!! Harry the boot (BEL)

BEL Post #13

Hello, Permies! I hope you accomplished things you were proud of this weekend, as the feeling of accomplishment is always a boost for the impending week.

Friday night into Saturday morning many inches of snow fell at WL, so the morning was spent "digging out" to allow for any necessary trips and errands to be run during the day. After taking the my van out to fill up the tank before my impending trip to reunite with my family back in Colorado this coming week, I was fortunate enough to have time both on Saturday and Sunday to work on and finish my end table project. As the assembly was completed, I focused primarily on the table top surface. Given that it is the "business end" of the table, I spent a lot of time preparing the surface, taking the challenge to do so without any power tools. To complete the task, I used hand planers, a raps planer, and the card scrapper we were acquainted with and prepared earlier in the week. After the Saturday, I exposed all of the beauty of the wood and got the surface to a reasonable level plane. On Sunday, I completed the remaining surface prep, removing a majority of the sawmill cut lines. I kept some shallow cut lines in a few places along the edge of the table, both for the interesting aesthetic, but also because I was worried it make take me a couple of more hours to remove them entirely while keeping the table top surface relatively flat. Once the table top was completed, I needed to clean the greenwood legs up a bit more because of some hasty debarking I did a couple of days ago using the vise. To get the last bits of loose fibers and "fuzz" off the legs, I used the card scrapper, which was really effective in doing so (I also card scrappered the top surface as the final step). With a linseed oil coat, the table was completed. Note that I built the table without the front support so that it could also be used as a desk (see example pictures below  ). I am proud of it!

After cleaning blitz today, I decided to take on a nest labor project to replace a fading sign in the kitchen. In place of the card with writing on it, I made a wooden placard with the message burned into it. I put a pilot hole and countersunk it for a flush fit when I screwed the placard into place. I have a comparison between the old and new signs below. It felt good to renew this sign - it was actually one of the first signs I remember reading in the kitchen when I visited WL more than a year ago.

We ended the day on Sunday after finishing our end tables (Estaban has mostly finished his as well!), we came back to a surprise apple pie backed by our current SEPper. The top crust was absolutely crispy perfection! So glad the Johnny Appleseed half-assed holiday inspired the SEPper to make pies this weekend!

beautiful job on that table/desk! We can't wait for your squeezes! <3

Harry Malecki wrote:BEL Post #7

What do you call that angle drilling jig? Was it tucked away in the shop somewhere or did you have to procure it somehow? Is it a universal fit or custom for that Makita?

I like the design and slab selection there, are your steps to level the bottoms of the legs a guarded secret or just too simple for a master craftsman to bother mentioning...?

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Harry Malecki wrote:BEL Post #7

What do you call that angle drilling jig? Was it tucked away in the shop somewhere or did you have to procure it somehow? Is it a universal fit or custom for that Makita?

Hey Coydon - Thanks for following my posts! This jig is know as a portable drill guide. Here is the one they have at WL that I used for this project (Portable Drill Guide at WL). I was familiar with it because I have one at home as well. The drill guide can be used by any drill since it just tightens down the same way you would tighten down a drill bit. The chuck attached is the limiting factor. The one at WL has a smaller chuck (3/8 inch), so it was limited to smaller drill and forstner bits. If you are planning on using this guide for anything larger than a 3/8 inch, you should look at the other options (the one I have at home I believe is a 1/2 inch chuck).

Coydon Wallham wrote:
I like the design and slab selection there, are your steps to level the bottoms of the legs a guarded secret or just too simple for a master craftsman to bother mentioning...?

I can't say I am anywhere near a master craftsman, but I am definitely aspiring to get closer. For the leveling, especially for the stool where I didn't get the legs closely sized to final dimensions before installing them on the stool top, I first had to determine which leg was at the height I wanted the stool to be when I finished. Given that I was going to have to cut the other legs to achieve that height, I selected the smallest leg. I then used a right angle ruler sitting on the surface of the stool to get an approximate length of the shortest leg and then used that technique to get an approximate mark for where to cut the other three legs. I say approximate here, because I intentionally left a little extra length on the other three legs so that I could rasp them to final length as I worked to get level in all directs and take out any wobble due to pairs of legs being longer (that process was simply set it down, check for wobble -- I identify the legs that were long and where the floor contacted the legs and then I rasped away at it little by little repeating until I got it just right). I hope some of above made sense. Maybe when I return to WL in May, I can get one of my kiddos to record a video of my doing some of the process and we can post it.

BEL Post #14

Good evening Permies! It is with mixed emotions that I write this final post for my current trip to WL before I head home to reunite with my family in CO as we prepare for our big life change and eventual return to WL in May. I appreciate everyone who has kept up with the work Stephen, Esteban, and I have been up to over the past few weeks and hope to have you all reading new updates when I return in May. I again want to thank my family who afforded me the time away to do this, and I also want to thank Paul, Stephen, Esteban, Samantha, our new SEPper and of course Cujo for having me as part of the "family" here at WL.

As for my last work day before my long drive home, I started off by heading up to Allerton Abbey with Esteban where we worked to (nearly) finish up the floor project. We spent time working to get a finer mix of cob prepared for the top layer which needed to be carefully leveled/smoothed with a wet wooden float. This is really the part of the job that had me most concerned, specifically regarding blending the fixed areas with the existing floor surface ,and how well the fix would adhere to the existing floor (especially the linseed oil treated top layer -- which based on pieces that we removed is about the first 1/4 inch of the cob). I think we were successful in getting the new surface layer to blend with the existing floor. I did inform Esteban that it will be important to clean around the fix and consider lightly wetting and wet floating the surface one more time before letting it final dry and applying the linseed oil. I am going to be excited to see this job finish up while I am gone!

In the afternoon, I went up to the Lab with Stephen to identify three trees to fell, delimb and bring to Basecamp to debark and start preparing for the next project - Abbey Gates! We fell the trees, delimbed them, and then put the limbs at locations identified as brush piles to provide habitat for woodland critters. After returning to Basecamp, I spent a couple of hours on the Bodger bench/shaving horse debarking the logs that we harvested from the tree (six logs in total). After some cleanup of all of the bark (there was a lot!), I helped Stephen begin to measure, mark, and pilot the holes that would eventually become mortises for other parts of the gate structure. Time ran out before we could get too far, but again, I look forward to seeing at least one of these gates getting build while I am away.BEL Post #14

Again, thanks to everyone who has been keeping up with my posts. I have had a great time here at WL and enjoyed the projects I have been able to help work on and complete. With that being said, I am very excited to be heading home to see my family so that we can finish the work required for us to head back up here together. More to come!!