Mike's Tree

I sometimes feel like I am planting trees under whose shade I may never sit.  That's a part of growing old.  It's a part of understanding the uncertainty of our days.  It's a gifting for the future.  I think of my children and grandchildren when I plant a tree.  Our long term goal is to leave a substitute "lake house" for them.  (Our children will understand the allusion.)

But digging holes here on the mountain is always a challenge.  A hole like the one to the left can easily take an hour or more.  There are stones which have wedged in together sideways and any other way the water table may move them. There is a prying, and leverage, a heavy lifting at times that almost defies understanding, at least for those of us less used to this loamy type of soil.

Today I planted two trees.  We usually wait until Martin's Landscaping has their end of the season "Buy One Get One Half Off" sale and pick up two.  We also have taken to planting trees in memory of departed loved ones, friends, and/or neighbors.  

This hole belongs to a Crimson King Maple, that wonderfully shaped, deep purple leafed kind. (And "no" it was not named after the rock group King Crimson for you twisted musicians.) This particular specimen has lost most of its leaves at this point in the season, but it will remind me of one at the end of 3450th Rd, Waltham, IL on a lot owned by Charles Hagenbuch, a lot I always wanted to own and build a home on.  And it will be a reminder of a beloved family and congregation.

But there is also the occasional surprise in digging these holes (as I also have previously reported).  This time there was a stone that barely showed above the ground.  It was only slightly raised above the surface so I never dug it up.  The mower passed over it with inches to spare on clearance. And it was only 10 inches or so in diameter, or so...BUT...

After three hours of digging and prying, and sliding, I managed to get this multiple hundreds of pounds stone out of the ground, proving yet again, that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" There were two pieces of motivation for me in this endeavor. 1. I'm stubborn and stupid. And 2. This tree's placement was important.  This was where the Scarlet Oak was going for Mike.  My "neighbor Mike" (as my grandson referred to him) recently passed and his friendship needed to be recognized.  He was a man of few words, one who largely kept to himself, but a man's man, the kind of man that normal men like.  And his dad used to own the piece of ground on which we live. So, MIKE GETS A TREE!  It will look onto his property.  His horses will graze in the background. And, hopefully, it will be a reminder and an encouragement to his wife, Carol, his sister Sue, and his children as they turn up the hill to the house.  Here's to you Mike - Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Not Quite Done But... pt 2

When last we visited we were not quite done.  There was still the issue of the entry areas and we were considering just getting some peel and stick tiles to put down until we could find what we wanted.  

But at a visit to a home center type store to shop for said peel-n-sticks we found an interesting possibility that we both instantly agreed on.  It was cheap, functional, and the color scheme worked. After an hour's wait (no kidding it took an hour to get someone to cut four linear feet of 12 foot wide floor product, so y'all now know which home good store we're talking about) . Anywho, as my mother used to say, we left the store with glue, the indoor outdoor carpet and a few other items.  

So after a bit of a fitful start and a few wrong turns I got the front entry way piece laid and was all set to frame it in when my grandson showed up ready to help the old man. (James is always ready to play with tools and to do "hard work.")

The trim was cut from the rough cut white pine I secured from Jake West at West Branch Lumber in Morris, IL and shaped, stained, oiled and set.

And the front entry way was completed just in time for a couple of bowls of Pop's Ham and Bean soup and one of Grammy's Grilled Cheese sandwiches.  A perfect lunch for a cool day and a couple of "hard workers."

The afternoon sped by and short work was made of the back entry way.  James was pleased to be able to take a seat and admire his hard work before Dad whisked him away to pick up Mommy from work.  A good job done well.

And so now the old man gets to get back to work on the kitchen which was supposed to be done by Sept 30.  

"Deadlines are more like ideas." [Kris Kaufman]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Quite Done But...

...you get the idea.

The flooring project is largely complete at this point.  We still have the entry ways to attend to and some baseboard moulding to attach but we have been able to place the rugs and move the furniture into place making things a lot less cluttered.

We started by laying the rough cut planks in place and screwing them down as you can see in the picture at the left.The patina that developed through the outdoor air drying really added a nice touch. Even though some of the coloration was lost in the sanding process the results were just what we had hoped for.  In this style of flooring application there are notable gaps, not large but the planks, because they are rough cut, are intended to maintain a certain rustic appearance, a look we enjoy.

Once that was accomplished we set to staining and oiling.  We ended up using the same stain that we used on the exterior of the house, the Ready Seal stain I've really come to like. For the finish we used Boiled Linseed oil cut 50/50 with paint thinner for ease of rolling.  I just used a standard 3/8" roller cover and applied three coats, allowing for 24 hours of drying time between the coats and another 3 days before setting the rugs and furniture in place.  This meant moving the furniture from one side of the house to another (a couple of times) as well as filling the spare bedroom (what our grandson calls the Bible Study) with cabinets and a whole assortment of things). The final look was a matte finish which while providing less protection will allow the floor to age more quickly.  Since we used White Pine, the flooring will scuff, mar, divot and otherwise appear more rustic sooner.  (Some folks actually take hammers and chains to mark the floor before staining!)

 

 (click on pictures to enlarge)

But the final look works.  Again, our hope is to provide a more primitive or rustic cabin type appearance and I think we've done it. 

Now back to the kitchen shelving...

Weather, wood, and winsomeness...

 

Well, after a full spring and summer of drying, aging, and just plain weathering, the wood was ready to lay. As previously reported, I first ran it through the table saw to ensure, as best as possible, uniformity of dimension.  I had 6" 8"10" and 12" widths but there was, as is to be expected a bit of variation since they were cut from different logs at different times.  

After sorting I brought them in to adjust to the temp and humidity of the house, although that's not much of an issue as our windows are pretty much always open so the humidity outside and inside pretty much match up. 

Because the kitchen, dining, and living rooms are all one big open floor   plan area everything needed to be moved to one side while the planks were laid on the front 550 or so square feet, and then everything moved again so that the rest of the planks could be laid on the back 350 or so square feet.  

In the middle of this, we took a week off, and went to a great wedding (Congrats again, Graham, Bekah, Monte and Leah!). While down for the wedding we also got to celebrate Carol's folks' 90th and 86th birthdays! But I digress...

We returned and set to finishing up the back portion.  All went well, until I discovered, I was just, well about 70 square feet short of lumber! But praise the Lord, I found a local sawyer who just happened to have some that he had sitting outside all summer so they pretty much matched up what we had.  And they were all 10" or 12" widths!!!

So I finished up with most of the initial work yesterday.  I still have a couple of thresholds to cut and lay and tile work in front of the exterior doors but here's what it looks like...

I really like the way it has weathered.  Because we'll only be lightly sanding, most of the patina will come through the staining.  

Again, this will be a New England style traditional wide planked floor so there will be cracks and stains, etc. (almost like a handscraped flooring such as that pictured below. These floors are, in some cases 200 years old!

Though I had hoped to be able to rent a floor burnisher, all I could get was a square (orbital) or drum sander.  I've opted for the orbital.  I'll use a rough 40-60 grit paper to take some edges off and then stain it, leaving it a bit rough.  Since it's White Pine the surface will naturally smooth out.

And then there was the matter of stain color selection and finish.  We both agreed on the same walnut stain we used on the outside of the house mixed 50/50 with Boiled Linseed Oil (number 8 on the pic to the below left) to lighten and to avoid the cost of "pre stain conditioner."  Since we'll be using an oil finish rather than plastic (often referred to as polyurethane...I strongly dislike plastic finishes but that's another story...) this will allow the stain to achieve a first level of finish and lessen the oil finish work by at least a day.  (The oil finish takes 24-48 hours per coat to dry).

And of course, because these things happen, our "Hunny" (dog) has come down with Lyme's disease, so we're needing to help her outside to do her business, give her water with a syringe and hand feed her. (I think it's probably the man flu since she really is suffering.) So what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than lying on the couch watching westerns...

More later, but for now...

Solus Christus

 

Camo Carpet...

We occasionally joke about our "Camo Carpet."  It really isn't bad and it cleans up pretty nice, but we'll be glad to be rid of it when the time comes...

...And so starts the flooring project.  Regular readers of this blog will realize that while my intent was to finish the kitchen in August (and it's the 30th) that concept was delayed when it occurred to me that it wouldn't do to set the cupboards before I put the flooring it.  (Just one more foible of DIY work: proper planning).

So last week I spent some time squaring up the long sides of the lumber for this project and sorting the boards by size. Today's project involved sorting through those piles and selecting the boards with which I would start.  Having make the selection I set to squaring the ends and stacking the (almost) finished boards inside to allow them to adjust to the temperature and humidity. But first I had to cut into that wonderful camo carpet to clear the way for the boards to come inside. And that led to some questions such as: "What do these blue squares on the floor indicate???"

Of course there are other burning questions such as "Why was the electricity was run a certain way?" and "What is the best work around?"

And amidst all of this, I need to give great credit, yet again, to my amazingly patient wife who lives in this house which is constantly under construction or reconstruction,  I mean, really, what woman would allow her living room to be turned into a flooring factory?

 

And so the first section of the flooring is stacked.  I'll do a final check on the moisture content before laying.  

 

The final decision I need to make is just how I'm going to fasten the boards. Carol's Uncle Allan did a beautiful job on an old stone farmhouse in Perkasie, PA using standard cut nails (from Tremont Nail Co.)  But I'm vacillating between that and using black head screws which would be counter sunk and then covered with dowel rod plugs/buttons cut to surface level.

 

In the meantime I'll be able to get back to work on the kitchen as the mounting brackets for the microwave as suppose to arrive tomorrow...finally.  The refrigerator is still a week out...and none of the shelving cupboards can be built or installed until all of this in done.  It's going to be a long fall...The projects just keep piling up like this wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Sawdust

 

First and foremost let me acknowledge the fact that without my father-in-law, Walt Doelp's, patience and influence on this non engineer minded, non mathematically inclined son-in-law and his most kind gifting of this amazing table saw, this post would not be being written.

So too, a shout out to Jake West of West Branch Lumber  whose work as a sawyer makes just such things happen for many of us! And now for the rest of the story...

+ + +

My father-in-law's typical response to the question "what were you doing in your shop?" was always "making sawdust" hence the title of this particular post. 

The good news is that we are getting closer and closer to being able to put down the floor at 12MonksHill.  As I was working on the kitchen (blogpost in the works...) the thought occurred to me, "I can't put the cabinets in until I put the floor down.  I don't want to have to pull and reset them." And so like an ADHD laden child I swiftly reorganized and built a wood storage shed.  Stay with me, there was a method to my madness.  I needed a staging area for the lumber that I had purchased this winter (Blog Post Here) and which had been drying mostly under cover on the driveway. It had dried sufficiently but I needed to stack it and stage it so that I could attend to straightening the cuts and dressing up the edges in preparation to  lay it.

I came up with a floor and roofing system that tied together the wood shop and the firewood storage shed. The  frugality of my father, who taught me to straighten rather than cast off bent nails, kicked in and I found sufficient scrap lumber, left over roofing paper and joist hangers to make this possible.  (When I've finished with it as a staging area, I'll add doors and it will become a winter storage shed for the outdoor furniture and bicycles. In the meantime I'll have safe place to store wood & keep my shop from becoming over cluttered.)

I started stacking all of the lumber in there not thinking that I could sort it and get a head start. But fill it, I did with the dried lumber and the stickers seen in the foreground (pic above left). 

And then, this morning the work began.  I pulled and sorted the lumber. 12'-1x12's, 10'-1x12's, 8'-1x12's, 12'-1x10's, 10'-1x10's, 8'-1x10's, 12'-1x8's, 10'-1x8's, 8'-1x8's, and 8'-1x6's.  I needed to do this as I would be cutting the long edges to square and then the second side to exact dimensions. 

I didn't want to have to reset the fence and risk losing the exact width guage for each size board.

And then I set to ripping...and ripping...taking a quick lunch break after the first side of all the boards were cleaned up and straightened. (Remember this was all rough cut lumber.)  And then after lunch it was back to ripping...and ripping. The 12 footers were a bit much to handle in getting them ripped nicely but perseverance paid off...I hope. The picture at the top of this post shows the final result of the cutting.  8, 5 gallon buckets (and a bit more...) of sawdust, most of which will be used to make compost or used as a weed barrier in the garden.

The end result is 52- 8-12' 1x12's; 31- 8-12' 1x10's, 18- 8-12' 1x8's, and 10- 8' 1x6's (and a few assorted "shorties" (4'-6' of each) to make sure the seams don't line up.  All-in-all about 1000 sq ft of flooring.

Of course I still need to square the ends before I lay them, tear up the carpeting, mark the floor joist lines, and figure out how to move the kitchen, dining room, and living room around while I install, sand, stain, and oil all of this.  The joys of an open floor plan.  And then, I can finish the kitchen.  

One last thought, either because of my
obsessiveness or because I believe God is a god of order and not chaos, I took the scraps from edging the boards and cut and broke them into 12-18" pieces and bundled them up as kindling.  Maybe sell them on an FB Marketplace/Yardsale site???

So that's how my day went.  Blessed by the Lord beyond measure.  I hope yours was just as blessed.  If you get the chance why not drop a comment and let me know whether or not it's worth my time to keep this blog going.  We could all use a little encouragement from time to time.

Two Year Check Up

I was exhausted the other day (a by product of aging, I suppose).  While I was waiting on the kitchen paint and wood oil to dry I had started to construct a wood storage container, adjacent to my shop, in which I could keep all the insulation, T&G, firring strips and trim, etc.  After coming in and collapsing with the computer to consider what I would write about next, I told Carol, "I really ought to review the pictures from the time we bought the place to see how far we've come.  Maybe that will help me stay motivated in this project and finish well.  

And then the thought occurred to me "why not put them up where I can see them without having to scroll through endless files?"  Hence this post.

While I'm finishing up the kitchen (I still have the cabinets/shelving to build and the trim work to do) I'll take a couple of evenings to organize these for my own selfish interest... 

(Just a note that any picture may be clicked on to enlarge and/or to be able to scroll through the pictures.)

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And Currently...in progress (Don't mind the 25lbs of Roma tomatoes.  Spaghetti sauce is in the making.)

2021                                                        2023