1/2 Cup
Member Emeritus
Congratulations on the feature article Eric, well deserved..
Workshop 88
- Thread starter Mr. 360
- Start date
rmalkow2
Well-known member
Good recap and the thread continues to be a good one to watch. Looking forward to all the future improvements in year 2.
HSpencer
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Great update. Everything is looking super. This shows all the work you have done and how the shop is looking currently. Your doing very well!!
Best Regards
Herb
Best Regards
Herb
Oh-Snap
Active member
This is a wonderful garage. Keep up the great work.
I really enjoyed reading how you salvaged pretty much everything in it.
I really enjoyed reading how you salvaged pretty much everything in it.
Had a few minutes over the weekend amidst a blur of house projects to restore an old tool. I should have taken before shots, but my Dad lent me an old sledge hammer, and it was looking pretty sorry. I took the head to the wire wheel to take off the rust, sanded the handle down to be silky smooth, added the 2-tone grey and orange, then finished the untreated wood with 2 coats of BLO to bring out the rich wood character. should have some life in it now, and I think it looks a lot cooler.
In other news, the house now sports all new windows, and siding should be going up within the next week. I know I'm not big on contractors and I would typically like to have done these things myself, but the house really needed them and I simply don't have enough time to do it all on my own. Also, it's nice to have all the paperwork to show the next buyer someday.
In other news, the house now sports all new windows, and siding should be going up within the next week. I know I'm not big on contractors and I would typically like to have done these things myself, but the house really needed them and I simply don't have enough time to do it all on my own. Also, it's nice to have all the paperwork to show the next buyer someday.
1/2 Cup
Member Emeritus
The sledge hammer looks great Eric.
I am in the same boat as you when it comes to D.Y.I. doing stuff that should be done with licenced contractors and without the appropriate permits.
Regards
I am in the same boat as you when it comes to D.Y.I. doing stuff that should be done with licenced contractors and without the appropriate permits.
Regards
ckcorder
Member
very nice... well everything!! Keep it up!
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Eric,
Definitely a lot cooler than my tired old sledge. A plumber I worked for in my youth used it to start well points and break up iron pipe and he gave it to me. After 50+ years in my "care" breaking concrete and general pounding on stuff, the handle finally broke. I started grinding the mushrooms off and bought a new handle. Your post reminded me I need to get it done....
The sledge hammer looks great Eric.
I am in the same boat as you when it comes to D.Y.I. doing stuff that should be done with licenced contractors and without the appropriate permits.
Regards
I hear ya. So far I've only pulled a permit for when I rewired my service-mast, meter base, and panel for 200A. I needed the inspection though for my insurance. I may or may not have pulled a permit for the 60A branch circuit to the garage.
Thanks very much! I hope to get back at some projects in here once the windows/siding are wrapped up.
Eric,
Definitely a lot cooler than my tired old sledge. A plumber I worked for in my youth used it to start well points and break up iron pipe and he gave it to me. After 50+ years in my "care" breaking concrete and general pounding on stuff, the handle finally broke. I started grinding the mushrooms off and bought a new handle. Your post reminded me I need to get it done....
Glad I could serve as Inspiration
. I really love giving old tools a second go, especially old hand tools that have had years of use and are full of history. I have quite a backlog of tools waiting for attention, I just have to find the time I guess. The nice thing about old tools is usually they can be picked up for a song because of their age or condition. nice work on that sledge so far. The new handle should add years to it's life.Had one of the heaviest rainstorms I've seen in my life last night, which, although spectacular to watch, fortunately only lasted about half an hour. Of course, my backyard neighbours poorly graded yard was funnelling water into a stream that ran down the side of my garage, making for water several inches deeper than the top of my round-stone trench. This in turn, started you know what yet again.
View media item 41281
I swear, one of these days I'll get on top of it, however the garage was the least of my concerns.
The torrential rain ponded in my backyard against the house, and started flowing into my recessed basement window-well (the only window I didn't bother replacing). In turn, this brought liquified mud and water against the window, which then found it's way through the flashing and began cascading down the drywall in the basement stairwell and flooding my basement. Luckily my 50 year old sump pump is a heavy beast and was able to run non-stop while the window gushed forth muddy water. my basement is now pretty muddy though, and I will likely have to do a bit of dredging in the sump basin.
View media item 41282
The window well was installed by someone who clearly doesn't understand water flow. they never fastened it to the house with a water barrier. in fact, they left an inch wide gap for water to flow through. In the end, the water was coming up the glass of the window, which I know didn't get tested to be marine rated by the good people of Jeld-Wen. I got out the shovel and trenched like a mad man through the yard and got a good bit of the standing water to drain off, but by that point the damage inside had been done.
View media item 41283
In other news, the rain washed out a good bit of gravel from my yet to be paved driveway, so hopefully the guys will top that up. 3 of the 7 brand new windows also had standing water in the slider tracks on the inside of the window, has anyone else experienced this? I may have to enlarge the weep holes in the frame because they simply couldn't drain water fast enough, so there was driving rain (there was a tornado in the area, so it was pretty windy) against the base of the slider windows, which I guess wicked its way into the house.
In conclusion, I guess it's best to go over your house with a fine toothed comb, and if you suspect even slightly that it may leak, fix it. Sorry for the rant, but it seems this place is always getting flooded in one way or another.
View media item 41281
I swear, one of these days I'll get on top of it, however the garage was the least of my concerns.
The torrential rain ponded in my backyard against the house, and started flowing into my recessed basement window-well (the only window I didn't bother replacing). In turn, this brought liquified mud and water against the window, which then found it's way through the flashing and began cascading down the drywall in the basement stairwell and flooding my basement. Luckily my 50 year old sump pump is a heavy beast and was able to run non-stop while the window gushed forth muddy water. my basement is now pretty muddy though, and I will likely have to do a bit of dredging in the sump basin.
View media item 41282
The window well was installed by someone who clearly doesn't understand water flow. they never fastened it to the house with a water barrier. in fact, they left an inch wide gap for water to flow through. In the end, the water was coming up the glass of the window, which I know didn't get tested to be marine rated by the good people of Jeld-Wen. I got out the shovel and trenched like a mad man through the yard and got a good bit of the standing water to drain off, but by that point the damage inside had been done.
View media item 41283
In other news, the rain washed out a good bit of gravel from my yet to be paved driveway, so hopefully the guys will top that up. 3 of the 7 brand new windows also had standing water in the slider tracks on the inside of the window, has anyone else experienced this? I may have to enlarge the weep holes in the frame because they simply couldn't drain water fast enough, so there was driving rain (there was a tornado in the area, so it was pretty windy) against the base of the slider windows, which I guess wicked its way into the house.
In conclusion, I guess it's best to go over your house with a fine toothed comb, and if you suspect even slightly that it may leak, fix it. Sorry for the rant, but it seems this place is always getting flooded in one way or another.
1/2 Cup
Member Emeritus
Eric,
We get the odd real heavy downpour like the one you have just had and as our house is a 60 year old, single brick, tiled roof it too was not designed to cope with heavy downpours.
As a consequence there is the odd leak. Our drainage on the block is pretty good and the water gets away ok.
The weep holes in the windows will only cope with so much rain, that said the ones I have for the most part are 30yo aluminium sliders and do not pose much of an issue in terms of leaking and they only have a few pinched slots to let the rain out.
Good weather strips and flashing is the secret.
Regards
We get the odd real heavy downpour like the one you have just had and as our house is a 60 year old, single brick, tiled roof it too was not designed to cope with heavy downpours.
As a consequence there is the odd leak. Our drainage on the block is pretty good and the water gets away ok.
The weep holes in the windows will only cope with so much rain, that said the ones I have for the most part are 30yo aluminium sliders and do not pose much of an issue in terms of leaking and they only have a few pinched slots to let the rain out.
Good weather strips and flashing is the secret.
Regards
Im hoping that this was just a 'perfect storm' of events. With new siding coming I'll have new j-trim, etc etc. Also, the almost horizontal rain didn't help. somehow 3 sides of the house were getting directly pounded with rain. I took my eavestroughs off a couple days ago because they told me they were going to do siding this week (with new eavestroughs), so i had nothing directing water away. that said, the basement window is on a 'peak' wall, so no eavestrough there. maybe i'll be lucky and won't have this level of storm that often.
RRP
Member
Eric.
You small space has inspired me on my 24'x'14 space.
I really like what you have done.
Congrats.
Mark
You small space has inspired me on my 24'x'14 space.
I really like what you have done.
Congrats.
Mark
xtremek
Well-known member
Heads up!!!! We just got hit by another gully washer and it's headed your way. It ripped across the state in about four hours so I would guess you should see it well before midnight.
Thanks very much! 24'x14' is a great space, almost 340sqft! I can only imagine what I would do with an extra 80 sqft in my shop. Make sure to start a thread and share your progress
.Haha, thanks for the heads up, we seemed to luck out on that one, just a bunch of dark ominous clouds rolling through around 10ish. didnt seem to amount to much more than a drizzle though fortunately... just got the place dried out. Garage is still wet though.
jjohnson70
Well-known member
Eric - hope you're all cleaned up after the flooding and that you don't get any more rain for a while. I really enjoy following along with your updates. Keep up the great work.
I had the same problem with my basement window but mine was only 3 years old.
I ended up opening the window, chalking the **** out of it, shutting the window and chalking the entire outside. I then use that spray rubber in a can and that fixed my issue.
Nolift911
Well-known member
Eric - just finished reading your thread - very cool to say the least. You are building a great space while fending off mother nature and vermin alike!!
Keep up the great work !!!
Keep up the great work !!!
Dirk Thelen
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2013
- Messages
- 32
We had similar problems at my parents house, the water just wouldn't drain off the property fast enough. So we decided to dig a couple of 10' deep holes and fill these with 4' of coarse gravel covered with geotextile. We dug some trenches and ran drainage hoses to these gravel filled holes. This really helped with keeping the water off of the doorstep.
Prettymuch all dried out and cleaned up. I really need a good way of keeping the water at bay, hoping that adding some eavestroughs will help in the long run. Thanks for following along, I hope to get back at a bunch of loose ends in the garage once the big house reno's are done.
Wow, you meant business! I do plan on either reinstalling or installing a new window in that spot, since the wooden frame is toast, and caulking/flashing the daylights out of it.
Eric - just finished reading your thread - very cool to say the least. You are building a great space while fending off mother nature and vermin alike!!
Keep up the great work !!!
Thanks! seems the vermin have moved on, i heard from my neighbour that they got into their garage and built a nest and had babies, just glad it wasn't in my garage! The water... that's ongoing haha.
Good idea! I had been considering something like that where my o-pipe dumps out in the yard, i've heard it called a 'french well' before. something to divert the flow into the ground and take a bit of overflow. I also think I'll have to regrade around some of my house, as I had 3-4" of standing water against the foundation in some areas (granted i took my eavestroughs off a few days ago in preparation for my siding).
Dirk Thelen
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2013
- Messages
- 32
You could dig a 1' by 2' trench around the house and fill it with geotextile and gravel. That would help drain water away quickly.
As for you flooding problem in the garage, I had a thought..
It sure as heck would not win any beauty prizes but bare with me. In the Netherlands when they build a basement they cover the outside of the basement with bitumen roofing as an extra barrier to keep the water out, they heat the back of it with a torch and simply stick it on. I was thinking you could do the same around the garage, just to cover the slab and first 4" of the wall.
As for you flooding problem in the garage, I had a thought..
It sure as heck would not win any beauty prizes but bare with me. In the Netherlands when they build a basement they cover the outside of the basement with bitumen roofing as an extra barrier to keep the water out, they heat the back of it with a torch and simply stick it on. I was thinking you could do the same around the garage, just to cover the slab and first 4" of the wall.
Hey Eric! Great thread you have going here. I've been reading it the last few weeks and just caught up through the whole thing. I've enjoyed it and you've given me a lot of inspiration and new ideas. I'm especially feeling a urge to practice sketching. That is my biggest weakness in the skills department - I'm terrible at it. I can visualize and engineer in my head all day long, but to put it on paper and have any kind of dimension to it has been hopeless. I might be looking into a sketching class in the future after viewing your abilities and application.
Great job! Keep up the good work.
Oh, and I've built some peg board into my cabinet doors and had great success with it. I know it's been a while since that was discussed, but I highly recomend it. (Don't have any pictures here with me, but I'll try to post some up at some point).
Good luck!
Great job! Keep up the good work.
Oh, and I've built some peg board into my cabinet doors and had great success with it. I know it's been a while since that was discussed, but I highly recomend it. (Don't have any pictures here with me, but I'll try to post some up at some point).
Good luck!
That's an interesting suggestion. I for one wish they had just poured a 4" knee wall around the perimeter and built off that... I've had the notion of jacking the whole place up and pouring one, but I think the effort and costs outweigh the benefits for that idea.
Hey, thanks for following along, I'm more than happy if someone gets inspired by something in here.
Sketching classes are great, they can teach you some methods that you might not otherwise do naturally, and encourage you to practice. Practicing really is the best way to improve sketching, like anything I guess. Graph paper is a great way to start, as it's a good reference. Practice nothing but boxes for a while and you'll see improvement
Pics of the pegboard cupboards would be great. I'm a ways out from doors still but it's always a good reference to come back to.
It's been a little while since I've posted, not a whole lot has happened in the garage itself, but I have been working on things.
I took last week off work and my wife and I got away to my family's cottage (which is an old farm) to escape the pace of life in the city. To be honest, we both aren't very big fans of living in the city, so getting away to the middle of nowhere is nice. Anyways, I did manage to get a bit of time here and there to get a project started that I've been wanting to do for a while now, so here come the pictures.
I've seen a lot of guys here with butcher block workbenches and tables -think Jack Olsen or 1/2Cup- and thought that would go well in my shop, but I needed something custom built and butcher blocks are so expensive off the shelf, so I broke out a tool I havent used in several years, my portable bandsaw mill.
I've had this guy in storage for 5 years now (man time flies), after using it a lot back in 08-09 when I re-floored the barn, made siding, posts, beams, and all kinds of stuff. Admittedly, buying a gas-powered sawmill when you're 19 isn't exactly the norm, but I really had no interest in video games and partying. I'd always rather build something or invest in a tool that lasts.
Quick specs on this unit: 2008 Hud-Son Oscar 18, made in the USA. It sports a 6.5HP Briggs and has an 18"dia log capacity, though it can be stretched to 21" with the main guide removed. The welded frame is very very sturdy, much sturdier than the new 18" bandsaw that Hud-Son makes. I've been very happy with it so far, always stored it indoors when not in use so it stays as nice as possible.
First steps were to get the mill set on it's bed, and skid the logs to site for processing. I had some old Ash waiting for milling that I dropped maybe 2 years ago.
2 big chunks of White Ash, dead when I dropped it. The bigger chunk from the bottom of the tree will yield shorter boards, but more of them. I was planning on quarter sawing it to get the best grain and most stable wood too.
This pic shows the mill on the bed, with the Ash ready to be loaded on. What follows is basically a step by step on quarter sawing with a bandsaw mill.
The first pass is pretty easy, I levelled the pith (very centre) at each end and took a slice off. I was careful not to go too deep into the sapwood because that's where some really nice straight grained 1/4 is. Note: It is good practice to scan the tree with a metal detector if you suspect it was part of a fence row.. more on that later.
The next pass, for me at least, is the most crucial. You turn the log 90 degrees and clamp it, with the pith levelled again. The trick here is to really line up your clamps (or 'dogs' as they are commonly referred to), and I like to check for square against the bed. The right pressure is needed on the dogs too when you clamp. Too much and it will pull the log out of square.
With the right amount of fettling I got it exactly square for the second pass. After the second pass, you spin it again 90 degrees and make a third pass, then spin 90 and make a 4th pass to square up the whole log. these 2 passes are easy because the log sits on the first and second sides, which are already square.
Next up comes the 1/4 sawing process. I start by ripping the log right down the middle of the pith into 2 roughly equal halves, shown here after I'd made the cut.
This is when I remembered the whole metal detector thing. I should have figured that, being a 60 year old tree when it died 10 years back, and being at the edge of a field, it might have fencing wire in it. A couple inches into my cut I ran through about 6 pieces of wire, ouch! I didnt notice it though until I lifted the top off, the saw never even slowed down. Looks though like I broke off a couple teeth but I figured I might as well continue with the same blade since it was still cutting ok. Interestingly most of the fence was about 30 rings into the tree, so it must have been snipped off in the 70's or so (10
years dead, plus 30 years back of growth).
Anyways, I took my chainsaw and sliced about 6" out of the end of the log, removing all the fencing, and could now continue as normal. I turned both halves 90 degrees and brought the saw up to the middle, then brought the saw up 1 board thickness (2" in my case, since I'm planning on a roughly 2" thick top). I made 1 pass at this height, and removed the 2 'cants,' setting them aside for later.
As seen in this brilliant paint image, I continued by dropping the saw 2" (or 8/4 using the guide that accounts for kerf) and made another pass, then dropped another 2" and made another pass.
This gave me 4 nice thick 1/4 sawn boards with good grain running through them. As a side note, 1/4 sawn wood has the grain almost perpendicular to the face of the board, so you see very tight grain lines on the face.
This left me with the bottom 2 cants, seen here.
In order to keep getting as much 1/4 wood as possible, these 2 cants are flipped 90 degrees towards the centre. As you can see, the grain is almost perpendicular to the bed, and I was able to come 2" up from the bottom and make a cut, leaving me with 2 nice boards, a little narrower than the other 4, and 2 smaller cants. I then repeated this step with the cants I had saved earlier.
I then took all the small leftover cants, and set them all back on the bed, lining up the grain to be as perpendicular to the bed as possible. I came up 2" and made a pass. I then turned all the remaining strips 90 and made a pass 1 1/2" off the bed, leaving me with a selection of 2"x1 1/2" Strips that I can use for my butcher block. Planing and finishing will remove 1/8"-1/4", so the finished product will be slightly thinner.
If you've managed to follow along so far, I applaud you. The next step was to take the 4 nicest boards from the centre of the log and stick them on their sides on the bed.
Then, using the 6/4 scale, I took 1 1/2" strips out of them as well, yielding 16 strips. I repeated this step for the 4 slightly narrower boards I milled out of the cants as well, yielding another 8 strips.
I loaded these strips onto the Jeep and took them back to the barn to lay them out to dry (the mill has a blade lube tank that drips soapy water onto the blade).
A few days later I loaded the second Ash log onto the bed and sliced some longer pieces, which I also set out in the barn to dry. These are much longer, in fact I could probably do a bench across the entire back wall with these, I think they're about 14' long.
In other news, and somewhat on a garage-related topic, While I was up there I made sure to give my old Wagoneer plenty of use, I really miss having that as my dd, but it's just so bad on gas that I cant afford it right now. I still took it down the road a little to stretch its legs and limber up.
On a day-trip I also picked up a nice boy's axe at an antique store for $15. I was unfamiliar with what the HB logo stood for but knew I couldn't go wrong with a made in sweden bit. A little bit of research told me it's a Hults Bruk, which is a nice quality axe. The lady had a few more HB axes, I should have bought them.
I took last week off work and my wife and I got away to my family's cottage (which is an old farm) to escape the pace of life in the city. To be honest, we both aren't very big fans of living in the city, so getting away to the middle of nowhere is nice. Anyways, I did manage to get a bit of time here and there to get a project started that I've been wanting to do for a while now, so here come the pictures.
I've seen a lot of guys here with butcher block workbenches and tables -think Jack Olsen or 1/2Cup- and thought that would go well in my shop, but I needed something custom built and butcher blocks are so expensive off the shelf, so I broke out a tool I havent used in several years, my portable bandsaw mill.
I've had this guy in storage for 5 years now (man time flies), after using it a lot back in 08-09 when I re-floored the barn, made siding, posts, beams, and all kinds of stuff. Admittedly, buying a gas-powered sawmill when you're 19 isn't exactly the norm, but I really had no interest in video games and partying. I'd always rather build something or invest in a tool that lasts.
Quick specs on this unit: 2008 Hud-Son Oscar 18, made in the USA. It sports a 6.5HP Briggs and has an 18"dia log capacity, though it can be stretched to 21" with the main guide removed. The welded frame is very very sturdy, much sturdier than the new 18" bandsaw that Hud-Son makes. I've been very happy with it so far, always stored it indoors when not in use so it stays as nice as possible.
First steps were to get the mill set on it's bed, and skid the logs to site for processing. I had some old Ash waiting for milling that I dropped maybe 2 years ago.
2 big chunks of White Ash, dead when I dropped it. The bigger chunk from the bottom of the tree will yield shorter boards, but more of them. I was planning on quarter sawing it to get the best grain and most stable wood too.
This pic shows the mill on the bed, with the Ash ready to be loaded on. What follows is basically a step by step on quarter sawing with a bandsaw mill.
The first pass is pretty easy, I levelled the pith (very centre) at each end and took a slice off. I was careful not to go too deep into the sapwood because that's where some really nice straight grained 1/4 is. Note: It is good practice to scan the tree with a metal detector if you suspect it was part of a fence row.. more on that later.
The next pass, for me at least, is the most crucial. You turn the log 90 degrees and clamp it, with the pith levelled again. The trick here is to really line up your clamps (or 'dogs' as they are commonly referred to), and I like to check for square against the bed. The right pressure is needed on the dogs too when you clamp. Too much and it will pull the log out of square.
With the right amount of fettling I got it exactly square for the second pass. After the second pass, you spin it again 90 degrees and make a third pass, then spin 90 and make a 4th pass to square up the whole log. these 2 passes are easy because the log sits on the first and second sides, which are already square.
Next up comes the 1/4 sawing process. I start by ripping the log right down the middle of the pith into 2 roughly equal halves, shown here after I'd made the cut.
This is when I remembered the whole metal detector thing. I should have figured that, being a 60 year old tree when it died 10 years back, and being at the edge of a field, it might have fencing wire in it. A couple inches into my cut I ran through about 6 pieces of wire, ouch! I didnt notice it though until I lifted the top off, the saw never even slowed down. Looks though like I broke off a couple teeth but I figured I might as well continue with the same blade since it was still cutting ok. Interestingly most of the fence was about 30 rings into the tree, so it must have been snipped off in the 70's or so (10
years dead, plus 30 years back of growth).
Anyways, I took my chainsaw and sliced about 6" out of the end of the log, removing all the fencing, and could now continue as normal. I turned both halves 90 degrees and brought the saw up to the middle, then brought the saw up 1 board thickness (2" in my case, since I'm planning on a roughly 2" thick top). I made 1 pass at this height, and removed the 2 'cants,' setting them aside for later.
As seen in this brilliant paint image, I continued by dropping the saw 2" (or 8/4 using the guide that accounts for kerf) and made another pass, then dropped another 2" and made another pass.
This gave me 4 nice thick 1/4 sawn boards with good grain running through them. As a side note, 1/4 sawn wood has the grain almost perpendicular to the face of the board, so you see very tight grain lines on the face.
This left me with the bottom 2 cants, seen here.
In order to keep getting as much 1/4 wood as possible, these 2 cants are flipped 90 degrees towards the centre. As you can see, the grain is almost perpendicular to the bed, and I was able to come 2" up from the bottom and make a cut, leaving me with 2 nice boards, a little narrower than the other 4, and 2 smaller cants. I then repeated this step with the cants I had saved earlier.
I then took all the small leftover cants, and set them all back on the bed, lining up the grain to be as perpendicular to the bed as possible. I came up 2" and made a pass. I then turned all the remaining strips 90 and made a pass 1 1/2" off the bed, leaving me with a selection of 2"x1 1/2" Strips that I can use for my butcher block. Planing and finishing will remove 1/8"-1/4", so the finished product will be slightly thinner.
If you've managed to follow along so far, I applaud you. The next step was to take the 4 nicest boards from the centre of the log and stick them on their sides on the bed.
Then, using the 6/4 scale, I took 1 1/2" strips out of them as well, yielding 16 strips. I repeated this step for the 4 slightly narrower boards I milled out of the cants as well, yielding another 8 strips.
I loaded these strips onto the Jeep and took them back to the barn to lay them out to dry (the mill has a blade lube tank that drips soapy water onto the blade).
A few days later I loaded the second Ash log onto the bed and sliced some longer pieces, which I also set out in the barn to dry. These are much longer, in fact I could probably do a bench across the entire back wall with these, I think they're about 14' long.
In other news, and somewhat on a garage-related topic, While I was up there I made sure to give my old Wagoneer plenty of use, I really miss having that as my dd, but it's just so bad on gas that I cant afford it right now. I still took it down the road a little to stretch its legs and limber up.
On a day-trip I also picked up a nice boy's axe at an antique store for $15. I was unfamiliar with what the HB logo stood for but knew I couldn't go wrong with a made in sweden bit. A little bit of research told me it's a Hults Bruk, which is a nice quality axe. The lady had a few more HB axes, I should have bought them.
Last edited:
1/2 Cup
Member Emeritus
Eric,
Its always great to step off the merry go round every once in a while and sounds like you enjoyed your week off.
Thanks for sharing the milling process you have gone through with the white ash, nicely articulated I might add.
Just a couple of quick questions
How long will you let the timber air before you start on the top?
Do you have a specific design in mind for your work bench?
Regards
Its always great to step off the merry go round every once in a while and sounds like you enjoyed your week off.
Thanks for sharing the milling process you have gone through with the white ash, nicely articulated I might add.
Just a couple of quick questions
How long will you let the timber air before you start on the top?
Do you have a specific design in mind for your work bench?
Regards
Thanks, I did enjoy my time off very much. I only get a week or so holidays a year so this year I splurged and used a bunch at once.
I'm bringing home as much as I can fit in the car each time I go up there, so I should get it all back this summer to acclimate in my garage. The tree died in 04 so it's had a long time to dry standing, and I dropped it 2 years ago. Life got away on me a bit and it sat kinda on the ground, but the bulk of the wood is good and some has a bit of spalting, so it'll have some character. It'll probably be autumn by the time I get around to doing anything with it, so if there is any residual moisture in the wood it should dry out by then.
I'm not entirely sure on the finished design yet, but the tops will be about 2" throughout. I had wanted to use maple, but this ash was on hand and nice and large. I do have a large 100+ year old Sugar Maple in the woods that lost a main branch in the winter (im talkin about 20" dia), so I plan to harvest that ASAP. If it's nice wood I might save it for something more special. I think way back on pg 2 I did a sketch with an idea for a butcher block island, all in hardwood.
View media item 31055
I might either do that design or weld up a tube steel frame, not really sure on the structure yet.
I'm bringing home as much as I can fit in the car each time I go up there, so I should get it all back this summer to acclimate in my garage. The tree died in 04 so it's had a long time to dry standing, and I dropped it 2 years ago. Life got away on me a bit and it sat kinda on the ground, but the bulk of the wood is good and some has a bit of spalting, so it'll have some character. It'll probably be autumn by the time I get around to doing anything with it, so if there is any residual moisture in the wood it should dry out by then.
I'm not entirely sure on the finished design yet, but the tops will be about 2" throughout. I had wanted to use maple, but this ash was on hand and nice and large. I do have a large 100+ year old Sugar Maple in the woods that lost a main branch in the winter (im talkin about 20" dia), so I plan to harvest that ASAP. If it's nice wood I might save it for something more special. I think way back on pg 2 I did a sketch with an idea for a butcher block island, all in hardwood.
View media item 31055
I might either do that design or weld up a tube steel frame, not really sure on the structure yet.
Dirk Thelen
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2013
- Messages
- 32
Eric,
Very nice write-up about the milling process :thumb up:
I've often wondered how they mill logs into usable lumber but this explained it very well, thank you.
Regards,
Dirk
Very nice write-up about the milling process :thumb up:
I've often wondered how they mill logs into usable lumber but this explained it very well, thank you.
Regards,
Dirk
Thanks Dirk, glad it was of help. There's lots of ways to mill up wood, I went 1/4 sawn for a few reasons. 1, it's more dimensionally stable than plain sawn (which is just a log cut into a bunch of parallel slabs, and tends to warp more). 2, it's less wasteful than riftsawn, while still being stable. Riftsawn is very stable, but it wastes more wood (not to mention time), because each board is cut in a radius pattern from the pith, kind of like a pizza. Rift sawing keeps all the grain perpendicular to the board face if that makes sense. the 3rd reason I chose 1/4 sawing, is that there seems to be some kind of intangible prestige when you tell someone you 'Quarter Sawed' the wood. They immediately think 'oooooo.' At least, thats how I think.
rmalkow2
Well-known member
Very good description of the milling process both with pics and words. I learned something new which is always a good thing.
Nolift911
Well-known member
Very cool write-up, have never seen one of those before!
captain14
Well-known member
Eric,
Nice description of cutting the logs into smaller pieces. Did you manhandle the large logs by yourself or had some equipment to help move it?
I will read this more slowly tomorrow when I am
Not tired and ready to crash for the night
I have enjoyed all your projects and updates so far
After the workbench is built maybe the wood division of your "Northern Steel Company " can label it as such. Did I remember the correct name? It's late.
Thanks
Nice description of cutting the logs into smaller pieces. Did you manhandle the large logs by yourself or had some equipment to help move it?
I will read this more slowly tomorrow when I am
Not tired and ready to crash for the night
I have enjoyed all your projects and updates so far
After the workbench is built maybe the wood division of your "Northern Steel Company " can label it as such. Did I remember the correct name? It's late.
Thanks
Duct Tape Man
Well-known member
Love your small garage and your related builds - subscribed!
Yarz
Well-known member
That is a very cool tool! I never knew such a thing existed.
Thanks for the write-up and the education!
Thanks for the write-up and the education!
dchasins
Well-known member
I've enjoyed checking your thread from time to time, and have always been interested in your projects, especially your ability to imagine and design such creative solutions. Now, having looked through your production of lumber for the butcher block tops, I have to chip in with a comment: WOW!
Is there anything you don't know how to do? Truly, for such a young guy, you have an impressive and amazing ability to design, fabricate, build, remodel, etc, etc. As a guy with quite a few more years than you have, I can remember having as much energy and motivation as you do, and I've always been a DIYer, but I've never had the variety of skills you have, and the ability to do such a variety of projects to a very professional level.
I'm retired now, and still trying to acquire new abilities (and tools!), and it is inspiring, as others have said, to see what you are able to do.
Kudos!!!! Thanks for posting your interesting projects and sharing with the rest of us.
Is there anything you don't know how to do? Truly, for such a young guy, you have an impressive and amazing ability to design, fabricate, build, remodel, etc, etc. As a guy with quite a few more years than you have, I can remember having as much energy and motivation as you do, and I've always been a DIYer, but I've never had the variety of skills you have, and the ability to do such a variety of projects to a very professional level.
I'm retired now, and still trying to acquire new abilities (and tools!), and it is inspiring, as others have said, to see what you are able to do.
Kudos!!!! Thanks for posting your interesting projects and sharing with the rest of us.
Thanks for the comments guys! Sawmills are a really fun way to turn a pile of logs into something really useful. I've seen lots of talented guys build them themselves but for my purposes, this unit was just right. I have a big pile of Cherry wood waiting to be sliced up, perhaps I'll get a few shots of that process too.
Thanks, good question about handling. As far as moving them goes, I used that green Jeep Cherokee (the farm truck) with a chain to tug em. I have an old hood off an '87 LeSabre that I punched a hole in and use as a sled to keep the wood from digging into the ground and getting dirty. At the mill I moved the logs using a cant hook, and once on the bed I just manhandled them around.
I like the idea for a bench label. You were correct on the name, I'll probably either use the same name or perhaps create a different fictional division.
Thanks very much, that's a very nice compliment indeed. I suppose I just like to try new things and see if I can work them out. My dad taught me a lot of his skills over the years so I'm very thankful for that (He still bests me in a lot of areas too).
I suppose I also see some of the incredible workmanship from people on this site, even from other guys in their mid 20's. Gets me inspired to step up my game a little every time and that's one of the reasons I enjoy this site so much. Thanks again for the comment!