Got Wood?

Awww Gawrsh

I spent much of today rebuilding an outdoor table.
Originally i was a steel framed school desk. Over the years it has seen several different uses but primarily as a pot plamt stand. The timber has deteriorated to the point that it was no longer useable.


The plan:
2 layers with rebated supports at 1/3 length

timber 2.1 m length 4 x 200 mm treated pine 45 mm thickness. (non arsenic). Thats thicker than i would have liked but it seemed to be the only thickness available at out hardware store. plus about a mtre extra for the supports.
4 x 90 mm gal coach bolts each piece of timber = 16 bolts nuts and washers to suit.
Timber 10.50 lin metre discount 10% (cos they fcn try to rip people off).
Bolts: about 1.50 with nut and washer
Total 87.75 incl tax.






first job is square up and cut to length.

2nd job rebate the corners of the lower layer to fit around the frame. I could have just cut off the corners now thaat i think about it.

3rd job rebates for supports.

shes a bit rough in places but for a one day knock up not too bad

That would make a great work bench next to a barbecue. If you wanted to fancy it up a bit, you could wrap and staple some oilcloth or canvas around the shelves. Oilcloth would be easier to keep clean, canvas would probably last longer. Give the metal parts a quick coat of paint and you'd be all set for a party.

All the various condiments, spices and utensils would be kept out of the way when placed on the second shelf.

Thats an interesting idea buttrfly however I would use Australian sugar gum (a naturally oily timber) or pehaps ironbark or Red gum, I'd put more time into it and make it a special piece.

Personally i would not be able to abide a cloth (oil cloth or not) covered piece of timber furniture outdoors.

I love the look and feel of natural timber, after weathering even better. Many of our native timbers will last a human lifetime outdoors if well chosen because of the density but are not cheap to buy.

Yes the foundations. I'll explan because there may be differences in building styles. Forgive me if you already know this.

Some houses, especialy older styles here, are mounted on short wooden or concrete poles or posts. Rows of these "stumps" are placed in the soil to a depth of 500 millimeters minimum and leveled up.so the top of each stump is level with the next.

A flat plate (called a sole plate) about ( a guess) 2 ft square is placed in the bottom of the hole. The stump placed and the hole filled in. The sole plate stops the stump sinking into the soil.
Bearers, long heavy pieces of timber, are mounted on the stumps connecting across each row of stumps. Joists are mounted crosswise on the bearers. This is basically the subfloor structure.

It is inteded to basically jack up the house in variouse places lifting it off the stumps and leveling the house. Remove the old stumps put in new concrete stumps and sole plates. Additionally the construction team will remove and replace any bearers or joists which may be cracked or rotten install ant caps and allow the house to settle back onto the now level new stumps.
All this work will be carried out with the construction team on their bellies under the house. There is a considerable section (about 1/3 of the house) where there is insufficiant wriggle space for a man. Soil will be dug out to crate a crawl space.

Most modern houses use slab concrete.

We dont have to worry about a frost depth here.

Currently this house has a rather rollercoaster floor. drop a marble on one side of the kitchen and it will roll under the fridge on the other side. MY computer char is on a lean and I can see the back 1/3 of the house actually falling away from the rest of the house.

The carpenter has been and will prepare quotes and options for two sash type windows which are practically falling to pieces and two much smaller vent type windows.
Options we are exploring are Aluminium frame, cantilever, double glazing and sash types.

I have 2 of these kind of "tall" top metal frames. I bought em at an auction for less than 2$ each .Mine are made of cast iron so they are more like a thick version of an old treadle sewing machine frame.
I used grove cypress (we have a lot of it around here ,They use it for mushroom house frames. The one thing I did with mine was to spray paint the cast iron frames a dark navy blue. Really spiffed em up.
I too, use em for potting and stand up work. They look neat standing on one side of the patio where they can just as easily serve as tables for food when we have pwople over

OUr foundations are usually excavated to below a "frost line" so theres no heaving. Theyve usually been stone or concrete block or even poured. LAtely foundations for new construction are made of interlocking pre stressed concrete panels that are all outfitted with hangers inside and out for insulation panels and water shedding and small vents at the bottom for radon control systems.

The table i made today will be used as a pot plant stand and the timber will not be a feature as it will be covered in potte plants, so I'm not concerned about the look of the wood itself in this job.
I am however considering using some kind of protective stain or coating. Even though its already treated cut ends will need protection as the treatment already applied will not have penetratedthat far. In addition it looks BRIGHT. toning the timber colour brown will reduce that.
I think i have some stain left over from the picnic table i made a few years ago.

I WON A PRIZE!!!. I was notified that I won a set of new Stanley Hand Planes, a smoothing plane, a jack plane , 2 kinds of block planes and a chisel plane. I have no idea what to do with a jack plane.

I assume these things are worth a couple hundred bucks. ALL for me taking the time to fill out a chance at the southern County Fair back in September (Took em long enough to pick a weiner)

General purpouse bench plane. I have two and neither are ever sharp enough much to my chagrin.

well done Btw. A handy prize if they are good quality. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick anyhow.

you should be more careful about telling folks you are doing the hemp thing.

somebody will turn you in, ya know...

These are brand new stanleys (stanley has reintroduced its line of "sweetheart" planes). I hope the damn things werent made in China. Most Chinese tools are just total crap. English Japanese German are the best. Of course Dewalt , Milwaukee, and Conover are really good names in US power tools.
Stanley is owned by Black and Decker now aqnd Black and Decker has been m,aking a lot of their B&D power tools in Mexico. I know I can cut dados with a chisle plane. Ill just google em and see

poke?

This is not exactly on topic, but I am going to tell it anyway.
Some years back a couple of brothers and I contracted to replace the shake siding on a house. We got our material and set to work and were doing a marvelous job, in our view. But the homeowner came out and began complaining about every bit of it. To this day I don't know what he could see that I could not. In my view, every piece fit perfectly. But, he said, at one point, "I should have got a cabinet maker to do this." 20 years later, I am still shaking my head.

Bosch is my default choice whenever I don't feel knowledgeable about the particular tool. Sometimes, I do find myself thinking I should have gotten the big DeWalt 12" thickness planer instead of the Makita. Still, the Makita has always done what it's supposed to.

When buying power tools I decide on the one I want by price/ affordability then go at least two motor sizes up and get that one. I've never regretted the extra power, size, reach, depth, diameter etc etc.

I have a Porter Cable plunge router. I have often regretted the weight and high profile of that beast.

Talking of foundations--did you know that when it was discovered that the world's largest iron ore lode went under a part of Hibbing in Minnesota---

You mean Hibbing, the center of the mesabi? one of 4 major Fe deposits in Minnesota ?
Every economic geologist in the US has probably worked in the Mesabi "The range". I did my haul helping the DMIR railroad to design a cyclone separatory system to remove asbestos from the taconite prior to pelletizing. By removing the amosite and chrysotileDM & IR could take on and concentrate ore at lower than the 2% Oxide which was the early standard since the mid 1800's.
No Im not familiar with Hibbing. We were never properly introduced

I found a website you folks might find of interest.

http://thewoodwhisperer.com/

Be sure to take a look at their list of articles and viewer projects.