What did you do today?

[RichardA]

Nice! Getting ready for Spring I see.

[legenddc]

I assembled some like that when we first moved in 11 years ago and my thumbs were killing me from the allen wrench. I bought a bit set to use a ratchet before we had kids and I had to assemble all that furniture.

On that covered porch those should last you quite a while! We kept ours under covers in the open but found the sun was destroying the covers far too quickly for what they cost leading to the cushions being wet anytime we wanted to use them. Happily we have put together a whole set of wrought iron furniture for the cost of some time and spray paint.

[Tom King]

That porch is under two very large Oak trees, so the Sun won't hit them in hot weather, and only for a little while this time of the year while the trees are bare of leaves.

[Tom King]

We're having renters coming next weekend, and I've been worried about pushing our luck with no handrails on those front steps, so I got into the job I've been putting off because I was dreading it-digging the holes to set posts in.

I knew the holes would have to go through something over 50 year old concrete, which I've found much harder than rock here before.

Tools used are in the picture.  My arms will either look like Popeye in the morning, or I won't be able to pick up a fork.  After drilling a bunch of holes with the SDS-Max drill, most of the work was done with the chisels and 3 pound hammer.  It was as bad as I expected, but it's behind me now.

The reciprocating saw was to cut Pin Oak roots.

 

[wtnhighlander]

[Mark J]

Totally cool, Ross.

[Coop]

On 2/10/2023 at 8:16 PM, Mark J said:

Totally cool, Ross.

He looks as much at home next to a rocket as he does in a woodworking shop! That IS cool! 

[Tom King]

I have an Indian fire pump that I keep kerosene in for getting big brush piles burning.  With the 13 hp BIllygoat blower, I could light a fire on the edge of a thirty foot diameter brush pile, shoot some kerosene on it, and blow a fiery hole all the way through to the other side by keeping pumping kerosene into it.  It didn't take long.

At the Air and Space museum at the Smithsonian, you can stick your head in a Saturn V rocket engine, and you can see the size of the pipes that feed it Kerosene and liquid oxygen.  I have a special appreciation of it with my little fire burning rig.

Saturn V's were Bad Ass!

Ross, that picture is suitable for framing!

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks,  guys! That was in Huntsville, AL. I took Cody and his best friend there for Cody's 'Belated Birthday Experience'.

Tom, you ain't whistlin' Dixie about those F1 engines. That photo is a life-size replica, but there is a complete Saturn V displayed with the stages separated, and plaques explaining all the components. A single F1 engine (Saturn V stage 1 has five) produces as much thrust as the ENTIRE Saturn 1 rocket used in the earlier Apollo missions!

[Tom King]

For the porch steps handrails, I made the 2-3/4" square posts from some leftover fence post 4x4's drying for over 20 years. 

I didn't have any concrete here, and can't go get any, so I drove them in the ground about a foot at the bottoms of the holes to hold them in place.  A 12 lb. sledge hammer would just make them bounce, but the 20 pounder sent them down a couple of inches each stroke.  It was a bit of a dance to get them plumb right where I wanted them by myself, but I was able to do it.  I'll put concrete in the holes when I can go after some.

The pieces I'd run for the handrails were not as long as it would be better for them to be, but I have some more of the old fence posts to run the handrails out of tomorrow.  I'll use these for the bottom member.  I had hoped these would work okay, but I don't like the way the end interaction with the posts looks.  That was as long as I could get out of the pieces I made them from.

I'm a perfectionist about building steps and railings, but these really aggravate me since they built the top step longer than the others below.  That throws the handrail intersection with the porch post too high, but this is dropping the step railings as low a code allows.

 

[Tom King]

I forgot to post the picture with the big C-clamp for twisting the post into alignment soon after I started driving it.  You have to get it right with the first couple of licks, or you won't be able to move it.  I just sighted the side to be in line with the porch post.  It helps to be able to see straight for building stuff.

That little level is a handy thing to have.  It's very easy to handle, reads accurately and has magnets for grabbing things like scaffold bucks.

This was after I had to go to the shop to get the big hammer.

 

 

[gee-dub]

I continued the unimpressive and unromantic process of emptying out the garage rafters.  I need to empty the garage so it can get gutted and remodeled.  This should be a good problem to have but at this stage it really doesn't feel like it ;-)

[BonPacific]

I spent the morning disassembling several chainlink fences in our back yard that chopped up the space like swiss cheese. The poles themselves will wait until I can borrow a tractor from a relative to dig them out.

[Tom King]

It seems like someone would make a post popper for chainlink posts.  I thought most of them were just driven into the ground.  I have one of these for T-posts.  All you have to do is break it loose with one pull, and then you can easily lift it out of the ground.

The same sort of thing should work with the round posts for chainlink.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/t-fence-post-puller?store=1501&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gclid=CjwKCAiAuaKfBhBtEiwAht6H79T37P1v2wmU0csP8PBg2kbmMu04meZvebkx6zRCntSfLl9E_7bj_xoC4KIQAvD_BwE

edited to add:  I figured there would be youtube videos:

 

[BonPacific]

On 2/12/2023 at 5:22 AM, Tom King said:

 

They're almost all in concrete, even the little short poles for some reason. Complete overkill for their original purpose (keeping dogs separate).

The plan this summer is to put in a partial driveway and agricultural building, so I'd be doing some earthmoving either way.

[Tpt life]

1 hour ago, BonPacific said:

They're almost all in concrete, even the little short poles for some reason. Complete overkill for their original purpose (keeping dogs separate)

Some localities require this, if the fence is on a property line. Frost lift can lead chain link poles to migrate over time. With the concrete, they tend to lean, and make you aware movement has happened. 
 

EDIT: Soil type matters also. I am in a riparian zone, on a deep sand bed. Where clay is present, the sand holds together. Where it is absent…

[Tom King]

A tractor will make easy work of it then. 

When I put concrete around posts, I put a loop of rebar in it with the loop out of the top.  That way when the time comes, a tractor can lift it right out with a chain with the only digging needed is to find that loop. 

I'm going to do that when I put concrete around those handrail posts.  I made sure when I was digging the holes that no part of the hole was under the bricks and went straight down where I had to cut the concrete footings.

[Chestnut]

Just a quick project that i knocked out over 2 feedings.

I cut the pieces out by hand with my fret saw. The cuts are pretty rough and ready but i tried. These peg puzzles are easy and fun to make. I'll be doing more.

[Tom King]

I was able to run out and get a couple of bags of concrete this morning, so have the railing posts set. 

There were some short lengths of chain in the shed room with the rotten roof, so I used those for pullout help when the time comes.  Normally, I bend some rebar loops, but these short lengths of chain were of no other use for me, so I just used them.

When the posts rot, I can just lift the concrete out with the loader.

For any posts set in concrete, I don't bother to mix the concrete.  I just put more than enough water in the hole, and slowly pour in the concrete out of the bag.  I understand that it's weaker that way, but any I've ever pulled up was a strong solid block, so it's good enough for posts and a Lot less work.

I have the railings made, painted, and all the holes drilled.  I had to order some longer balusters than the ones I had leftover from the porch railing because of that one long step at the top, so I'm only waiting on them to get here.  If they don't come before the renters are due Friday, I'm just going to screw the handrails in place.  It'll be better than nothing like we had.

 

[legenddc]

On another work trip in the UK and got to see some of the testing of respirators/face masks. Pretty cool to see how some of the stuff we use normally in woodworking is tested. Sadly I came away with no samples.

[Tom King]

Painted a 126' long fascia on the rental house today.  I had ordered these Bronco scaffolding things a few weeks ago.  Today was the first trial, and I really like them.  They're easy to handle by myself, adjust easily for varying ground level, and are very stable.  They can go up to five feet high.

I started on that fascia after lunch, including having to set the scaffolding up, and move the 24' plank off the wall in a shed. I had to stop once to go to our house to help Pam take my Mom to the bathroom, and another time to help Pam set some solar path lights down the hill to the beach.  

Nails sticking out were pulled and replaced with stainless steel screws, the primer that I had done last Fall was sanded, and a good coat of SW Emerald Rain Refresh was put on.  I had to move the scaffolding 7 times because of how close some of the shrubbery was together not letting me use full run of the plank in some places.  I had the brush cleaned, everything put back up, including the plank back on the wall in the shed, and walked back in the house at 3:56.  I would have worked myself to death going up and down a ladder like I did when I scraped and primed it.

I need to redo all the windows in that house, and the other reason for buying these was easy access to those windows on the lake side.  I'm not going to do any more work than absolutely necessary off ladders any more.  It's too much of a job for me to set up and move regular scaffolding by myself.

These things are aluminum, so pretty lightweight to handle, but they're very sturdily built.  The aluminum is thick everywhere.  You can easily twist and slide the legs to the right pop pin location that you need.  Nowhere I set one was level, so the legs were adjusted a lot.  It's a very good design.  As much scaffolding as I have, I really felt like I needed these and I believe I was right.

https://www.amazon.com/ReechCraft-Bronco-All-Terrain-Scaffolding/dp/B00CHR9NKW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1XQDWB4ZR62CB&keywords=bronco+scaffolding+tripod&qid=1676498515&sprefix=bronco+scaff%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1

 

[Tom King]

Balusters not listed as out for delivery today, so I just put the handrails up for the renters this weekend.  Hopefully it's safer than none.  I don't know how they got by without handrails on those steps for how many ever decades before, or even on that porch.

I had put off doing these because I really wanted to weld up some metal ones, so they would be permanent.  My metal supplier will only deliver for no charge when the local boat lift manufacturer gets their orders delivered.  Availability of pieces I wanted would never work out right when they were headed this way, so I gave up on that idea.

 

I went down to clean up the beach, but there wasn't much to do, so I guess I've finally gotten ahead of turning it back into a beach.  The water is really unusually clear for Winter.

 

[legenddc]

Finally got around to adding the water line to our fridge for the ice maker. Only got that in October so I guess I’m a little behind. Never soldered copper before so doing 10 at once was a good way to start. Got my almost 8 year old daughter to help cut and prep the pipes after helping me run the pex pipe through the floor. 
 

Managed to only have 1 joint leak but I was able to repair it in 2 tries. The burn marks on the stud weren’t from me! 
 

Still need to patch the drywall behind the fridge and get a right angle adapter so the fridge goes back a bit further. Tomorrow I’ll spend some time doing that. 
 

[Tom King]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/OATEY-9-in-x-12-in-Hands-Free-Solder-Heat-Shield-314002/100345508?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&pla&mtc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D26P-026_001_PIPE_FITTING-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NEW-PMax&cm_mmc=SHOPPING-BF-CDP-GGL-D26P-026_001_PIPE_FITTING-NA-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-NA-NA-NBR-NA-NA-NEW-PMax-71700000097492030--&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXT7sTvE6uypLAKU1QZEpeyyDHiKApqFAOYXeFrH9o0Fc9kvBixzpusaAvqTEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[legenddc]

I will be picking up one of those Tom but I was being serious that the burn marks weren’t from me. 
 

My plastic shoebox for plumbing is too small. Will need to pick up a toolbox for everything at some point.