially made moldings, but that's a lot of money, especially if you only need a little bit. Other options? Buy many router bits, or buy many molding planes. As much as I like the second option, it's hard to justify, monetarily.
Then, I had a thought: what about the humble scratch stock? The scratch stock is a simple way to create a profile in wood, usually a small bead edge. It isn't as swift or as consistent as a plane, but if you only have to work a little bit of wood, it's a cheap option.
I had previously made a bead edge for my cabinets:
This was a slightly larger task, but I thought I'd give it a try. I bought some 16 gauge steel from the Home Despot, traced the profile, then went to town with the angle grinder
Finished up with files, then sandpaper, then honed both sides.
Tossed it in a piece of wood and had at it.
So, half way through my success I showed my progress to my dad, and as I was explaining it I realized I goofed: I cut off the wrong side of the profile.
That was enough for one day; I came back to it in the morning and reground the correct profile. So far it's been working, though it is slow progress. I was making a lot of dust the first time around, but I did a better job of honing this time and there are more shavings now. I'm sure there will be some tweaking, but it looks like I'll have a workable molding.
