you dont need to run 110 volts to the pump. You can just use a common 12 or 24volt transformer , one like they use for kitchen light bars might do. that way there is no real code restrictions on the wire run. otherwise it probably needs to be encased correctly to code and buried deeper. once you involve the code you need to do things appropriately, but with low voltage its cheaper.
then the pump needs to match and be at least approximately the right voltage. probably a garden supply place would have the stuff. people who do hydroponics use a lot of that stuff.
It would also be possible to bury the hose and not the wire but you might have to think about how you will drain it for frost. the air pumps for filling air beds work pretty well for blowing out piping for winterization.
I have an old hand pump. I have it "planted in my garden. it would be a nice water feature but where I am it rains so much that I'm not sure I'd want to maintain it.
I was thinking of burying a drum to use as a reservoir , so people could pump it and get water, then maybe just fill it with a hose. I could use gutter water but then it wouldn't be very hygenic. ok just for plants.
I think they have leather seals, surely dried up maybe i could rebuild it. some just feed the old pump with water so they see the trickle coming out the spout.
I often have to change the pumps for coolant for lathes , milling machines etc. those ones sit in the bottom of a tank, some come with the reservoir. they are usually 110V
the little impeller is turned directly by the motor in such way that if you manage to plug them or stop the flow it doesn't harm the pump. they are designed for being in a tank along with metal chips. a coolant is used to prevent rust in that application, but they are basically meant o sit in water and pump water.
Freezing is another thing though.
"little giant" makes a range of them.
https://littlegiant.com/products/indust ... -1-series/
Emerson Hadley House
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mjt
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
Munch517 wrote:I hadn't seen that small sander, it looks like a useful tool. One thought I had to do my door and some of the parts on my mantels is to get a sandblasting gun, then it's just about finding the right media to remove the finish without damaging the wood. Your post got me looking into it a little more and I think I'm going to try it out, you can get a gun for $50 and I already have a compressor.
I was poking around with the sandblasting idea. Seems like the correct media choice is walnut shells or crushed corncobs...
Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, and Tractor Supply all have one or both.
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phil
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
not sure how practical it is but there is also dry ice blasting.
to be efficient you need a pretty high volume compressor, unless the project is small.
there are also places you can take wood parts to, they may dig out the soft grain a bit. In some cases that looks nice.
one issue with sandblasting is the stuff is horrible. If you are out on a farm where you cna be away from buildings then fine, if you do it in your own shop you need a way to contain it , or the sharp grit just goes everywhere. I sometimes have to fix and maintain the cabinets, they have a lexan shield and long gloves you stick your hands into. they are limited to what you can put inside them. you may find long cabinets that you can rent by the hour. if you do it outside you loose all your grit, the cabinets recycle the grit over and over until you change it out.
I intentionally pressure washed some planks on a porch and then painted them. I liked the contours it left. It accentuated the grain patterns a lot. helped the paint/stain stick too.
my preference on a door would be a card scraper. Not the type with a handle.
The rest is a bit of a tutorial on the cabinet scraper. I know its long so just read it if you find it interesting or valuable. a card scraper will fit into the recessed panel of a door.
Carvings are of course a different animal and a card scraper won't help a lot there. It may help in some places. you may be able to contour your scrapers by grinding them to fit certain shapes.
=====
There is a bit of a learning curve to holding and using them efficiently and you can get different thicknesses. you can create a burr if you want them to be more aggressive or use thinner blades for finishing work.
to create a burr just put it in a vice then press down and run the hard shank of a screwdriver over it holding the screwdriver at a slight angle. that puts a hook on the bade, then it makes it go faster and more aggressive.
It replaces sanding and doesn't hog out the soft grain. If you want to experiment, just find a handsaw you dont care for, use a dremil or an angle grinder with a suitable disk, they cut hard metal. cut it to about 2.5 x 4 inches or what suits you. I usually sharpen both sides but you can just sharpen one if you prefer. put it in the vice and draw file it occasionally to keep it sharp. you want the corners of it sharp like an ice skate is with the edges at 90 degree angles. if you sharpen both sides you have 4 cutting surfaces before you need to sharpen. you can use a protector if you like. Try one of the plastic strip things you find in a stationary store to hold together mylar and paper like a book if having the sharp edge up bothers you.
In some cases I sharpen the ends, you can turn it on end and use it that way too , that's more for rough work or tight places.
My father used to joke that a carpenter sharpens the ends and a cabinetmaker sharpens the flat side, he was both.
You can get holders for the file so you dont need to move to the vice. use a flat "mill file" not one too agressive or with a cross hatched pattern.
I usually draw file a few strokes then turn the file so the file is along the length of the blade and do a few strokes, this keeps the blade flat.
you can knock the corners off slightly if they dig in or if you want to go into sharp corners, keep them square.
put a slight bend in the blade, put the door on a table so you can put your weight on it, get behind and push it down and away from you. As you get into softer wood you can bend it less , the bend creates a slight U shape.
Often if you sand things you cant really see where the hollows are but with a card scraper it becomes obvious as they work on the high points. you can go at angles to the grain or across but generally with the grain is best. I like to hold my blade at a slight angle and go with the grain mostly. Even if I use a belt sander, or a pad sander or ROS, I will follow with a card scraper to remove the hollows in the grain and the machine marks that sanding naturally produces.
if I hand plane I follow with the card scraper as a finishing step.
If your hands are strong it is easier, if not then you can use a holder to keep the blade bent and with that you can also pull towards yourself. It is awkward to pull towards yourself while maintaining a curve in the blade but you can use it with the blade flat if you are down to finishing stages. you don't want a hook in the blade for fine finishing.
with a bit of practice you'll have little curls of wood coming off similar to a hand plane but more precise. At first it feels somewhat cumbersome and then you get the hang of it and you will be surprised how efficient this method is, especially if you have the ergonomics right so you can lean over and into it.
It should be hard enough to be springy but soft enough that you can file it to sharpen. That way you can get into recessed areas common to a door and also sharp corners.
I got a kit from lee valley tools , it has the sharpening tool , the holder and a tool for burnishing. some different thickness of blades. You really don't need all that but they are ok to have.
I use mine lots, they last forever, they are cheap, you dont have to keep buying sandpaper or paint stripper and they fit in your shirt pocket. One of my favorite tools.
On something like a door I wouldn't really want to hog out the softer grain. I sometimes use an electric sander to break through the hard outside skin then it gets easier. but they are also great for removing paint.
the ones with carbide and handles are good too but they aren't finishing tools. cabinetmakers use them a lot they are often called cabinet scrapers.
I have one I modified to the radius of baseboard corners, its handy if I want to fix the radius without using a router. like near the end of a stair tread where a router cant' fit.
another place I use one a lot is when I fill with putty and then go back to remove any high spots. If I do flooring I use one a lot after sanding and before I apply oil. it just makes the floor flatter and does that little extra step that the machines can't do. If I have a mark or a dark spot I can sort of work that area a bit more to get the mark out, without creating a visible hollow.
when I find old handsaws that have a crack in the blade I save them for the steel for this sometimes, that way you can afford several, and different saws come in different thicknesses. people usually just chuck an old handsaw with a crack in the blade, not good for much else. cutting them down with a hacksaw would be difficult but with a carbide blade or a diamond blade like you might use to cut tile and things, they cut easily.
Phil
to be efficient you need a pretty high volume compressor, unless the project is small.
there are also places you can take wood parts to, they may dig out the soft grain a bit. In some cases that looks nice.
one issue with sandblasting is the stuff is horrible. If you are out on a farm where you cna be away from buildings then fine, if you do it in your own shop you need a way to contain it , or the sharp grit just goes everywhere. I sometimes have to fix and maintain the cabinets, they have a lexan shield and long gloves you stick your hands into. they are limited to what you can put inside them. you may find long cabinets that you can rent by the hour. if you do it outside you loose all your grit, the cabinets recycle the grit over and over until you change it out.
I intentionally pressure washed some planks on a porch and then painted them. I liked the contours it left. It accentuated the grain patterns a lot. helped the paint/stain stick too.
my preference on a door would be a card scraper. Not the type with a handle.
The rest is a bit of a tutorial on the cabinet scraper. I know its long so just read it if you find it interesting or valuable. a card scraper will fit into the recessed panel of a door.
Carvings are of course a different animal and a card scraper won't help a lot there. It may help in some places. you may be able to contour your scrapers by grinding them to fit certain shapes.
=====
There is a bit of a learning curve to holding and using them efficiently and you can get different thicknesses. you can create a burr if you want them to be more aggressive or use thinner blades for finishing work.
to create a burr just put it in a vice then press down and run the hard shank of a screwdriver over it holding the screwdriver at a slight angle. that puts a hook on the bade, then it makes it go faster and more aggressive.
It replaces sanding and doesn't hog out the soft grain. If you want to experiment, just find a handsaw you dont care for, use a dremil or an angle grinder with a suitable disk, they cut hard metal. cut it to about 2.5 x 4 inches or what suits you. I usually sharpen both sides but you can just sharpen one if you prefer. put it in the vice and draw file it occasionally to keep it sharp. you want the corners of it sharp like an ice skate is with the edges at 90 degree angles. if you sharpen both sides you have 4 cutting surfaces before you need to sharpen. you can use a protector if you like. Try one of the plastic strip things you find in a stationary store to hold together mylar and paper like a book if having the sharp edge up bothers you.
In some cases I sharpen the ends, you can turn it on end and use it that way too , that's more for rough work or tight places.
My father used to joke that a carpenter sharpens the ends and a cabinetmaker sharpens the flat side, he was both.
You can get holders for the file so you dont need to move to the vice. use a flat "mill file" not one too agressive or with a cross hatched pattern.
I usually draw file a few strokes then turn the file so the file is along the length of the blade and do a few strokes, this keeps the blade flat.
you can knock the corners off slightly if they dig in or if you want to go into sharp corners, keep them square.
put a slight bend in the blade, put the door on a table so you can put your weight on it, get behind and push it down and away from you. As you get into softer wood you can bend it less , the bend creates a slight U shape.
Often if you sand things you cant really see where the hollows are but with a card scraper it becomes obvious as they work on the high points. you can go at angles to the grain or across but generally with the grain is best. I like to hold my blade at a slight angle and go with the grain mostly. Even if I use a belt sander, or a pad sander or ROS, I will follow with a card scraper to remove the hollows in the grain and the machine marks that sanding naturally produces.
if I hand plane I follow with the card scraper as a finishing step.
If your hands are strong it is easier, if not then you can use a holder to keep the blade bent and with that you can also pull towards yourself. It is awkward to pull towards yourself while maintaining a curve in the blade but you can use it with the blade flat if you are down to finishing stages. you don't want a hook in the blade for fine finishing.
with a bit of practice you'll have little curls of wood coming off similar to a hand plane but more precise. At first it feels somewhat cumbersome and then you get the hang of it and you will be surprised how efficient this method is, especially if you have the ergonomics right so you can lean over and into it.
It should be hard enough to be springy but soft enough that you can file it to sharpen. That way you can get into recessed areas common to a door and also sharp corners.
I got a kit from lee valley tools , it has the sharpening tool , the holder and a tool for burnishing. some different thickness of blades. You really don't need all that but they are ok to have.
I use mine lots, they last forever, they are cheap, you dont have to keep buying sandpaper or paint stripper and they fit in your shirt pocket. One of my favorite tools.
On something like a door I wouldn't really want to hog out the softer grain. I sometimes use an electric sander to break through the hard outside skin then it gets easier. but they are also great for removing paint.
the ones with carbide and handles are good too but they aren't finishing tools. cabinetmakers use them a lot they are often called cabinet scrapers.
I have one I modified to the radius of baseboard corners, its handy if I want to fix the radius without using a router. like near the end of a stair tread where a router cant' fit.
another place I use one a lot is when I fill with putty and then go back to remove any high spots. If I do flooring I use one a lot after sanding and before I apply oil. it just makes the floor flatter and does that little extra step that the machines can't do. If I have a mark or a dark spot I can sort of work that area a bit more to get the mark out, without creating a visible hollow.
when I find old handsaws that have a crack in the blade I save them for the steel for this sometimes, that way you can afford several, and different saws come in different thicknesses. people usually just chuck an old handsaw with a crack in the blade, not good for much else. cutting them down with a hacksaw would be difficult but with a carbide blade or a diamond blade like you might use to cut tile and things, they cut easily.
Phil
Re: Emerson Hadley House
mjt wrote:Munch517 wrote:I hadn't seen that small sander, it looks like a useful tool. One thought I had to do my door and some of the parts on my mantels is to get a sandblasting gun, then it's just about finding the right media to remove the finish without damaging the wood. Your post got me looking into it a little more and I think I'm going to try it out, you can get a gun for $50 and I already have a compressor.
I was poking around with the sandblasting idea. Seems like the correct media choice is walnut shells or crushed corncobs...
Northern Tool, Harbor Freight, and Tractor Supply all have one or both.
I was also reading that walnut shells were good for wood, some people had mentioned glass beads also but I think the walnut shells or corncobs would be the better choice for outside. I'm probably not going to get to this until next summer so if you beat me to it I'd love to see how it goes.
@Phil I know losing the media isn't ideal but IMO it's acceptable if I can can remove the finish while keeping the carvings fairly sharp and saving a ton of work. If you really wanted to you could probably do some sort of tent setup using the gun and recycle your media by just sweeping it up.
I'm not a fan of power washing wood at all, sometimes that can take a lot of wood away and not necessarily evenly.
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Gothichome
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
I have seen the results of blasting old wood, it was not pretty. It raises the grain or more precisely lowers the parts between the grain. On highly detailed items it will knock the sharpness of any angle points and you loose the crisp detail. In my view there is no substitute for the tedious hand sanding, heat gun and paint remover.
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mjt
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
I think the odds of me sandblasting are close to zero. It was an interesting rabbit hole for a few minutes, but it ain't going to happen.
I totally agree that I'll be doing tedious hand sanding of the detail. It appears there's no varnish remaining on those parts, so no chemicals are required. What little there is of larger flat areas will get chemical stripper and then hit with my random orbit or palm sander.
I totally agree that I'll be doing tedious hand sanding of the detail. It appears there's no varnish remaining on those parts, so no chemicals are required. What little there is of larger flat areas will get chemical stripper and then hit with my random orbit or palm sander.
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phil
- Has many leather bound books
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
you can try different things and see what works. the effect of hogging out soft grain will be more apparent on flat grain, if it's tight grain it might be a bit less. I think if you can attack it with the sand ( or shells) from an oblique angle to the surface that can help. yes a tent may help and maybe the walut shells are less gritty , the sand is horrible stuff.
I'd try good strong paint stripper , with a plastic scrub brush, test the brush to make sure it wont dissolve. some plastics are not affected, other plastics dissolve. lacquer thinner might work too at least on final stages. of course that involves a mask , sheets to catch the stuff, fans and care to not to create a fire or explosion. chemical mask, face shield.
I have a thing like a pen for cleaning electrical connections and things. its full of glass strands. you can sort of scrub with the end and then as it wears you expose more of the strands. I use that with contact cleaner to go into corroded fuse connectors and things like that. Maybe it could be used to flick paint specks out of carvings after it was softened. Its a tool you may find in an electronics store.
a little trick for colored paint is to mix just a little brown pain into your striper, then as the paint dissolves the brown darkens the paint colored liquid and then if it collects in nearby cracks it's less of an issue.
in some places I have tried pressing the paint specks in, then using little colored filler to fill those voids rather than picking them out. or in some spots like the bottom of an L shape you can apply tape near to the paint, then use filler and sand a little same thing the paint is still actually there but covered in. you only see the surface. sometimes it's just a hairline of paint not a big surface. for cracks I use a little flat bladed pick tool to dig along the crack and sort of pry it up , then fill the crack with filler.
I like to put tape very close to the crack , on either side then application of the filler is easy, you can be sloppy and press it down without spreading it all over, then pull the tape straight away, leaving just enough filler to hide what's visible, not more.
I color the filler with powdered pigments so it isnt' visible to the eye. spend a little time getting the color right, make at least two similar colors and as you go, combine them a little so it it hides better not being a continuous tone of filler. the trick to that is not matchin g to what you see when you are doing it but experimenting so you can predict a good match with a finish on top. sometimes when you apply the finish , color shades pop and look different than when its dry wood.
Try this too.. punch holes in your tape with a leather punch, then if you see a nail hole just put the tape with the hole in it over the hole, fill, pull tape off , move to next hole, same piece of tape, do again. goes fast. make different size holes for larger or smaller nail holes. I gett hose fridge magnets, they come when I order car parts. I put my tape on that then its easy to punch holes through then I pull the tape off the magnet.. otherwise it's difficult to punch the holes because the tape is thin. you could use a piece of a plastic milk jug or something, coffee lid. just something thin and plastic that won't wreck the sticky on the tape. the leather punches have the rotating wheel thing so you can choose your hole size.
don't slather filler all over and sand it off, but apply it very carefully and only cover the stubborn paint specks from after stripping. that's only a tiny percentage of the surface area. its still tedious but I find the tricks above work for me so I'll pass it along for what it's worth. for large flat areas yes I use the sanders, I have a variety of them. I tried a little black and decker detail sander. It looked a bit gimmicky but found it worked for tight spots. Its just a vibrating one but shaped like a portable clothes iron, intended for sanding tight spots.
I'd try good strong paint stripper , with a plastic scrub brush, test the brush to make sure it wont dissolve. some plastics are not affected, other plastics dissolve. lacquer thinner might work too at least on final stages. of course that involves a mask , sheets to catch the stuff, fans and care to not to create a fire or explosion. chemical mask, face shield.
I have a thing like a pen for cleaning electrical connections and things. its full of glass strands. you can sort of scrub with the end and then as it wears you expose more of the strands. I use that with contact cleaner to go into corroded fuse connectors and things like that. Maybe it could be used to flick paint specks out of carvings after it was softened. Its a tool you may find in an electronics store.
a little trick for colored paint is to mix just a little brown pain into your striper, then as the paint dissolves the brown darkens the paint colored liquid and then if it collects in nearby cracks it's less of an issue.
in some places I have tried pressing the paint specks in, then using little colored filler to fill those voids rather than picking them out. or in some spots like the bottom of an L shape you can apply tape near to the paint, then use filler and sand a little same thing the paint is still actually there but covered in. you only see the surface. sometimes it's just a hairline of paint not a big surface. for cracks I use a little flat bladed pick tool to dig along the crack and sort of pry it up , then fill the crack with filler.
I like to put tape very close to the crack , on either side then application of the filler is easy, you can be sloppy and press it down without spreading it all over, then pull the tape straight away, leaving just enough filler to hide what's visible, not more.
I color the filler with powdered pigments so it isnt' visible to the eye. spend a little time getting the color right, make at least two similar colors and as you go, combine them a little so it it hides better not being a continuous tone of filler. the trick to that is not matchin g to what you see when you are doing it but experimenting so you can predict a good match with a finish on top. sometimes when you apply the finish , color shades pop and look different than when its dry wood.
Try this too.. punch holes in your tape with a leather punch, then if you see a nail hole just put the tape with the hole in it over the hole, fill, pull tape off , move to next hole, same piece of tape, do again. goes fast. make different size holes for larger or smaller nail holes. I gett hose fridge magnets, they come when I order car parts. I put my tape on that then its easy to punch holes through then I pull the tape off the magnet.. otherwise it's difficult to punch the holes because the tape is thin. you could use a piece of a plastic milk jug or something, coffee lid. just something thin and plastic that won't wreck the sticky on the tape. the leather punches have the rotating wheel thing so you can choose your hole size.
don't slather filler all over and sand it off, but apply it very carefully and only cover the stubborn paint specks from after stripping. that's only a tiny percentage of the surface area. its still tedious but I find the tricks above work for me so I'll pass it along for what it's worth. for large flat areas yes I use the sanders, I have a variety of them. I tried a little black and decker detail sander. It looked a bit gimmicky but found it worked for tight spots. Its just a vibrating one but shaped like a portable clothes iron, intended for sanding tight spots.
Re: Emerson Hadley House
mjt wrote:I think the odds of me sandblasting are close to zero. It was an interesting rabbit hole for a few minutes, but it ain't going to happen.
I totally agree that I'll be doing tedious hand sanding of the detail. It appears there's no varnish remaining on those parts, so no chemicals are required. What little there is of larger flat areas will get chemical stripper and then hit with my random orbit or palm sander.
Just FYI, as I looked into it more I saw that soda blasting seems to be the preferred technique of furniture restorers, that's the method I'm going to pursue. I probably won't get around to it until at least next summer but I'll post back here with the results if anyone is interested.
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mjt
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
I would love to see the results and your thoughts.
It was 19 degrees F when I woke up this morning, so I won't be doing anything with the front door until next spring...
It was 19 degrees F when I woke up this morning, so I won't be doing anything with the front door until next spring...
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Lily left the valley
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Re: Emerson Hadley House
Playing catch up on this forum, and just saw the post of your screen door. Looks fantastic, and I'm in envy of the hardware. 
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.