The Project Thread

[stevegrab]

On 10/12/2022 at 1:51 PM, rajncajn said:

Ugh, oven went out last night. Got a code on it that says it could be the temperature sensor. You can set it at a temp and it acts like it's already at that temp, but the element never comes on. The cook top works fine, but I still have to turn it off at the breaker because the oven vent just continually runs.

 

The oven is 16 years old, bought after Katrina. We've already replaced the dishwasher & range hood microwave. Maybe it's time to do the oven as well. I didn't install the last one. I just had the Sears people do it, so this would be a new one for me if we decide to replace rather than repair.

Odd one of my burners (electric flat surface) stopped working the other day, just wouldn't come on. Luckily there are 3 others, and I can use them, sometimes not great all at once. All the appliances where here when I moved in over 15 years ago. (Well I did do a water heater since, and HVAC each one probably more than several appliances.) 

[rajncajn]

1 hour ago, stevegrab said:

Odd one of my burners (electric flat surface) stopped working the other day, just wouldn't come on. Luckily there are 3 others, and I can use them, sometimes not great all at once. All the appliances where here when I moved in over 15 years ago. (Well I did do a water heater since, and HVAC each one probably more than several appliances.) 

All of my appliances were replaced at the same time after Katrina. AC, water heater and kitchen.  We've slowly been replacing those over the last few years. First the water heater,  then dishwasher and last the microwave. The fridge is going strong, but the oven has seen better days and may be up for replacement regardless of what ot takes to fix it. I fear the AC will be rhe next thing to kick the bucket. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by rajncajn

[rajncajn]

A couple steps closer. It doesn't look like much,  but I got a lot of rust, loose paint and oxidation off with rust disolver and wire brushes. I also put a coat of rust reformer paint on it last night after this pic and will do another coat this weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to find the slats for it soon. I'm looking for finished 1x3 cedar with the rounded edges. I've found unfinished,  but I don't want to have to find someone with a router to round the edges and then spend hours sanding them smooth. I just want to buy them,  cut them, drill them and put them on.

[stevegrab]

That looks good, thought it was just some ornamental stuff you were going to mount, didn't realize it was going to be a bench. 

 

[rajncajn]

24 minutes ago, stevegrab said:

That looks good, thought it was just some ornamental stuff you were going to mount, didn't realize it was going to be a bench. 

 

I thought the original pic might be a little deceiving as far as size from the pic. Yeah,  it's a full size park bench. I'll probably put 4' slats on it. Any longer and I'd need to add a brace in the middle. 

[rajncajn]

Not much time again this weekend, but they got the final undercoat this morning. 

[rajncajn]

A little ticked today. Called a local millworks place looking for "1×3x8' cedar boards." They told me they had them,  so I drove 40 miles after work to go get them. Turns out,  what they have are 1x12x12' boards. Even if I decided to go ahead and take them I still couldn't fit them in my truck and I didn't bring my bed extension because I thought they had 8' boards.  But hey, they'll gladly cut them down for me at a price per cut.

[stevegrab]

10 hours ago, rajncajn said:

A little ticked today. Called a local millworks place looking for "1×3x8' cedar boards." They told me they had them,  so I drove 40 miles after work to go get them. Turns out,  what they have are 1x12x12' boards. Even if I decided to go ahead and take them I still couldn't fit them in my truck and I didn't bring my bed extension because I thought they had 8' boards.  But hey, they'll gladly cut them down for me at a price per cut.

Someplace to avoid in the future, and spread the word to locals. Either bait and switch, or just incompetent. 

[rajncajn]

Finally got (some) wood. I talked to a friend who hooked me up with a guy with a sawmill and he cut some cedar into strips. I'm probably going to need about 2 more strips though. I thought these would be long enough to get two 4' pieces from, but not quite. I still need to plane these down some, cut them to length, sand and rout the corners but progress is slowly being made and I got basically what I was looking for at a pretty cheap price.

[rajncajn]

I was supposed to get the boards done today,  but my BiL with the planer and routing table couldn't get free. Next weekend, getting it done though. In the meantime,  here's a small sample of what is going to look like finished and oiled.

[FinishTheDrill]

Cedar (red, correct?) looks awesome oiled up.  Very nice.  Great job on restoring the case iron bench.  Cool project.  

 

I'm hanging interior doors today (7 of em) in between catching snippets of FF action on my laptop. 

 

FWIW, anyone hanging "prehung" interior doors.  The home depot door hanger kit makes all the shimming and whatnot go far faster.  I was skeptical, having hung more than a few, and figured it was un needed gimmick.  But the old guy there said he used to work for a contractor and they all used them due to the ease/speed.  I agree with him now.  IMO worth the $5.00

[rajncajn]

1 hour ago, FinishTheDrill said:

Cedar (red, correct?) looks awesome oiled up.  Very nice.  Great job on restoring the case iron bench.  Cool project.  

 

I'm hanging interior doors today (7 of em) in between catching snippets of FF action on my laptop. 

 

FWIW, anyone hanging "prehung" interior doors.  The home depot door hanger kit makes all the shimming and whatnot go far faster.  I was skeptical, having hung more than a few, and figured it was un needed gimmick.  But the old guy there said he used to work for a contractor and they all used them due to the ease/speed.  I agree with him now.  IMO worth the $5.00

Yeah, eastern red cedar. I'm so anxious to get it all together.  It's been a while coming and quite a bit of work. Unfortunately I've been putting off other needed projects using the little free time I've had to work on this. Looking forward to seeing it on the porch though.

 

When I did the doors in my house I was so worried about getting it right and a good friend asked his dad, a carpenter, to come over to install them.  Really a great story too and really a testament to what The Huddle was at one time. Maybe when I have more time I'll work up a post since the originals were purged. Thanks, though for bringing back some good memories.

[FinishTheDrill]

7 minutes ago, rajncajn said:

Yeah, eastern red cedar. I'm so anxious to get it all together.  It's been a while coming and quite a bit of work. Unfortunately I've been putting off other needed projects using the little free time I've had to work on this. Looking forward to seeing it on the porch though.

 

When I did the doors in my house I was so worried about getting it right and a good friend asked his dad, a carpenter, to come over to install them.  Really a great story too and really a testament to what The Huddle was at one time. Maybe when I have more time I'll work up a post since the originals were purged. Thanks, though for bringing back some good memories.

 

I'm all out of Thumbs up's today, or you'd have one.

[rajncajn]

Did some work this weekend, but after all the planing and cutting it looks like I'm going to be about 4 boards short. Unfortunately the sawmill guy is out of town right now, so the wait continues. I'll still take slow progress over no progress.

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by rajncajn

[rajncajn]

Not much progress lately. Sawmill guy just got back in town, but I can't get the boards til Saturday.

 

Interestingly enough,  one of the reasons I need more board is because it's old cedar. The older the cedar,  the more variation in color and grain. But also with that comes more knots and rot. So, in what I had, I had a difficult time with coming up with enough 4' boards that I could trust not to break. That's partly ok because I really like the natural look of imperfections, but some of the imperfections are quite significant, so I've had to decide between working with them anyway or moving on to a different wood. I've decided to take the more difficult and risky route. Below is a couple of pics of exactly what I'm talking about with the rot.

 

This is one of the worst pieces. The worry is that it's so damaged that it's too weak to hold up, plus impossible to seal and protect.

What I've decided to do is clean out all the rot then fill it with epoxy resin. It should bond withe the wood and lend some additional strength to the cavities. I'm going with black so that it will match and blend with the sides of the bench. And I think it will help make the color of the wood pop as well. Below is the same piece where I dug out all the rot with a small flathead screwdriver. Basically using it as a small chisel.

It took me a while to come to the decision to go with these boards and I have no idea how they will end up coming out. But it just felt right to me. Especially when I was busy cleaning them out. The whole time I was doing it I had Bob Marley's Cornerstone going in my head. "The things people refuse are the things they should use. Do you hear me? Hear what I say!"

Edited December 1, 2022 by rajncajn

[stevegrab]

Its clear you really love working on things. Because that seems like a ton of work for a bench, or some boards to make the bench. 

[rajncajn]

49 minutes ago, stevegrab said:

Its clear you really love working on things. Because that seems like a ton of work for a bench, or some boards to make the bench. 

And that is the crux for me. Most people will look at it and just see a bench whereas I see the people who have and will use it. The original bench was my FIL's parents who've both passed away. When the bench was purchased that may have been all it was to them. But they used it and enjoyed it and I can picture them there and will think about them when I use it. My putting all this work into restoring it brings new life to it and puts a little of me into it as well. I will use it, my family will use it & hopefully one day I will have grandkids that use it. And one day, when I'm gone, I hope that my kids & grandkids can enjoy it and see the care I put into it just for their enjoyment then pass that same care and attention along to their families. So where anyone else may just see a bench, I see a memory that can have special meaning if I give it special attention. Or, it can end up a rusty hunk of junk that falls apart when I sit on it and looks like crap.  BUT, the point is, it already has meaning to me, so I'm going to put my best effort into it regardless of the outcome.

Edited December 1, 2022 by rajncajn

[stevegrab]

Gee who knew rajn was such a sentimental sap.....  

Seriously that is a great way to look at it. I hope it lasts for several generations to come. 

If you have pictures of your parents or grand parents using it those would be cool to incorporate into the bench, maybe in sealed plastic attached to the back. Each generation could add to it "look there's me on your grandpa's lap..." 

[rajncajn]

49 minutes ago, stevegrab said:

Gee who knew rajn was such a sentimental sap.....  

Seriously that is a great way to look at it. I hope it lasts for several generations to come. 

If you have pictures of your parents or grand parents using it those would be cool to incorporate into the bench, maybe in sealed plastic attached to the back. Each generation could add to it "look there's me on your grandpa's lap..." 

Haven't you heard?

I'm sensitive, like a baby's bottom.

[Big John]

26 minutes ago, rajncajn said:

Haven't you heard?

I'm sensitive, like a baby's bottom.

Before the bunz became hairy?

[rajncajn]

22 minutes ago, Big John said:

Before the bunz became hairy?

Sensitive, silky and luxurious.

[irish]

On 12/1/2022 at 2:21 PM, rajncajn said:

Haven't you heard?

I'm sensitive, like a baby's bottom.

 

On 12/1/2022 at 3:13 PM, rajncajn said:

Sensitive, silky and luxurious.

Refreshing, once again, a man just embracing his true self. 👏 

[rajncajn]

Got the remainder of my boards yesterday and the epoxy arrives today. Going to run the last boards through he planer at my BILs next weekend and this week will try to work on getting the epoxy pour process down. Thankfully I have several test pieces to (hopefully) get it right with. Can't wait to see how the epoxy works out, but a VERY busy week for me may again delay things.

[rajncajn]

Been a while since I've updated this bench project. I knew going in that if I wasn't finished prior to the weeks leading into Christmas then I'd probably get delayed and that certainly proved true. I did actually work on the pour tests and I think I've got my process down, but I still have some sanding to do and then I want to see how the linseed oil works with it on the test pieces. I also got my new boards planed down.

 

However, I've taken on some bigger priority projects in the meantime that need my attention more. One being we needed a new oven. Finally got that done & installed. I started to take pics of the uninstall/install, but just got so frustrated with the process that I just forgot. First off, I tried to cut some $$ by reusing the old cord. Little did I know how much of a pain in the ass it is to remove the old one from a drop-in oven. Even after getting the old one out & installing it on the new oven, I ended up just going to buy a new cord because I wasn't comfortable with the fitment with the old one. Then, the anti-tip bracket just about made me lose my mind. The bracket is designed to mount to the floor and/or wall. The problem was that the wall behind the oven is about 4" from the oven, so the only way I could figure to mount it was to the floor. Well, I've got ceramic tile on my floor and after going through 3 ceramic rated drill bits to try to make just one of the four holes, I gave up and ended up scabbing on a 2x4 spacer to the wall & it was enough for the leg to settle into the bracket. Many curse words later, the Mrs is VERY pleased with her new oven.

 

What's REALLY hindering me on my bench progress though is the attic purge that I swore to do prior to getting Christmas back up there. My only usable attic space is above my garage due to vaulted ceilings that split the attic in half. Over the years we've just continued to pile more & more up there to where now it's so jammed that you can only stand on the ladder and look. If you want anything and it's not accessible from the ladder, then you have to take other things down (typically large rubbermaid tubs) to get to it. As of right now, I'm maybe a little over half way through the attic and my garage is now so jammed with the stuff and empty tubs that you can't access 3/4 of the garage without going around outside. Once the purge is done, I'm running some new wiring through the attic for some added outdoor lighting. I've had the lights for a year now but haven't been able to put them up because I couldn't get in the attic to run the wiring. Tomorrow is the day, though. The attic WILL be done and my wiring WILL be (at least) run. Then my garage will be clear and I can get back to finishing my bench.

[Running With Daboll]

Any mechanics out there?

2008 Elantra with relatively low mileage. Takes 4 or 5 turns to start, then idling roughly at lights.  Not stalling but bogs down initially when shifting gears (5 speed).  Takes a second or two to kick in, then runs fine on the open road. Not overheating, but has intermittent surges every couple of seconds when idling.

My DIY attempt at fixing includes:

Replaced plugs, wires and coil. Cleaned out the throttle body. Replaced air filter. Cleaned fuel injectors.

At this point I'm guessing it's a fuel delivery issue, but I don't think the fuel pump is failing. Could just be the filter but I'm not smelling any gas.

It's been like this for quite a while. Mechanics want too much money for a complete diagnostic test, so I'm still trying to fix it myself.  I suppose I could check the O2 sensors next, but I really think it's a problem with the fuel delivery system.

Any ideas?