Don’t fence me in

We have been threatening to build a fence since we moved in 6 years ago. We will soon have new neighbours, so we decided to bite the bullet and do it before anyone moves in. If new people move in, and the fence is there already, they will simply accept it. If we put a fence up after people move in, there is always the risk of animosity.
We lived with anti-social clowns for years before moving here, and have no wish to repeat it.

4 hours work for part #1

All done and dusted in a little over 6 hours. That means 1m per hour. Not bad for a wee fat 60-year-old who drives a desk for a living.

Next job is to re-install the benches in my shed. I had to strip everything out to track down a leak. All dry now, and insulated behind the particle boards on the front wall.

It’s all go.

That time of year

Once again it is Og Maidne with little output from the shed of wonders. It has been a busy year however. I installed heel-drains along the side of my garage to stop water entering through the brick work. The garage is buried about 18″ along one side. The run-off from my shed gutters runs down a path, which unfortunately allowed all of this additional water to run against the side of the garage. The heel drain catches most of this water and re-directs it into the rainwater gully at the corner of the house.

Hopefully this will see the garage as close to water-tight as possible.

I also replaced the remaining windows in the house, meaning I only need to source and install a back door to complete that project. I renovated the spare bedroom too, meaning all rooms inside the property have now been upgraded. Next project will be to design & install a new kitchen. We previously gave the kitchen a facelift to see us through. I have the beginnings of a plan, I just need to pull it together in a formal plan and decide on bespoke or off the shelf cabinets.

I had to demolish a wall in the garden during the summer too, as it had become dangerously unstable and was a potential danger to anyone walking past. I re-built part of it using the old bricks, but as some half-wit decided a single brick retaining wall was a good idea, I now need to take it down to the footings, expand the footings, and rebuild the retaining wall in double brick.

Next year sees a significant birthday for this little old fat bloke, so the countdown to retirement begins in earnest. If the lottery would play the game, I would be able to retire early.
2023 has been a quick year despite the pretty dreadful weather, so hopefully 2024 will stretch out with plenty heat & sunshine.

All the best to anyone reading this. Lang may yer lum reek.

Spalting is rot. Beautiful rot.

I had to replace my better half’s pen today, after selling the last one. This timber is really punky and is at the stage where it is almost firewood. The spalting is spectacular however.
If you look closely, you will see the ragged edges where the barrel trimmer was just a tad aggressive. The pen body is turned as “comfort fit” because of severe arthritis.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I made another little stool from scrap pine too. Our neighbour had new windows fitted earlier this year, and I begged the scraps from the window fitters for kindling.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It’s still a bit rough and in need of a sanding and some kind of finish. I might just use some Danish oil on it. I will decide that later.

Future Project?

I saw a video by another maker who built a jukebox from pallet timber and a scrap PC. Being in the industry, scrap PCs are widely available to me, so I am very tempted. I think all I will have to actually pay for will be the track selection buttons. We have some de-commissioned Intel NUC devices at work which would be a good fit, as they are all solid state. I have a 19″ widescreen LCD monitor in the loft. We are just about to buy a crate of firewood for the Winter. The crates are made from birch which looks lovely with an oil finish.

Could be a go-er for a Winter project.

A Welcome ReTurn

I actually got out to my shed and did some turning these last 2 weekends. I turned a baby rattle from holly for a family friend. Delivered it yesterday, and it went down a storm.
It’s always a treat to me seeing folk examine the rattles looking for the join where the rings were added.
Finish is organic beeswax.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I have also turned a tooth fairy bell from a lump of very spalted and very punky beech.
I think it turned out very well. Finish is spray lacquer

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Hopefully this will be a regular thing now most of the work in the house is finished

Another year gone

Yes, another year all but gone. I’m not sure anyone still reads my drivel, there is so little of it these days.
I have done no turning, and very little making.
It has been a very busy year for me. My daughter was married, I renovated the main bedroom, had to do some significant welding on both cars to pass their respective MOT tests, and repair/refit a badly installed loft ladder. The ladder may on the surface appear insignificant, and the actual repair was. Lifting the loft flooring and undoing the poor structural work however was not. I will never understand how supposed trades people can rip elderly customers off. Every job we have taken on in this house has uncovered botched work the previous owners commissioned trades to carry out. From nails through electrical cables, to the shower back-feeding a redundant water tank, to the massive hole behind the boiler. It really is a disgrace. Shame on each and every one.
The coming year will see a milestone. The last two new windows will be installed, and the spare bedroom will be fully renovated. This will see the last of the electrical being upgraded, new ceiling, party-wall being dry lined with acoustic plasterboard, new door, new skirting boards, and new flooring.
Once complete I can rest, and start saving again. None of this has been cheap, but much cheaper than if I had employed people to carry the work out. With the exceptions of the roof, boiler, and log stove, I have done every bit of work myself. Not bad for a little old fat bloke.
I also have a plan on the back burner, to start some kind of introduction to new makers. This will involve re-assuring people that you don’t need to be rich to embark on the making journey despite what the “purists” may say. I started with nothing. I got my first lathe free, bought the cheapest tools on the market, and survived. Almost all of my machine tools have been from either budget ranges or used from estate sales. It can be done.
Hopefully I can start turning again. First job will be a baby rattle for my daughter’s best friend who had a new addition to the family in this past year. I also need to try to finish a quaich I started earlier this year. I need to either buy or build a pressure pot for resin, as the wood is an extremely punky piece of sweet chestnut. It was to be a wedding gift, but at this rate I may have it finished for the happy couple’s fifth wedding anniversary.
We also both came down with Covid-19 after dodging it since 2020. We went out shopping without masks for the first time since the pandemic began, and tested positive 3 days later. I do not care what people say or think, I’m wearing a mask outside again and will continue to do so until this plague finally disappears. (if it ever does) I never want to go through that again. I shudder to think what it would have been like were we not vaccinated.
Wishing you all a very happy Og Maidne. Lang may yer lum reek.

Finally! Some shed time

I managed to get out to my shed today, for probably the first time this year, to do something not related to renovating the house. I managed to build a charging station for my battery tools out of an old table. Photos pending.

When I bought the 2nd hand Tormek, the wheel was badly grooved & I had no idea what to do with it. After watching some Youtube videos I managed to work out, from the box of accessories, that there was a wheel dresser included.
Today I dressed the wheel, and having watched numerous videos, I sharpened about ¾ of my turning tools, and my kitchen knives. It really is amazing how little steel is removed by the wet grinding, and hopefully the temper of the steel will be unaffected. Using a conventional grinder causes an immense amount of heat to build up, which affects the temper of the steel meaning the cutting edge becomes fragile. Wet grinding, as well as being a better edge and removing less steel, should last longer meaning fewer trips to the grinder.

Here we are again

Yet another Happy Og Maidne to my follower(s) with no real content to show. I simply have not done much in the way of turning. A couple of quaichs, a few trinkets, and a single pen. Nothing noteworthy.
I have insulated and lined my workshop roof, and fitted new LED lights, built a desk from upcycled material, and made a charcuterie board for a family member. Mostly though, my efforts have been concentrated on home renovations. New double-glazed window and walk-in sliderobes for the main bedroom. We also had a new roof, which curtailed other activities.

I am still working from home, and still plague free. I know many people who have contracted this illness, but thankfully none of my close circle have experienced deaths.

I wish everyone (anyone) taking the time to read my rambling, all the best for 2022. Lang may yer lum reek.

I’m Still Here

It seems hard to believe it has been over a year since I last posted anything here.

It has been a strange time, with this virus changing everything we do. We (our family) have managed to survive without so much as a high temperature. I have been lucky, in as much I have worked from home since the very start. Our kids have worked right through, so we are extremely grateful they have remained plague free.

Now fully vaccinated, and with the lifting of restrictions coming closer, it is only a matter of time before I have to return to my office. C’est la vie.

I have been watching people in similar positions tell tales of additional time on their hands to dedicate to their hobbies. The reverse has been the case for me. I have been much busier working from home than I would be in the office. I have done almost zero turning. My shed is a disgrace, because it has been used as a workshop during the home renovations. I am slowly clearing the mess, and have moved some of my stuff around.

The main change though is, I have insulated and lined the inside of the steel roof to try controlling the condensation. Time will tell if it has been successful.

I have also installed guttering to divert the rainwater away from the wooden base, which in turn meant manufacturing a new door. The original door was made of wiggly steel, and opened out. It was not possible to have a gutter at that point, so made it pointless fixing any gutter to that elevation. The new door is exterior construction grade plywood, in a hardwood frame made from some mahogany type timber salvaged from the old front door of the house. Inside is stiffened with pallet timber, and will eventually be lined with T&G. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Hopefully now, the water ingress under the steel frame will be minimised and the condensation issue will be cured.

Waste not, want not

I dislike waste. Having been in a position where I had no spare money to spend on hobbies, and have struggled to put food on the table, I know the value of things.
I only throw things away when I believe they are of absolutely no use to anyone else. This is why I have 2 double glazed wooden windows on my patio almost a year after they were replaced. The windows are made from a red hardwood, most likely a mahogany type, so no matter what happens it will not go to landfill, even if the glazing units do.

We had a log stove installed last year, so far the only job in the house I have not done myself. Our firewood is delivered in crates, made from pallet timber. I have no idea what species this is, but some of it is fairly hard and orange in colour.
I have used this timber for a few projects, rather than simply discard or burn it. It does make exceptionally good kindling. 😉
Over the last week or so, I have biscuit jointed, planed, thicknessed, laminated and turned several pieces of this timber.
First project was the really simple stool project I posted about earlier. If you don’t have a planer/thicknesser and don’t fancy hand planing timber boards this project can still be done if you have an electric sander. Just sand everything before you assemble.
The second project is a whirligig. Woodturning magazine from May 2019 has an article by Colwin Way on building one of these gizmos. It’s a fun project, and reasonably easy to do. The only thing in the project that isn’t scrap/salvage is the silver-steel rod used as the axle.
The upright parts of the lathe were scrap from the fireplace mantle. The lathe bed bars were old lollipop sticks. The little bloke was a mix of holly and pallet, the hub was holly, and the rest was all pallet.

In hindsight, I would probably use a heavier rod if I was going to do it again.

The bowl is off-set on the spindle so the little bloke’s arm moves up and down as it turns.
The project should appear in a future edition of Woodturning magazine in the reader’s letters section.
From a frugality perspective, the entire project cost less than £5
The flip side of course is the many thousands of pounds spent on tools to enable me to make the project.

Keep all of your chins up, and together we will come out of lock-down intact.

Happy Corona Easter!

I have been working from home since mid-March. My employer very generously extended the Easter weekend by an extra 2 days, so the garden has been getting a tidy. Out walking with the dog, I found a discarded shotgun cartridge. The plastic got cut away and I turned a piece of oak from the firewood pile to attach to the end.
Not much of a turning, but I have so many other things going on I have had little time for turning since I moved here.

It was OK for a piece of firewood. Just polished up with friction polish.
Our firewood comes in crates made from pallet wood. I’m not sure what the species is, but it is very hard, but some of it is quite lovely when planed up.
We had a little MDF stool for use in the kitchen, but it kinda fell apart. So, here is the replacement. Made from pallet timber. Biscuit jointed and run through the planer, then a coat of polyurethane varnish.

This should do a few years, hopefully.

New toy

I decided to take the plunge, and bought a toy laser engraver. Being a born stinge, I waited until the price dropped below £40
I was pleasantly surprised, that it made it from Hong Kong in less than a week.

Straight out of the box, plugged in, software loaded and burned/engraved this.

Next, I will read the manual, and work out how to centre stuff under the laser. lol