Dormer Addition

Weather has been a little bit of an issue over the past few days.  Rain intermittently, which means having to put the tarp on and off if I want to make progress.  Luckily, we had a really nice day on Saturday and we got the outside walls up.  

Two of my friend stopped by to help (one of them unexpectedly which was nice.)

We moved up the OSB sheets before putting up the wall.  I didn’t want to have to carry it all up and used a bobcat to raise it up.  

I built the walls on the second floor and attached a few pieces of sheathing which overhung the bottom of the walls.  I got this idea from the NYW when Norm made his potting shed.  We stood the walls up and attached them to the sill plate.  It worked pretty well. 

After the first wall was up, we just worked down the line.  Made some progress.  

The ridge beam, which will be two 2×10 boards sandwiched together, will be supported by the masonry on the ends.  Today, I chipped out and then cut some of the brick at the peaks.  There will be about 4 inches of support at the ends and a mid support wall for the ridge beam.  I used some concrete to level off the end supports.  I’ll let it dry, then put a piece of pressure treated lumber on it and the ridge beam on that.  But that’ll be Weds.  

Hope you all have a good day.  Thanks for reading.

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Not fine woodworking, but….

 

I started working on a shed dormer today.  Demolition day, which is work but fun.  Had a nice day for it.  It’s amazing what you can accomplish with a circular saw and a sawzall.

The house is only about 25×30.  I built a temporary support wall before cutting the trusses.  

A buddy stopped by to help move some of the mess into the dumpster and put the tarp on.  It’s supposed to rain tomorrow.  

I’ll probably take tomorrow off as we’re also getting honeybees, and tomorrow is pickup day.    Should be fun.  Cheers.

 

Arts and Crafts Morris Chair Done!

Been a while since I posted, but was waiting until I got the back cushions from the upholsterer.  I’m very happy with their work.  The woodworking part was finished sometime in February.  I made the bottom cushions which was fairly straight forward, but opted to have the back cushions made which was definitely a good idea.  

I thought I’d go through some of the details of things I did and things I think can be tweaked a bit.  

Cushions….

I made the seat frames out of poplar with mortise and tenons on a Leigh jig.  I put small dadoes in them to accept the clips for the rubber webbing.  

Next time…I’d make the frames about 1/2″ narrower on the length and width.  I first made them with just 1/4″ spacing which was not quite enough for the room the leather and batting took up.  The frames can be secured to the chair from underneath if you end up with a little play.

I added a layer of burlap over the rubber webbing.

Then, used 4″ high density foam.

And covered that with 2 layers of batting which was just like wrapping an X-mas present.

Then, covered with a piece of leather to wrap over and stapled to the bottom of the frame.

The upholsterer did a nice job on the back cushions with a bead around the edge, and a zippered bottom.

Now onto the woodworking.

I’m pretty happy with the results, but of course you’re always your best critic…I always notice my mistakes when I walk into a room, and try my best to not make them again…not always successful.  That’s one reason I like this blog, I can look back and see what I did previously.  One of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10000 ways that won’t work”.

Here’s another pic of the chair.

 

The through mortises on the arms.  Back one sloped to match arm slope.

The back pegs to adjust the chair’s back.  I think I’d add one more peg, so it could lean back just a little further.  I find I keep it set at the furthest back position, but I think when I make a stool to match, it would be just a little more comfortable to recline more.

The corbels which support the arms.  I glued, screwed and then plugged the holes.  This worked well.  With the arm slope, I had cut the wedges to attach to the underside first, then glued them on.  Next time, I’d glue a full block on the underside, then cut the wedge off the piece.  If you can see in the pic, there is a small gap at the back of that wedge on the underside of the arm.  Probably could eliminate that.

The through mortises of the side stretchers and the front stretchers that I pegged to hold in place.  

This project was fun.  The slope on the arms was the most challenging portion.  I didn’t curve the back slats like some others had done, but chair is still comfortable.  The back foam is a little stiff, but I think with time will conform and give a little more.  

Any comments or questions are welcomed.  

The first photo shows the chair with an end table I made about 2 yrs ago, and the clock I did about 5 yrs ago (which is NYW design).  

Special thanks to the http://www.leatherhidestore.com/ where I purchase the leather, and to http://www.sunsetstripandupholstery.com/ who made the back cushions.