Author: The Lord of The Manor

Table Making in Cold June Days

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today was weird. It was chilly and very windy! Tomorrow is meant to get below freezing in the morning. If it does, this will be the latest we have had frost during the year. Our previous record since we moved to Idaho in 2012 was June 11th. We will beat that by a week. I hear there is snow in Montana, and I believe it as we had a light dusting on the mountain tops here.

As the weather was cold today, I got some time in the shop and worked on the table I have been building. It is a little night table that I am working on after buying a video series from Mortise and Tenon. The video showed the principals of how to build so the wood worker could build any sized table they want. I am tackling a smaller one than in the video, but I am building from poplar and will prep some pine before I do another one. The idea of this project is not just to learn how to build a table, but to also build one quickly when I get the practice in.

I put the legs on the table this evening without any glue or screws or the like. The design in the video was to use wooden peg through the mortise and tenons. I am giving it a try. It’s not like I don’t know how to fix it if anything goes wrong.

Tomorrow our son is not able to come with to get wood, or to do work over here. That’s fine! He has been really helpful this year so far, and it is not big deal to miss a day here and there. He forgot that we were not planning to go out for wood tomorrow anyhow. The plan was to start building the woodshed. So, I went ahead and took out part of the old wood bunk. I am so done with tarps on the firewood! I want enough of a shed to hold the wood for the stove over winter, and a little one for the fireplace wood, which can be longer than what fits the stove. I’d also like to have a lean-to that will hold wood for the workshop.

The next step is to put some cinder blocks down to build the shed on top of. There is a fair few around here, so I will be using them. Then it is time to cut the wood required from that mass of logs I have out back.

That’s the report for today. I think I will be reporting the cold tomorrow. It feels like it is going to reach freezing by tomorrow morning. It is 9:30PM and already down to 42 degrees. Ten more to go, and the temperature dropped 2 degrees in the last half hour. Unbelievable! Good night!

Update: 16 July, 2024

The finished table looked like so in the end. It has a drawer and is a little tall, which can be remedied as needed. I will build another one, perhaps much like this one, perhaps completely different. That’s the whole point of this project! I can build to suit. None of the measurements mattered on this project. In fact, I took none. So I can build a table like this, or four feet wide, or half as deep. None of that matters. It only matters that I make sure it fits where I need it to go. That does not even require a ruler. Just a stick with a couple of labelled marks on it would do just fine.

Here is it mid-July. I have not yet even decided where to put the already built table pictured above. The best place I can think of for it is near my computer. But the space there is pretty hidden, and I am reluctant to hide it. But I suspect it would work there just fine. At the moment it is also very hot at my computer during the days and evenings. So I don’t use it much. That gives me till autumn to worry about it. That also gives me time to muster up and do another one, this time being more careful to decide beforehand where I want to put it!

Father’s Day 2024

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Today was a surprise. I mean, I knew it was Father’s Day. It was reminded me two days ago. I didn’t realize it before that. So, I did somewhat figure there would be something going on today. But I got more gifts than I imagined, and I really enjoyed what was given me. Missus gave me a cast iron garlic roaster, a tea pot from Harney and Sons, and a phone case for my belt, which is just perfect as I have had trouble with it and where to carry it before. My daughters got me a book of things to do together, and some interesting photosensitive paper. It was really cool. Then I was set free.

I spent the day in my woodshop. There were no chores to do or catch up on. I was just free to work. So, I organized some things and got a jump ahead on some cleaning. I have the batteries put up on a wall and a saw till holding all the saws now. I also sorted out a place for all the screwdrivers and a few other tools, such as the scorp and froe and adz. All that cleaned up much of the top of one of my workbenches.

I worked on the small table I am building and found that I would rather use my bandsaw than try to manually saw the legs from inch and a half stock. I had to clean a wax pan out to use it to boil the polyurethane belts on the wheels of the saw. That was no short, quick task. But once I got the belts on the wheels and the blade mounted, the saw worked perfectly, and I think I will definitely use it to speed up the work I want to do with the hand tools. I was able to get those table legs sawed to shape right away.

Today was a wonderful day that kept me busy doing things I wanted to do, and I was able to make some serious progress towards getting the shop running to build furniture for the house, and hopefully profitable projects to sell to the public. I still have a huge mess on the machinist bench where I intend to put the stained-glass station. Hopefully it will all get done soon!

Three for the Mill, One for the Stove

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

We went out yesterday to get firewood again. We found the place organized and the long logs all laid out where they were actually easy to get to. We could not believe it. Someone put some real effort into the back quarter of the lot. I could even back up to the ends of many of the logs and could easily get the logs into the trailer. So, we picked up three decent sawlogs and one with a big crack down it that will suit the woodstove nicely when it is cut down to rounds and split. We did not spend a lot of time down at the log lot yesterday at all.

Back at home the unload went easy too. Only four long logs to grab with the tractor and they grabbed pretty easily. None of them felt overly heavy, so I do have to wonder about how solid they are in the middle, or if they all have stated to rot a little? But tapping them with a steel pipe revealed that the ones I picked for the sawmill were solid sounding and the one for the stove sounded hollow-ish in the middle. Of course, the truth will be revealed when I get to open them all up.

Before leaving for the wood lot, I aired up the tires on the trailer and brought them up about 20 pounds each to where they belong. Oops! They were down to 30 and needed to be at 50 pounds of pressure. Everything is up to scruff now on the truck and trailer, so there should be even wear and safer riding all around.

Today we are going to be up in town a bit running some errands for Missus. If I get a chance I might give the front shocks a try again. There is a plastic casing around the top of the shocks, but I wonder if I can grab them tight enough with a pipe wrench to stop them spinning while turning the top nut to undo them to take them out. I think if I can get enough of a grip to stop them against the rust on the bolt, I can easily get those shocks changed and the truck riding like new again. More or less. Is that a laugh? Probably!

I put fans up in the kid’s room yesterday, so they have some cooling effect while they sleep. It is not yet the hottest part of the year, but that is not stopping it from being pretty hot. Everyone is going to need the fan this year! Well, that’s how it feels to me, anyway. We are told that the La Nina is setting up for winter and it is meant to be a cold one; probably snowy. Suits me just fine. It would be nice to get a bit of a break from all the weather-related end of the world doom and gloom.

Some Vehicle Maintenance

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Yesterday I changed the oil on the truck, charged the A/C on it, the little truck, and the tractor. I filled wiper fluids and checked brakes and so on. But the big adventure was putting the rear shocks on the big truck. You see, I was quoted $900 for low end shocks on the whole truck. That was at the cheap place. So, I looked up some Monroe shocks on Amazon and ordered them for $165, making them not the cheapest shocks at all. Not like what I was promised at the repair shop. There was a bit of faffing around to reach and get the torque required, but the shocks on the truck require turning two bolts each. Two. That is eight bolts on the whole truck! And the gut wanted $900 for the job! At a place where he has a lift and the right tools and could do it in ten minutes per wheel! What a joke!

Today is firewood day. Our son is coming over in about an hour to go with me to get what we can. I hope the tree guys have got down whatever has come apart in the wind. I have some 15 sawlogs out back now and would still like to add some more. There is a lot to build around here. To be fair, I need a lot of firewood still.

I got the gourd tunnel built, finally. I’ll do a better job at it next year. It’s okay now. It could be a bit better. But it is in, and I have planted the seeds. Hopefully it will produce some decent gourds for Missus to sell in her shop. I put in a few different types of seeds. I also put in some wildflower seeds, and I laid in some corn seeds nearby. It’s just decorative corn. Hopefully that will help come Thanksgiving time. Maybe a little extra money if we can sell them!

There is loads to do today, so I best go get ready for some work!

The Woodshop & A Firewood Day

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

My favorite place to be is in the woodshop.  I could be cleaning up, figuring out there is no hood organization system in there, making shavings, or simply burning them.  For me time, it is my own space. 

Today is Tuesday. We could not go get firewood yesterday, so we went out to get it today. There was plenty to choose from, and why I call it a firewood day is unknown even to me. I go out, I select from the wood at the pile, and I always pick first a sawlog or three. Firewood comes in on top after that. But by the time a huge log is on the trailer, there is a bit of a load there that cannot be topped up with too much more weight. So, we grab a little firewood, and we get going. The firewood pile could be doing a bit better.

The sawlog, however, are fantastic, and I think I could build a decent woodshed without worrying about running out too soon. I think I could build a woodshed tomorrow if I had the time. I don’t. I do need to get the sawing done. To do that, I will first have to make some bolsters and stickers for proper stacking.

After we got home and got the wood unloaded today, I put the final bits of roof on the rabbit hutches. I put the panels upside-down because the bottoms are white, and the tops are brown. With it being summer, I would rather they be cooler. I sure don’t have the time to repaint them.

If I am going to get sawyering, I will have to get together a list of how many posts and beams I need, and then cut the rest into purlins and boards. Any excess boards can go to the furniture shop. That’s something for the spare time on breaks tomorrow. The rest is listed in my planner and will keep me busy for days yet to come. Enough for now.

More Work

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

More work? Yup! Today I sorted out the last of an electrical project that wanted doing. Now the electric to my wife’s little shop no longer goes from a plug in the workshop into her shop via a long cord. Instead, it goes from a new outlet on the wall of my workshop to the outer wall of the trailer, plugging in on both ends and using a much shorter cable. Doors can once again be shut and locked on my workshop and Missus’s shop. I also have a place to plug in Christmas lights on the workshop.

So, there have been some questions of late about which shop is called the shop, and what the other places should be called. As you know, Missus is British. So, to her, a ‘store’ as Americans would call it is meant to be called a ‘shop.’ “I’m headed down the shop for some eggs and a pint of milk.” I always called the place I worked with one of my best high school friends “the shop.” It was a hardwood and sheet goods dealer outside of Denver. There was no arguing with him as his family owned the place.

I am wanting to call my workshop ‘the shop,’ but I have to leave that title for Missus’s shop. So, to avoid confusion, I will be calling my shop something else. Probably ‘the woodshop,’ or ‘the workshop.’ I am not yet sure which is so appealing that it will break a very old habit. Or should there be another name, such as ‘the magical, mystical palace of repairs and construction to which I repair in order to be constructive, or otherwise avoid getting roped into some sort of huge job that I don’t understand.’ Well, I will think on it before jumping to any conclusions. So far, it is looking like the ‘woodshop.’

So, there have been some woodshop lessons that are worth writing down. One has been when bottoming out a valley in the seat of a chair, and as I carve into the cathedral of grain, the wood kind of peels at the bottom. That is from following the grain. It is a good time to carve across the grain instead. At least on the poplar I was working on when I cut my finger this evening, that seemed to work out really well. Also, secure the work and use both hands to control the tool.

Another lesson worth it was after I ripped a board in half last night and of course cut it crooked because that’s how I roll. After the cut, rather than use a typical plane such as a jack, I used a scrub plane to do most straightening on the cut edge of the board before going to a #5 to give it a straight line. It really saved a ton of time and did a decent job on its own to straighten the edge of the board. It was to the point I would just about recommend the scrub as one of the first planes one should buy. Apart from the disappointment that will come with how shallow the second plane will cut. Scrub plane. A decent jointer!

Yesterday was semi-busy. It was hot! So, there was a limit to what I was wanting to do. I am not yet acclimated to the heat, so getting heat stroke is not going to be hard to do. But I started off by putting the new rabbit pen into the old chicken run where the neighbor’s dogs cannot get even to the outsides of their pen. Yes, I have had that happen before. We once found a dog caught IN a rabbit pen where two rabbits had lived. One was gone, and the other was dead in the pen with it. So, we take the extra step of keeping the rabbit pens locked in a fenced in area.

My youngest and I put the feeders on the pen, and the waterers, and also the rabbits. The pen is built so it is off the ground a couple of feet, also making it hard for dogs to get to, as well as giving it a large enough space that the poo does not pile up right under it. Once I get around to securing the chicken run again against the raccoons, and get new chickens in it, they will work as cleaners against the poo pile.

I started cleaning out the metal from behind the barn at last, when I took out a couple of livestock fence pieces and four T-posts to go towards the gourd tunnel. I’ll need to get that together today. But first I need to measure the space I intend to put the new septic field into, and make sure the space is large enough. Once verified, I can put in the posts and attach the cattle panels which are now set next to where I will put it. That is next to the sawmill. I’ve tilled it a couple of times, so it is ready to go once the tunnel is built. Put the seeds into the ground and water.

I got the lawnmower up to the front yard and put air in all the tires. I went up to town and bought a new battery, then came home and put that in. The mower started up pretty quickly after that. I ran it around the yard a bit and caught some of it up on the mowing. I ran out of gas once, then it died again and would not turn over at all. I think the thing may not be charging the battery anymore and was running on the new battery. I put it on the charger after that, and if it starts again today, then dies again, I think I will need to sort out the charging system. Well, we’ll see.

After supper I went out to the shop and sharpened my bench chisels. It was a hand sharpening without the use of a honing guide. I used the 1,000, 3,000, and 10,000 grit stones. The face of the bevel was very shiny after, but also a little rounded. I might be inclined to use the honing guide next time. I need to build a setup jig to set the length of the chisel to extend out of the honing guide. I also need to decide once and for all about the idea of a secondary bevel, as I did not bother with one last night. The chisels had not had any serious sharpening before, so I did it straight.

I am scheduled to be out at the dump tomorrow to pick up wood for the mill and for the fire this winter. Our younger son is coming with to make it a little easier and more social while I am out. It’s the first run since the windstorm, so I hope it will be productive.

So Busy

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

The past little while has been pretty busy here on the farm as we have been getting ready to open Missus’s little shop out front of the house. The spring weather has continued to be pleasant, though yesterday and today it cooled down, especially in the mornings, and we put a fire in the stove this morning to cope with the unbearable chill. On the downside, we lost a few animals to a predator in the past few days.

I have had help from second son going down to get some firewood and a couple of sawlogs. The supply changed quite a bit from the first trip down to the second, indicating there are a lot of trees being trimmed at the moment.

We took a couple of days off this week and last in order to help Missus get her shop open, which she did for a short while on Monday. She is planning her weekends on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so being closed yesterday and today were planned as a part of normal operations. We are waiting for the first customer to darken the door still, and hope that will happen fairly soon, or soon after we put up an ad on the local board online. A slow start ought to give us a chance to ramp up operations.

The weather has been fantastic for this time of year for the last few weeks. Earlier in the spring it was run outside in forty-degree temperature time with no jacket or anything extra to keep warm. Who could complain at the warmer weather after any Idaho winter, even a warm one? But it has been making it to the low seventies lately, and dropping into the fifties with little sun has left the house so cold that I had to start a fire in the woodstove today to take the chill off. It was mid-fifties in the house this morning, and there was no sun to take that chill away. So I went out to our persistent woodpile and gathered up an armload of poplar to bring in and burn. It warmed up pretty quick!

The large, open topped chicken run no longer holds out predators, or so we found out this week. I have seen raccoon prints in the yard quite a lot over the spring, but now it seems one has decided to try its luck at the ducks and goose. Raccoon or whatever, it got in and killed them all. It could have been an owl, to be fair. But I have stayed up late to watch for them and saw nothing. We ordered some solar powered motion activated lights to put up on a couple of the out buildings. They make enough of a difference to put sights on something like a raccoon.

So that’s the goings on here on the farm while we also do other things, such as get ready to have the kids out of school after their first year in public for some time. They are excited for the break! I am excited to have them around.

Preparing the Herb Garden, 2024

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

One of the boys and I went down to the woodyard on Monday to pick up some firewood and a couple of saw logs. There were a lot of new piles in the dump suggesting that it is cutting season for the tree trimmers. This time it went really well, and we got two big sawlogs right up into the trailer in no time. It was our 26-year-old who came along with, and I thought when we unloaded that it might be nice to show him around the sawmill rather than starting on the log splitter already. We easily got a couple of hundred dollars of poplar boards out of a small-ish log I had sitting on the mill already when we got there. I took mostly 1-inch-thick cuts out of an 8 inch wide by nine-foot-long cant. That left some thick flitches that will burn just fine and saved us messing about with little things.

Missus and I got into the herb garden yesterday and cleaned up from the winter and got some plants in shape for their growing season by pulling grass around them and preparing for some fresh mulch. We also worked the front yard some. Missus put in some seeds in the planters out front and I took out an old planter by the gate. We had intended for me to move that one, but the bottom was rusted out and all the contents stayed as I picked the metal planter up with the tractor. We mowed and edged in the herb garden, and I scythed and even got down on my knees with the sickle to cut around where a litter of kittens have been growing up nicely.

I went down to get something from the tool shed on the front of the chicken coop and noticed a dead duck as I passed the outside run. It wasn’t much of a corpse suggesting the visit of a raccoon. Then I saw two more fresher, slightly more whole corpses in another part of the run. That left only two ducks, a goose, and two chickens in that run, along with the rabbit hutches. I did not get a chance to find the hole a raccoon would have come through, and I suspected that since the electric wire atop the fence is inactive, it may have climbed over. By the time we were done with the day and all the work done, I was in no state to sit up and watch for a raccoon to shoot at, either.

Missus had to redo a wall in her tiny shop trailer that she had tried a paper on for decoration and had come down at the corners. She was fed up with it and decided to paint instead. For her to do the work I had to take some shelves off the wall first. I put them back up yesterday, too. It was a pretty easy reassembly and did not take long at all.

Missus and I will be back at it again today when the day gets started, and we hope to finish the bulk of the work and ready for the season. I put the tiller on the tractor yesterday evening ready to use today to prepare beds for some peas and gourds. I topped the gearbox up with heavy oil, and I will grease the zerks before getting started today. But tilling is a job I will do whenever she is taking a break. It is pretty easy sitting in the air conditioning and driving slow. Also, the tiller is a pretty good counterweight for unloading sawlogs tomorrow when we come back from the woodyard.

It’s coming up to 5:30 in the morning and I have got Garrison Keillor telling the news from Lake Woebegone playing on YouTube. There is about an hour left to get a little rest before it is time to get the kids to the bus stop. Time to get to work on that rest!

First Wood Collection of the Year

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Things have been busy around here on the old farm lately. I have been doing some cleaning out in the yard to get ready for the season. I also got fed up with the grass at the front of the house, and how the land leans and keeps water too close, so I got into the tractor and sorted that out. Now there is no grass there, and a couple of old water troughs that leak set there as planters. I filled them up and will be putting in some flowers soon. I was ready to get at some work the day before yesterday when there came a knock on the front door.

The knock was the guy who owns the house just down the road from us. He lives in town and was having a tall pine tree taken down in his yard up there. He asked me if I wanted it. Well, that’s a silly question! I went up and spoke to the tree man and specified how I would like the wood cut up. Then I got the trailer the hay was on and took it up for pickup. Sadly, I did not have much luck getting the hay off the trailer in a neat and orderly fashion as I was not sure how long I had till the wood was ready to start piling on. So the hay ended up knocked over in the yard, and of course it rained since. So that’s a bit of a problem! But in the end, the gentleman who owns the tree decided to have a second, shorter tree taken down too. It was under a power line, so it was actually wider in the trunk than the tall one because it had been topped over the years.

So I have all that wood in the yard now. I am thinking I want to do the milling as soon as the ground is dry, then put on Anchor Seal to reduce cracking. That stuff has worked really well on the wood I milled last year. I think a couple of pieces will get milled into large blocks, and the long pieces will be milled into boards. I’ll have to see what the knots in the cant look like! The rounds and branches can be put into firwood, and some of the smaller branches want slicing into coasters and Christmas ornaments for the laser. Maybe there are a couple of signs hiding in there to be laser cut too. I’ll be keeping an eye out.

Spring Cleaning was begun this morning in the kitchen. Some sense and order is being applied to make things more serviceable in there. It was pretty bad. But we made good progress on it today till we wore out, and we will finish it tomorrow, I am sure.

Despite the warming weather, I see two frost days coming up this week. As that is the forecast, and it is always guessed at about two degrees warmer than we actually get in our specific location, I think there may be more. Missus has me warning her each night so she can do any quick saves required.

The kids attend school for four more weeks till they are set free for the summer. I am really looking forward to it! It will be nice to have them about, and to free up the schedule so I can start going out to get wood for the fire and for the mill. It is time for me to start drawing up plans for the woodshed. I have been thinking about it plenty, but I have not put pen to paper on the topic yet. I think I know what I will have to put in place, though it is not exactly what I want. But perhaps I can refigure as I recently found out I am allowed a larger build than I thought without a permit. So, there is that to look at first.

Well, it’s evening here now, and time to get settled and ready to rest for the fight of another day!

Chores and Errands on Wednesday

Posted on by The Lord of The Manor

Yesterday (Wednesday) was busy with errands and some cleaning and some paperwork here on the farm. I had to run into town to get copies of a couple of receipts and pick up a couple of things at the store. Finally, I ran down to the thrift store in Smithfield and picked up an auction winning, then take the kids to get some ice cream at the Fat Boy factory in Richmond.

I helped Missus with some of her work in the little shop-in-a-trailer out front. I also did some clean-up with the tractor out back on a debris pile I accidentally made out of a compost pile. There is some good soil at the bottom. In between the soil and the debris was some dirt I could use to fill low spots in the driveway. There is still more work to do out there on that pile. But I got some of it sorted.

I brought up some firewood for today as it is meant to be wet and a little cooler.

It was enough to keep me busy most of the day. It was interspersed with a few mandatory breaks to keep the arthritis pain at bay. Lunch was provided by Subway.

It’s very early as I write this. I am not sure yet what today brings. I won’t be working out in the muddy yard if the precipitation is what the forecast predicts! The tractor rips the yard up pretty bad when the earth is muddy. I am trying to cure that problem as it is. There are errands to run again, and Missus may need some help with a few things. Failing that, I would not complain to get some time cleaning up in the shop a bit. There are some, shall we say, organizational issues. Let’s see what the day brings!