Tag Archives: Construction

Identify this Bird. And another drawer got made.

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Just before pulling into the cabin I saw this bird in the road.  I stopped the truck, and got out.  I figured that would scare him off.  Nope. It stood its ground and fluffed up like it was going to give me the business.  So I shut off the truck and went and got some welding gloves.  I was not going to let this bird commit suicide by hanging out in the road.

It let me pick it up without much of a fight and it did not appear to be injured.  It could flap its wings and move around just fine.  It actually seemed to like hanging out on my hand and posed real nice for pictures.  I am curious if anyone knows what kind of bird this is.

I set it off on the side of the road and went about my business.  I went back an hour later and it was gone so I hope mamma came and found it or it rested up enough to fly off.  It was a pretty neat experience anyways.

Then I started building the pull out cabinet.  I got the bottom done and mounted and the top glued up.  I just need to finish the frame tomorrow.

Fiber run and cabinet drawers.

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Over the past two days I built and installed the cabinet doors for the kitchen cabinets.  The other drawers are going to either be false fronts or small tilt open containers.

This was the most technical thing I have done carpentry wise.  It worked out ok.  There is room for improvement but not bad for a first set of drawers.

Also.  The phone company installed the fiber optic lines today.  That means they are really on schedule to get it spliced and activated on the 29th.  I might just have the cabinets done in time to move in.  Pretty sweet.

Cabinet Doors Hung and Shelves made.

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Today was one of those days I like to call bonus days.  I go to work and get one thing done, today that was finishing the door hinges.  It goes so well that I get a whole other project done too.  The doors took me less than an hour so I started cutting up some 3/4″ plywood for shelves.

The guys who built the cabinet carcasses did a terrible job with the shelf peg holes so I just ripped some 1.5″ strips of plywood to hold the shelves and screwed them to the supports.  Simple and easy.  An no one unloads their shelves to adjust them.  EVER.  So they are fixed and that is fine.

I also had a double cabinet that was getting a shelf too.  Well I could not fit a full size shelf in from the front.  I really should have done that before I screwed them together.  Lesson learned.  So I made a multipart shelf at different levels and assembled it inside the carcass.  It looks great accept for one measurement that was off by a 1/4″ and allows the shelf support to be visible.

Now on to drawers.  That is going to be fun.  I love the tablesaw and its multiple spinning blades of death.

The Doors are being hung.

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I have been nervous about this stage of the project for a while now.  I spent a lot of time making the cabinet doors and I was worried that they were not going to fit or I would make a mistake in the sizing or installing the hinges.  That was not the case.  I got the cups drilled and then installed the clips to the face frames on one of the big doors yesterday.

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That went so well that I shot a silly video. I am sort of mocking the home improvement guys here.

After all that silliness was done we cooked a nice fish dinner on the grill and while that was cooking I mocked up a curtain rod for the curtains the wife is crocheting.  I finally got to use my drawknife and shaving horse that I made way back when.

Also big news here for those that read this far.  The power company has been out to mark the buried lines so the phone company can finally lay the fiber optics.  It is most exciting.

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Did you lock up your Rabbets?

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Continuing my foray into more refined carpentry skills.  I watched some youtube videos on using a dado set and drawer joinery.  The best mix of strength and ease of use was the lock rabbet.  It is essentially a normal rabbet except there is a small tenon that goes on the front and back of the drawer to add a lot of strength to keep the front from popping off after being slammed 1000 times.

If anyone thought table saws were not scary enough.  Try one with multiple spinning blades of death on them.  It is epic scary.  Hands out of the cutting zone for sure.

This drawer frame is pine scrap from the doors.  The drawer bottom was beadboard scrap from the doors as well.  I used this to try out my cutting and fitting skills before getting into the more expensive materials for the real drawers.  I think they are quite serviceable.

Door panels cut and installed.

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I cut the beadboard and dry fit all the pieces.  With a little fiddling and some sanding everything fits together quite nicely.  Not so good on estimating how much I needed.  I used less than half of a 4×8 foot sheet and I bought two.  Not sure what the heck I was thinking.

The doors look really nice and I am very happy with them.  I got pretty good at them by the 6th one.  So much better that I actually recut some parts for the first door since it was a little off.  I think I would have regretted not fixing it so I spent the extra 20 minutes to redo it and feel much better about doing it.

Storage Unit and Shelving Solutions

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It was a busy weekend around the homestead.  Two really long days of moving stuff and putting some finishing touches on the cabin.  We cleaned out the storage unit with two trips full of stuff.  The wife has to make one more stop on the way home from work and we are released from throwing $85 a month away to store our stuff.  It is all at the cabin now, or in the shed.  A wonderful feeling.

It rained off and on sunday so we made a couple runs from the little house to the cabin with stuff.  Between the thunder cells we either unloaded, loaded or worked inside.  We got a whole bunch of stuff moved, mostly building materials and tools.  We did loose a wheelbarrow on the highway at 40 mph.  It came right out of the trailer 2x.  Once landing upright the other, it cartwheeled spectacularly.  I am glad to report that it is hardly even scratched.  True Temper makes a solid wheel barrow.

In another big step we started organizing the rooms and putting stuff in place.  The rumpus room is pretty much set up, and I installed the shelving units by the door and in the bedroom.  I really like the closetmaid system.  We used it at 3200 and took it with us to install here.  With no closets, it is nice to turn a whole wall into a closet in about 1 hour.  It is very easy to work with and very sturdy.  It is totally modular and can be reconfigured at will.

Now on to cabinets, I should have the wood in for the cabinet doors on Tuesday, now i need to order hinges and drawer slides as well as some pulls.  Come on Norvado, install my fiber cables, we are so close to moving.