649 6th

day 5: hitting the reset

What started out as a day to move some stuff around to get ready for the new dryer and freezer turned into an all day cleaning extravaganza. There are a few points that I'd like to make:

1. I've said it before I'll say it again, keeping a clean job site makes life worth living.

2. Boy am I glad I listened to everyone (well... me, Michael and Ivy) and finished the demo of the bathroom before moving on to finish everything else. I didn't realize how dirty it was.

3. NEVER interlace your metro shelving together to save on posts unless you are absolutely sure you won't need to reconfigure it in the future! After 8 solid hours in the basement I can attest to how tricky it can get and to how many wayward tools needed to find a home.

4. Had the best distance swim in months.

5. Moved crap all day and didn't hurt my back. Learning to pick things up responsibly really helps.

Tomorrow learning to cut with the Dremel tool.

danish treat

Unexpectedly, we found a deal we couldn't pass up. Visiting friends in Hobart New York a few years back, we became infatuated with a recliner. I'm not sure which came first our decision to go mid century Danish or seeing that chair. We never found one in the right condition until we were pretty "funitured-up".

Walking home the other day we saw a woman selling one in the local flee market. It was in mint condition. The woman thought it was "some sort of cheap lazy boy".  I've been looking at them on ebay and knew that for the price she was asking we could at least resell it for a profit.

...that was until I sat in it. It is the most c o m f o r t a b l e chair ever!

specimens

mud on, mud off

Most of the materials we've added to the house get put into place and stay there, but recently we've been working a different class of material that goes on and then comes almost entirely back off. These are the gooey materials: sheetrock mud, tile adhesive, grout, and caulk. You trowel, spade and squeeze a surplus of this stuff into place before scraping it off again.

It was working tile grout that drove home the peculiarity, almost the perversity of these materials' application for me. Working the grout into the cracks and scraping it off the tile surface was deceptively easy -- adjusting the float angle depending on whether I was scraping on or scraping off. As I was finishing the first pass with the well-wrung sponge, only slightly relishing the lactic burn in my shoulders, and sensing that the real work had only just begun, the thought sprang to mind: "wax on, wax off".

Hours later, sponge in tatters, still shaping the grout to a fine line between tiles, I flexed my aching muscles and took pause to honor Ralph Macchio, true hero of the repetively stressed.

mudman

brick sealant

We sealed the brick today. Oddly enough, motivation came by way of lighting. Plug modeling was installed ages ago with three outlets per "bay", but for the longest time we've only had a single halogen flood on each side. Something about finishing the drywall the comes up out of the stairwell prompted Toby to plug both lights in on one side and the difference was (to use a cliche) like a light coming on. And now the halogen high-hats that are in the soffit on opposite wall don't seem to off-balance the room. It's almost like we knew what we were doing all along.

But it's not like the additional light suddenly made us realize what a dingy mess the cobbed brick wall has been. Truth is we've done just about all the kitchen work we can until plumber does his thing, so we're sort of casting about for small projects and tying up lose ends. Before sealing the brick, we needed to fill a few spots where the old mortar had fallen out and crumbled to dust on our floor ever since we exposed the brick work. Read on a home reno site about someone using a cake decorating bag to grout a faux brick wall in order to minimize the amount of mortar that winds up on brick faces, which seemed like a pretty good solution for all the little cracks I wanted to fill. Then at HomeDepot we found an all-in-one bag of mortar; just add water, squish it around, tear it open and apply with included plastic trowel. We mixed it a little thinner than suggested, snipped a corner of the bag, and started squeezing.

Next day, it was ready to seal. We've been waffling over whether to seal the brick at all because we've both seen too many glossy brick walls and wanted to preserve as raw an appearance as possible while still minimizing the slow, dusty decay. Also trying to cut down on our consumption of VOC's. Once again, a pursual of the internet provided solution: diluted Elmer's glue! (What's less toxic than that?) Thanks to pressurized spray pump (another bright internet idea) application was remarkably easy.

Don't know how well the difference makes itself known in these pictures, but from where I'm sitting (about three feet away) it looks almost clean enough to eat off of.

show us some leg

slowly but surely the kitchen cabinets are coming together. we glued up the last of them this weekend. now the carcasses are basically done. they have a water based poly seal and primer on all surfaces, and the legs have been installed. we have the drawer slider hardware that I'm hoping we can check off weeknights this week.

beyond that it's only counter tops (ordering from bettencourt this week, they claim they can get what we need in a couple of days), drawers, faces, and paint. I realize I say *only* but, in the grand scheme I think the bulk is behind us (unless we get a sudden urge to dovetail all of the drawers!).

'twas the night before christmas

And all through the house not a creature was stirring expect for our brand new router table. Amen for ear plugs. Especially when combined with shop vac plugged into the back and sucking away most of the debris. As maiden voyages go, this one was a dream. My only complaint is with the fence assembly; it's basically an entry model so it's a bit chunky and doesn't respond very well to small adjustments.

But I can't blame the fence for this mess. Plan was to take the scrap from yesterday's milling and make a maquette of the cabinets in order to get a feel for the router table and the joinery. All our cuts were good except for bottom edge blind rabbet that didn't come out so blind because in our zeal we just pushed the front and back panels straight through the router. Covered for our mistake by putting a matching cut on  side panels. Voila: negative leg (or something like that).

Other lessons learned:

• Use assembly squares to ensure right angles. In other words, furniture clamps aren't enough to true a parallelogram.
• Take multiple short passes instead of one honking big pass. Knew this from cabinetry book but had to give it a try for that experiential validation. Sure enough, trying to do a 3/4" wide x 3/8" deep rabbet in one cut resulted in a whiff of smoke, more sawdust than wood chip, and uneven resistance through length of cut.
• Press a piece of scrap on back edge to prevent rip out.

As for finished product? Can't go empty-handed to that last-minute, holiday party can we?

'tis the season

to be building cabinets: yes, a strange way to celebrate whatever it is that floats you into the new year; nonetheless, a not quite fond farewell to old kitchen and hello to a brand new one. the critical element: 5 identical base cabinets that when flanking the range and paired up with undercounter fridge will comprise the base for three countertop stations.

here's our milling order. went to Dyke's Lumber this morning assuming we wouldn't see the finished cuts until at least Tuesday. here's a tip: friday before christmas not a big day among the contractor set.

jimmy (the post-holiday, office-party, hung-over miller) was immediately called up, and we spent about 30 minutes providing him with orientation and length for every cut. all stacked up they're not what i'd call perfect, but at least they're square & parallel; therefore, something we can further mill if need be with the new router table -- awesome bonus ability for something i thought we'd be using exclusively to rabbet and dado the assembly.

lessons learned:
1) work with the milled edge aka trimming less than inch off a full sheet of plywood is idiotic
2) remind your miller to double check position of all cuts -- you'll sound like a noodge but there's no such thing as a saw eraser
3) make arrangements for transporting your order (thanks for the last minute pick-up, Leroy!)

kitchen venting