!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BEL #740

Faith has been a tremendous Boot since day one, and her week here has been full of progress. I'm grateful she decided to come visit us on her Spring Break, and wish her nothing but success as she heads back to medical school.

Here are some additional shots of Faith in action for today's tasks:





Speaking of progress, we finished even more of the Bark Park fence today. I'd say the fence sections are about 70% done right now.



Hey Eliot! Hey Clay! Hey Alex! We sealed the chimney on the Woodshop! We even did the same thing for the chimney for the Classroom!



The Berm Shed is looking closer to being shored-up prior to adding the Sister Log, as well. Faith and I added the deadman log to the trench I'd dug, then measured the angles and made the cuts for the "knee brace." Things are looking good down there right now.





This is just a test fit. I'll refine the angled edges of the log and then cut notches on Monday. We surprised ourselves with how well the math was working out...



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BEL #741

I started a personal project for some of my possessions up at the tent today. I wanted a place to shelf several of my books as I intend on spending more time up there as the temperatures warm up, and I wanted to try making a shelf that had no metal fasteners.

Here are the planks cut to size: about 2' 6". I'll line two of them up next to one another, and the shelf space will be about 11.5" wide.



I decided to recess the legs of the shelf a little bit, then fit the shelf supports into the legs. Then I would use my spare paracord to tie everything together. Here's a marked leg, with a shaded area that I would chisel out so the shelf support would fit inside.



After a little time in the shop at the bench vise, I chiseled-out a total of four recesses so the shelf supports could be wedged in there. I figured I could just use the paracord to tie everything together.



Here's where today's plans began to unravel. I went up to the tent, and I couldn't find my box of paracord anywhere. I know we used a lot of it last summer for the roof sunshades over the Classroom, though I thought I had an additional box full of the stuff. So I searched through the Woodshop a few times, and the paracord remained hidden. This is unfortunate. My next alternative was to use some sisal twine, already in the Woodshop. I threaded it through these holes and hoped for the best.



The first draft is a rough one. But it gave me space to think on it. I think my next strategy is to drill out space for some dowel rods in both the legs and the shelf supports, so that I can use wooden rods to hold things together. A final step will be to add angular support sticks on the back so that the two halves of the shelf will support the weight of the books, clothes, or whatever else I put on them.

The shelf pieces were fence pickets that I cut to size, and they're pretty affordable. the supports are all scrap wood and/or cut-offs from junkpole fence pieces, so there's no extra cost there. I feel pretty good about this design (if I might dignify it with such a term...).



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

I suspect the gatekeeper for woodworker's Valhalla will look favourably on you decision to abandon the petroleum derived paracord and use sisal in it's stead...

BEL #742

Attempted to solve the issues with a stuck hydrant today. To sum it up, a bolt I attempted to loosen ended up losing its head. To solve problems with a stuck, headless bolt, a screw extractor was recommended. Spoiler alert if someone's reading this: I didn't succeed yet, but I sure tried.

Here's the offender. I've already started by drilling out the center of the screw. I used thread-cutting oil so I wouldn't end up breaking the drill bits and whatnot.





I picked up a set of screw extractors and this was my first opportunity to use them.



The process is to drill into the bolt, insert an extractor and tap it in with a hammer, then crank the extractor counter-clockwise to extract the screw.

I also sprayed the screw with Houdini yesterday and today, and then after lunch I heated up the screw to attempt to loosen it up a bit.



So, it broke in there. It's as simple as that.



So to wash this one down, I made a sign for the herb garden that Boot Faith and I sowed last week.



Went down to the Barm Shed to continue those repairs but I'll detail that tomorrow. I suspect I'll complete that job then, and have something to show for it.

"Don't wish it were easier. Wish you were better."

That's all for today. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:
So, it broke in there. It's as simple as that.

Ooof, been my experience with those extractors ususally also. A little late to mention it, but left handed drill bits can help to start the process you tried...