Beach Combing and Wood Working

This will be a short post as I don't have a lot of time to elaborate and I want to get some pics posted of recent projects.  Needless to say, we went beach-combing (more like trash cleaning) recently and I picked up a few choice pieces of driftwood to work into some small projects.  The magpie sculpture was crafted from some leftover scraps of old doug fir, glued together, that I had used to make a painting frame.  Enjoy!

Patio Possibilities and the Backyard Breakdown

Is it an 'M', a bow, a snake, a mustache?

 The spring and summer of 2016 should have just been known as the season of backyard folly.  As the need for a larger open space in our immediate backyard vicinity had diminished, I thought it would be an appropriate time to consider expanding our usable garden area and give some new life to the ole' asphalt patio that we inherited with the house.  After years of canine path-making, soccer practice, and just general wear, it was time to give new life to moss/grass/mud that had become our backyard.  Our garden area had been pretty minimal before and with the wild motivation of volunteer tomato starts over the last few years, they always seemed to take over whatever garden area there was.  Little did I know what was to come.  My first plan was twofold; nearly double our garden space by bringing the 'wall' out from the house and start the with a somewhat clean slate on the remaining grassy area.

To do this, I first started by uprooting the existing wall of roman block stones and lining them up in the potential new configuration.  There was enough of the original wall to lay down a first layer but with the slope of the ground and a desire to raise the garden area a bit more above the grass, I went and purchased about 70 more blocks.  At first, I went to the local manufacturer, Mutual Materials, with my plan but the salesman was kindly honest enough to admit that the prices I could get at Home Depot were better than ordering through them at retail price, at least for the Roman Block to finish the wall.  I took his advice and did so, making my first mistake of the season.  After laboriously loading 70+ blocks into the old Subaru (and making sure they were evenly spaced throughout much of the car to balance the load) and again unloading them at home, I realized I had reversed the count of which ones I needed and purchased much more of the interior blocks (the ones with oval-like ridges) than caps (no ridges).  At that point, I took the easy road and just broke up the few caps I had with the regular interlocking blocks and interspersed them along the wall.  I'm sure it looks totally natural.

After getting the wall set, mostly level, and in place, it was time to build up the garden area.  For this I planned on using some existing soil that I had on site and also whatever I could contribute from our oft neglected compost bin.  But first, let me back up a slight bit.  Before putting the permanent wall down, I wanted to take the opportunity to loosen up the existing garden soil and also prep the remaining lawn for a makeover.  So, I purchased an electric roto-tiller to do the trick.  I remember having to roto-till my parent's garden every year with our old gas tiller and for some reason, that was a chore I actually did enjoy.  Perhaps it was a matter of wrestling with the tiller to keep it in line at the same time as laying down a swath of destruction behind you but something just made it fun.  Needless to say, I was looking forward to this part.  The tiller worked wonderfully even though it didn't have the half-combusted exhaust smell that was part of my childhood reminiscence (and which probably killed a few brain cells).  My Trusty Assistant enjoyed watching the tilling but didn't want to try his hand just yet.  Little does he know that there are several years of gardening left, ha!  After getting the wall in place, and adding a second level to raise the garden bed area a bit, I was short on gardening soil so I cleaned out what we had been composting in the side bins and added it to the garden.  Now, I'm a lazy composter and don't like to regularly turn the mulch so, while my compost looked like some pretty good dirt, it was harboring all sorts of volunteer plants just waiting for their chance in the sun.  Indeed they got it and before we knew it, we had dozens and dozens of squash starts all over the area where I'd added our compost.  Needless to say, between them and the volunteer tomato and tomatillo plants, we weren't able to grow much else.  This spring I will be much more judicious in pulling early starts out before they take over everything else.

Along with the garden improvement, I also wanted to transform our oh-so-lovely asphalt back patio into something a bit nicer so I scratched out a plan for an intermixing of materials to make the space a bit more hospitable.  At first, my idea was to use man-made flagstones for a more geometric design and intersperse the lightly used spaces with river-rock.  After checking material prices at Mutual Material, I decided to look at another route. This led to more searching online for some good landscaping materials sources, and I put in an order with Portland Rock and Landscape Supply.  Their online catalog seemed pretty descriptive and clear to sizing and their online calculator was helpful to determine how much I would need.  For the brick fire circle, I already had some Hidden Brick (some pretty cool local history there) for accents but I was short quite a bit to complete the whole ring.  On Craigslist, I found someone in Beaverton that had whole backyard that had at one point been bricked over and she wanted it all gone, free for the taking if you were willing to put in the labor.  So, I called my father-in-law to enlist his help and his truck and made a day out of it.  Using two five-gallon buckets we made several trips from the driveway to the backyard to eventually get about 120+ beautiful red clay bricks.  There were probably another 500 or more still in that backyard but we were both worn out and in need of a cold McMenamin's beer.  If I thought that hauling brick was work, I was in for a real treat when the stone arrived.

When I placed the order for the flagstone and river rock, the salesman said that while delivery was free, he would need to charge me labor time to unload the flagstones because of their size and weight.  I assumed this meant there would probably be at least a two-man crew to unload the rocks when they got here.  When the truck and dump-trailer arrived, I was surprised to greet a man, maybe ten years younger than myself, and a good six inches shorter, and probably not much over 150 lbs.  That was the crew.  When I went around back to take a look at the rock, I realized I had under-estimated their size based on the online description and that these suckers were going to be heavy.  But, the driver twas there with the rock so I offered to help unload.  I was informed that The largest stone, which happened to be on top had to be loaded at the site by a forklift.  I don't know how we managed, but eventually we got it all unloaded and placed behind the fence.  Afterwards he lifted the dump-trailer into the driveway and took off.  Knowing that my wife would be home soon and would need to park the car there, I knew this was going to be real fun.  Using buckets as shovels, my Trusty Assistant and I got all the river rock also behind the fence and the parking area cleared.

Over the next couple days, my wife helped me move some of the stones into place and I log-rolled some of the larger ones by myself with a pry bar.  It took several weeks of placing river rock in the empty spaces during which I was able to learn all of that summer's pop hits due to the only portable radio being one with a broken tuner and I could only get the top 40 hit station.  Justin Timberlake gave me so much damn sunshine in my pocket that it burned my leg.  As I went, I back filled empty space with masonry sand to keep the smaller rocks and bricks from moving and then finished by filling the top with a polymeric sand filler to lock things in place.  By then, summer was mostly over and I didn't quite get to finishing the brick steps but hey, I have to have something to do this spring, right?

Eggs Over Easy

A colorful coop of eggs.  Trusty Assistant's is at the top
of the bowl, with all phases of the day represented.

 Somehow, through our neighborhood network and social media, we were connected with a wonderful person who delivers locally grown, free range chicken eggs every week to our door.  What a deal!  Being from a variety of chickens, most of the eggs are brown but there are some occasional light blue and white ones mixed in.  When a decent size and color egg would come along, I would set it aside for pysanky and soon I had quite an accumulation of small ovoid blank canvases.  With no immediate projects needing completion, I broke out the kistkas, wax, and dyes and started working on some designs.

I took the compass rose
design from the Settler's
game board I recently
created and replicated it.

An egg created for a fundraiser for
African Wild Dogs.

I first learned about pysanky from my high-school Russian Language teacher, Ms. McIvor, as a way to integrate some Russian (or in this case Ukrainian) culture into our language lessons.  Being also interested in art (later becoming on of my college degrees), I took to pysanky quickly and spent much free time making them in Ms. McIvor's classroom during lunch or other free periods.  After a long hiatus during college and after, I ordered a kit with dyes and kistkas and wax online after picking up a book called Decorating Eggs by Jane Pollack from an art store in Portland.  Since then, I've been intermittently creating eggs for gifts or as charitable donations for fund-raisers or just for the fun of it.  Just recently, my Trusty Assistant has also taken an interest and has produced some quick and spontaneous designs.

The last batch of creations was a fun mix of some new contemporary designs that I find more challenging and fun with some designs that lean towards more traditional.  Some of my favorites are ones that utilize the negative space or, in the case of eggs, the natural brown and white of the shell.  Another break from tradition has been a blending of Ukrainian design basics with Celtic themes.  Since I can trace my heritage back to both cultures, I enjoy mixing the two.  Since the project front has been somewhat quiet recently, I thought I would post some pictures of the fruits of one of my other hobbies.

Salvage Work

When we first purchased our house, the unfinished basement had a small, rickety workbench that wobbled like gelatin anytime you tried to saw a piece of wood on it.  It didn't take me long to take it apart and build something a bit sturdier out of some of the pieces from it and some other scrap plywood that had been repurposed from another part of the house that we had remodeled.  It wasn't great by any means but it did the job decently enough that I used it for several years through the various house projects I've worked on.  With the recent basement overhaul, replacing the workbench again was on the list of things to do but this time, I wanted it to be more stable, look nicer, and provide more storage than the past practice of just tossing stuff underneath it.  I also aimed to make it completely out of scrap or salvaged lumber.  After moving the old workbench all over the basement as I redid walls and added cupboards and shelves, I also wanted to make this one more mobile.  

Bowling, anyone?

For the work surface, I wanted something more solid than the 1" plywood that made up the current bench top.  I began collecting scrap 2"x 4" pieces from whatever I had leftover, my neighbors, and what I could pull from pallets.  Using my table saw, I shaved all the rounded edges off and cut the boards down to about 3"in width.  Once I had enough to assemble a bench top about 6' wide by 3' deep, I lined them all up on a plastic covered piece of particle board and connected them all up using wood glue and deck screws, leaving gaps for the post tops about two layers in and about 6" from the edges.  

For the corner posts, I had some decently thick pieces leftover from a large radiator crate that the shop across the street had given to me years before.  I notched the tops of the posts to fit the gaps I left in the bench top and then attached the posts with 2" x 4"s at top and bottom which gave it some better rigidity and also help support the bench top a little more.  At the bottom, I used 3/4" OSB that had been part of the same crate as the posts for the bottom of a three compartment storage shelf and attached some heavy duty locking wheels to the ends of the posts.

It's still a mess under there but now it's a nicer mess.

Finally, I wanted to add some extra storage by adding drawers just under the bench.  The drawer faces and surround were made completely out of pine scraps from my cupboard and shelf project.  The sides, backs, and runners for the drawers were made completely out of pallet boards, some of them glue laminated together.  The drawer bottoms were made from 1/4" birch plywood scraps from the cupboard doors.  I didn't have a lot of solid pieces to make the drawer fronts so I made them each unique using different sets of pine scrap and so, while they are all of the same wood, each one has a very unique texture to it.  The runners were attached at the back of the work bench to leftover scrap plywood from my old bench.  It was some of the nasty painted stuff but very solid so it was perfect for part of the bench you'll rarely ever see.

In the end, 100% of the wood products were from scrap or salvaged from broken pallets.  Alas, the hardware was all new with the exception of the drawer pulls themselves.  For the first, I was able to use a carved bear's head I made a few years back that hadn't yet found it's purpose in life.  The second was from a combination of a replacement water tap handle that had been floating around for years that fit perfectly into a threaded bolt insert that came off of some old snowboard binding hardware.  All in all, I'm very happy with the new work-bench, especially now that it's done.  On to the next project!

Ladder Shelf Salvage

Typical shelf found at
LoweWalStapleKohlMart

After my mostly successful foray into creating my own glued wood panels for the shelves and cabinets, I decided to give them another try on my next project, a ladder shelf.  After changing our bedroom furniture out from a rustic, outdoors-like feel, to a more modern style, we were lacking a shelf and my wonderful spouse was getting a little annoyed at the stacks of books that were populating the closet.  So, it was time to get to work on fixing that.  We did some searching out of different designs and settled on a ladder-shelf style that was fairly common in many stores.  Of course, my significant other wanted to quickly go buy one so we could resolve the lack of closet space and, of course, I said, "I can make one!"  I'm sure there was some eye-rolling at that.  However, I convinced her finally when I said I was going to be using a lot of salvaged materials.

Ladder to nowhere

I've been collecting scrap pallet wood for various projects and this was the perfect project for a lot of what was taking up space underneath our deck.  Because I was making it from scratch, I was also able to customize the dimensions to fit just the right spot in the room.  I wanted to make it taller than normal to maximize the space since we have a decently high ceiling but I was unable to find any salvaged pallet wood that would work for the height so I purchased four 1"x 4" x 10' alder boards from my local Shurway.  The shelves were made completely out of pallet planks and the shelf supports were made from the leftover pieces of the alder boards.  I used a dark walnut stain to try and match the color of the new bed frame and two layers of gloss varnish.

What I really liked most about the way this turned out was the grain character of the shelves.  The pallet planks were a variety of soft woods and also various ages.  I tried to make sure the wood of each shelf was the same and it gave each shelf it's own subtle difference.  I sanded the glued panels just enough to give the shelves an even appearance and smooth out the roughest patches but I left as many imperfections as I could to make it obvious that this was reused material.
The one thing I would do over if I could would be more careful with the use of glue on the shelf sides.  Although attached by screws, I wanted the extra reinforcement since not all the boards were perfectly straight.  However, while I wiped up the excess glue that was squeezed out, it was hard to get all of it in the inside corners and seems.  Excess glue spots on the basement cabinets and shelves project wasn't such a big deal because the wood was light and since I used a natural stain, they would be difficult to spot.  With this project, the glue spots show up a lot more clearly because of the contrast with the dark stain.  Thankfully, the glue issue is minor and doesn't stand out glaringly.  Besides, all those books that were previously hanging out on the closet floor are now where they ought to be, on a shelf.

A Post-less Year of Projects

My high-school English teachers would be very disappointed in me.  A whole year with nothing posted!  Like any art form, writing should be practiced every day for an hour at least but alas, doing other things with my hands has gotten in the way of my intentions to keep up with this blog.  Today, however, I'm finding the silver-lining in feeling like I'm being alternately dunked in the Yellowstone hot springs and the Volga river mid-January.  That's right, it's cold season in the house and just like the jelly-of-the-month club, illness brought home from school is truly the gift that keeps on giving.  I'll need to have real heart-to-heart with my Trusty Assistant about what he brings home.

So while I sit here wrapped in a blanket, armed with a hot toddy (the Irish cure for what ails you) and an over-used handkerchief, I will finally take some time to reflect on the past year's accomplishments.  

The Bridges of Portland (a.k.a. Bridgetown) are much more
romantic than Madison County.  If you're an engineer.

If my recollection of time is somewhat accurate, I finally got around to framing one of my favorite posters acquired during a charity auction.  I wanted to give the frame a good weathered look so I used a thoroughly aged pallet with a gray patina on the wood.  Unfortunately, with the age, the boards were also all slightly warped.  Cutting the corner angles to match turned out to be an exercise in futility so, leftover metal flashing to the rescue!  I had a small roll of galvanized flashing left from the front porch project and created some custom corners to add stability to the frame and hide the errant corner angles.  Considering the subject of the poster, the flashing adds a great touch.  Even the screws to attach the flashing were salvaged from something else that was deconstructed so, I can safely assert that at least 75% of the materials for the framing are reclaimed or re-purposed.  We can debate calculations later.

Cabinets and shelves.
You put things in them and on them.

The next project was the largest time consumer of the year.  This is Phase II of basement reconstruction.  Our north wall in the remaining basement was pretty much useless.  I had my small workbench area and we had some small shelves for toys but with the way the plumbing was set, it was a very unusable space.  So, my idea was to add extra storage for all the junk we think we need to have on hand in case of an apocalyptic event.  As you can see the idea was to alternate sets of closed-door cabinets with open shelving to help us better organize all that junk.  Since we have no garage (yet) and the attic is a pain-in-the-ass to get in and out of, this was a priority for me.  

Trusty Assistant demonstrating
the scale of the furniture.

I hate to say it but this not reclaimed material.  I purchased knotty pine boards from Shurway Lumber to make the basic frames and shelves.  The door paneling on the cabinets is hemlock.  This project was a real first for me because the shelves and frames were made by gluing panels of pine boards together rather than buying project boards of white "wood" from Home Depot.  An extra pair of 3' wood clamps was also a must for this one as the gluing process takes a lot of waiting time.  Thankfully, it was a really nice summer and I was able to let many of the panels set outside. The project was a success although I learned quickly that staining and varnish application must absolutely be done outside or in a well-ventilated area.  And always make sure you cover the stain with a good varnish!

It's game time!  Bring on the hexes.

I declined to put a North on the compass rose out of pure spite.

 The next project was intended to be a Christmas present but instead is being held for someone's birthday.  This was my second attempt at a Settlers of Catan board.  I used the leftover hemlock paneling from the cabinets for the fascia and a leftover chunk of project board that's been floating around the basement forever that was just the right size.  The cork rolls were something we discovered at Scrap.  I wanted to keep the illustrations simple as opposed to my last board which was painted to somewhat duplicate the original Settlers frame.  For this board, I used my engineering pens to draw the coastline, ships, and compass rose and then covered it all with a natural stain and semi-gloss varnish.  

Also, throughout much of the year, I was working on this, a painting of the fishing vessel Takako in Ilwaco harbor.  It's acrylic on canvas board, 16" X 20".  The sail insignia really drew my attention to this one and with the background of Jessie's Ilwaco Fish Co., I thought it was just a great scene.  I have yet to frame it as I'm waiting to find some good weathered wood or some more salvage tongue-and-groove to pull it together.  If you want it unframed, it's yours for $500.

Takako, Ilwaco Harbor, WA

Right; Mine: Left; Trusty Assistant's

Also throughout the year, we were connected with a local egg-producer that sells the best eggs imaginable.  Of course, not all eggs are to be eaten.  Some are ovoid canvases waiting to be inked.  This year, I decided to try out a Germanic Celtic theme rather than my usual Gaelic Celtic knots.  Also this year, my Trusty Assistant wanted to try his hand at the art of Pysanky.  While my Trusty Assistant's first attempt at a pysanky egg was not what he intended, I think this one of the best "happy accidents" I've ever seen.  I just love this egg.

Now, of course I can't just sit idly by (although when racked be a fever sometimes you have to give in), and there are many other projects in the works or on the horizon.  The current project is a replacement of my basement workbench which was a hobbled together mish-mash of whatever was in the house when we bought it.  It's wobbly, heavy, and unstable but it has done its job for years.  I'm working on replacing it with a new bench made completely out of salvaged material (minus the fasteners).  Work is progressing but hopefully much quicker now with the acquisition of a Pallet Paw.  I had several attempts this summer of welding my own but (sorry Dad) the welder I had was inadequate for the task.  I've already deconstructed a couple pallets with the Paw and looking forward to the ease of the task compared the ole' pry-bar and hammer.  Also on the schedule is a triptych of our Nicaragua trip in ink and watercolor.  No guarantees on an actual completion date.

I hope you all had a productive and informative 2015.  To my high-school English teachers, Mrs. Cartwright and Mrs. Munk, I sincerely and repeatedly apologize for my lack of practice.  Thank goodness I'm not being graded.  I hope you all find inspiration and motivation in 2016 and I'm looking forward to sharing more.

What Happened to 2014...?

I know that 2014 was a quiet year for the Malleable Monarch although not necessarily a quiet year for life events.  Even though there was not much in the way of online activity, it doesn't mean I was idle during the year.  We had quite a few projects that were completed this year including a deck and shed at a beach house, a carport for some relief for the elements, and replacing our old water heater for starters.  But the big projects didn't occupy all of our time.  The original Malleable Monarch stove is back in the works after getting most of the frame sandblasted free of rust.  I hope to get it back to it's former glory although it's a slow, pain-staking process.

Our old barbecue was also due for a makeover since the bottom had rusted out.  We looked at some options of purchasing a new one but we really aren't big barbecuers in the first place.  So instead of upgrading to something bigger that we wouldn't use, I decided to make this an excuse to play with the welder.  Originally, the barbecue came with a central heating plate that disbursed the gas flames around it's circumference and helped keep the heat contained.  The plate had completely rusted away along with the bottom of the barbecue main cylinder.  To fix that, I used an old square metal cover from an electrical junction box that had a 1/2" center knockout which fit the gas in-line nicely.  Cutting the bottom of the cylinder to match, I welded it into place and drilled three holes for mounting bolts to support the new heating plate.  After that, I spray painted it with heat-resistant black barbecue paint.  For the heating plate, I used an old 7 1/2" diameter circular saw blade.  The hole in the middle of the blade needed to be covered  since it would let the flames right through instead of dispersing them to the outside edge so I used the 1/2" knockout plug from the junction box cover and welded it over the hole.  I then drilled three holes to match the mounting bolt placement and set it with nuts and washers placed underneath to balance it.

Another big change for us this year was the addition of a new car.  Our old trusty Subaru was starting to show some serious signs of age after 200,000 miles so we decided it was time to get something a bit more reliable.  While we were making that decision, we also wanted to get something economical as a commuter car and we opted for a plug-in hybrid.  With plug-ins, you can't just run an extension cord from any old outlet, so I installed a dedicated outlet and circuit for the charging unit.  We also needed something to hang the charging cord from.  It came with keyhole screw mounts that you could use if it were more of a permanent placement but I know We knew we would be taking the cord with us when we traveled so we wanted something a bit easier to use than the keyhole screws.  Instead, I used used scrap pallet wood to make a mounting fork for the unit and installed it next to the outlet.  It looks much nicer than a couple screws in the wall.

Finally, I found time to finish up a little project for Bree that we had discussed.  Her collection of necklaces was getting to be too much for the box they were housed in and it was becoming quite a clutter.  So we found a lovely piece of driftwood and I found a set of antique ceramic drawer knobs for $4 at an antique store.  I used the router to put a couple of keyhole mounts on the back and then some drywall screw anchors to hang it up in our closet.  It's too bad that it's in the closet since it looks pretty darn nice with the jewelry on it!

There were many more small projects here and there in 2014 but these were my most memorable.  I hope 2015 has many and more opportunities and possibilities for creativity and I hope you all enjoy reading about what's in the works.

Getting Lit

A close friend has recently been perfecting the art of cutting bottles to make glasses and candle holders.  When he told me he didn't have any plans for the tops of the bottles I asked him to save them for me because I had an idea.  My brilliant idea was to turn them into a lamps but I didn't want to just stick with a single lamp, no, no...I had to go bigger.  After picking up a box of bottle tops on our last visit, I picked five green tops (four Lindeman's Framboise and one Anchor Brewing Christmas Ale) that would work to make a good ceiling light fixture.  I'll save the others for some single lamps at some point but for now, the rest of these will have to go back into the box and get packed away. 

My thought was to group them all together in a bunch but after considering the possible lack of stability and materials, I was afraid they would too easily knock against each other and possibly break.  As a way to avoid that, I thought I would try to keep them stable and separate by encasing each of them in metal ring frames which would be individually attached to a central ring.  For this I used some basic galvanized steel 10 gauge wire from the local hardware store.  This may have been a mistake.  The wire itself was pretty malleable and I created the rings just using a vice and pair of pliers.  Joining the wire turned out to be a bigger problem.  At first I thought my little 25W pencil soldering iron and some silver solder would do the trick but I  found out that wasn't going to cut it.  Luckily, I was able to borrow a 40W chisel tip soldering iron and with some flux.  After many attempts and many times redoing the solder welds, I was finally able to get them to hold.  I also learned that I obviously need some practice soldering.

The wire cages were built around the bottle tops which caused some issues later on with the weight of the tops causing the welds to fail.  After that, I used 3/8" flexible conduit to attach the tops to an old steel junction box that I had on hand.  To attach the conduit to the tops, I used screw-in connectors and sawed off the ends that connected to the junction box.  I then glued the connector to the top of the bottle after roughing up the glass with some sandpaper.  I think there might be a better way of connecting them if a 3/8" to 1/2" screw-in connector existed but I couldn't find one anywhere.


For the junction box to connect to the ceiling, I found an old lamp fixture at Habitat for Humanity and removed the bottom half, saving the ceiling mantle with it's angle slightly modified to match the screw holes of the junction box.  I grabbed a cover plate with a center knock-out to feed the wires through.  Lastly, for the lights, I had to buy five candelabra lamp bases and glued them into the bottle tops after attaching the wires.  In the end, I was pretty happy with the result.  I'd like to be able to use some lower profile lights since the CFLs, even the 5W miniature ones, seem to stick out from the base of the shades a bit too much.  Now the only thing left to do is find the right spot for that industrial-alien-lounge feel.  I'm sure the bedroom will be perfect.

Teddy Bear Pirate Ship

Ye Bucket O' Scrap

Recently our neighbors invited us to their house for their son's fifth birthday party and they went all out with the pirate theme.  I don't think I could ever hope to be that organized and creative to plan something out so well but my son and I did leave the party with pirates on the brain.  The next day, my son decided that his teddy bear's birthday was soon to occur, coincidentally on the same day as one of his grandfather's birthdays.  And, for his birthday, Teddy wanted to be a pirate.  Go figure.  For some reason I had the itch to do some carving and so I reached into the bucket o' wood scraps and pulled out some excess 2" x 2" fir and some shavings from the latest frame made out of old tongue & groove.

Beware, these be sharp!

  Ever since a friend, artist, and fellow Eagle alumnus, Michael Smith, showed me how he carved wood for his beautiful block prints, I've wanted to experiment with some hands-on carving of my own.  He told me of a great shop in Portland that carries a great beginner set of carving tools and oh, so much more.  Woodcrafters is amazing if you ever get a chance to stop in.  It's a good thing I'm on a budget some of the time or I could have spent much more time and money while there.  BTW, it's also very close to Voodoo Doughnut's east-side location.  What I did end up with, besides a frame brace that has come in very handy, was a beginner set of hand carving knives and a good slipstrop by Flexcut for sharpening the blades.  The best part was that the set of carving blades came with a handy set of bandages.  Thankfully, I've yet to use them.
     From the 2" x 2"piece of doug fir, I carved the hull of the boat and with the long slivers from the tongue & groove I carved and sanded the masts and yards.  I notched the bow to attach the bowsprit and then anchored it with wood glue.  To set the masts, I drilled holes to match the size and left them loose, with the exception of the fore-mast, so that if there were ever a naval battle and the poor ship lost a mast, it would not have to be broken out and remade.  To attach the yards, I notched the mast and yard to fit then bound it with brown string and a dab of glue to hold in place.  Finally, for the sails, I had some extra muslin leftover from may last canvas creation and cut sails out of that.  I tied them on with needle and thread but left the bottoms stays off partly because I was investing way too much work on this project and partly because I am no fan of sewing.  The only thing remaining to do now is test it in water and make a stand for it since it keeps falling over.

Sailing the high-table seas.

     In the end, my son said said Teddy would love it and that he would ride it, right between the fore-mast and main-mast.  I guess as long as he's wearing an eye patch that will be fine.

What do I do with all this leftover OSB?

As you may know, I'm quite averse to throwing things in the trash that can either be reused or recycled for something useful.  Lately, along with my father-in-law, we've been building a new shed and as part of the aftermath of that project (which I'm sure I'll post on later), there was quite a load of OSB scrap.  If you don't know, OSB stands for oriented strand board and it's become the building industry's predominate choice for sheathing of smaller buildings.  You don't want to burn it since it's pressed together with chemical-laden glue but it can be safely shredded with other wood products.  Even thought that's better than letting it go straight to the land-fill, I know there has to be better things to do with it than that.  So, the bed of my truck is currently a home for several different pieces of medium-sized OSB waiting to be used for something good.

What's in the box?

One project I'm sure I'll repeat was the Tuna Tier cat tower (see previous post).  In the meantime, there was something else I needed to do.  While I've really enjoyed using my new Porter-Cable jigsaw (thanks Dad & Mom!), it didn't come with a case and I've been toting it around in it's cardboard box.  Unfortunately, during one work session on the shed it started raining and as you can imagine, corrugated cardboard does not do well when wet.  So, I devised a plan to build a case for the jigsaw using the OSB and leftover pallet scraps (see other previous post).  Using screws, glue, and hinges that I already had on hand, the box was pretty much complete.  We made a trip to the Rebuilding Center for a handle and a latch to keep it closed and came back with the handle at least.  I'm sure I could have found a latch had there been more time but if you've ever been to the Rebuilding Center, you'll know that the organization of the hardware section leaves something to be desired.  So, the box is nearly complete, all that's needed is some inserts into the blade holes so they're not too deep (I'll cut some from some blocks of expanded foam that are still sitting in my basement) and a latch.  OSB used - check.  Carrying case for jigsaw - check.

Thanks to Mon Ami for the lovely coffee cup
to help fuel my projects

Now, I still have a lot of OSB left in the truck that needs to be put to use.  If anyone has some good ideas, please leave me a comment!  I have a few shelves that I need to build, maybe reorganize the shed here at home but other than that, I'm open to some new ideas.

Explorations In Cider Making

Bubbling in the basement
at a steady 68 degrees

With the local scene (a.k.a. my neighborhood) replete with home-brewers, I've been feeling the need to join the fun for quite some time now but I've never made the time to get properly started.  Well, a couple weeks ago when I had some free time and money I finally committed to going and buying a full-on brewing kit from the local brew supply store, Bader Beer & Wine Supply.  To get buy-in from my wife, I told her I would start by making hard cider instead of beer.  Since this wasn't the season for ripe apples nor do I have ready access to a cider press, I decided to start with store bought soft cider as my stock to convert to hard cider.  Without the necessary brewing steps required by beer, this was a pretty easy undertaking and the results were well worth it.

I tried to find a local cider but since I'm not much of pre-planner, I had to find whatever I could in a pinch and used TreeTop's three-apple blend since it wasn't from concentrate, had no additives, and was already pasteurized.  Even though it was still pasteurized, I still brewed it just below simmering for about an hour.  One thing I learned in that process is that it takes a long time to heat up five gallons as well as letting it cool down.  I added three cups Muscovado brown sugar during the brew process for flavor and to up the alcohol content.  In the end, I'm not sure how much affect this had on the flavor but the final ABV was approximately 6%.  It took nine days to ferment and then I let it clarify another seven before bottling.  At bottling, I added another 1 3/4 cup honey and water mix to get some fizz once in the bottle.  Of course, I wanted to taste the fruits of my labor right away but the first bottle was just okay.  However, after letting the cider bottle age for another week or so, it has sweetened up and the carbonation is nice and light.  

Only $7.80?  Sold!

I'll be starting batch number two very soon and experimenting some more but I have to say this was pretty fun and having 27 bottles of cider ready to give away or consume is pretty cool.  With the initial cost of the brewing kit, sweet cider, and yeast, I figure it's only going to take me about 55 bottles to break even which is only two full batches compared to retail hard cider costs of around $4 per bottle.  After that, it should only cost me around $1.30 for each full bottle, what a deal!

Bucket List

After the squirrels so kindly chewed the zipper out of the bag I had on the front of my bike, I started looking for ideas on what I could use to carry stuff by bike.  I found several ideas online including DIY bike panniers and bike buckets which were the two I liked the most.  The panniers were made by taking two grocery totes and sewing the handles together to drape over a rear bike rack.  The design was fairly easy and by adding a couple of pieces of masonite the stiffen the sides, they would hold up their shape decently it looked like.  I especially liked how light weight they were and compact for storage.  On the flip side, they didn't look that sturdy and I had a feeling they wouldn't last long exposed to the elements.  They also didn't provide any protection for items I might want to keep dry.

The other idea that I liked was the bike bucket.  One of my friends is also a big proponent of the bucket and I'd seen him use his on many occasions when we would meet up at locations all over PDX.  The bucket design was also very sturdy, provided protection from the rain (very important around here), and best of all gave new life to cat litter buckets that would otherwise just be recycled.  The downside to the buckets is that they are heavier than the tote panniers and rather bulky so you have to have somewhere to store them when you don't want to use them.  Luckily, I have space in the shed to put them so storage wasn't a big deal but I can see that an apartment dweller may want something a bit more compact.  The design itself was pretty simple with just a little bit of work drilling holes and cutting sections out of the plastic side ridges.  The hardware list was also pretty minimal consisting of two cargo hooks, half a rubber bungee with hook, and associated nuts, bolts, and washers.  Total for all of that was about $7 per bucket.

I finally decided on the buckets for the extra durability (must protect the beer!) and for the fact that I wouldn't have to sew anything.  What can I say, it's not my strong suit.  My mother-in-law tracked down one bucket for me to experiment with and soon a couple of others arrived from another friend.  Unfortunately, Tidy Cat did not have street style in mind when they decided to make their buckets bright yellow with turquoise lids.  This would obviously not do.  Since I had quite a bit of primer left from my last effort of working on the pickup, I primed the first bucket with a dark gray and then we headed to the hardware store to find a good color for the buckets.  While there, I noticed chalkboard paint and decided it would be much more fun to make a surface that you could change on a whim and something that my son could help decorate with ease.  I coated the sides of the bucket with the chalkboard paint and added a semi-gloss black for the top.  The result turned out very well and the only problem I've noticed is that the paint chips off easily which is probably due to the underlying surface being too smooth.  For the second bucket and I roughed up the plastic surface with 60 grit sandpaper before applying the primer.  It's still drying between coats so I'll let you know how that works.

For a great compilation of all types of panniers and buckets try: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Panniers/

The buckets I made were basically from this design: http://www.commutebybike.com/2009/12/09/how-to-make-bike-buckets/

Happy biking!