Doors

Delivering cabinet doors today, which I'm excited about.  Not because they're great doors, but because we're planning on getting an electronic drum set for my son.  And, you know, pay bills. 

I Had a Vision

With the move coming up next year, we were in a spot.  We, like everyone, have more stuff than seems possible.  I couldn't imagine trying to stuff all of it into a 5x8 enclosed trailer.  Besides requiring a portal to another dimension, or even better, quantum teleportation, we were up against a wall trying to figure out how to take all of this... stuff... with us.

So, since half the states between here an Washington don't allow tripling, we went ahead and sold the 5x8.  I found a cheesy trailer on craigslist.  One can always find a cheesy trailer on craigslist.  It wasn't all cheesy, though.  Apparently just the top layers were cheesy.

What I found was a 20 ft gooseneck trailer that used to be a travel trailer.  It was converted to to a gooseneck from a fifth wheel and cut down in length, but not by much.  The original  tandem 3500# Dexter axles and equalizers are in good shape.  It has working electric brakes on both axles.  The frame is C5 x 9.  Nothing more than surface rust.  The gooseneck coupler is rated at 30K#.   So, the guts of it is actually a pretty damned good trailer.  It just looks like a piece of crap.

Once I pulled the treated 2x8 decking off, which is all fairly new, and in good shape with no rot, I was able to take a peek at the few problems I had.  The biggest issue was that both jacks were busted.  Non-working.  They were, at one time, plumbed together.  If you've ever seen a busted Atwood Landing gear setup, then you'll know what I'm talking about.  The center bar was missing, and the gears were missing on one and completely stripped on the the other.

The challenge was how to reinvent the wheel, or at least the twin jack.  I did some thinking, and some research around the net, and didn't find what I was looking for, but I found a possible solution.  Sidewind square tube jacks had the right motion, and could push the GVWR of the trailer.  Turns out Curt made exactly what I was looking for.  The Curt HD 28575, 7k lift fit the bill.  I ordered two of them from Amazon for $54 per.

$108 for 14k of lift capacity?  Oh hells yeah.  Still, if I didn't want to walk all the way around the trailer 10 times just to get it off the truck, I had to come up with a way to make the work as twins.  I popped the top of one of them off the night they came in, and thought I had a good plan immediately.

The only thing that was keeping the jack handle on was a knurled roll pin.  Once I drove that out I was able to pull the gears and bushings, and replace the stock handle with a solid steel cold rolled 1/2" rod.  I could only get 3 ft sections from Lowes, so I had to splice and weld it together.  A 3/16" drill bit and I could insert the stock roll pin through the gearset and was good to go.

I slid a short piece of 1/2" black iron pipe over the connecting rod and welded it to a footing to keep the rod straight under torque.  Worked like a charm.  And a 14k# twin lift capacity for $24 in steel, and $108 in jacks?  It just can't be done cheaper.

I welded a 1/2" bolt to the end of the rod, then made a nifty little custom jack handle.

Used a short section of 1/2" black iron pipe, a matching socket, and the original jack handled, all welded together into a nice little package.

Amazingly, my build plan does not include any bailing wire, or duck tape, although the trailer did actually come with some.

I was concerned about all that weight on the pin, as I wasn't able to lift the trailer at the gooseneck coupler,  The bare trailer only weighs about 1300#, axles included.  At 15% pin weight I should be able to lift it with my legs.

To combat all that forward weight, I moved the axles up to the approximate center of the belly.  They're actually about 8" back from the center of the belly.

It should have been much more balanced, but two of my friends and I stood on the last cross-rail (that gawd-awful 4" square steel bumper) and we couldn't get the pin to budge.  There's still more than 650# on the pin, probably a lot more.

I'm afraid to move the axles up any more.  I don't want to introduce an opportunity for it to want to sway at speed.  I'm just going to have to be careful how I load it.

Next week, I'm working on wiring and checking the condition of my brakes.  then I'll be decking and enclosing it.  As a stroke of luck, I happen to have a nicely sized stack of pressure treated 2x8's just ready and waiting to be cut down.

Haven't Seen You in a While

It's been a few weeks since I've blogged, and I apologize.  It's not like anyone's actually reading this, but I did say I'd do it.  I've been up to my eyeballs in random bullshit like fire door systems that won't pass code the way GC's want them built to service counters that won't pass code the way the architect wants them built to random life crap like an almost-blown differential.

I admit it, I hate people, but they make it easy to do so.  When you bring wood 1 hour doors to a jobsite and a stack of wood jamb and stop and expect me to build a double door for an equipment room, don't expect me say, "Okay, sure, I'll build this door for you that's now rated at a 20 minute burn time with no smoke seal because you're too cheap to pay for a steel frame and door with integrated threshhold and smoke seal LIKE IT SAYS ON THE DOOR SCHEDULE."  Ass.

It's not my job to make sure what you build is safe for residents in low income housing.  It's not my job to read the ADA requirements and double-check your accessible design.  It is my responsibility as a human being.  But, really, if you expect me to do my job so delays don't cost you money, DO YOUR FUCKING JOB.

Sigh.

I need a better class of clients.  The building code is complex, granted, but that's why architects and engineers are paid ungodly sums.

My advice to carpenters out there: If you ever hear, "I can get a variance for that," pack up your tools and run, don't walk, the other direction.

Busy Week

It's been busy.  My wife was readmitted to the hospital, but it seems that, though it was serious, it was just a medication error, and she'll be home again soon.  On the work side, I've bid 30k in work this week.  I've spent most of my nights working on drawings, which is why I haven't been updating.  A good thing, though I'm not sure if I want one of those jobs.

We'll see.

Also had to fix my truck.  Wasn't really serious, though I did have to get towed by my buddy in his Dodge to the parts store.  Don't tell anybody.

Labor Day

A homeowner actually tried to have me fired today.  I'm in absolute shock.  I didn't even do or say anything to merit it.

I was working on Labor Day, as most people who actually work for a living do.  Whole family came in.  Homeowner's mother was poking around the kitchen.  Saw me there, and complained that some of the drawer pulls "were a little off."   I responded in a measured and uninflected tone, "I'll take care of it."

She left, I double-checked EVERYTHING.  I found out later that she called the builder and tried to have me fired.

On Labor Day.

Boring

Just boring stuff all week.  Just hardware, hardware, and more hardware.  I did run some 6" crown around a complex pitch, that was fun, but there was only one day of that.  It's been a pretty boring week as far as work is concerned.

They've finally released my wife from the hospital yesterday.  It's good to have her home.  My folks are moving in this weekend to come help with her recovery.  I really appreciate their willingness to jump in.  Hopefully, wound care will be a little easier on all of us this time.

Sunday Morning Biscuits

Yes, there really is a reason to own a biscuit joiner.  This 13' long shelf, laid up out of 3 2x6's will be hand scraped and delivered along with 8 others.

I've been looking forward to getting this project done for quite some time.  I'll be happy to see it in my rear-view even though the hand-scraping with a scrub plan is kind of a fun, if sweaty, exertion.

We, the client and I, initially discussed this project almost 6 months ago and I've been working on it whenever I had time.  It's turned out fairly well.  All that's left now is to scrub, square the ends and deliver.  I'll be sad to see the plane work end, but happy to see the, albeit small, check.

A Week's End... Sort of

This has been an interesting week.  Rather than go over the details of just yet another day in the life, I thought I'd write up a build instead.

One of several things that I do is little specialty jobs.  While the one that we'll be looking at isn't anything spectacular, I did enjoy it.  Doing something custom, for one customer, and earning their trust, confidence, and gratitude is what makes it worth it for me.  The emotional gratification is what's really important which is why my business always seems to fail.  I'm a people pleaser.  I always have been.

So, when my buddy Mike asked me to do a hood vent out of reclaimed wood to match a picture that a builder provided, I was absolutely up for it.  A large, sliding barn door was also on the schedule.  The hood went quickly, and the builder and his wife seems immensely pleased.  When it came time to work on the door (what we'll be discussing) I took the time to talk over the details of the construction with them.  I wanted to come to an understanding of what their priorities were, and what they expected the end result to look like.

The picture they provided is what you see to the right.  The idea is pretty simple.  We decided on a thick slab, tongue and groove matched field, and a standard height for the handle.  They were adamant about the cross-braces.  They liked to folksy, down-home feel of a traditional farm style door.

We had a plan.  The opening was not as large as what's pictured here.  At only 34" it was significantly narrower.  We planned for a 36" door so that it would overlap the opening by an inch in either direction.  From there it was simple, fast, and effective.

I planned for 3 inches showing, ripped my No. 2 pine down to 3 3/8 to allow for the tongue, 1/16" chamfered  the groove edge, and ran them through my router table setup.  I planed all my material down for two reasons: 1) No. 2 doesn't come in a consistent thickness (boards might be off by as much as 1/16, particularly in wet weather), and 2) No. 2 generally is pretty knotty and will shrink in clear areas as it dries.

My home-style featherboard, pictured to the left, I fashioned on site out of some scrap No. 1 I had left over from another project.  These are simple to make and absolutely necessary when running any kind of stile bit.  The placement of both the tongues and the center groove must be absolutely consistent.  Featherboards help maintain a specific placement and depth, and, as an added bonus, keep one's hands the hell away from a carbide bit rotating at over 18,000 rpm.  That wouldn't just ding your fingernail.  You'd be lucky to still have a finger!

Consistency is the watchword that drives quality.  It doesn't matter if you can accurately make one cut.  You have to make the same accurate cut over and over.  Stop-blocks, particularly at long lengths, or with heavy material, are not reliably consistent.  Small movements from one piece to the next, twists or cupping, can vary the overall dimensions of a board.  This is why, when doing anything that requires sameness, I make them the same.  One cut.  Not two or four or 10, or as close to one cut as I can manage.

This project required 12 separate pieces.  Three groups of four were cut at the same time, to the same exact length.  Cut left to square the edge (every time you work with wood you square the edge, and I do mean YOU square the edge) then drag the entire stack as one unit and cut the right to length.  Consistency in process is consistency in quality.  Without consistency in quality, your one-shot great project means absolutely nothing.  One might as well play roulette.

To describe this very step is why I took the picture to the left.  How do you chamfer the edge of a board that has a 1/4" tongue, 3/8" long, and whose total thickness does not exceed 5/8'?  The bearing on your chamfer bit is wider than the rebate!  With a block plane of course!  A well-tuned block plane is a fast, reliable, effective, and efficient tool.  I don't care who says what.  I can scribe a board faster and more accurately with a block plane than with any type of saw, and I don't have to ruin blades, and my saws, and risk my life to do it.  Even a dull, poorly tuned plane will do your professional work wonders until you figure out how you want it set up.  Buy one.  Now would be a good time.

As an aside, search youtube for Paul Sellers.  His videos are amazing, and he is an exceptionally admirable man, and an incredibly skilled carpenter.  His tutelage has made many a carpenter a better craftsman.

While I would love to make this door entirely with hand tools, the economic imperative is an ever-present taskmaster.  The Kreg Jig, or pocket hole jig, is one invention that just flat rocks.  I remember FF biscuits, tin nailers and stick building.  They all sucked for various reasons, one of which being having to carry around 12' pipe clamps.  I like pipe clamps in general.  I don't like 12' foot pipe clamps specifically.  They're big, bulky, too damned long, and unwieldly.  They also tend to put a crown in anything you clamp, so you don't need one clamp, but two, or four clamps, but eight.  Now find a place you can fit all those clamps into your truck.

Both the faceframe panels were glued together with Titebond type 2, which is my favorite glue for interior trim.  It tacks quickly, is water resistant, and cleans and sands up speedily.  The pocket hole jig, with the appropriate clamps, left the front flush enough to sand out quickly with 120 grit.  That's another reason why I like the Kreg jig and clamps.  With hardwoods it can reduce your faceframe build time by 5-6%, plus what you would have spent on twice as much 80 grit.  That's real money.

There's a reason I did a faceframe, core, faceframe.  It was easier, and much, much cheaper.  I could produce this without a shaper and specialty knives.  I could get it done rapidly and compete to a degree with custom door shops.  I say to a degree because this isn't of the same quality that a shop-built door is, but this door will never see hinges.  It doesn't need to be stile and rail coped, and the panel doesn't need to free-float.  This will have hardware that pins it all together, and it won't even have to fight gravity on the leading edge as it will be hung vertically from both top corners.  Because of that, this build was entirely ethical and I feel comfortable with the use and the outcome.

And, to the right we have our finished door with the result of my scrub, block and no.4 on the floor there at the foot of it from truing the edges after the glue-up.  Not a bad result, if I do say so myself.  I enjoyed this project.  It was fun and rewarding.  The builder's wife stopped by on my last day on site to tell me what a pleasure it's been to have me working with them as this is the first house I've worked on for them.  To be completely honest, that's the real reason behind what makes my job worth it.

I had originally intended to work on this post right away, but it took forever to get it completed.  I hope you didn't mind the wait, and have enjoyed reading along.

Thanks for stopping by.

It's All About the Fundamentals

The real tragedy of professional carpentry is that most of the people I work with had no idea what this is or how to use it.  To me, that is a sad state of affairs.  I don't know whether they're not doing their job, or I'm not doing mine.

The Stanley block plane is your friend.  It has a permanent home in my box.  I use it every single day.  It's not an anachronism, or an affectation in a mechanized age.  It IS carpentry.  If you call yourself a carpenter, you have to know how to use it well.  Using it teaches a carpenter the how and why in the most reliable way.

And, you know, I had to come up with a post in the 15 minutes I had to spare this morning.  :)

Seriously, though, who doesn't know how to use a plane?

Forgot

I forgot I did this cased window yesterday too.  Installers, as they always seem to do,  pooched it.  It dives outward at the center top.  I had to scribe it in, but only on that top run.  They actually did a better job than most.

Productive

So, yesterday, a particularly productive day.  Many small projects complete, including a mud bench, a window seat, tub-front doors and t&g siding.  It was a tough day to get through.  I was pretty tired all day.  Still fairly beat.

Nothing really special to it.  Just a standard tub-front with 1/4 panel access doors. 

I like the mud bench.  It's simple, sure, and that isn't actually crown, but just 1x3 primed fj presented at a 45 degree spring angle.  Actually, I just now realized that needs to be knotty pine.  Well, crap.  At least it's an easy fix.  

Long Day

Title says it all.  Long day.  At least I finished this thing.  I don't particularly like it.  Too simple.  Also completed a few other projects I didn't take pictures of.

Well, That Was a Waste of a Day

I've spent my entire day tracking down keys and lockbox codes and hardware finishes for various jobs.  How the FFFFFFFt am I supposed to make a living when I have days like this?  I need one whole day a week to waste on information that should be organized and readily available.

The duplex I'm working on for the local housing authority has been like this from start to finish.  The builder didn't even bother to read the plans, or check them against the site.  It's a burnout so the foundation was already there.  The plans from the architect called for a pad that was larger by 62 sq ft.  It's like no one is paying attention.  The same thing happened on a light commercial building I'm doing for the same company.  No one bothered to actually read the door schedule so none of our doors were ordered until the trim had already arrived!

This builder is just a nightmare, and I need to politely let him find someone else.  Anyone else.

A Check!

It's 8:21 pm on Friday and I'm about to get in the truck and drive 35 miles to pick up a check that was supposed to be delivered to me yesterday morning.  And people wonder why I say self-employment is stressful.

Trailers are a PITA

I don't know how you do it, but I've always tried to make my transportation costs as cheap as possible.  For years that mean working out of a Ford Ranger with a camper shell on the back and stuffing it full of tools.  Time and weight have done their thing and pressed a permanent limp into my little truck.  Still, when you can get a maximum of 24 mpg out of a setup you're less likely to change.

The problem is that it's almost impossible to find people who have their own tools, and I mean all their own tools.  For me it's as natural as breathing: owning your own tools is so much more than controlling the means of production, it's learning to love the boulder you push up the hill every day.  As absurd as that sounds, it's an inescapable fact; your tools are an extension of yourself and your struggle.  If you don't have them, and don't want them, then what good are you to yourself or anyone else?  You've failed the first test of adulthood.

So, with the irksome task of providing a lever for those wanting to move their small part of the world, I had to find a way to move the levers.  They won't fit in the Ranger.  My levers will, but not more than that.  Ford's idea of a spacious small truck leaves a little to be desired, not to mention the permanent charlie horse in my thigh from that damned seat.

A trailer seemed like a good idea.  Extra space traded for gas mileage.  But, wow, a big loss in gas mileage.  I found one that was cheap enough that even came with a title (that's rare here in Oklahoma as the state doesn't require registration of trailers).  With an empty trailer I'm now getting a maximum of 18mpg.  Efficiency dropped through the floor, and speed has as well.  Ever try pulling a trailer in rush hour traffic surrounded by dicks under the impression that they belong in a NASCAR race?  I sure do hope you like that solid steel rear sill on that trailer, fella.  It'll mate real well with that plastic Hundai.

Is it worth it?  Almost.  I can actually see everything I own inside that trailer!  And, for the most part, I can pull out what I need and only what I need.  It doesn't pay for itself in on site efficiency, but it's pretty close.  I still detest the big white whale that follows me everywhere, and makes it impossible to go through a fast food drive through, but I no longer want to kill it.  The boulder that I'm forever pushing up the hill just got a little bit bigger is all.  In fact, with my F250 in place of my Ranger I almost enjoy it.  Damned convenience factor.

Install-o-rama

I've been tapped to do a cabinet install for a friend of mine.  It's just an install, sure, but his work is excellent.  I mean, I wish I was that good.  We've worked together before, so he knows my work.  I'm happy to work with him on this one as his work showcases mine.  Even though he tends to overbuild and pay late, I couldn't be more pleased.

Introducing the Gallery!

Please check out my new gallery.  A repository for images of some of the projects that I've worked on.

Wood, sweat, tools and man-glitter.

The Part I Always Hate

If there's one thing I hate about self-employment it has to be invoicing.  I know that sounds odd, as it's chronologically connected to actually getting paid, but writing invoices just isn't pleasant.  There's always something I seem to forget to add, and this is why I really need to start keeping a job journal to record what gets done, and what extras are requested.  Extras always seem to be requested.

I Forgot to Take Pictures

I always seem to forget to take pictures.  It's one of the most important tasks on a job site, but I always seem to forget in my rush to get the hell out of there after I pack up.  Granted after I pack up all I want to do is get on the way home, or to the hospital to see my wife, but forgetting this key step reduces my ability to sell more by recording what I've accomplished.

I did, actually, get a lot done yesterday.  In my own defense it was just hardware, hardware, hardware, and more hardware.  I did, however, make 4 raised panel doors as well.  It looks exciting even though it's not.  I should have taken pictures.

Introductory Introduction

It seems redundant, I know, to blog about blogging, but here I am, blogging about blogging.  OMG I'm so meta!  Quick!  Get me some black rimmed glasses and an ironic mustache!

But seriously, this new blog is about, well, me, through the window of what I do all day every day.  I work, like most, and eat, like most, and juggle, like most, the myriad responsibilities and obligations of being a parent, a husband, and a good hand.  These timeless struggles, I think, tell us something about what it really means to be human.

And, of course, Danish butter cookies.