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Call of Duty
These hemlock part oval shaped boards were the scrap pieces from a log I cut in early 2018 to get some oval shaped plaques. I am not one to throw anything away 🙂 I set them aside, figuring at some point an idea will come along to make use of them. I figure if the Earth can invest +100 years to grow the tree, I can at least keep the pieces around for a little while longer to see what else might be possible.
Completed Maritime Call of Duty. -
Making the most of what comes along
A neighbour is clearing a recently acquired lake side lot. These logs were all destined for the burn pile. I could not let that happen 🙂 So in a trade for helping clean up the brush, I got to take these logs to the work yard. They are 8 and 10ft lengths. Most likely will all be made into 2×4’s.
Ready to cut into lumber. -
Fireplace Digital Thermostat
We have been using a spring loaded thermometer in our wood stove flue since its been installed. Typically we replace it with a new one each year because the probe that is in the flue bends from overheating. We don’t always catch the wood stove in time to close the damper when trying to bring it up to heat. With a little bit of research online and reading some reviews that appeared to be honest, we purchased a digital thermometer from a web site that specializes in selling high heat thermometers.
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DIY Monogramed Placemats
Over the holidays we had pretty Christmas placemats on the table and once they were put away the table looked a little bare. So the only practical thing to do was to make some. Now, I have never made placemats, but that never stopped me before. I have made table runners from drop cloths (CanadianTire.ca Bennett Canvas Drop Sheets #049-4818-8) so same steps apply, just a different size. I only have a few pieces of drop cloth left over from when I made drapes with painted stripes, and did a quick measurement to make sure there was enough. Eureka!
Looks like enough -
Skidding Firewood
I had this idea for measuring and crating firewood that would not involve as much lumber as the previous crating experiments I was trying out. This new method involved pallet strapping. I built a “jig” that holds the supplies and the 32 x 48 ” pallet that will hold the split firewood. The idea was to stack the wood 36″ high, resulting in 32 cu ft of spit firewood (1/4 cord). Sounded like a good plan.
Trying a new way to crate firewood. -
Being a Secretive Santa
The week before Christmas we were asked by our neighbors to check on Jacob and Frank three different days. You know, to let them out to go potty and even try and get Jacob to burn off some energy. These are the same dogs we dog sit for now and again. We love any chance we get to see them. Jim calls Jacob my boyfriend cause I think I’m in love. That is especially funny since I am afraid of 99% of dogs. We have another neighbor that I wish I could visit but Jim visits alone because you guessed it…they have a dog.
Frank and Jacob -
Cracked for Christmas
Just popping in to show you another sign we made recently. It all started with a load of hemlock logs we had delivered earlier in the year. Right away we put a piece of one of the logs on the sawmill and made some slices.
Hemlock cookie slices -
‘Vintage’ Sled Centerpiece
The title of this post is actually a little misleading. You see, I plan to make my own ‘vintage’ sled and use it in a Christmas centerpiece. You know, a fake ‘vintage’ sled. Here is how it went down. We started with ‘old’ wood.
Measuring for the sled -
Kiln Building: The Floor
Next up on the kiln was putting in a wood floor. Oh, we are getting so close to finishing. We started with coating the floor joists with a roofing tar to seal up all remaining cracks.
Tar to seal the floor joists -
Making a Christmas Sign
Earlier in the year I joked that I was quitting Pinterest. It was a joke people, I didn’t actually follow through with it. And I’m glad I didn’t because then I wouldn’t have made this awesome sign. The one I was eyeing was square with a frame and had been aged and sanded. It was nice but we wanted something a little more unique. Enter Jim. His suggestion was one of the ovals we had cut from hemlock last year. Here is the finished sign, then I will show you how I did it.
Christmas sign
