Murphy's law and making lemonade

Adage:

Murphy's Law:  Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Adage:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

That is how things go sometimes.  Remember when I said I made a rough calculation of how much wood I needed to trim the doors and windows?  A little too rough it turns out.

I figured I would start messing around with trim today.  I knew I needed 8" wide for between the windows, and 48" long.  I took a couple of 1 x 6's and cut them to length, then ripped them on the table saw to just under 4".  My table saw seems to cut a bit of a sprung joint, which is OK, so after ripping them I edge glued them together to make the pieces I required.

A bit of clamping pressure in the middle, where it is sprung, and a few more clamps to keep things lined up and I had what I needed.

While the glue was drying, I cut another two 4' lengths for the outer sides of the window.  I took them out and inserted them into the flange the window has.  I got them all lined up on the top and bottom nice and a few galvanized finish nails later they were in and looking pretty.  So I went back and countersunk all the heads of the nails.

With that out of the way, there was still plenty of time before the glue dried, so I said to myself:  "Self!  You know you have to slide those glued up pieces into the slots from the bottom, but that should not stop you from putting in the top piece of trim!"  "Good idea self, I proclaimed, how long of a piece do you need?"  I could not answer that, so out with the tape measure to check.  98 3/4" was the answer........wait.....that is 2 3/4" longer than my wood.  WHAT!  There was another conversation in my head that I cannot write down as it was too profanity laced but came down to "what am I going to do now?".  With a heavy heart I went in for a break and to figure out this new dilemma.  Mr. Murphy and his law struck me again.

I went in and moaned and whined to Sally about the situation and how dumb I was about not making sure of the size.  Of course Sally, being Sally, just simply looked at me and suggested I put a block in each corner like a Victorian door frame would have.  Ahhhh, clever girl, make lemonade out of this sour situation!.

I went out to the shop and rummaged around the cut off boxes and found some old left over barn board.

I ripped it to 5 1/4" (did you know that 1 x 6 is only 5 1/4" wide now?) and then turned it and cross cut it into a bunch of squares.

Now I had the basic blocks.  To make them a bit nicer I took my adjustable drafting triangle (from back in the '80's) and set it to 15 degrees.

It is now a table saw set up tool.  I used it to set the blade to the angle and put the tall fence on the saw.

Putting each of the blocks on edge I ran them through the saw on all 4 edges.  I only had enough to do 8 of them, but needed 2 more for the door (Mr. Murphy! paging Mr.Murphy).  In to the cut off box again and I find a bit more barn board, but it is a bit thicker.  Too short to put through the planer so I just went with it.  Because they are thicker the centre square of the "raised panel" part is smaller.  I can live with that, as long as the thickness at the edge of the square is the same as the thickness of the trim.  It will have continuity of style at least.  Now, I can't really put them up as is, so here I am waiting for my lemonade, err wood stain, to dry again.  All the corners of the window and door trim will have this detail now.

The pine is pretty soft and the "hairs" from the table saw are still on it.  Once the stain dries they ought to be a bit more brittle and easier to trim off.  Then it is a second coat of stain and more waiting for it to dry.

As much as I am anxious to move forward and get things done at this point, I think there is something in the cosmos that keeps wanting me to take it easy.  Why fight it?  I am not stopping, but I am not pushing hard either.  The outside is close to done and my original plan was to have it closed in by winter.  If I look at it that way, I am way ahead of schedule.

I got a number today for an electrician.  It is premature at this point.  Just getting my ducks in a row  (That is a weird saying for being well prepared).  I called him up and will talk to him next week again.  He is very busy (building season is in full swing) and I am in no hurry so I am going to try to go with his schedule on it.  I am going to be doing most of the work, but I want some guidance and to check things over for me.  He may have some suggestions for me also.  I need to source the 6/3 cable that runs from my homes breaker box to the sub panel in the shop too.  I have some 1 gauge aluminium but I don't think that will work.  That cable is going to be pricey too!  Plus I will have to dig a trench, I am not looking forward to that.  It will not be done in one day.  

So, when the stain is all dry, and the windows and doors are trimmed, I will be back to continue the tale of this little trek I am taking.  I am definitely not bored, and I stumble now and then, but it is working out slowly.  I am enjoying the experience, and writing about it.  I am not sure of a video at this point, we are thinking of having our yard sale the second weekend of August.  Sometime after that the shop should be clear enough for a video tour. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Preparing trim

Work seems to be going at a glacial pace, but that's OK.  We are in the heat and humidity of the summer now and I don't mind not working hard at all.  But that doesn't mean it stops.  I did some measuring and some rough calculating for my trim today.  I had to go get some nails for the siding and while I was at it I picked up 10 pieces of 1 x 6 spruce, each 8' long.  Just cheap old strapping/construction grade stuff.  I decided I better get started on giving it some protection, so out came the brush and I opened the can of stain I used on the soffit.  It took a while and between that and the siding sitting in the shop, plus all the yard sale stuff, I don't have much room in there.

I got the first coat on it none the less.  

Somehow in my mind I had it that the siding went on first, then the trim over top of it.  That is kind of backwards to what I am understanding now.  I put the trim on first, then the siding goes to it.  Like you do with vinyl siding.  I had better be accurate with my cuts on the siding I guess!  There will be some other trim that goes over top of the siding, but I have to do the window and door trim first, then the siding, then the rest of the trim.

By the time I was done putting on that coat of stain, my shirt was just about soaked.  It is warm and humid, so that is enough for today.  It is supposed to dry 24 hours between coats, making sure I don't over exert myself.  It doesn't take much to get me to stop today!

Thanks for dropping in!

Soffit is done

A short day again today.  I spent more time ripping and staining the rest of the soffit over the last few days.  I had my neighbour come over and give me a hand for the whole hour it took to put it up.  I also added a couple of details to dress it up.  The first, which was suggested by my neighbour, was a piece over where the fascia joins at the peak.

It is a small detail, but I think it really makes a nice addition.

The second little bit is at the peak where the soffit meets.

There is a perfectly logical reason why I put that piece there.  I measured wrong.  I did the measuring before my neighbour came over and while my knees were knocking in fear up the ladder, I messed up.  Then I cut to that length.  It just happened by chance that I had a piece in the cut off pile that had the proper width, and rounded edges.  I fit perfectly and, I think, looks better with it than if I had cut the right length and just left it as originally planned.  I am putting it down as a "it was meant to be" situation. 

In other news, the local Rona had stain on sale.  We could not get exactly what we had in mind so we changed direction on the colour.  We ended up with a colour called "Loon collar".  Which is again, the cosmos directing things considering the logo I use for the Watertone Workshop.  It is a very dark green (I got my green!) semi transparent stain and I got enough to do 2 coats on the whole shed.  

A whole hour worth of work to put up the soffit and then we kicked back and had a couple of beer and chatted about our favourite genre of music.  Mainly blues.  Turns out he is as big a fan, perhaps more so, than I am.  After imbibing a few, there is no more work for the day, which is just as well, I seem to be lacking a bit in the energy and motivation department lately.  Now I have a clear path to putting up the rest of the siding and getting it stained, that and the trim will complete the outside pretty much.  At least for this year.  Weather tight and pretty, what more could you want?

Thanks for dropping in!