Woodworking!

If the word ‘woodworking’, bores you to tears, I would move on, it is my passion, and I am happy to sit and talk about it all day.

I have been continuing work on the dog crate, with a few distractions, it appears that the finished crate will probably be donated to Pepe, sad as it is, we have heard not a word from Oreo’s Owner, she had our phone number, and knows where we live, so we can only think she has changed her mind.

The crate is to be a combination of dog house and household furniture, so we talked it over and decided to burn it, rather than stain, however Marcela wanted it a lighter colour than the bunkbed, so after a couple of samples, it turned out like this

Pepe seems to have already laid claim to it!

I then gave it a couple of coats of varnish

That’s the crate finished, and now for the top, which I want not only to be the roof of the crate, but a functioning table top.

later last week, we went to Rionegro, so decided to see if I could find a laminated wood ready made top, which I could trim to size, I found them alright, but the price was just stupid, so I decided to go through my wood pile, and find some hardwood, and make it from scratch.

Whilst in Rionegro, we went to a Sports shop that sells Traumatic weapons, firearms, but non lethal, I have a Pistol for home invasion, it fires rubber bullets, unfortunately the Government in their wisdom have changed the law from the end of this month, they will be classified as Firearms, and will need licensing, the same as any other firearm. The General Public are up in arms, and rightly so, the Police and Authorities do nothing to protect us, and then take away what little we can use. We went to the shop to try and find out more, but they have received no information, and state that until they do, they will continue to sell the weapons, and advise people to use them! Those already in possession of traumatic weapons have six months to get a permit, or surrender them, I will keep mine for the six months, and then take my grinder to it, unless I can get a permit.

It looks like I might have to look for some other form of weapon, maybe I should become like one of my Countrymen, and learn how to use a Bow and arrow or Crossbow, Robinhood had the right idea!

In between time, I had a Doctor’s appointment for my High Blood Pressure, I had lost another 4kg, and was pleased with that, but the Doc wasn’t he wants me to lose at least another 20kg, down to 80Kg that would have made my Mother proud, as I would probably weigh less than I did at birth, so I told him what he could do with that idea, but he still had to harp on about not overdoing it with Christmas food… Christmas, that’s still three months away!

Back to my Crate, I found some Chanu 2x4s in the wood pile, I think they were bought as beams for the workshop roof and never used, ideal.

Firstly I cut then into oversized lengths to make them easier to work with

Then I ran them through the planer

So now I had one side clean and flat, I needed the sides perfect as well, oh what I would have done for some of that machinery I left in Spain! However you make do with what you have got, and I have a table saw, so onto Youtube, and found exactly what I needed, and made myself a jig.

which allowed me to trim one side flat, and with that I could spin the wood round and cut the other… done.

I can’t do a lot more, because I need some special screws, I could use ordinary wood screws but it would be as strong, so I am waiting for them to arrive from the US.

This morning I decided to prepare for the screws, I am using the pocket hole method, but I need to take my own advice, I was always taught, that whatever you do, measure twice, cut once, and with woodwork, that applies to a lot of the processes, but I rushed, I don’t know why, and this was the result.

The first board, and I put the screwholes in the top, not underneath, so after a bit of cursing, I filled the two holes with pockethole plugs, and started again.

This time I got it right. By the time it is finished with glue and screws, it will be stronger than any bought board!

Mid morning we had a visit from Jaime, I want a quote to roof in our outside quadrangle, so we can make more use of it, both when it is hot, and when it is raining, that also allows anyone staying in the Cabaña to walk to the house without getting wet. He came, he measured, he went, and now we wait!

To pass time, I decided to make wooden chanu dowels from leftovers, I already had the jig, so the first order of work, was to cut up the scraps

Miracles do happen, I still have all my fingers!

I started by using my drill to spin the blanks through the jig, but then decided that using a hammer did a better job, if a bit slower.

Below are the cut blanks and above the finished dowels, not that straight, but they dont have to be, I can cut them to the length I want, and use them to join timber saving myself a fortune by not having to buy them.

That’s me finished for today, tomorrow more dowel making, and Thursday, its back to see the Orthopaedic Surgeon regarding my knees and hips, so we’ll see what he has to say.