What a slacker!

Oh my - I have been rather distracted, clearly!! I have been regularly thinking 'I really *must* write another blog post' but unfortunately thinking about it has been as far as it has gotten!

This Handy Mummy has been getting to grips with single-parenting and, sadly won't be back to the night classes next term - but really, by the end of the term, I wasn't even sure what I should make as I didn't really need anything else made for the house. What I really need to do is do handy things IN the house - soon I need to go and get more wood and a sheet of ply to build the window seat into my bedroom! Plans are underway, I just need time and inclination!

Most recently I have been slowly stripping the hideous wallpaper from my bathroom walls - my heart isn't in it at the moment though, so I have been doing a little therapeutic 'riiip' here and there when I am brushing my teeth etc.

I have also discovered an unlikely new love... I started going to the gym in April and have managed to lose in excess of 11kg so far! I barely recognise myself! I am off to a family function tomorrow night, I'm quite seriously thinking about wearing a name tag 'Hi, I'm Rachel. Remember me? You might not have seen me since I was almost 24kg heavier'

I won't be able to remember details of my classes now, so I'll put up a brief description of the pictures I took, hopefully in the right order! I was up to class 3/8 when I last posted WAY back in May!


This was week 4:

This MDF in a former life was shop fittings from Little Chalmers. All cut and ready for assembly!

Oooh the beginnings of assembly - what could it be?

If you look closely, these are just stacked up, not connected yet - that comes next week!

Week 5:

After some frustration, having made a slight (less than 2cm!) error in my measurements I had to dash home mid-class to get the last 2.4m MDF from my hall way to do the sides!

It is now living behind my front door, full of shoes! The bottom ayer of cubby-holes is almost twice as tall as the others to accommodate boots. 

Week 6:

Marked out the design to cut with the bandsaw

All cut, now all ready for filing and sandpapering to within an inch of its life!

It is ill-advisable to accidentally file ones knuckle with such a beastly sharp file! 

Preferable to only file the wood!!

'Safety first' says Handy Mummy ;)

Mmmmm sawdust!

It looks like thats as far as my photos got! I must not have been thinking about taking photos the last two weeks! The last project is a shelf for my bathroom, once the wallpaper stripping has finished and the gib stopping and painting is done.

Until next time! Hopefully I won't be so long between posts next time!

Carpentry Class: Term 2, Week 3

I left my run a bit late this week. Admittedly I have had many many other things on my mind, and pulling apart another pallet hasn't been high on my list of priorities.

So after realising early this afternoon that it was indeed Wednesday - how it got to this late in the week already is beyond me, quite frankly - I started wondering out loud about exactly what I could make tonight.

I trawled through the plan catalogue on Ana-White.com and decided on this 'Vintage Step Stool' - something for the kids to use to help with baking and cooking in the kitchen. Heres hoping it's not used more for reaching the biscuits from the top shelf instead!

So, after a quick visit to Mitre 10 Mega, I had some dressed pine and a large tub of 50mm screws. I decided I'd just use the last piece of ply I had sitting behind the door in the hall way for the sides.

Vintage Step Stool

All the cuts done

Safety first people - ear muffs and protective glasses before we have fun with the bandsaw ;)

I managed to lose my pencil (ok - I lost it last week, and forgot to find another one) so it had to be pen to mark out where to cut. 2 pieces of ply stuck together to cut the identically.

Oooooh! Bandsaw!

10 minutes later - all cut out. Apparently I'm a 'wildcat' - quote from Robert there haha

Oops - I forgot you're not supposed to file your knuckles - just the wood!

Two sides all ready - filed and sanded.

The two bottom supports attached

The two top supports attached as well.

I really could have kicked myself! I picked up the wrong width of pine for the tops of the steps! So I needed to improvise. I used ply instead. It looks OK, but I'm not as happy with it as I hoped I would be. Never mind - kids won't care!

All done - side view!

I need to figure out what I'm going to make next week. This took only an hour and a half - and had I not needed to wait for the table saw to make the cuts for the tops of the steps after realising I had the wrong size, it would have been about 15 minutes less! Super-easy project, but will be very handy in my kitchen!

Long time, no blog

Back, by popular demand (or something similar haha)!

It has been a while since I last blogged, and to be fair, it feels like a long time since I did much worthy of blogging about.

I am almost at week 3 of the 'Intermediate/Advanced' Carpentry course at LPHS - I'll tell you about what I made in week one and two shortly.

I'm thinking back right now, trying to remember just exactly WHAT I have done in a little over a month that has been handy. In the last three weeks, I have discovered a new love - the gym! Those of you know know me well, will know that the gym and I have never been good friends, but I have been going 4 times a week, and have lost 6.2kg in that time! That is very exciting, I'm down to a size 16, probably for the first time since I *was* 16!

Red turned 2 on Easter Monday, and she has started kindy, the big kids are back at school now after the two week school holiday that followed on after Easter. And the biggest news of all, The DIY-Impaired husband is moving out next Monday, after a long time of us not being terribly happy together. We remain friends, and he will be living close by, but for the foreseeable future, it will be the kids and I. Good thing I'm no weak woman ;) And yes - I'm totally fine about this! I don't need any sympathy :)


Week 1 and 2 of Intermediate/Advanced Carpentry Class


Carrying on from my last carpentry class post, when I had pulled apart that pallet, taken it to class and dressed the timber, I used it in the first class of term to start making a headboard for my Red. It took 2 weeks classes to complete (4 hours all up) and again, was a learning experience, but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out! There are things I would probably do differently next time - and there WILL be a next time, because I need one for my big girls bed as well!

Week 1

Nailing the frame together

Uh-oh, a wonky nail!

The two bottom boards are on, and I decided to put a wee shelf on the headboard too, for keeping a drink, books, little treasures etc on. 

This pic is the shelf in position, clamped on, waiting to be screwed on.

And another angle!

All screwed on - this did make it much less easy to attach the other boards of course! 

Improvisation in the form of clamping the frame to the work bench was used after this park was done.

The finished headboard, before legs and finishing were done.

And another angle!

Week Two

Legs going on!

Somewhere between drawing up my plan originally and the first week of term 2, it went walk abouts (possibly something to do with having 3 children?) So I needed to draw something else up quickly before T2,W2 so I knew finished measurements, and placement of screw holes to attach the headboard to the bed. This was my rough plan I drew up before class, when I was scrabbling about behind the bed measuring spaces for screw holes! THEN I found I misplaced my pencil! 

The finished product! I need to stain or varnish it now - so it still isn't attached to the bed, but I want to protect it from Miss Red and her drawing skills first ;)

So there we have it! I am quite pleased with it really, though, I know there are a few things I would do differently for the next one.

Week 3 is this Wednesday, so I really do need to get out there and pull another pallet apart, as I'm in need of another 3 slats!

Carpentry Classes 7 and 8 and the rest.

Oh dear - not so good on the updating of the blog last week, I shall chastise myself later! ;)

Carpentry Class: Week 7

Last week I completed the window seat for the girls room. I remembered to take my own drill, which saved a lot of headaches and got me finished in good time indeed!

The 'lip' attached around the top

I cut and attached the back, which is part of the chalkboard from my old shop, and cut and attached the 'lip' around the top of the seat to stop the cushion from shooting off and becoming either a missile or something worse (if you have children old enough, you will understand!)

Completed window seat, ready for painting and a cushion.

I need to paint it, as it is still sitting on it's end in my bedroom, not being terribly useful for much aside from keeping my drill on. Though the kids have started using it as a shelf!

Other bits around the house

With an off-cut from the chalkboard back on the window seat, I screwed it to the wall in the kitchen - it is now out menu board! I have written Sunday-Saturday on there and under each I write what we're having for tea that evening. I'm not terribly good at getting things out for dinner in advance - the menu board hasn't changed that!

Menu chalkboard in the kitchen - excuse my hideous turquoise walls! (A real treat paired with the 'when cats paint' wallpaper in the dining area, I'll tell you!)

Outside Bits

For a while now, the kids second trampoline (the first having been pitched about in the wind, the net destroyed and a hole put in the mat in some very strong wind just before Christmas 2010 - I do wish we had just had that mat either patched or a new mat purchased, in hindsight - it was a fantastic, sturdy beast!) which was a cheapie, has been twisted and is 'out of order' so they haven't been allowed to jump on it.

Poor wonky trampoline.

I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, but it suddenly came to me the other day - why don't I take it apart, straighten it up, and drill holes through it and put in bolts to keep it straight? This morning we went to Mitre 10 Mega for a few things, and amongst our purchases was a packet of bolts. Perfect! If only my drill had been charged enough, I might have gotten more than two holes and bolts done. Never mind - tomorrow is another day!

Bolted through!

On Monday, on a whim really, I decided that I needed to move our washing line for winter. It was a good idea really, with winter approaching, the house casts a great big shadow over my washing line where it is, and, strangely enough, the washing doesn't dry. Another Mitre 10 purchase today was a Hills Rotary Hoist Clothesline replacement socket set and 2 bags of quick set cement. I only needed one as it turns out - so I shall take the other back.

After I had Red in bed this afternoon, I took a little break for lunch - bacon butties in the back yard, surveying all that I am Queen of, and contemplating all of those jobs that need doing! DIY-impaired husband was off at the movies on his day off, so was as much help as ever. After I had lunched, I dug a 650mm deep hole and sited the socket in the ground, mostly as per the instructions.

Ready to cement 'er in!

I got the water and the cement and put them in the hole, after making sure the socket was level (again, *mostly* as per instructions... One should perhaps read things properly next time - but alls well that ends well, right? It was supposed to be water first, then cement mix... not the other way around - oops!) I have left it to cure and tomorrow after lunch I'll whisk the washing line off to it's new winter home, 4m (maybe less?) away ;)

Waiting for the cement to set.

Final Carpentry Class for Term One

Last Thursday, I had a call from my mother saying that Frank, the bloke who sources things etc at her work, had managed to get me 7 pallets! My plan with these pallets was (is) to use them as a platform to anchor my shed to. None of them are the same size as each other, and they are slightly larger than I expected, so I decided to break one down and use it as timber.

Pallet before.

Pallet after!

My plan is to make the girls headboards for their new King Single sized beds. They will incorporate mostly the recycled wood from the pallet and some new wood which I purchased from Mitre 10 this morning with the help of Red.

Clears on the right, bottom of the pallet on the left, after being cut to 50mm wide

This evening at carpentry I got to dress them! I cut the wider bits dow to the right size then I got to run the rest through the thicknesser. Fantastic machine! They go in looking like manky old bits of wood, they come out smooth and shiny! Both sides were thicknessed, then the edges were buzzed with the buzzer - like an upside down electric plane on a table really!

Quite amazing - the wood was totally unrecognisable after it had undergone it's transformation!!

Bottom of the pile, the dressed timber, the one of the top is what it used to look like!

I measured and cut the pieces for the frame to which the old pallet will be nailed. I then mitred the corners (I used the mitre square to mark them - before Robert showed me that I could actually just set the saw to 45 degrees and cut like that! Easy as!)

Mitred corners - looks like it could be a frame soon! And there is my chicken scratching of a plan in the middle.

Then it was time to pack up and go home. I really didn't think I'd get to cutting up the dressed pine clears that I bought this morning. I thought that I'd probably spend all of the two hours dressing the timber, so that was nice! I had planned to just dress the timber and figure out the rest at home. I still need to figure the rest out, but I don't need to figure out mitring the corners now - bonus!

Tuesday, Carpentry Day

I do believe that Tuesday has become carpentry day.

I made a flying trip to Mitre 10 this afternoon when Red woke up from her sleep. I bought a pack of 38mm screws, a large spring (the type you put on a gate to make it self-closing) and a twin pack of hooks and eyes. We made it home just in time to walk around and collect the big kids from school.

When all 3 of them were happily playing, I took myself out to the gate (yes, again), and attached the spring brackets and spring, then tightened the spring so it will close the gate once it is opened. It took a little trial and error but I think I got it just perfect. Then I attached the eye to the gate and the hook to the fence post. This is for when we actually need the gate to stay open for any period of time - say for bringing something large in or out.

Self-closing spring and hook and eye on the gate.

Carpentry Class #6


The mood in the class tonight just seemed a bit off for some reason.

I ended up crawling around on the floor screwing my seat together, which wasn't terribly comfortable, as this morning, walking home from music and movement group with Red on my back in the Manduca, I rolled my ankle and skinned my knee. My ankle was fine about 3 minutes later, but my knee has been stinging the rest of the day.

It actually started to look like something tonight!

A rather large annoyance tonight, was that there were about 4 drills in the room, but only one had a partial charge that was useful enough, the rest were so un-charged that they were next to useless. I did see that there was a spare battery for one drill in the charger, but the charger wasn't plugged in! I would have thought that they would have charged them over night so that the school Wood Technology students could use the the following day. Being me, I plugged it in, and when the partially charged drill (which was being shared by 3 people!) pretty much ran out, I figured I had nothing to lose by at least trying the charging battery, which at this stage had been charging for about 15 minutes at the most. Imagine my surprise when it actually seemed to have a bit of oomph behind it! So I managed to get the seat looking like a seat tonight!

7 pieces of wood, 30 screws and some glue. Now looking a lot like it is supposed to!

I actually left a bit early tonight. Really, I couldn't do much else. I did think about taking my own drill this week, but it didn't happen. Next week I will make sure I do. And I will make sure it has a full charge in it too!


I am thinking now that I won't put the fancy looking feet on it - they just don't look sturdy enough and I don't have enough ply (in one length) to make fancy bits for the front and back. I think it will be better for the girls at the height it is now too - it will eventually have a squab cushion on the top of it too, which will give it more height.


More Planning


This afternoon I had the kids help me do some measuring.

I am in the very early planning stages of a play fort for the back yard. I established that it needs to be 1.5m from the back fence and probably 2m or 2.5m from the hedge along the side boundary. I think it will be between 1.5-2m square. It will be raised, underneath there will be a 'storage cage' for all the outside toys - bikes, ride-ons, naughty children (haha!) etc) Up on the platform, I want to build a really cool, functional play house, with a deck. There will be a slide to come down on. I also plan to put a large beam out from the side, with an a-frame at the other end, and I plan to attach 3 swings made from old tyres, suspended by chains.

I'm really excited about it! But I think it will probably cost an absolute bomb!! The kind of wood I will need isn't cheap! But the kids will have such a lot of fun in it!


Tools

I managed to win a Trade Me auction for a jig saw last week - $30! It arrived on Friday, but I didn't get to open it straight away as we had a very busy Friday and weekend. When I did open it, I was amused that a spider came crawling out! DIY-impaired husband, who is also scared of spiders, was not so impressed. I may have to employ spiders to guard all my power tools from him in the future!

Carpentry Class #5

Last night went FAR too quickly! I came home absolutely covered in white sawdust. It was fantastic!


So after cutting almost everything I needed last week, last night I got to use the table saw all by myself to cut the last piece (MDF for the top, as it won't be seen) That was great fun!

I spent most of the rest of the night sanding. First I was using the belt sander, then I finished off with hand sanding - I actually preferred the feel of the finish it gave after I had hand sanded.

I made a bit of a mess...

I got FILTHY!

I drilled holes ready for screwing the seat together next week. *Note to self, remember to sort out screws for next week!*

Two boards clamped together, marked and holes drilled ready for assembly next week.

Second Carpentry Class

I have realised that I didn't blog about my second week of carpentry class - when I finished my cooling rack/trivet.

I can't remember exactly, given it was 3 weeks ago, but I remember I drilled holes then spaced out the slats and then nailed it all together. When I brought it home, I oiled it, and I have been using it at dinner times when I have a hot dish out of the oven to put on the table

My first project, complete!

More on the gate!

Yesterday morning I didn't manage to control myself in the swearing department when I looked out the window before I took the kids to school. My gate was lying on the footpath!

I knew that the bottom packer had split a bit when I screwed it on, but I had hoped for the best. So before I met my Mum for lunch yesterday, I hot footed it to Mitre 10 Mega and bought a 650mm piece of treated decking timber (the same stuff I used on the gate frame). When I got home, I broke out the circular saw, cut off a 1 inch strip, then attached the remaining length to the gate post. I then attached the hinges to it - one gate, hung, better be for the last time, or I'll spit!!!

Right, gate, thats the last time I hang you!

With the 1 inch length I cut off, I screwed that to the opposite gate post, on the outside, as a stop. With the child-proof magnetic latch, when it is closed now, it closes with a distinctive 'clunk' so I know that it is closed!

The stop on the outside of the gate.

I don't think it will dare come off again! It would have ME to deal with if it did! I have certainly learnt a LOT while hanging this gate!