Stained Front Door

Stained Front Door
Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

Well the door if finally coming through!

Sanding the Workbench

Sanding the Workbench
Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

I spent the day sanding and assembling one end of the workbench. Luckily Kristin came end when I was gluing and helped me clamp up the assembly, which wanted to work its way out of square.

Workbench Update

Chopping out the Bolt Mortise Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

The plans for my workbench called for fancy bench bolts. I was feeling cheap and decided to use standard bolts and washers. Unfortunately, I realized that the size of 1/2 inch washers would create too large of a mortise and weaken the stretchers.

I am going to use a free spinning lock nut that combines a washer and a nut in one. So far Day 1: Buying wood ( I let it acclimate for about 3 weeks) Day 2: Buying Worktop (Premade maple top from Woodcraft) Day 3: S4Sing all parts (4 hours) Day 4: Biscuiting legs (3 hours) Day 5: Drilling bolt and screw holes (3 hours) Day 6: Cutting lock nut mortises. (5 hours) Still to go: Day 7: A little sanding and roundover plus gluing the ends. Day 8: Gluing the base together.

Inglenook Stained

Inglenook Stained
Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

On Friday we came home to find the living room stained. They are working the final formula out, but it is looking great. We have to rethink the paint shades now that the wood looks darker.

We are going on to week five and it's getting pricey!

Hopefully we will finish soon.

Seeing Green

Whose giant head is blocking the shot? It was a great show of support by the teachers of our union.

New Trim.

Another View of the trim
Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

Juan, our carpenter, has begun hanging the trim to replace the long lost wood. He bought old douglas fir beams that had been removed from demolished homes. He then resaws and planes it to the correct thickness. New wood does not compare to the old growth fir.

Question- will we continue with the dining room? Now that we are seeing some real progress we are considering having Juan build the mantle and just finishing the room.

Kris is sick. : ( She had a 102 fever last night. I am feeding her chicken soup and crackers. Which is an upgrade from our usual dinners. : )

Nibble. Nibble.

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Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

We told the a.c guys that something was eating our ducts. They didn't believe us. And they said they checked. I took a picture of the duct by sticking the camera into the vent. Notice the large hole! Possums! Arrggh!

Half Stripped Beams and New Plaster

Half Stripped Beam Originally uploaded by gizmodyne.

After 9 days of work the plaster is up. We freaked a little when we saw the stripped beams since we like the color but this will ensure that the color matches in the living room.

Looking out the window to the deck. Around the window is all new plaster. Today we start cutting up the old wood beams to make new trim.