Drydock pallet frame cabinet part 2

Browsing through my phone, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to make a blog post about the pallet frame cabinet completion last year.

We ended up having a bit of a tight deadline for the completion, since it was a wedding gift for Klaras friend. Furthermore I had to remain calm and pedagogical while trying to explain that: If you want the cabinet to be completed in time - well then you need to work on it. 

For some reason it was very hard to understand that you couldn't both go to the movies or go to a sauna all evening and at the same time work on the cabinet.  And that realization was really hard to fathom.

But after I had explained very clearly that the clock was ticking, and that I had spent hours helping, which was why I sort of expected some effort being put into completing the project, Klara saw what I meant and worked at it. 
Klara originally intended to paint the cabinet, but lack of time made this impossible. I told her that the recipient would no matter what be thrilled to receive a homemade cabinet, and that painting was one of the things that she could easily do at home without my tuition.
She also needed to decide on a closing mechanism (magnetic or latch type)

Lessons learnt:
For young people it is very hard to miss out on anything social in favour of a project that they have started themselves. So I should probably have advocated for a much less complicated project from the start. But I had been completely honest with the amount of time that it would take to build something like that, and also described how it could be achieved by a steady effort each day for maybe a couple of hours. But somehow the coupling between doing other stuff for 6 days and suddenly be short of time was not clear.

The actual build was helped a lot by the fact that we had a table saw at our disposal and also a thickness planer. 

Mouldings really help giving a finished look, as does a raised panel door.

It itched in my fingers to do part of the project myself, to speed up the process, but I managed to not do it, I wanted it to be her build, and I would only make sample joints so she could see how they should be carried out.

Klara planing a moulding.

The cabinet with the face frame on.

The completed cabinet with mouldings and a raised panel door.

Hammer block for children

 Looking at past pictures, I stumbled on these pictures from back in 2022.

The grand son of some of our friends really liked hammering. 
And I remember that when Gustav and Asger were small, they had a hammer block in the workshop that they could hammer nails into at their hearts desire.

So I made a similar hammer block to our friends to give to their grandson,

The top is around 10" x 10", and the height is maybe 20", It is made out of spruce, so it is soft. Furthermore the grain is oriented with the end grain facing upwards, so even the smallest child can manage to hammer in some nails. 

The entire thing is glued together, and due to the slanted legs it is really stable. In order to make it instantly usable, I supplied a small hammer and a box of various nails with the hammer block.

I branded our logo on the block and the box and burned the name of the grandson into the handle of the hammer.

Since it is not intended to be a piece of fine furniture, I didn't see any reason to go wild in sanding the thing. As far as I remember, it was roughly sanded with some grit 60, and the edges were chamfered. And that was that.

Back when Gustav and Asger used their block, I remember that they were so proud when they had hammered in a large nail, and I had to come and admire it all the time. When they had friends over, it was always a sure hit as well.

Totempole for the local kindergarten

This time while at home, I barely had time to go into the shop, since we had to empty my parent's house as it was sold. it is a good thing that we managed to sell the house fast, but clearing up your childhood home is not a pleasant job. 

I spent roughly 3 weeks out of my 4 weeks of home period emptying the house. And I was sorry everyday that I was doing it. 

I even started dreaming about moving stuff around in my trailer, and I was a bit stressed about it.  It was much better when I dreamt about stealing a helicopter from US Coast Guard. (I have no idea why I was going to steal a helicopter, but it seemed like a good idea in that dream..)

Anyway, when the house was ready for handing over to the new owners, it was a relief, and I was planning to do a bit of organizing in the shop and the stores room, sort of as a reward to myself, and to find a place for all those bits and pieces from my dads shop too. 

Before getting started on that, one of the adults from the local kindergarten called me and asked if I could help her make a totempole. Asger stopped in the kindergarten 10 years ago, but they remembered that I had always willingly helped them in the past, and they knew that I could work wood. 

I instantly decided that it was worth doing to help them, and they would bring over a log that I could use.

Kaja (the adult) explained that her group of children from 3-4 years old were going to have a theme event about Indians. they would try to build tepees and learn a bit about the history etc. So that was why they needed a totempole too. 

When I got the log I first removed the bark and then started dividing the log into a few sections. The idea was to make a Totem figure on the top with a beak and a smiling mouth and the later on ad a couple of wings. the lower sections would see happy faces of children and happy animals. I told Kaja that I didn't want to make any sort of scary faces or animals, which she agreed was a good ide given the age of the children.

By making an outline of all the faces and animals etc. it would give the children something they could use for painting, so they could do it and be reasonably certain to get a decent result.

I completed the totempole in one day and delivered it to the kindergarten Monday morning. The wings were not mounted, so that the could roll the totempole around for painting on the sides and the back of it. 
I'll try to take a picture of the painted totempole once I get home again.

A young Gustav having helped painting..

The raw log.

Bark removed and sections made.

Happy face of a girl.

Smiling totem figure

Wings attached.

Happy horse

Building a Mini Max hydroplane

Readers with a good memory might be able to remember that two years ago Gustav, Asger and I constructed a Mini Max hydroplane in the summer. 

The plan was always to make another one, so each of the boys had their own. 

And last year we completed the second one. 

The construction is really simple, but the boat just looks nice and is a fun project to build. 

Asger decided on the paint scheme for this one and he was determined that it should just be a blazing orange on the top and white inside and on the bottom. 

I had purchased an outboard motor from one of my friends, and we decided to try and make a steering wheel for it so it felt a bit more like a racing boat.

Near our summerhouse, there is an old shop that has been under the same ownership since 1970. They carry basically everything. Form tape recorders (though not modern anymore) to regular dairy products and household items.

The shop is well worth visiting just to see the enormous amounts of weird old stuff for sale. 

Prime examples are: blades for scythes size No 4, made in the Soviet Union, 

400 or so pairs of old rubber boots that are frequently treated with a bit of silicone oil to prevent them from cracking while still in the store. 

And the list goes on!

The orange paint that the boat is painted with is bought at that store. It is an old can since there is no MAL code on it (mandatory from some time in the 1980'ies in Denmark I think)

The colour agent is lead chromate which also sort of fell out of favour a couple of years ago. But that sort of stuff is still available on the shelves of this shop.

We will try to get it stored at the summer house, since it is a lot nearer to the water. Then there is a chance of it to see more action.

 

Gustav testing the steering mechanism.

Asger painting the hull.

Completed paint job.

Math, and model houses

Our middle son Gustav is attending 10th grade at a boarding school. He has chosen this school specifically because it has got a very good equestrian line. It is possible to bring your own horse/pony which is what Gustav has done.

A couple of weeks ago he called me on the phone and told me that their math teacher had enrolled the school in a nationwide contest about building model houses.
There were some regulations concerning the design, such as maximum area, only one level of living space allowed etc. And the idea was that all the houses had to be drawn and built to a scale of 1:50.

I wished that there had been math projects like that when I was in school, because I believe that it is a lot easier to get kids interested and involved in learning something - if they can actually see a purpose of what they are being taught.

So with this project they are not only taught about scale - they get to experience it as well.

Gustav told me that he immediately remembered building those model houses when he was younger, and considered doing that again. But since I am at sea, I couldn't provide him with strips of wood, and I wasn't sure how much stock was left over from last time Asger built a model church.
Besides, the stock that I had made would likely not be fitting for a 1:50 scale build.

About a week ago I asked Gustav how the project was coming along, and he told me that he and his team mate had managed to saw out some strips on their own using an electric fretsaw/jigsaw. And they had made the exterior cladding out of Masonite board.

This Friday he called me and told me that their house had won the school contest, so now they had entered the national contest.
He told me that all the other houses at the school had been built out of model cardboard, this stuff that has got a bit of foam sandwiched between some paper. So their house had stood out really proud compared to all the rest.

Due to time constraints they hadn't had the time to make the roof, so their model was displayed with the rafters visible.
But he assured me that they had some more time to complete the house before sending it off to the final contest. So they plan on making a roof and also mounting some windows and doors.

I am proud that Gustav and Malthe won the school contest, but I am even more proud that those "house building seeds" that were sown five years ago have flourished and stayed within the brain of Gustav, in a way that he immediately connected model houses with building something out of wood in that way.

Model house scale 1:50 

Picture courtesy of Gustav.

Model house wall construction.

Picture courtesy of Gustav.

Making a project in the shop with Laura

A couple of months ago Laura and I got into talking about woodworking. She surprised me by saying that she would have liked to learn how to make something while in school.

I had to tell her that she was actually quite good, because I remembered that her sundial was very well made and nicely finished. 

I could also tell her that she had made a bird on the lathe at home, and that she had helped making leather belts for her friends and herself.

Nevertheless, she expressed the interest of making a project in the shop if it was possible.

She acknowledged the fact that no one had ever been prevented from going to the shop at home, but she just felt that now she actually would like to do it, so if I had any suggestions to what she could make, she would like to do just that.

Now this isn't something that happens everyday!

An 18 year old high school senior girl expressing a genuine interest for building something.

It didn't fit into the schedule last time I was home, so I hope that we can do it next time I am home.

My criteria for the build was that it had to be something that we could do in a weekends time. I will take care of the stock preparation ahead of time - to ensure a steady workflow.

I made a list of possible projects that she could make, and I mailed the list to her.

1. Dutch tool chest
2. Shaker hanging cabinet
3. Roorkhee chair in canvas
4. Moser inspired deacons bench
5. Six board chest
6. Peg board
7. Roubo campaign stool

These are the same links that I sent her, just so she could get an idea of what I was suggesting.
Brian Eve suggested the six board chest.
It dawned on me that even though I have built a Roorkhee, I only have a semi hidden picture of it on my blog, but Brian has several Roorkhees, so I just linked to one on his blog instead.

After looking at the list for a couple of days, she has decided that she would like to make a Roorkhee chair.
I think it will be a great project to do together, no intricate and complicated joinery, and it is a project that is highly usable.

The only problem is that there's still some time before I go home again, but I am already looking forward to that project.

Since she has turned 18 I was in doubt whether or not it would be OK for me to label this post as "Childrens projects", but I take the chance.

Laura displaying a belt that she made.

Laura and our first dog "Børste"

Small display cabinets for Asger

Asger collects matchbox cars, and he has gotten himself a nice little collection. In order for him to organize all the small cars, we decided to build a couple of small display cabinets.

The original idea was to not make the joinery complicated, so that he could help himself in nailing the cabinet together. The front frame is made with half lap joints which is then later glued and nailed to the carcase. The carcase itself is assembled using rabbets in the corners.

For once I did something unusual. I actually bought the wood for the project.
I purchased the best pine they had in the lumber yard, and I now realize how expensive it is to buy wood. But it is nice to work with something else than larch for a change, and pine smells so good when being worked.

The back boards received tongues and grooves by means of a hand plane. That was just the right project for a child.
The moulding on the back boards were also handplaned, Asger tried to plane one, but using the combination plane wasn't easy, so I finished the rest of them.

The cabinets were finished with some spar varnish, and in a very short time they were both filled to the brim.

Actually this project was completed a year ago, and it ended up in the "draft" section because I couldn't pull myself together to take a couple of pictures. Mind you, it was prior top me getting a smart phone!
So before heading to sea this time, I took a couple of pictures, but off course there are none that will show the progress in the shop.

Display cabinets made of pine.

Moulded backboards.

Door open showing bridle joint construction.

Moulding detail on the door.

The shelves are adjustable.

Old Britains vehicles and detail of backboards.

Glass retaining strips.

Rabbeted construction and half laps on face frame.

Pressing apple cider

I made my own cider press in 2006, based on an old model that I had borrowed from a museum.
The shredder is an old one that I was given because the bearings were completely shot, and the flywheel and gears were missing.
I cast some new bearings of white metal, mounted some grease cups, mounted an electric motor and made a new undercarriage plus enlarged the hopper a bit.

Ever since we have tried to make a batch of fresh cider every year.
We make around 60 L (16 gallons) which is just about what we manage to drink in a year. We freeze the cider, and take out a bottle every week or so.

Since we have a lot of apple trees, we could easily make more, but there is not much point in that if we don't manage to drink it, besides we also need some bottles for all the cider, and space in the freezer for it.

Usually we try to make it as an arrangement where friends can drop by to have their apples processed as well, but this year due to the warm summer, our primary cider tree had ripe apples earlier than normal.
So Saturday before going out to sea, we made the yearly processing of cider.

Gustav helped in the beginning, and he was later relieved by Asger who poured the cider into the clean bottles.
"Rather strangely" I was left with the task of cleaning the equipment and putting everything back in its place when we were done for the day..

I am still working on a handle for the Simpson backsaw, but there is not much effect in showing pictures of my progress with a file and a bit of sand paper :-)

Washing the apples prior to shredding.

Gustav shredding some apples.

Packing the apple pulp prior to pressing.

Pressing 4 packages of pulp.

Dry apple pulp after pressing.

Ecologically apple cider.

Bucket of apple cider.

Mini Max hydroplane 2, completing the boat.

After assembling the hull, I had to work with epoxy and fiber glass for the first time in my life in connection with wood.
Technically I got to think of that I have used some before back when I was an apprentice on a reefer ship. It was used to make a temporary repair of a leaking pipe.

First I rounded the edge a bit, and then mixed the epoxy, applied some and put on the glass fiber. It looked really fine for half a minute or so, then the glass fiber mat started to creep up and loosen from the rounded corner.
I added more epoxy and brushed it down again, but to no success.
After a while I concluded that I should have rounded the corner a lot more. So I stopped for the day.
The next day after the epoxy had hardened, I used one of my large rasps (a farriers rasp/file) and made a much larger rounding on all the corners of the hull. I ended up making a rounding with a radius of approximately 3/8". For information, I am using a slow setting epoxy to give me a bit more working time when applying the stuff.

This time the fiber glass stayed in place and it looked good.

After another day, the epoxy had hardened, and I sanded the edges of the mats and also sanded the surface of the hull.

Asger and I helped each other priming the boat. The primer dried quickly, and the next step was to paint the bottom.
We used a real marine primer, but for the top coat I opted for the classic boat color: New Holland agricultural machinery rim white. Conveniently available at our local tractor dealer just up the road.

When the bottom had dried some, we helped each other flipping the boat around, and I painted the top with the white paint. I painted inside the cockpit, and the corners of the hull plus the center stripe.
More waiting time, (I am not that patient when it comes to painting). And it was time to apply the green color.
The first boat was going to be Gustav's boat, and since he had gone to Mette's uncles place to help in the harvest, I had decided the paint scheme. The green was again an agricultural paint (Krone hay and forage equipment) because that is also a product they carry at the local tractor dealer.

Suddenly the boat was completed, and more so, it looked just as I had imagined.

Part of the reason it was to become Gustav's boat was because he had once been given a small 4 hp outboard motor from his uncle, so we had made the motor mounting board a bit longer than described in the plans - to accommodate the long leg of that motor.
Asger also thought that it was a smart move to get the second boat, because that would hopefully mean that all the messing up had been sorted out on the first of the series.

Late that evening, we tested if the paint had dried, - and it had.
It was completely calm without a wind, so Asger and I immediately decided to take the boat for a test.
He found a wet suit, and I mounted the handles at the transom and on the fwd part of the hull, to facilitate moving the boat.

After a slow initial run, I discovered that the throttle could be pressed further to the side, and suddenly the boat was planing, just as it was supposed to do.

All in all a very successful project.
Now we are on the look out for a reasonably priced outboard with 10-15 hp. But given the much nicer weather than normal, all outboard engines have risen considerably in price. But maybe we will get lucky during the winter time.

Ready for the first test of the boat (motor not yet mounted)

Asger mounting the upper part of the hull.

Farriers rasp for rounding corners prior to epoxy and fiber glass.

My younger brother Jens visiting from Japan (being put to work)

Sanding and dusting off at the same time.

Asger priming, cousin Kai and Jens admiring the work.

Boat primed.

Ready to fly.

60'ies inspired paint scheme.

Mini Max Hydroplane 1, assembling the hull.

When I got home I was determined to start building a couple of Mini Max's
I never expected the biggest obstacle to be that the lumberyard had run out of 1/4" plywood. Somehow it took them 3 days to get hold of something so I could carry on with the build.

I also had to call the company where I had ordered some epoxy and glass fiber cloth, because that package hadn't shown up either. And I ordered that a week prior to going home.
I got a less than enthusiastic person on the phone, and as soon as I had explained my reason for contacting them he replied: Oh yes, I know about that package, we have thought about contacting you for some time, because the one item you ordered is out of stock (3" wide fiberglass tape). I had to struggle to stay diplomatic, but we ended up finding a solution to some wider tape and some large square mats instead.
But why for Heavens sake does it have to be that hard to get a little bit of service . I mean they could have mailed me as soon as they got my order explaining that despite the web shop showing the item it was out of stock and they could suggest this or than instead.

A bit of searching in the piles of lumber at home brought forth enough 8" wide larch to build two boats with, and also some narrower stock that I used to make some strips as the plans called for.

Both the boys were really exited about the build and they were able to participate a lot due to a low weight of the individual pieces, and the ease of construction.

The first boat I tried to make exactly according to the plans. But after a little time it became apparent that the plans are not 100% correct.
The two stringers for instance that will form the sides of the cockpit were too tall, but none of this was a real deal breaker. It was more an eye opener to me, that I couldn't make x number of pieces and then assemble it like it was a jigsaw puzzle.


The most difficult thing about the build was indeed the closing of the slit on the lower part of the hull.
I had seen and read various fine solutions on how to overcome this task - so off course I had to invent my own way of doing it. Please see the final pictures for a short guide on how I did it.

I clamped a batten on each underside of the slit, using two clamps for each batten.
With the battens securely in place, I used a clamp on the battens to squeeze the two sides together. It worked just as I had imagined.
The hardest thing is to make sure that the battens don't shift while squeezing them together. This is why each of them has to be secured with two clamps, and off course a piece of wood on the top side to protect the plywood from being marred by a heavy pressure from a clamp.

I made sure to place them a little distance from the slit, so that once it had closed up, I could put screws into the "fore strut".

Asger showing the boat with the top temporarily in place.

Gustav sawing out a paddle, Thomas (friend) watching.

Asger mounting the transom.

Planing a bit of the fore cross piece.

Asger stepping off distances with a divider.

1) Clamp on the fore cross piece

2) Clamp on a batten on each side of the slit (underside)

3) Each batten is held in place by two clamps.

4) Force the battens together using a clamp.