well considered gifts and merry Christmas

A well considered gift for the man who needs to pound things of various sizes.


And at this weight (16lb), I have an excuse to buy another slightly smaller one (maybe a 10lb-er) for 'light duty' applications.


Every little bit of tools brings us closer to building our own timber-framed house. This particular hammer will, no doubt, persuade many a stubborn timber joint to come together nicely. It may drive the wedges to split reluctant logs as well.

The reason I ended up with a gift like this is due to the Amazon Wish List which leaves no excuse for those who are stumped on what to get someone. Never again will someone have to get another Bass Pro Fisher 4, thanks, but no thanks....

God rest ye merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Savior
Was born upon this day.

To save us all from Satan's pow'r
When we were gone astray,
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy.

Merry Christmas to all,
and to all a good night!

more and more

Well the job continues, working with more and more interesting and beautiful pieces of that Longleaf Southern Yellow Pine.

Above you can see the rough framing and cabinet carcasses for the cabinetry, window seats and counter-tops.


Stock for the bookshelf sides glued up, scraped, planed, sanded, jointed and rabbeted....some of them are book-matched sort of. The wood came from the same timber.



Bookshelf vertical divider stock glued up.


Counter tops and window seat stock in the rough, waiting for finish cutting and installation.

I have to miss all the fun tomorrow while I go take Maine's residential building code exam.....

glue-ups

Raised panel stock glued-up and ready.


Counter top stock glued-up.


I had to call everybody I knew to get enough pipe and bar clamps to glue all those panels and counter tops. The counter tops are made of 6 or 7 quarter-sawn longleaf pine 5/4 stock, planed, jointed, biscuited and glued. There is one more counter top to glue up. its 24" wide and 12' 6" long. That may be a two man job.

Heart Pine.

Heart Pine or < 3 Pine as the kids would type these days, means more than just that I like it. It means the heavy dense wood of the Longleaf Southern Yellow Pine that we are using for floor at our current remodel job.

Here are some pics:

From the one side

By the fireplace. Any guesses on how much a piece of slate like that costs?


And from the other side:


That is indeed radiant floor tubing right underneath the floorboards in a specially designed sub-floor called "warm board." It is 1 and 1/8" thick, basically two sheets of CDX plywood with the channels routed into it and then a layer of aluminum stamped over the top of the sheet. It goes down just like regular sub-flooring.

And tomorrow, more building code testing. This time on Residential and Commercial Ventilation.

Adios

---w---

A wet one.

Well, well, I think we're in for a wet one. A wet night tonight and a wet winter. Something tells me that this winter may be more wet than snowy....who knows?

In any case, we'll be here, holdin' down the fort. I've been working on a remodel close to home for the last eight weeks or so. We're putting down a floor of reclaimed boards from old timbers. You'd think it would be cheaper because its reclaimed, but actually its about twice as much. $14 per square foot and 550 square feet. You do the math. Unfinished flooring still needs to be sanded and oiled. Its nice looking stuff though. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow.

On January 1, 2011, a partner and I will be launching a new business doing independent building inspection and code compliance consulting. In the last year, the State of Maine adopted the 2009 International Building Code as the new Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code, so there will be a need for both more municipal inspectors and Third Party inspectors. That's where we think there is a market for our services. We're busy now getting all our ducks in a row (have you ever tried getting actual ducks in a row? I have, and its difficult....) as far as certification, insurance, incorporation and what not goes, but we'll be ready come January. Check back as things develop.

In other news, KT just bought me 3.8 pounds of swedish fish. She is such a good wife!

---w---