Additions and Details

Some other side projects are getting completed to add to the overall details list. Here's a bad picture of the slate around the chimney in the ceiling:

The glass in place behind the loft bookcase:

the front of the bookcase, with a clamp still on it:

and the paper lanterns are wired into the bookshelf above the bench:

Grout and Desks

Melissa has gotten the grout in between all the tiles in the bathroom:

and it's looking pretty good:

and I connected the desk to the loft the other day:

and it doesn't look too bad either:

and seems pretty solid:

Small edges progress

The loft desk got an edge wall glued on the other day:

And Melissa has been working on the bathroom cabinet doors by adding edging to the tatami mats as we cut them to front the doors. She's using an iron to fold over the edging material. We got this iron from family friend Amelia, an antique:

that heats up the old fashioned way, fire:

Desk update

Two of the legs for the desk have knee braces for stability on them. Got those notched together the other day. They actually look pretty good.

The start of the Desk

I went into the woods to live deeply and cut a wide swath... and decide which log held the future desk of the loft in it. Here's the winner:

It got all milled up and I've started gluing bits together, but here's a shot of the legs in their beginning stages:

Cut square,

and then some mortises cut out so they will fit into the cross pieces of the underside:

"solid wood"

I spent a good bunch of time cutting up the parts of that oak tree that fell in the driveway a while back, and then when we got the truck back, we dragged it down to the mill, and I wrestled it up there... and then spent a bunch of time slicing off the sides to get it mostly square so I could cut out big chunks for a desk I was going to make...

and one more slice in to it revealed a huge rotten hollow spot. oh well. fancy shaped firewood.

Then, in this super dry hot weather we're in right now, I've started to hear (!) cracks coming from the front and back doors! After hearing a particularly loud one, I discovered a crack going from the top of the door to the porthole window:

and it goes all the way through! It's not a huge deal, as I can putty it up,

as I did all over the back door. Here it is before I sand and repaint:

What's amazing about these cracks is that these boards came from ends of logs that were cut down maybe 4 or 5 years ago - before the timber frame got put together, obviously, as they are the end cuts from that project. I'm glad I built those doors with strong cross braces.

Oil Oil Oil

Thanks to Kindra at http://claysandstraw.wordpress.com/ , we now have the oiling process down pretty well. 5 coats all in one day, with real hot oil going down one coat after the other. Still takes all day, but it soaks in well, and then you do all your waiting at once. I got the kitchen/lower level done today:

and we did the living room area last week:

we even used the new stove to heat the oil. Note the double boiler action to keep the fire danger to a minimum.

Small fixes for the floor

In the kitchen, I had put some 2x4s into the subfloor as potential anchors for the cabinetry. Then, when we finally decided on the depth of the cabinets and placements of the posts, these footings weren't in the right areas. So I just put the floor over them.

Well, the thinner layer of finish floor didn't like that, and there were some small cracks due to faster drying or whatever. To fix them, first I wet down the area with a spray bottle,

and then took a little bit of leftover floor mix (remoistened) and just worked it in with the trowel:

then, gently swept away any excess, and it seemed to work pretty well. Here you can see all the little spots I had to work on:

The Damage

The rear output shaft of the truck transmission... cracked through a 1 inch diameter steel rod.

at least I got to keep the part.

Closet Rods get in

In between coats of oil on the floor of the second bedroom, I managed to put together the closet rod set up in the main bedroom. It has a center area for long things (pants hung by cuffs, dresses, etc) and two sides with each an upper and lower rod.

Here's a half done photo:

and here's how it looks all put together. It was surprisingly difficult to put all together, due to the design that locked it all together.

Back at the floor

After a week of travel, we tackled the last big job of the kitchen/dining room/pantry floor. We couldn't quite get the whole thing down in one day, but it was close. It'll be nice to not have the dusty floor kicking up on everything.