Thursday, April 28, 2016

Kitchen remodel progress

Bought a couple more 6x6 timbers last week .
Ten foot long is just about the limit of what I can handle alone .
Of course since they are rough cut, and the thickness planer only opens up to six inches, they did not want to go though the machine if there was any variation, so I had to hit some stubborn spots with the hand planer when they got stuck.
I should have cut them down to length first so they'd be easier to handle, but I wanted to clean them up first so I could select the better looking part of them .
Not a lot of fun on this part .
Got the new kitchen window trimmed and re-shingled back in .
Did my best to reuse some of the old weathered shingles so it would blend in .
Then it snowed three inches and the welfare bums came for a handout .
By noon the next day the snow was mostly gone .
Cut the timbers to length and cut a shallow tenon on the top end to fit in the mortise I previously made in the beam.
Sanded them and knocked the corners off with the block plane .
Using my floor jack this time, I lifted the beam enough to remove the temporary posts and fitted the permanent posts shimming them up 3/4 of an inch at the bottom so the mortise and tenon would fit together at the top  .
Once the post were in place the island goes back together again . It all seems so much easier in pictures .
And I cut the counter-top to fit around the new post .
Earlier this week I rebuilt all my saw horses as they were all getting a bit wobbly .
Made up some temporary MDF counters in preparation for when I tear in to the sink side wall .
And since I was able to fix my over heating lap top last week , and the desktop computer fan was acting up a bit, I tore in to that one too.
And found the heat sink completely clogged, so got that one cleaned as well.


14 comments:

  1. That planer is cool. My friend gave me one a year back, but it was broken beyond repair. I'd never seen one used. Great pictures.

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    1. Hard to imagine it is so damaged you can't fix it. What did they do, drop it off a moving truck? They do come in handy once in a while. In this instance I was pushing the limits of the capabilities of this one.

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    2. Left it out in the rain. Rust and corrosion!

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    3. Oh that's fixable then ... its a matter of taking it apart completely and cleaning it all up. New blades can be had.

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  2. Ah... que lindo es tener tantas herramientas ad-hoc...

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    1. No son mero capricho, son después de todo los fierros con que me gano el pan de cada día.

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  3. Me parece que estás engordando los welfare bums para hacer uan 'polenta con pajaritos'...

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    1. Nahh , esos bichos no son mas que hueso y pellejo , no vale la molestia . Las ardillas por otro lado , esas si serian deliciosas .

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  4. Nice work Mike, your place is looking good. You are becoming a real Jack of all trades.

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    1. I do what I can John. I still have to pull the two layers of drywall off the sink side and rewire and rehang new drywall. Then mud it all and build new cabinets and counters. I am thinking cement on the sink counter, cherry slabs on the island and butcher block either side of the stove. And then there are the three layers of flooring in the kitchen to pull up and replace with cork. Should be just about done by the time we are ready to sell in 10 years. ;-)

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  5. I dread to think how dirty my computer is, maybe I should do the same. I love/hate working with big beams like that. I get loads of compliments when I work with big frames but I just hate all the lifting and mauling about.
    I've nominated you for a leibster I'm afraid! It's ten questions to answer, pop over to my blog to see them. Don't worry I won't be offended if you don't answer them!

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    1. Jeez, Leibster award? Does that make me some kind of liberal? LOL I'll take a look.

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  6. Do you ever watch those shows on television about doing home renovations? I watch them with my wife. Those guys aren't any more skilled than you are, and they are celebrities. Life is not fair sometimes. ;-)

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    1. Hey Harry, yea I seen some of them for about 5 minutes. Its about all I can stand of them. What you don't see is the crew of 75 guys behind the scene doing the "real" work. And I say real in quotations as it is really all theater set building, none of it is real. Its like the old cowboy western Hollywood sets, just a great big facade. Remember it is all theater. The celebs make it all look so easy and quick, and for us in the trade it is really harmful as customers then expect the same. And when you tell them a job will take three weeks and 250 man hours plus 4 grand in materials they think you are ripping them off. They can keep their celebrity, I don't want no part of it. LOL

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