What I Did This Weekend - In Pictures!

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Today being suitable for a bit more outside work, I cut a piece for the bottom shelf.

It was 'almost square', which led to a very near miss of putting the leg notches in the wrong sides, but I spotted the potential in time and measured again (and again) before cutting them in the right places...

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I can see a couple of beams under it being necessary at some point, but they can easily be done as a retro-fit, without getting it all back out.

The top has had a bit of a finish applied last thing for the past two days, to harden up the surface - maybe another one tonight.

I fitted a couple of multi-way extensions under the top, well in out of harm's way. That'll all get tidied up at some point.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
It being 'outside weather', I cut up some plywood to finish off the eaves shelves in one greenhouse, I only had one side and an end to do there.

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Small things can live up there, being visible and not getting buried on the benches below.

I still have both sides and the end to do in the other greenhouse, but the basic widths are cut now and I'll finish them on another suitable day, it's beginning to get dark now.

Whilst doing something in the Shed earlier, I noticed a stainless steel dish that looked a close fit to drop into the 'sink' in the greenhouse.

But, it wasn't a close fit, it was exact.

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Result!

There needs to be a very slight trim on the plywood infill, so that it will drop in flush again, but that is a mere detail matter.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
More 'outside weather' this morning, so I've done the other greenhouse. Eaves shelf all round. The eaves are higher in this one and roof angle is lower, but they'll still be useful.

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The shelf across the back is narrower than in the other greenhouse - only about five inches. This is for two reasons - to make best use of the remaining 'spare' wood and because the louvre window is across the shelf here, but fully above it in the other house. There's no point blocking the ventilation or having stuff blown off the shelf.

That's it for 'outside' today, although the temperature is fairly steady around 8C, the wind has been building up and it has been feeling steadily colder.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I set up another water butt yesterday, this one came from a place in Salisbury Road.

Getting the levels right (I hope) was achieved with the Lidl laser on Ecker's tripod again.

I attended to the last details, supporting the pipe, attaching the tank to the wall, etc., which was just well, as 3.5mm of rain in the night has two thirds filled it. I'll sort out some sort of lid, to stop people falling in and drowning and I get a few leaves blowing around in that corner.

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It will be handy there, I was standing behind the rhubarb patch to take the photo, and that benefits from a few gallons every day - having a supply immediately to hand will be a benefit in the long run.

Several times, I managed to convince myself that the diverter was upside down in the downpipe - I'm reasonably convinced that it is right now, but I dismantled it three times yesterday...
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
For a while, I've been using a stool made from a failed garden chair - the steel frame was still OK and a replacement platform had been fashioned. Only recently did I notice that there is actually two of them - and a third chair that is still in the process of failing.

I resolved to improve them by using material better suited to outside use and adding Workmate holes, which may be useful at some point.

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The frames are welded, which meant the tops had to be carefully shaped to be able to be inserted into place - and the front and rear crossbars are at different heights, so a spacer rail had to be planed to size to get the tops to be level.

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All done and a bit of finish on. The Workmate was in use, so it got treated to another coat on the new jaws.

I presume that there was a fourth chair at some point - I must keep my eyes open...
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
So, 3mm of rain on the first night filled the butt to two thirds capacity and 6mm last night filled it all the way, proving the overflow to be where I wanted it to be.

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That end of the house roof is quite mossy, but some matter in the water is no big issue.

There are slight weeps from both the tap and the inflow connections, but they may heal with some algal growth - we'll see. They're not large leaks anyway. If they stay going, I'll attend to them in the summer, if the storage drops significantly.

I must sort out a lid before 'my' cat falls in.

I think I have around 1,500 litres stored in the various locations now.


After the wet night, we have a dry, sunny day, before another promised wet night, so all the recent new plywood tops have had another coat of Danish oil, The Workmate, the three stools and the anti-dead-leg table are outside, sunning themselves, and the new centre bench is basking inside, in the heat from the fire.
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Small odd jobs today, one of which was to replace the treads on the step stool. The originals were still 'OK' and they don't get used often, but I found an offcut of plywood just the right size.

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A bit of sawing, plus eight screws, and it's done.

Shallow saw cuts across the treads, to provide a little extra grip with wet soles, hopefully...
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
Small odd jobs today, one of which was to replace the treads on the step stool. The originals were still 'OK' and they don't get used often, but I found an offcut of plywood just the right size.

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A bit of sawing, plus eight screws, and it's done.

Shallow saw cuts across the treads, to provide a little extra grip with wet soles, hopefully...
Didn't you do this a few weeks ago? How many step stools do you have?!
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Didn't you do this a few weeks ago? How many step stools do you have?!
Oh come on, if it wasn't for step stools, water butts and whittling twigs there's nothing else to do out in the Wild West. Not until they get hot and cold running electricity on tap in the next twenty years or so...
 

littleme

250,000th poster!
Oh come on, if it wasn't for step stools, water butts and whittling twigs there's nothing else to do out in the Wild West. Not until they get hot and cold running electricity on tap in the next twenty years or so...
But don't they have a storm to batton down the hatches for?
 

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Years ago, I got a motor from a bloke at the weird, Thursday afternoon boot sale, between Bridgeford and Eccleshall. I made a 'nose' for the shaft, to accept an old drill chuck and it has proved to be very useful. It is used most days to drive wire brushes, sanding discs and many other rotary devices. There is an element of risk in its use and I have intended, for a long time, to install a 'thump-off' button.

After two days of looking for the button, I found and fitted it. A little safer now.

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The rating plate says it is 1/8 horsepower, so around 100 watts, but it feels a lot more than that. So I measured it and it idles at 55W, going up to around 80W when used as hard as I ever do. I really does feels much more powerful that that, and it has a good bit of stored kinetic energy, so a healthy respect is a good starting point.

Of more concern was just how close to the steel junction box cover the live terminal post is - so there's two layers of thick insulating tape in there now.

The first job with the new control system was to clean up the turnbuckle that tensions one of the guy lines on the stove flue. The wire has failed after fifteen years. It's been replaced and may stop the rattling that I've heard for the last few days.

I discovered the broken wire when cleaning the flue. All cleaned now and running well, without rattling.

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Another possible source of the noise was the brambles that had spread out on the roof - they are gone now, too.

The whole fire and hearth area was spruced up.

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