This is a late post…but oh well!

Well, late last winter I got a new fireplace. I did a design in sketch up and rendered it to get a good idea of what it would look like.

It easily let me try out various materials and get a feel for it:

I decided I didn’t like the red on the inside walls, so when I repainted it I went all white (and it looks much better!).

Here’s the old fireplace, which just looked horrendous:

I took it out with the help of beer and Aaron for some heavy lifting. I had to dismantle it all to get it out:

I did the drywall and installed some new windows (that open; the prior ones didn’t open at all and were frosted)

…but a contractor (Jon Arden) did the stone work and install.

The new fireplace, work in progress.

Then cleaned up:

What a better use for an old VW brake drum?

A few in progress shots:

Initial sketch and idea:

Baby chicken:

I’m working on running water to the old barn, which will become the chicken coop:

The new apricot tree (planted last year) got pummeled by the rain this year. The heaviest storm hit right after it blossomed. It has two apricots on it right now, and I’m not sure they’ll last till they are ripe as they tend to disappear.

Running water up to the deck:

Grinder:

Work desk and tools hanging on the wall:

The fan in the window is used to exhaust fumes from welding and other things:

Nuts, bolts and Bengal cat:

JET drill press:

Metal stock:

MATCO welder (I bought it used) and oxy-acetylne setup behind it to the left:

Grizzly G0555 wood bandsaw. Works well for the small shop, although a few times I have wanted a wider throat.

Grizzly 8″ jointer; I bought a good large jointer, but I have only used it a few times so far:

The dust collection system lives behind the garage in a little shed I built just for it. Here is a post when I setup dust collection in the shop. The buttons on the wall turn it on and off:

1990 Enco Milling machine. Awesome! I bought it used, but it has been working great since I did some tune ups on the belt.

Milling tooling and accessories:

Powder coating oven given to me by Eric (thanks!). On top of it is my powder coating supplies. The 50 amp outlet for it on it is also used to charge my car. To the top right of it in the gray box is an American Rotary phase converter than generates 3 phase for the mill.

Southbend lathe from the 1950′s

Misc storage and stuff:

The latest addition; Grizzly 36″ slip roll:

Router table to the right of the table saw. Underneath is a jig saw and router:

Grizzly horizontal metal bandsaw with swivel head. One of the most used tools for metalworking, and definitely a must have for doing any kind of metal work. The swivel head is also GREAT.

Grizzly G0444 contractor table saw. A little underpowered, and eventually I will get a full size cabinet saw with a riving knife (for extra safety):

Overall, I have bought a lot of Grizzly tools. They are fairly priced, and I find the quality to be quite good for shop use. I have had no real problems with the Grizzly tools. They are definitely better than the Enco brand tools (although, the mill I have is of decent quality), and light years ahead of Harbor Freight tools (which I won’t buy, unless it is for a one time project).

I’ve been working on a railing for the upstairs part of my house that opens up into the main a-frame. Here’s the general process on how I made it. First off, I did several designs and sketches in Sketchup to get a feel for what I wanted. A lot of the basic layout and sizes could be tested out in the program to get a good feel for what it would look like:

The picture above doesn’t have the curves in it, but that was going to be the hardest part. I had to figure out how to bend them. That lead to this bending jig to make half-curls like the ones in the upper right hand corner. Notice the full size template I printed from sketchup underneath as a rough guide.

Once the bends were made the rest of the stuff was just laying it out, clamping down, and tack welding:

Notice the use of some simple guide blocks to get the sizes right and equal on everything. After tacking I would move it off the wooden table (to not burn it all up) and finish the welds. I really need a nice large metal welding table…but I have no idea where I would stick it in my packed garage.

I did a trial fit on the upstairs after it was all together to measure for the vertical pieces that fill into the a-frame portion on the sides:

After welding those on, I suspended it across my carport to paint it. I used my Mini-mate 4 HVLP to spray some thinned enamel paint I got from Ace hardware. Here it is primered (with the bug covered up to avoid any overspray):

I then painted it flat black, and installed it. The feet are bolted to the ground with 1.5″ lag bolts, and the sides are screwed into the walls with some wood screws.

I still need to finish it by creating a nice piece of wood to put on the steel top; that will give it a nice feel to the hand and blend in well with the rest of the house’s wooden stuff.

Here are some details of the curves as a fancy HDR image. Notice the cube in the background:

The yard at Project Hutchinson now has a small orchard. The lumber store over in Santa Cruz was having a sale on fruit trees, so I went and grabbed a few. In front of the barn there is a Katy apricot tree, and two pear trees. Apparently there needs to be two pear trees to bear fruit.

In front of the treehouse/platform is a tri-graft peach tree:

I can’t wait to be eating some fresh fruit from our yard!

I’ve since fenced in each of the trees; the deer are relentless in our area. Eventually I want to fence in our entire little green patch of sunlight in order to have a large deer free garden area.

Louise and I need a shoe rack that looks nice. I decided to design something pretty in Sketchup. Here is what I came up with while on vacation:

The vertical side pieces have a slight curve to them, and the bottom pieces have a slight arch. I’m planning on using cherry for the outside, and staining the outer pieces slightly darker than the inside sheet pieces (which will be 1/2″ cherry ply). The shelves will be 3/4″ maple. The overall size will be 52″ tall by 28″ wide by 16″ deep.

Download the Sketchup file (coming soon, email me to get it).

The remodeling project continues! We ordered carpet after I finished painting the built-in dresser frames. Unfortunately it was a big ordeal when we went through Home Depot. the color and manufacturer that happened to make the stainmaster carpet we wanted had a two week lead time. No problem. Two weeks later they call us and said they made it but didn’t pass inspection. We figured that was okay, and just decided to stick with it. Two weeks further on they called again and said the same thing! So, at this point we picked out a different color/kind that was manufactured by a different company. A little over two weeks later it was delivered and installed.

The weight set sort of takes up too much room, but I’ve promised to start using it. True to my word, I used it the first day, and I was sore for the next three.

Almost all the drawers are done for the dressers; well, I have them all made, and I just have to spray the last four of them — I couldn’t do them all at one time since I didn’t have enough room in the garage.

How about a before picture for comparison:

I did everything myself, aside from installing the carpet. Except for painting the walls! Louise painted all the walls.

Before shot of the above area:

Well, I’ll still have to do the trim…but that can wait.

Before — there was a closet in the corner that I thought was ugly and removed. I rebuilt the wall and drywalled it:

That’s all folks!

The built-in dressers are coming along. Here’s the first set in front of the bathroom. Louise picked the color.

Here’s the big pile of maple and poplar that I got for the project:

Building the face frame was super fast and easy to do with pocket jointery: