Basement Project

[elalexander]

Your work looks great Rob. This will be my first project with wood from our land. I used the home center items when I remodeled our last house. Easy to use and readily availble, I had no complaints. Posted a few pics of my oak and hickory logs on a post about siding on a old shed in this forum. Fist step was convince my bride I needed a tractor to get these logs in, 2 get them in which I did this weekend 3,have someone come and saw them. ( That should happen tomorrow). Then when the wood is dry do something with it. Like I mentioned earlier, to good for firewood. Hope you enjoy looking at them. We have enjoyed your ideas as well as the pics. EL.

 

[elalexander]

Rob. Here are the log pictures I was talking about.

 

[RobS]

OK, here's my latest installment in the basement project: countertops. I picked up three sheets of 4X8X3/4 MDF and the last three sheets of the laminate I wanted (whew). The MDF is incredibly heavy so I cut it in the garage. Bear in mind, it's 11 degrees F here today, and not much warmer in my garage. Needless to say, no pictures of the cutting, only one of the mess afterwards (photo 1). Then it's the preliminary dry fit (photo 2). I scribed and trimmed to fit (photos 3 & 4). Once I was happy with the fit, I added the build up strips on the bottom. Only the exposed edges need to be fussed (photo 5).

I have to build this in three pieces to get it in place. To join the pieces, I'm using biscuits and connector bolts. Pics 6-11 show the jig I made, the router bit and the connector bolt slots and bolts. There is a slight gap from underneath, but that ensures a nice, tight joint on top. The final picture in this series is the final dry fit.

Tomorrow, it's laminate day!

 

[RobS]

The rest of the pictures from the countertop construction:

 

[RobS]

Nice looking logpile EL, and a great looking tractor. I never knew Bolens sold a CUT. Plenty cold your way too, eh? I must say though, we've got more snow than you, more than a foot on the ground and blizzard warnings most of the day today. How are you planning on milling the wood?

 

[elalexander]

Hi Rob. Really enjoy your work as well as your photography. We have been hoping you post pics each day. Anyway my plan was to have a man come and saw the logs in my backyard but, I checked with several people he had sawed for and they did not like his work. Fast and sloppy, get in and out. So plan B is a co-worker with a track hoe and rollback as well as a sawmill with a circular saw is coming next Wed the 14th to load what he can and will come back the next day and saw what I want. The deal is he has a farm and is always in need of fence boards so he wants half of the lumber. At first I said Ouch baby, but when I figured his time, fuel equipment etc it is worth it and I keep cash in my pocket. My son and I have to help him at his mill. The wood I want for my Rec room I will air dry for a month or two then hopefully I can get it into a kiln about 30 miles away so I can work with it. I want to plane one side and lap it so if it should shrink it won't show. The rest of the wood I am wanting to build a machine/equipment shed for my tractor and other toys so my barn can be the shop I had hoped for. So I am scrambling to see on the net what size boards I need for perlins stringers, post etc. I'll keep you posted. We can't wait to see how the laminate turns out. For some reason my wife wants to know if you have any brothers EL

 

[RobS]

Yesterday was laminating day on the project. I started by cutting the laminate to rough length and a strip off the width for the edge. I have one beveled corner so I started there and got it all trimmed up. From there it's glue, dry, apply and trim. For trimming, I used a laminate trim bit (with bearing) in a router and a hand file for final cleanup and edge dress. I was able to get all three sections glued up at the same time, needless to say my shop was crowded and the smell was somewhat overpowering.

All that's left in this area is a bit of backsplash, knobs, a sink, wrapping the poles with something and paint on the trim.

 

[RobS]

More pics...

 

[hazmat]

Gee Rob, all that hard work & the best reward you could do was a coors light?

Looks great. My attic media room project has been slowed down while I built a twin size crib for my neice Katie to use in my in-law's condo (see attached). Took me all fall to build. Just put the finishing touches on it last weekend (had to "shim" the mattress so her feet don't get stuck). Not to mention smiley (pic 2). Add to that, I've been skiing (or attempting to) every weekend since Christmas

EDIT

forgot to mention that the crib took almost 200 board feet of hard maple to complete. I treated myself to a HDTV for the family room last week - It will tide me over untill I can finish the attic.

 

[scott_vt]

Mornin Rob,
Very nicely done ! You dont have to look too hard to see an engineers mind at work coming up with ways to put things together Nice clean job. Although it looks like you had a couple of zigs with your router on your bolt pockets

BTW, that stuff your using on your laminate is highly flamable ! No sparks or open flame near those fumes