Hi,
Over the last couple of weeks I've been extremely busy putting in up to 14 hour days apart from meals on creating a new entrance to our bungalow. I considered doing this quite a few years ago because living here on the exposed steep valley side our bungalow is subjected to extremes of weather; I use our hall as my office and sitting here with terrific wind and horizontal rain hitting the door near my left elbow isn't what I consider a peaceful environment; I could even feel the icy blast through the keyhole.
Having finally caught up Bron mentioned this front entrance saying it would be good to sort it out before the winter kicks in so I got stuck in but absolutely nothing has gone right. With all the measurements taken and we had browsed the web for a suitable design I headed to the timber yard; the first timber yard I looked at the timber and walked away in disgust. The second timber yard was much more promising and the timber looked decent it being PAR (planed all round) redwood so I placed the timber order. A few days later the timber arrived and was carried into the warm workshop; as work started within two days this timber started to move quite badly; my chum David remarked with a bit of whittling it would make nice propellers.
It just got worse and worse as I worked with this timber; I made a routing jig to aid routing the tenons but had to abandon this because the tenons were rubbish; I then tried using the DeWalt radial arm saw to cut the tenons but again without success. In the end I selected a "Face" & "Side" marking each piece and only worked from these references; I made a tenoning jig to fit my big circular saw bench and after a test cut finally cut the tenon cheeks; the tenon shoulder cuts were done on the radial arm saw. The mortices were cut using my Record Power square chisel morticer taking it slowly because a mistake could ruin hours of work.
The new entrance was to have a new door with a new side panel each side with the door central. The two side panel frames were made first and what a fight I suffered whilst trying to get the joints to go home after glue up; once glue is applied there's no time to hang around so I was just the right side of panic having to use brute force and once the joint ends entered they were forced home by heavy duty sash cramps; I was a worn out nervous wreck assembling each of these side panels but at last they were fully assembled; joints pulled tight and glued wedges driven home.
Next job was to add top and bottom frame members using long wood screws; this was yet another nightmare; sash cramps and clamps were needed to get everything into alignment; how I hated this timber and loathed the supplier. The headroom in the workshop is very low meaning both this big frame and door had to be worked on with them in edge unable to stand them upright; the main frame measures 96" tall and 60" wide; once assembled it occupied a great deal of workshop space which was highly frustrating and now it was heavy. In order to prevent it self destructing given the huge amount of force to get it aligned best thing was to install it very securely in position between the two random stone walls.
My bad luck still dogged me; I carried the big heavy SDS drill up to drill the holes in the walls but the drill refused to run in percussion mode; I could scream. Nothing for it but to drill the holes with my Bosch power drill on hammer action; oh what fun I was having; long concrete screws were run home securing the frame to the walls so at least the frame couldn't now distort.
Still more bad luck; I had browsed the web looking for suitable glass for the side panels and Bron and I really did like the look of Pilkington Dark Grey Glass;
https://www.pilkington.com/en/globa...pilkington-supergrey-and-pilkington-dark-grey
I emailed our local Huddersfield Plate Glass but now at 71 years young I wondered if I would live long enough to receive a reply; having waited long enough I then phoned a glass merchant in Morley who kindly referred me to Huddersfield Plate Glass? I then emailed Pilkington Glass explaining my needs and the problems in obtaining their well advertised product; once again I was referred to Huddersfield Plate Glass. Now absolutely fed up and in torrential rain (yes my pet cloud Blackie really enjoys my company) I set off to Huddersfield Plate glass; absolutely nothing was going right; as I passed where I used to work as a slave there was gridlock due to roadworks with the usual temporary traffic lights; I sat there boxed in with the rain bouncing down around me; finally I broke free but as I was now very near Wickes I decided I was already wet so popped into Wickes to buy a corner plastic gutter fitting to replace a leaking one; in store I wandered around and after what seemed like a lifetime there was just one lady customer in the store standing right in front of the item I needed blocking it whilst she day dreamed; I reached past her and at last was on my way with Blackie still doing his thing; at Huddersfield Plate Glass yet another soaking as I entered the building; I explained to the very helpful guy my needs but he being a Pilkington stockist had never heard of Pilkington Dark Grey glass? However by now I was rapidly losing the will to live after all I only wanted a bit of glass not endless hassle; the guy said he was sure he had a sheet of grey tinted glass it being the darkest he ever sold saying he's had this sheet for a long time because there wasn't any call for it? How strange because everywhere I look there are hospitals; public buildings and private homes with this tinted glass. After a fruitless search he apologised saying he was sure he had a sheet but couldn't locate it but he did take my details then I suffered another soaking as I headed to the car.
Next place to visit was Huddersfield Decorators and another soaking as I entered the store; at the counter I enquired as to best exterior filler for screw/nail holes; the guy recommended Polyfilla All Purpose filler echoed by a customer saying this was definitely the best filler for the job. Another soaking as I headed to the car and at last drove home.
Nicely settled in at home and drying out the phone rang; the guy at Huddersfield Plate Glass had found the sheet of glass and could cut it immediately this now late Friday afternoon; I had 30 minutes to get to the store before closing otherwise it meant Saturday morning; I'm a nice target for Blackie so enduring yet more soakings I finally had the tinted glass home; not the dark tint we wanted but tinted. The guy at Huddersfield Plate Glass was most helpful and I've visited them many times over the years but why have email if they don't reply?
Linseed oil putty has been used to bed both the glass and the ply panels; I cut all the beading from 2"x1" PAR redwood routing each edge of the face with 3/8" round over bearing guided cutter then band sawing to give thick 3/4" x 3/4" beading which has been mitred at the corners.
The WBP plywood again is rubbish but I doubt it would be any better quality wherever bought from; this was accurately cut to size then "V" grooves added using the small B&D router with V bit installed. All timber and ply has been painted completely to seal it especially edges of the ply. Zinsser Cover Stain was used as a primer and top quality Benjamin Moore paint is being used for top coats to match our existing colours.
The middle and bottom rails for the new door needed to be 8" wide so two 4" wide pieces were biscuit jointed and glued using waterproof glue being cramped tightly until the glue set; the majority of timber used is PAR 4" x 2" giving a substantially strong frame and door.
Grade 13 Stainless Steel ball bearing hinges are used; a new cast iron letterbox and door handles installed and an expensive 5 lever mortice lock fitted. The door was a nightmare just as the two frames to assemble due to the twisted and distorted timber; the only way working on my own to get the joints to enter was to wedge the door on edge between two heavy benches and take a deep breathe whilst heaving for all I was worth; with the glue added speed was called for and with the joints just entered the door was dumped on the bench and I really took great pleasure in forcing the joints home using heavy sash cramps before knocking in glued wedges.
The problems just carried on; no sooner had I applied paint working outside that Blackie gave it a soaking in fact I'm only on the keyboard now because Blackie has stopped me working.
The story above is only a small account of the suffering I endured during this project; as I say absolutely nothing went as planned; I've worked myself to a standstill many days putting in 14 hour days and been too tired at night to use the keyboard but I sure am as stubborn as they come; nothing at all was going to stop me completing this project; the sun has just appeared now everything is soaking wet outside.
I've just reached my 71st birthday and my lovely wife Bron asked of me what I would like from her as a prezzie generously offering to buy anything at all I fancied. Having just endured torment with modern rubbish PAR redwood timber I decided to select a 12" thicknesser;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DeWalt-DEW733-240V-Portable-Thicknesser-1800W/351890928249?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
In future I'll buy sawn timber and plane it myself just before using it then hopefully the timber won't have time to warp and twist; I never ever want to endure what I've suffered over the last two weeks again; I've made many doors and frames over the years but never with so much frustration and hassle.
Bad look sticks with me; yesterday I bought a weather bar for the door bottom selecting hardwood "Meranti" meaning no knots to mess around with; this was sealed in a polythene tube when bought; back home I measured and trimmed it to length to find a split in one end that I hadn't noticed or indeed expected; there are two ends so with my bad luck I trimmed off the good end? I'm used to this happening and this problem was solved by securing the split with a 2" long stainless steel wood screw; why does everything bite me?
I've rambled on enough so here are a few pictures;
Kind regards, Colin.
The original front entrance to our bungalow.
Side frame rails biscuit jointed to give 8" x 2" section.
At last after hours of failure; home made tenoning jig in action cutting a test piece working from one face only.
Door rails with tenons through cut; letter box opening added.
Both side frames fully assembled but what a fight to get the joints home.
The main frame fully assembled laid on edge too tall to stand upright in the low workshop; What a nightmare of a job.
Main frame finally installed ready foe panels and door adding.
It looks so easy but what a fight to get the joints home due to distorted timber. Sanding ready for Zinsser primer.
Yes it's been worth the nightmare but its worn me out; door weather bar now added and more painting yet to do.
Routing the panel V grooves; note small wood block used as spacer for router alignment.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been extremely busy putting in up to 14 hour days apart from meals on creating a new entrance to our bungalow. I considered doing this quite a few years ago because living here on the exposed steep valley side our bungalow is subjected to extremes of weather; I use our hall as my office and sitting here with terrific wind and horizontal rain hitting the door near my left elbow isn't what I consider a peaceful environment; I could even feel the icy blast through the keyhole.
Having finally caught up Bron mentioned this front entrance saying it would be good to sort it out before the winter kicks in so I got stuck in but absolutely nothing has gone right. With all the measurements taken and we had browsed the web for a suitable design I headed to the timber yard; the first timber yard I looked at the timber and walked away in disgust. The second timber yard was much more promising and the timber looked decent it being PAR (planed all round) redwood so I placed the timber order. A few days later the timber arrived and was carried into the warm workshop; as work started within two days this timber started to move quite badly; my chum David remarked with a bit of whittling it would make nice propellers.
It just got worse and worse as I worked with this timber; I made a routing jig to aid routing the tenons but had to abandon this because the tenons were rubbish; I then tried using the DeWalt radial arm saw to cut the tenons but again without success. In the end I selected a "Face" & "Side" marking each piece and only worked from these references; I made a tenoning jig to fit my big circular saw bench and after a test cut finally cut the tenon cheeks; the tenon shoulder cuts were done on the radial arm saw. The mortices were cut using my Record Power square chisel morticer taking it slowly because a mistake could ruin hours of work.
The new entrance was to have a new door with a new side panel each side with the door central. The two side panel frames were made first and what a fight I suffered whilst trying to get the joints to go home after glue up; once glue is applied there's no time to hang around so I was just the right side of panic having to use brute force and once the joint ends entered they were forced home by heavy duty sash cramps; I was a worn out nervous wreck assembling each of these side panels but at last they were fully assembled; joints pulled tight and glued wedges driven home.
Next job was to add top and bottom frame members using long wood screws; this was yet another nightmare; sash cramps and clamps were needed to get everything into alignment; how I hated this timber and loathed the supplier. The headroom in the workshop is very low meaning both this big frame and door had to be worked on with them in edge unable to stand them upright; the main frame measures 96" tall and 60" wide; once assembled it occupied a great deal of workshop space which was highly frustrating and now it was heavy. In order to prevent it self destructing given the huge amount of force to get it aligned best thing was to install it very securely in position between the two random stone walls.
My bad luck still dogged me; I carried the big heavy SDS drill up to drill the holes in the walls but the drill refused to run in percussion mode; I could scream. Nothing for it but to drill the holes with my Bosch power drill on hammer action; oh what fun I was having; long concrete screws were run home securing the frame to the walls so at least the frame couldn't now distort.
Still more bad luck; I had browsed the web looking for suitable glass for the side panels and Bron and I really did like the look of Pilkington Dark Grey Glass;
https://www.pilkington.com/en/globa...pilkington-supergrey-and-pilkington-dark-grey
I emailed our local Huddersfield Plate Glass but now at 71 years young I wondered if I would live long enough to receive a reply; having waited long enough I then phoned a glass merchant in Morley who kindly referred me to Huddersfield Plate Glass? I then emailed Pilkington Glass explaining my needs and the problems in obtaining their well advertised product; once again I was referred to Huddersfield Plate Glass. Now absolutely fed up and in torrential rain (yes my pet cloud Blackie really enjoys my company) I set off to Huddersfield Plate glass; absolutely nothing was going right; as I passed where I used to work as a slave there was gridlock due to roadworks with the usual temporary traffic lights; I sat there boxed in with the rain bouncing down around me; finally I broke free but as I was now very near Wickes I decided I was already wet so popped into Wickes to buy a corner plastic gutter fitting to replace a leaking one; in store I wandered around and after what seemed like a lifetime there was just one lady customer in the store standing right in front of the item I needed blocking it whilst she day dreamed; I reached past her and at last was on my way with Blackie still doing his thing; at Huddersfield Plate Glass yet another soaking as I entered the building; I explained to the very helpful guy my needs but he being a Pilkington stockist had never heard of Pilkington Dark Grey glass? However by now I was rapidly losing the will to live after all I only wanted a bit of glass not endless hassle; the guy said he was sure he had a sheet of grey tinted glass it being the darkest he ever sold saying he's had this sheet for a long time because there wasn't any call for it? How strange because everywhere I look there are hospitals; public buildings and private homes with this tinted glass. After a fruitless search he apologised saying he was sure he had a sheet but couldn't locate it but he did take my details then I suffered another soaking as I headed to the car.
Next place to visit was Huddersfield Decorators and another soaking as I entered the store; at the counter I enquired as to best exterior filler for screw/nail holes; the guy recommended Polyfilla All Purpose filler echoed by a customer saying this was definitely the best filler for the job. Another soaking as I headed to the car and at last drove home.
Nicely settled in at home and drying out the phone rang; the guy at Huddersfield Plate Glass had found the sheet of glass and could cut it immediately this now late Friday afternoon; I had 30 minutes to get to the store before closing otherwise it meant Saturday morning; I'm a nice target for Blackie so enduring yet more soakings I finally had the tinted glass home; not the dark tint we wanted but tinted. The guy at Huddersfield Plate Glass was most helpful and I've visited them many times over the years but why have email if they don't reply?
Linseed oil putty has been used to bed both the glass and the ply panels; I cut all the beading from 2"x1" PAR redwood routing each edge of the face with 3/8" round over bearing guided cutter then band sawing to give thick 3/4" x 3/4" beading which has been mitred at the corners.
The WBP plywood again is rubbish but I doubt it would be any better quality wherever bought from; this was accurately cut to size then "V" grooves added using the small B&D router with V bit installed. All timber and ply has been painted completely to seal it especially edges of the ply. Zinsser Cover Stain was used as a primer and top quality Benjamin Moore paint is being used for top coats to match our existing colours.
The middle and bottom rails for the new door needed to be 8" wide so two 4" wide pieces were biscuit jointed and glued using waterproof glue being cramped tightly until the glue set; the majority of timber used is PAR 4" x 2" giving a substantially strong frame and door.
Grade 13 Stainless Steel ball bearing hinges are used; a new cast iron letterbox and door handles installed and an expensive 5 lever mortice lock fitted. The door was a nightmare just as the two frames to assemble due to the twisted and distorted timber; the only way working on my own to get the joints to enter was to wedge the door on edge between two heavy benches and take a deep breathe whilst heaving for all I was worth; with the glue added speed was called for and with the joints just entered the door was dumped on the bench and I really took great pleasure in forcing the joints home using heavy sash cramps before knocking in glued wedges.
The problems just carried on; no sooner had I applied paint working outside that Blackie gave it a soaking in fact I'm only on the keyboard now because Blackie has stopped me working.
The story above is only a small account of the suffering I endured during this project; as I say absolutely nothing went as planned; I've worked myself to a standstill many days putting in 14 hour days and been too tired at night to use the keyboard but I sure am as stubborn as they come; nothing at all was going to stop me completing this project; the sun has just appeared now everything is soaking wet outside.
I've just reached my 71st birthday and my lovely wife Bron asked of me what I would like from her as a prezzie generously offering to buy anything at all I fancied. Having just endured torment with modern rubbish PAR redwood timber I decided to select a 12" thicknesser;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DeWalt-DEW733-240V-Portable-Thicknesser-1800W/351890928249?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
In future I'll buy sawn timber and plane it myself just before using it then hopefully the timber won't have time to warp and twist; I never ever want to endure what I've suffered over the last two weeks again; I've made many doors and frames over the years but never with so much frustration and hassle.
Bad look sticks with me; yesterday I bought a weather bar for the door bottom selecting hardwood "Meranti" meaning no knots to mess around with; this was sealed in a polythene tube when bought; back home I measured and trimmed it to length to find a split in one end that I hadn't noticed or indeed expected; there are two ends so with my bad luck I trimmed off the good end? I'm used to this happening and this problem was solved by securing the split with a 2" long stainless steel wood screw; why does everything bite me?
I've rambled on enough so here are a few pictures;
Kind regards, Colin.
The original front entrance to our bungalow.
Side frame rails biscuit jointed to give 8" x 2" section.
At last after hours of failure; home made tenoning jig in action cutting a test piece working from one face only.
Door rails with tenons through cut; letter box opening added.
Both side frames fully assembled but what a fight to get the joints home.
The main frame fully assembled laid on edge too tall to stand upright in the low workshop; What a nightmare of a job.
Main frame finally installed ready foe panels and door adding.
It looks so easy but what a fight to get the joints home due to distorted timber. Sanding ready for Zinsser primer.
Yes it's been worth the nightmare but its worn me out; door weather bar now added and more painting yet to do.
Routing the panel V grooves; note small wood block used as spacer for router alignment.
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