Best selling wood projects - Keeping the Ladies Happy

Best selling wood projects

Well, it has been an age since we had poultry down here on our little plot, and the old fowlhouse has been begging for a makeover.
I have been slowly doing renovations to the chook palace, and it is nearing completion.
Today was superb weather for working outdoors, after the heat and humidity of the last couple of days.  Overcast, mild temperatures and a slight breeze - does it get any better than this!
So the chookie yard had its wire attached, and there are only a couple of pieces to finish off and the ladies can move in.
I have been seeking advice from all and sundry about poultry breeds, and have even joined the Australian Poultry Forum to see what is currently best practice in poultry culture.

Hopefully the large numbers of alektorologists who read this blog will chime in with advice. Maybe even the experts from Pony Paradise will share their knowledge and experience.
Once its finished - should happen over the weekend - Ill post some piccies.
But in the meantime - feast your eyes on todays sunset.  A modest affair by Tele Point standards but still awesome.

Sometimes the trees do get in the way.

 

A full review of Poultry Paradise will follow shortly .....................................................................

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Best selling wood projects - Mums Potting Shed

Best selling wood projects

There is always plenty to do around our little acreage. We have been finishing and renovating our old house ever since we came here.
This has been a project on the to do list for quite a while.
It is finally finished.
The love of my life had a little potting table out in the middle of the backyard under a tree, and yearned for her own potting shed.
Here were the requirements:

• Somewhere dry
• Light and airy
• Faces the north
• Has a big workbench area
• Must have storage shelving

I made use of an old zincalume garden shed that was blown to pieces in a storm a couple of years back.
The front plate holding up the rafters is an old hardwood window ledge from a very long window - ex-demolition.
The trellis came from my sons house when he replaced his pergola with a Queensland room.

The bench has an old plastic shallow sink for mixing potting mixes, and plant potting and the like, where spillage can be re-claimed.
The sink came out of an old photographic darkroom.
The left side of the bench has a re-cycled panel from a renovated kitchen. It has a stainless steel surface.
The shelf underneath has a suspended support in the middle, and uses a couple of over 100 year old hardwood boards from a demolition of a friends shed.
The weather in these parts comes from the south and west, so it stays remarkably dry.
The customer was happy, and so am I.
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Best selling wood projects - Officially Summer

Best selling wood projects

One of the beautiful things about the Australian landscape is the way the native vegetation changes its moods.  We have just transitioned from late spring to early summer, and some of the eucalypts are flexing their re-invigorated trunks and sloughing off their old bark.  The bush is bursting with vitality. I find myself energized by it.

This tree is on the way to my shed - It is a passing acquaintance.

It was shelf preparation time in the shed today, and I cut the particleboard to size before adding the facings.  These act as cosmetic covers to the laminated board end grain - if it can be called that.
The shelves are deep, and the facings are around 50mm wide.

The facings need jointing to ensure they are completely straight and square.  On short pieces like these, a number 6 sized bench plane is just about perfect. This is a Millers Falls 18C - look at those lovely shavings.

There are several methods for attaching these, but I decided to use biscuits.  Dowels would work fine, and perhaps even a tongue and groove joint.  Biscuits are easy and quick.  The facings and the shelf are marked together so that the slots line up after cutting.

Give the assembled edge a dummy run before adding the glue and clamping up.
Then - glue, clamp, clean up and set to dry.
Carcass assembly comes next, but that might have to wait.
Tomorrow is the big day when the grandkids and I pick up the chookies - Doris, Florence, Edith, Esther and Sarah (the chooks - not the grandkids)
Family time - yippee.
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Best selling wood projects - Wet Weather Shed Time

Best selling wood projects

Its wet, its cool, and its just the weather for spending time in the shed.
The bench and tool cupboard project is coming together nicely.  Today, the rear rail was mortised and tenoned, the top was prepared with a nosing piece, and the carcass took its first steps towards assembly.

First step was to cut the mortises in the legs with the trusty Makita. Unlike a traditional mortise, these will be open at the top because the brittle old hardwood disintegrated at that point when the router approached it.  No matter, the particleboard top will be screwed in place and covers this quite well.

Next step was to cut the tenons in the rail. This is a very old Blakeley Tenon Saw that still cuts like a dream. Check out that kerf.

 

 The roughed out tenons were then finished with a Stanley shoulder plane. This is an English made 93, and even though some poo-poo the quality of the English blades, I have found them to be fine in practice, and a joy to use.

With the rail glued in place and firmly clamped, it was time to add the shelf.  This will be an open cabinet bench, where the shelf will keep things off the floor and out of the way.  The front and rear have had a second thickness of particleboard added as stiffeners.  These were offcuts anyway, and better used than discarded. Glued and clamped with spring clips, they will dry overnight.

The particleboard top needs a nosing piece across the front to both protect the edge and to stiffen it.  I have cut a rebate in a length of matching hardwood, and glued this to the front edge.  Since this has glue faces at the front and underneath, it needs clamping pressure in both directions.  Tighten the clamps gradually, a little at at time, working along the row of clamps in sequence to pull it in snug in both directions.

An end view shot shows the rebate, and the directions that the clamping pressure needs to move in, to snug this up good and tight.   Good old PVA - what a great adhesive.

I can hear the rain tumbling down outside, and I am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when Ill be ready to continue assembly.

Life is good!

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