kellan_the_tabby: (wedding)
[personal profile] kellan_the_tabby
20200722_144419

or, In Which I Sort Of Failed To Post Any Progress Stuff Last Week

I got the back wall clearcoated. It really brought out the colours in the wood — look at the difference above!

Having accomplished that, I figured I’d start on the back window. Tyvek tape to keep water out of the walls:

The back window is currently just a big hole in the wall with a sheet of plywood covering it on the outside. The inside edge of the window frame is covered in two layers of tyvek tape.

I found a cool pallet board with some of the bark still on & used it for part of the frame:

There's a board covering the left inside edge of the window hole now -- the bark still shows on the narrow edge, which is partly brown.

Et voila, a window frame! Or at least as far as I got that day before the rain really started to pish doon.

The picture shows the right half of the window -- most of the inside edge of the frame is now covered by pallet wood, except for about a foot on the top edge.

It rained pretty much all day the next couple days, so I didn’t get back to working outside until Sunday. At which point … well, there was still water to work around.

My red camping chair, which very usefully has a puddle on the seat about two inches deep.

Really not a good time to be working with this board here.

One of the wide boards I've been using on the back wall is laying on the ground, along with a bunch of scraps of wood of varying sizes. They're all SOAKING wet.

But the pallet boards I’d pulled for the window frame were dry, so I got that done & then clearcoated it.

The back window, now neatly framed all around.

That’s as far as I can get with that window without taking off the plywood over it, which I don’t especially want to do in the middle of the monsoon. Not like there’s any shortage of other stuff to be done, such as making the side door better at keeping water outside.

Look, weatherstripping!

A roll of weatherstripping, about half an inch wide, dark brown with a strip of yellow stuff covering the adhesive.

Look, it’s filling the gap between the door & the trim! Also, now nobody can peek! At least through that bit.

A close view of where the side door meets the trim around it. There's a gap about a quarter inch wide, but all that's visible through it is the edge of the weatherstripping.

Having accomplished that, I set out to get the mail & a couple more salvaged boards. Here’s where I’ve been getting the ones I used for the back wall:

A short length of wood fence, maybe twelve feet wide, with six foot high boards spaced along it. There are pretty good-sized gaps in between the boards.

It’s such gorgeous wood, I can’t just leave it there to rot.

On the way back I stopped to check another abandoned house, & found TREASURE:

An old-style drill press sits in the corner of what's obviously a workshop. It's all metal, none of this modern plastic stuff. The top part is painted teal & there's a LOT of dust on it.

Hell YEAH I’m going back for that with the van. & another pair of hands. Maybe two.

I grabbed these right away, though. Who wouldn’t?

A pair of brace and bit style hand drills. They're a bit rusty but overall look like they're in pretty good shape.

I’m keeping one, & the other’s going to a friend who can’t use power tools. Rockin it old school!


This was posted originally to my Patreon, a little over a week ago.

If you want to see these posts sooner, & not incidentally help support me & my cats in our travels & such, the way to do that is to sign up as one of my Patrons for as little as a buck a month.

I’d REALLY like that.


originally posted on Patreon; support me over there to see posts a week early!

Date: 2020-08-06 01:49 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

DAMN, and now I'm envious of that pillar drill!! That's a real find! Decent model too, 50's vintage I suspect, but with a turn table plate and a hand-cranked rising mechanism. Decent ratcheting bit and braces too. Those are like thirty bucks each, and the pillar drill you'd be lucky to get for under two hundred on ebay.

Oh, and snag all the drill bits you can find, they're not much each but a full set will run to hundred bucks sometimes. Might as well get them if they're free.

Edited Date: 2020-08-06 01:51 am (UTC)

Date: 2020-08-06 01:56 am (UTC)
mdlbear: blue fractal bear with text "since 2002" (Default)
From: [personal profile] mdlbear
Wow! Treasure indeed.

Date: 2020-08-06 02:00 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

Think of the mountain of favours you can trade those goodies for, or all the good will it'll earn...

I wish I had that kind of good luck! But that drill will make construction a lot easier. Check around for end mills or other milling tools. Looking at it, that machine has been modified, or is a factory mod, so it can be used as a mill as well. The sort of thing that's very good at cutting fancy edges to timber boards, or slots for tab&slot contsruction etc..

Date: 2020-08-06 02:10 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

Well, I've researching the subject a bit lately... kinda hoping to buy one at some point, probably a while from now.

I'd check if there's an X/Y vise as well, looks a bit like the one on the table there, but with extra knobs/wheels so you can move the object. Might look something like this

Edited Date: 2020-08-06 02:10 am (UTC)

Date: 2020-08-06 01:37 pm (UTC)
sporky_rat: Grommit knitting from 'Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' (knitting)
From: [personal profile] sporky_rat

Oooh, such treasure! Nice finds!

Date: 2020-08-06 01:45 pm (UTC)
danabren: DC17 (Default)
From: [personal profile] danabren
How are you finding these abandoned buildings??

Date: 2020-08-06 02:50 pm (UTC)
thewayne: (Default)
From: [personal profile] thewayne
Sweet! You're going to need some penetrating oil and patience with that drill press, and to inspect the electrics very carefully!

That vise is really nice! Fab find! Gratz!

Personally, I'd hang up one of those drills on the side of the finished wagon and tell people that was one of your major tools for doing all your work. ;-)

Date: 2020-08-07 02:32 am (UTC)
corvi: (Default)
From: [personal profile] corvi
Neat! Why are there so many abandoned houses in your area?

Date: 2020-08-07 12:10 pm (UTC)
danabren: DC17 (Default)
From: [personal profile] danabren
How .... 1860s.

Date: 2020-08-13 02:32 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] damont
Wow. Just... wow.

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