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Carpentry Archives - Page 3 of 4 - The Year of Mud

Nov 26
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A Heavy Duty Homemade Door

By Strawtron, Doors & Windows, Carpentry
Two Custom, Homemade Doors

Two custom doors in the second story of the timber frame house

The second story of our timber frame & straw bale house has shorter than standard wall heights. It is definitely standing height, but the beams (or top plates, more specifically) that support the rafters are at head height, and another curved tie beam is similarly placed. We have two door locations upstairs, one to access the north storage loft above the porch, and a second for the walk-out balcony on the west, so we were faced with having to size and build our own homemade doors from scratch. Since I have never built a DIY door before, I was fairly intimidated, but the process wasn’t that bad once I got started. What I came up with were some super heavy duty, insulated doors made with tongue and groove boards, complete with some burly strap hinges to support the weight.

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Nov 17
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how to build a diy wooden spiral staircase

Our Work is Done: Building The Roundwood Spiral Staircase

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Strawtron

how to build a diy wooden spiral staircase

At last, I’m here to report that April and I finished building our wooden spiral staircase.  Over the course of five days, literally up to the day before we left Dancing Rabbit, we installed the risers and treads. The spiral staircase design came from our dearest Tom Cundiff, who instructed us on the layout over the phone and in person during our last Timber Frame Workshop. It took us a while to fully grasp the layout and the flow of things, but once we understood the principles, it went fairly smoothly. Well, the actual building was extremely physically taxing, but I digress.

And so this is our attempt at a DIY wooden spiral staircase. Here’s how we built it.

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Nov 10
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Our Last (and Greatest) Task

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Strawtron
Roundwood Sprial Staircase - First 2 Steps

First two steps installed… starting from the top, and working down

We have decided to take on our last and greatest task literally days before we leave Dancing Rabbit for Berea, Kentucky. In these final few days before we move, we are building a spiral staircase in our timber frame house. It is a rather foolish thing to do, but important, too.

We have literally 3 or so days left to try to finish the beast. And it is a beast, let me tell you. Drilling and chiseling 11 mortises in a roundwood post, making an equal number of stair risers with tenons, sawing/planing/gouging/oiling the 3″ elm slab steps… not to mention, having the wrap our puny minds around the layout has been quite the ordeal, to say the least. We are finally in the swing of things now that we have the layout firmly established, but the physical side of the work is still very intense.

Here are a few photos of what we are doing up until the literal minute we leave. Sometimes I wonder about these decisions we make…

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Oct 10
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Live Edge Siding: “It Sings”

By Carpentry, Strawtron
Straw Bale House: Live Edge Siding

Our recent live edge siding job on the north porch… here’s the west view

I’ve been meaning to put up some images of our completed live edge siding job for a long, long time now… so here they are. Finally! An individual walking by the other day commented on the siding, saying “it sings”… a sweet compliment, I thought. I would agree. I just love the stuff. The grain, color, curves, and contrast with the plaster on the other parts of the house are very pleasing. I have no doubt we’ll feature more live edge siding in future building projects.

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Jul 28
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There’s Beauty Under That Surface

By Carpentry, Strawtron

scrap-to-trim

For whatever reason, we have access to a lot of black walnut lumber around here. A lot of twisted, knotty, warped, split 1x black walnut, that is. Hell, at least it is cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for. The stuff is sort of a nuisance to sift through, and oftentimes, up to half of any given pile later becomes firewood.

But I have been using this stuff almost exclusively for making window trim, and baseboard, and other finish work. I’ve gotten a lot of practice picking through piles, and hopefully finding that one piece that will actually work. Under that sometimes ugly surface, there is some really gorgeous wood.

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Sep 20
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Design Your Deck With Rot Resistant Wood

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Strawtron
White Oak Deck Wood

Our white oak balcony deck floor

It is a wise idea to incorporate rot resistant wood into your outdoor deck, balcony, or porch designs, to ensure a long-lasting, safe floor for years to come.

I’m happy to be finally decking our west balcony so that we can stand out there and enjoy the view, without worry of falling through or tipping the temporary piece of plywood we’d been using. We obtained some nice white oak boards for the occasion, as the balcony is exposed to the weather. The balcony is actually under a substantial roof, but nevertheless, with our occasional big storms, moisture and rot is a concern. We chose thick 1.5″ white oak wood for its excellent rot resistance and strength.

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Apr 16
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Plans for Building a Small Tool Shed

By Carpentry, Small Tool Shed
Small 8x12 Tool Shed Design

Our simple 8×12 tool shed

Before we go about proceeding with the construction of the new timber frame & straw bale house, I’m planning on building a small 8×12 tool shed. The current one ain’t cutting it. It’s way too cramped and, quite frankly, it’s not a good design. A cozy shed with enough space to actually walk in and out of is much needed, as is additional storage space for tools, building supplies, and small woodworking projects. Hence the new plans for a small shed. This will actually be the first time I use pre-made building plans to construct something, which I am actually looking forward to.

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Aug 19
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Building the Handmade Roundwood Bed Frame

By Carpentry

roundwood-bedframe

Last week, after being sick of sleeping on a carpet with some blankets on the floor, I finally hunkered down and made a bed frame, not without some consistent prodding from April. The idea had been to use some osage orange logs for the corner posts, and I had cut some low limbs weeks ago, but I was nervous about the prospect of using something so round and irregular to make a very square piece of furniture. But it turned out to be quite successful, despite my lack of experience with woodworking.

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May 15
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Ever Make Your Own Handmade Door?

By Carpentry

For the small mud room addition to the house, April and I are considering making our own door(s). I’m really unsatisfied with most of the commercial doors out there. They really lack character. And it’s tough to find nice reclaimed doors, too.

But trying to dig up information on how to build your own exterior doors (esepecially insulated doors) is pretty tough. So I turn to you, readers – does anyone have links to resources on building your own exterior, insulated doors?

I have a good image in my mind of the door I’d like to build, but my experience with that level of carpentry is pretty nil. (I picture a nice heavy 32″ wide, left handed, solid wood door with two or three layers of wood, or two layers with some kind of insulation between, nice black strap hinges, preferably with some heavy glass in the upper half, and preferably arched.) Guidance is welcome!

May 01
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The temporary outdoor kitchen project

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Carpentry

temporary kitchen - roofing

Wabi-sabi has been busy building a temporary outdoor kitchen the past several weeks. Before we really get underway on the ‘for real’ kitchen construction project, we are setting up this outdoor kitchen as a place to cook and eat while we are building. Right now, we’re eating on a sort of glorified tent platform with a simple rocket stove, a filing cabinet for food storage, and a bucket with a spigot for washing dishes. This temporary outdoor kitchen will have, most importantly, walls and a roof, which the current setup does not. It will have rainwater catchment for dish washing water, a lorena-style stove, and hopefully plenty of storage for food. It will not have seating space, however.

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