Posts by Lloyd:
New Front Door…Some Assembly Required
Susan and I wanted a distinctive new front door for our cabin remodel so we set out shopping a couple of weeks ago to an architectural salvage dealer in Tryon, NC, a town about an hour and a half south of us. We saw some beautiful antique doors with expensive price tags but nothing seemed to call out to us.
In fact, we experienced a phenomenon while shopping that has seemed to plague us during our entire marriage. When looking to purchase finished objects made of wood this feeling comes over us as we peruse the merchandise of “hey we can build that” (fill in the blank). Almost without consciously thinking about it we find ourselves in our car headed home making plans to construct something.
If you are a woodworker reading this blog entry, you know the illness of which I write. Should you just be a civilian, with a casual interest in people who write about their woodworking travails, count your blessings.
Here’s what a 148 board feet of 8/4 quartersawn white oak looks like in the back of my pickup. I ordered it from Mountain Sawyers of Fletcher, NC and the quality is excellent. Hopefully there are two front doors hiding in these 12′ boards.
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Progress continues on the cabin between the rain showers. The decking is down.
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Basement walls are sheathed and the patio is formed and waiting for the concrete truck.
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While construction is progressing on the new part of the remodel, Evan and I worked in the cabin demolishing the upstairs bathroom and closet. Evan really got into sledge hammer work and I think he was disappointed when all the walls were down.
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About a year ago I bought a water dispenser that holds five gallon water bottles for my shop. The dispenser box has been sitting on my shop floor waiting for me to build a proper stand. The stand which came with the dispenser was poorly made of masonite and some tropical hardwood and was only about 8″ tall. Pictured below on the right is the oak stand I built to replace the one the factory sent. Yes, I realize this is the second example in one blog post of my wood working hubris. But really, would you use that stand on the left???
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Now I can get a drink of water any time I get thirsty or wet a rag to clean up glue. The best things about this project were that I used reclaimed red oak to construct it, and start to finish the stand was built in an afternoon.
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What do you do for a wife who volunteers to clean your dirty shop windows?
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I got to hike a new 8 mile section of the Appalachian Trail this week from Sam Gap to Devils Fork. Looking through the haze from the trail I could see Bald Mountain, the highest point in the center of the photo, where Wolf Laurel is located. Even though this section of the Trail is close to the cabin I had never hiked it.
Living In A Van Down By The River
With our return from Florida it has been panic time – moving the last of our stuff out of the cabin and stripping the cabin of material we can use in the re-build. By last Friday our home had become so bereft of contents we spent our first night of what will probably be a [...]
Separation Anxiety
We took a few days off from our labors at the cabin to return to Florida for a wedding. What’s not to like about spending time with family and friends, hanging out at St Augustine Beach soaking up some sun and going to the dentist? Unfortunately, there was a long-term relationship I needed to end [...]
Moving Rocks
As it turns out, buying rocks is much cheaper and easier than getting them on your lot ready for building. Intellectually I knew this, but living through transporting 16 tons of limestone this past week has once again proven to me how inadequate intellect is over experience. After seven days of running a classified ad [...]
The Quest for Stone
We need stones for our cabin remodel. And not just any ole type of rock. We need rough-hewn blue limestone of the type used to build chimneys a couple hundred years ago. The pioneers in southwest Virginia and East Tennessee took advantage of the abundant limestone in the area to build their chimneys and the [...]
Point Of No Return
With every new endeavor, especially big ones you’ve contemplated, planned for and spent sleepless nights asking yourself if you’re doing the right thing, there is a tipping point where going forward becomes the only option. With the cabin remodel I think we went over the edge this week. Last week son Evan tore the back [...]
The Rule of Projects
It is written somewhere that every worthwhile project deserves a tool…at least that is what I have told my wife Susan. While not a hard and fast corollary, consideration needs to be given to keeping some relationship between the tool purchased and the cost of the entire project. So if you are replacing the wax [...]
Time To Get Busy
After a relaxing winter in Florida it is time to finally get busy on our cabin remodel. I know that I have been writing about the remodel for the last two years, but as soon as the snow clears and the ground thaws a bit the excavator will show up to start digging the basement [...]
A River Between Us
For more than a 1,000 miles, the Rio Grande River forms an international border between Texas and Mexico. 244 of those miles are found in Big Bend National Park, the least visited and most remote of our continental US parks. Susan and I made a winter trip to explore this Chihuanhuan desert landscape. ________________________________________ Most [...]
Hearts
It was about eight years ago to the day that I was sitting in an interminable business meeting, when my mind began to wander. Susan will be the first to tell you my powers of concentration have never been that great. As I moved from contemplating the wallpaper of the hotel conference room to [...]