What I Did This Weekend - In Pictures!

Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
The second lot of wood arrived yesterday and I stacked most of it before rain stopped work - only a couple of barrowfuls left to do, when it stops enough to proceed.

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The second greenhouse is (as) full (as I want it to be), and the remaining excess is stacked in the conservatory for some house fires through the winter. Both greenhouses still have two six-foot runs of bench-space available, which is adequate for the approaching winter period and the wood on the tops will dry the fastest and be the first to be used anyway, opening more bench-top area. The conservatory windows are left 'cracked open' for now, but I think I can see a way to automate them, as in the greenhouses. That may take a while to actually do, and it may take some 'development work', we'll see.

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On a whim, I decided to weigh two logs and segregate them, to monitor the drying process. The intention was to weigh them on a monthly basis, but I weighed them just now, after less than 24 hours of not especially summery weather and got the following, to me, very surprising results.

I selected two logs, one that felt 'dry' to me and another that was visibly 'sappy'.

Dry Log.

10/08 1,503g
11/08 1,468g -35g - 2.3%


Wet Log.

10/08 1,100g
11/08 1,048g - 52g - 4.7%

So, the solar drying process is definitely a good idea! That is all water that would consume the combustion heat produced and add to the sooting of the flue. The two logs are in the 'best location' for drying, but that is still a much better result than I expected.

I have taken the (alleged) kitchen scales down to the Shed, for more convenient monitoring of the situation, and I'm not given to hugely scientific cooking anyway. Putting a scales capable of measuring to single grams on a shelf next to resaleable polythene bags did, I noticed, look a little bit shady, but "I use the bags to keep seeds in, Officer and I weigh my fire wood to the gram!" and I have evidence from this year's harvest to back that up, if I am ever raided.


The neighbours are away in Salou, so I am being subjected to a more intense security process than normal, although it does seem to be a fairly cushy number...

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I filled the oil tank a few days ago and, with the wood and the gas cylinders in the store, I have most of next two years of non-electrical energy in-store on-site now. I do need electricity to use the oil, but everything else is independent of it. With a couple of very effective oil lamps, a few days off-grid would be no real hardship.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Having rather overdone it for the last few days, I've decided to have a quiet night in.

I did a little job on this clock, just a bit of cleaning, adjusting and oiling before reassembling it for a trial timing run.

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As seems to be traditional here, I have no idea who this belongs to, I just found it under the patio table last night, despite not leaving the premises all day - it did also have a Bosch 9" grinder with it, but that offered no further clues.

The grinder is a job for another day...

A can and the final episode of The Beiderbecke Affair beckon.
 
rudie111

rudie111

Well-Known Forumite
Went to a BBQ at a friend's house for their 30th anniversary. Got to chatting to a bloke who was very knowledgeable about Stafford pubs. It wasn't you was it Mudgie?
 
Mudgie

Mudgie

Well-Known Forumite
rudie111 said:
Went to a BBQ at a friend's house for their 30th anniversary. Got to chatting to a bloke who was very knowledgeable about Stafford pubs. It wasn't you was it Mudgie?
Click to expand...
No, I went to a sort of barbecue last Wednesday but it wasn't at anyone's house.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
For a while, I've wanted to neaten up and extend the fixed socket arrangements on the Shed bench. The six-way socket was connected via a flying lead, which wasn't ideal, and a fixed arrangement seemed a better solution. As it has its own neon indicator, I wanted a switched/fused connector without a neon, which seems to be a niche item now. Yesterday, I got roped into a venture that involved a visit to a truly excellent electrical store, run by a woman who really knows her stuff and is like a combination of Roger Wardstaff and Mrs Doyle. Whilst the deal was being done, I perused the stock and found the thing I wanted.

As it was a bit drizzly this morning, I set about the task, which proved to be an awkward job and, based of the stopped mains clock (as a result of disconnecting the socket supply in the Shed), it took four whole hours.

The first stage was a small relocation of the existing socket.

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Then connecting on from that to the (now fixed) six-way, and on to a further socket.

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The six-way is still safely fused via a 13A fuse and it's generally only used for low-power stuff anyway, chargers, etc.

It is a better arrangement already, and avoiding mains cables lying around in that area will be a good idea when the water supply eventually reaches the sink...

Yesterday, as a prelude to the task, I charged all the cordless stuff that I might need today, as the Shed sockets would need to be off through the process - then I realised that I could, of course, just run an extension in from the greenhouse socket, as I could leave that on through the whole event, but, in the event, I didn't need mains power.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I decided not to take pictures for you, but I have successfully captured my biennial bowel screening sample and sent it off.

It's the second occurrence with the current system, which is a vast improvement on the much more complicated previous arrangement - far less risk of making an unfortunate procedural error...
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I replaced the flue thermometer in the Shed - before firing up the stove this morning.

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The previous thermometer was a remote 'bulb and capillary' device, but it succumbed to corrosion after a few years. This one is a rather more robust torsional bimetal thing, intended for barbecue ovens, so it should last a good bit longer.

The idea is to keep the flue gasses at a 'nice' temperature, to reach a reasonable compromise between reducing sooting and losing heat to the outside world, whilst maintaining a large and reasonably hot convective area within the Shed.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Having brought a couple of routers over with me, I've been making a router table to fit on the top of the Workmate, it should be suitable for occasional use.

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I still need to straighten up the edges a bit (and drill the one dog-hole that I seem to have missed). These holes match the ones in the Workmate jaws below and will thus allow fences to be clamped pretty much anywhere over the surface.

I also need to rout out the recess for the mounting plate around the large central hole and make the fence(s).
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
In and out of the showers, which had precluded a Sunday morning expedition, I progressed the router table to the next stage.

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I still need to make the fence and modify the router baseplate(s) to mount them from underneath.

And I did drill that missing dog-hole after the picture was taken.

The gaps in the showers did allow the router and circular saw work to be done outside (just!), to avoid debris being scattered all around the Shed interior.
 
Glam

Glam

Mad Cat Woman
Gramaisc said:
In and out of the showers, which had precluded a Sunday morning expedition, I progressed the router table to the next stage.

View attachment 14890

I still need to make the fence and modify the router baseplate(s) to mount them from underneath.

And I did drill that missing dog-hole after the picture was taken.

The gaps in the showers did allow the router and circular saw work to be done outside (just!), to avoid debris being scattered all around the Shed interior.
Click to expand...
What's a Dog Hole?
 
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