making flooring into wainscott

[Lily left the valley]

Late catching up to your work. I too look forward to your light solution so all the dials are featured.

As to the concern about securing the radios/possible weight issues...when you mentioned using a bookshelf, it brought to mind this one illustration I've had squirreled away in my idea folder for our library. I'm not sure how feasible putting in cubbies might be, depending on what is behind your walls (plumbing/wiring/etc.), but you saying you wanted to do the higher wainscot made me think it was worth throwing out there in case you realize the shelving won't work as you'd hoped.

[phil]

I decided that I had better get all the baseboards and trim installed so I went about gluing strips to the back of each piece of baseboard. sanded them well to remove most of the paint bits, ran the edges over the jointer to even them up and cut a fresh roundover. I had a lot of fitting to do to follow the contours and corners especially near the bay window where It made for some odd angles.

I got it pretty much finished jut have to nail it all in place then I can do the same with the casings. I have them sanded and clear of paint, but picking the specs out is a bit tedious.

The weather warmed up and so I started trying to get the yard under control, my washer died again with an error, and then I increased the water pressure to see if the sensor just didn't like the low pressure and one of the sink hoses blew so I just installed new shutoffs and new taps and hoses. I changed to the single handle faucet since I had a new one on-hand and like it. My bathroom counter is very low so with the tap a bit taller it's better. fixed my washing machine last night, it had a water temperature sensor and the wires had pulled out of the connector. whew! now that fire is out..

I got distracted trying to pull an old car apart. I'm removing the engine and other bits I may use later for my other cars. still have little roofing to finish up.

I had tried splitting the fir strips on my tablesaw but the blade is 1.5 mm thick so I loose some to sawdust. I tried with my little bandsaw , it has a thin blade but it wasn't a rip blade. it was ok for tight corners and fretwork.. but I found two blades for free. the guy ordered the wrong length. one was a rip blade. Im going to try to silver solder the ends of the blade to make shorter to fit my saw and then try ripping with that. then the strips will be a little thicker since the blade is thinner.

I have a whole bunch of that flooring cut down to an even size about 3x 5/8. its hard to figure out how much I need with all the various lengths. I tried splitting it on the tablesaw so it's thin and then I get double , it worked but I didn't want a bunch of thin stuff sitting around or it might go curly.

I plan to put 1/4" plywood on top of the baseboard along one wall up to eye level and then start nailing and gluing the strips over the plywood, when I'm done that I can put a shelf on top. that one will just be a ledge maybe 4-6 inches wide.. like a wide plate rail. Higher up I pan to put a more solid shelf for radio display.
one either side of my fireplace I have room to do some built ins. I'm considering that. I have a neat art deco antique bar that fits well on one side though.

in my basement I have an old jelly cupboard , it was painted grey then blue overtop. and I started thinking I might like to make another like it but with reclaimed wood , maybe i could make one to fit the space beside the fireplace but not attach it permanently, that way its not part of the house and if I ever sell I could choose to keep it. I saw a free one like it come up on Craigslist that had not been painted. they must be quite rare. It was gone quickly.
I think it would be easier to recreate the thing than strip all that ugly paint.
I thought maybe I could make a jelly cupboard to put beside the fireplace and it could be designed so it fits in with the wainscot I'm planning.

I could see making a few of them to sell, it might not be profitable as it is a lot of fir but I like the idea of taking old flooring and making it into jelly cabinets. the one I have makes good use of its footprint and they are authentic to the age. Its basically made from the same material as wainscot, even the doors.

Thanks for that picture, it did inspire me a lot with this project. you can see right away how the wall coverings give the room the feeling of being dated and I think it helps to give the impression that people are in an old house. I also like the lights and Ive been thinking I could make some lights using brass and wood and maybe some mica. The lights also give that feeling of craftsman or maybe arts and crafts. I dont really care for fake wood stuck to the ceiling to resemble beams. lot of people did that for effect through the 70's and It always looked sort of tacky and fake to me.

My aim is to run out of materials. I expect I may run out but I have some various things like some fir 2x4 and some fir siding and fir planks, some may be flat grain but that would work ok when I get to shelving. If I can get to the point of using up what I have then I can look for other stuff. If I collect too much I just look like a hoarder I'm sure glad I collected what I did though , now that lumber prices went all crazy there is less free stuff. people are looking for it.

bumping up the water pressure periodically by 10 PSI or so in the summer isn't a bad plan actually. I realized it's nice to do that as a pressure test in the summer and maybe cause a failure, rather than to wait and have catastrophe strike during christmas or at some time when its hard to spend the time to do repairs. If the hot water tank is going to blow it's guts then you can try to control when that is more likely to happen by increasing pressure for a week or so.

[Lily left the valley]

{snip}I had tried splitting the fir strips on my tablesaw but the blade is 1.5 mm thick so I loose some to sawdust. I tried with my little bandsaw , it has a thin blade but it wasn't a rip blade. it was ok for tight corners and fretwork.. but I found two blades for free. the guy ordered the wrong length. one was a rip blade. Im going to try to silver solder the ends of the blade to make shorter to fit my saw and then try ripping with that. then the strips will be a little thicker since the blade is thinner.

Despite not having the budget for it yet, a bandsaw is one of the tools I've been keeping an eye out for. We were lucky to get the table saw we did, so that's one of the majors down for me and my future shop. I've been itching to start being able to go to our local transfer station again. All sorts of large tools show up there, but you never know when. Still hoping for a lathe someday, but admit I'd be thrilled to find a planer too.

{snip} Thanks for that picture, it did inspire me a lot with this project. you can see right away how the wall coverings give the room the feeling of being dated and I think it helps to give the impression that people are in an old house. I also like the lights and Ive been thinking I could make some lights using brass and wood and maybe some mica. The lights also give that feeling of craftsman or maybe arts and crafts. I dont really care for fake wood stuck to the ceiling to resemble beams. lot of people did that for effect through the 70's and It always looked sort of tacky and fake to me.

I'm glad the image helped. We debated if we might try to do beams in the library, but I have a similar feeling that you do about the fake ones I've seen.

{snip}If I collect too much I just look like a hoarder

Sean is totally used to me making him stop when we luck into curbside finds. We recently picked up some sort of scrap drawer/lidless box laying against some furniture bits we didn't need. I took one look at the graining on the side boards and thought, "Yeah, that's coming home with us." It's near impossible to find any wood bits with tight old grain like those. If nothing else, they might make nice inset shelves or short trim bits somewhere. (Two sides are 5 ¹/₄"W x 20"L and the other two are 5 ¹/₄" W x 13"L--scrap thick paneling bits for the bottom.)

[phil]

I see tons of free antique furniture, like big dining room tables and such. Im hesitant to go cutting them up because it feels destructive but for example Ive advertised a big table with mahogany veneer and Queen Anne legs, with the three leaves and a nice hand made lace cover a bunch of times. I think it's really nice but it's really just got no marketable value as a table. now just try to buy a piece of plywood. a 4x8 sheet of good one side plywood is worth more than my table. do I just go ahead and cut it up for shelving? big dilemma
Truth is I cant' bear to..

[Lily left the valley]

I see tons of free antique furniture, like big dining room tables and such. Im hesitant to go cutting them up because it feels destructive but for example Ive advertised a big table with mahogany veneer and Queen Anne legs, with the three leaves and a nice hand made lace cover a bunch of times. I think it's really nice but it's really just got no marketable value as a table. now just try to buy a piece of plywood. a 4x8 sheet of good one side plywood is worth more than my table. do I just go ahead and cut it up for shelving? big dilemma
Truth is I cant' bear to..

Ha! Far cry from cutting up such a table versus my box made from old scrap wood for shelving.

Honestly, one of the first things that came to mind when you mentioned breaking up the table was when folks were freezing in Texas earlier this year and burned furniture & fencing for heat. Much more likely they were burning up cheaper pressboard junk than antiques...though maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part?

[phil]

I often see free pianos. You cant' buy Ivory now But I guess one could recycle the keys, if they are ivory. maybe for jewelry or wood inlay.
some have neat legs and many still have the stool too.

at any point in time there always seems to be a free one. probably if one spoke to a piano tuner they might know when they are not repairable.

I was reading a book of stories, a collection of interviews by a local reporter about their experiences. in one in particular the city had installed blocks of wooden sidewalks and the guy was taking them one by one and shortening it up over the winter.

[phil]

Despite not having the budget for it yet, a bandsaw is one of the tools I've been keeping an eye out for. We were lucky to get the table saw we did, so that's one of the majors down for me and my future shop.

how is the tablesaw working?
a jointer is often the second major tool. and maybe a decent sander like a random orbital sander. then maybe a thickness planer and an decent upright drill press is nice to have. I use my tablesaw most. you can often do what a jointer does with a had plane, with obvious limitations on speed.

I got my little bandsaw for about 30 bucks. but the wheels were plastic and all warped. there are some really nice older 14 inch ones made by beaver in Canada. I actually dont use it very often and most of the things it can do you can do with a little jigsaw. they are usually pretty quiet. I fix a lot of issues with the new offshore ones. some of the great big ones are often referred to as "resaws" and are often used to re-cut lumber to a smaller dimension.

[Lily left the valley]

how is the tablesaw working?
a jointer is often the second major tool. and maybe a decent sander like a random orbital sander. then maybe a thickness planer and an decent upright drill press is nice to have. I use my tablesaw most. you can often do what a jointer does with a had plane, with obvious limitations on speed.

I got my little bandsaw for about 30 bucks. but the wheels were plastic and all warped. there are some really nice older 14 inch ones made by beaver in Canada. I actually dont use it very often and most of the things it can do you can do with a little jigsaw. they are usually pretty quiet. I fix a lot of issues with the new offshore ones. some of the great big ones are often referred to as "resaws" and are often used to re-cut lumber to a smaller dimension.

When we picked it up, the tablesaw worked just fine. It's a dead basic home handyperson style on a rolling base. No table extension or anything. We also got two saw horses from them too.

We had a hand mouse sander which unexpectedly died before moving to MA, which we have not yet replaced. I think the other hand sander we had was one of the tools a former friend five finger discounted himself when we moved back east from California. (Lost a lot of smaller tools which we didn't realize until he was mysteriously unreachable by the old phone # and email we had for him.) I do have a few hand jigsaws, but for some projects the bandsaw is just easier, and I got so used to having one around in the shops I've worked in years ago. The bulk of my tools are old hand tools, with some newer stuff mixed in. Since moving here, I have picked up a few small planes and a...crumbs can't think of the name, but it's used to hew down edges where a plane isn't always the best choice, like for curves. I know how to use it even if I don't remember the name.

I might have mentioned before that I still have an older style ryobi rolling cart w/cordless tool set. The chop saw is secured to a flippable top so the top can be used as a surface when needed. It also came with a drill, jigsaw, router, circular saw, and a work/flash light. We also bought a second drill and a hand held shop vac at the time because the vac came with a Xmas deal with x$ of ryobi purchase and I think the second drill came with another charger so we'd have two. I don't have a picture of mine handy, but it looks like this image with the saw flipped up for use I found on the web:

[phil]

hand plane for edges, maybe a spokeshave? a spokeshave is like a plane but with two handles and you draw it towards you. there is another tool that has two handles and a large blade for removing bark from trees. Neither are that common.

I have an interesting tool for rounding corners that I always thought was a nail or tack puller because tha'ts what it looks like. but my dad said no this is for drawing over a sharp corner to round it off a little. I have a similar one for metal called a deburring tool. it's small like a pen but has a blade with a crook in it and you pull it across sharp edges. it works well, faster than using a file.

It sounds like you are building a useful collection.

a "sister" to the bandsaw is a scroll saw, used for finer work. I don't own one myself. I remember seeing a little saw made out of a sewing machine in popular mechanics and since we have a few old machines around I considered trying it until I realized the sewing machine I was going to use was pretty gutless. not much torque.

I have a mouse sander. I thought it looked like a toy when I got it but it was actually useful when I did my stairs and had a lot of really tight spots.

my favorite sander is a 6 inch rigid random orbital sander I use it a lot but If I bought a new one I'd steer towards a 5 inch as the hook and loop paper is more common for that size. the paper has holes for dust vac so they need to match. sometimes I punch my own holes if they aren't right because I bought a different brand. It hooks to my vacuum so it contains the dust well.

[Lily left the valley]

there is another tool that has two handles and a large blade for removing bark from trees.

Are you thinking of a draw knife?

I'll try to look for the tool I mentioned tomorrow and take a picture. Spokeshave sounds familiar now that you mention it. Honestly, there are two "lots" of tools I've not had much time to go through since we got them. One batch still in a bin was from a farm that was shutting down (even nabbed some old metal sheep shears!) and he sold them to me for a kind price (same family we got our half hoosier and the Country Charm stove from), the other is a larger metal crate full of stuff from the former neighbor to the east when the family was begging us to take whatever didn't sell so they wouldn't have to pay to dump stuff. (Which reminds me, I still need to look at the meat grinder we got from them to see if all the parts are in the box.)

I want to say I used a tool for a project once that sounds like the deburring tool you mentioned. Not my own, though.

There's a nifty book I got from our library that is wonderful for IDing tools, but I have since forgot many that I did ID back then. I need to look up the book again so I can buy one to have.

Yes, the mouse sander is fantastic for tight spots. It's why I'll be getting a replacement eventually. (And likely around when we refinish the stairs. ) The other we had (and lost) wasn't orbital, but such has long been on my list as I've used the type before.

I have used a scroll saw at a few shops I worked at, mostly for either prop or set detail bits. Used them for both wood and foam, depending on the shop. The one place I did a stint when I was pursuing my MFA even had a plastic form machine (can't remember what the heck it's called) that we used to make fancy looking "wood" fronts for large stage shows (like balusters to dress up a set and save on the budget)

I do have a coping saw. I used to have another (or it might be a different saw type name) that I'm not sure I still have that has a smaller back end, that's more of a bow shape, where the top is the beginning of the curve, and it widens as it goes down before returning near the end in a comfortable to handle round form. The shape of it was useful for a few projects because you don't have that full rectangle back end going on.

I say I'm not sure, because of the aforementioned former friend and also because I have not yet sorted my tools since a certain someone that will remain nameless decided when we moved from NC that I didn't need so many toolboxes and containers, and condensed them down so that the remaining toolboxes and containers were less than halved, and then filled the rest with whatever when we moved so less boxes though many became too heavy for me to move by myself. Let's just say that this unnamed person had NO IDEA why this was a terrible, awful and stupid thing to do until I almost murdered them in broad daylight, but somehow managed to pull my rage in and slowly and quietly explained why the tool and hardware boxes were organized the way they were and leave it at that.