Hut lock cover.

[Colin]

Hi,

Just a small project I've completed and hope its of interest.

Exposed locks suffer from weather damage so I made a wooden cover for my new hut padlock. All it cost was a brass hinge and offcuts. An offcut of softwood was marked out after taking measurements then cut on the bandsaw giving the curved outer section; the two sides were then cut from the waste piece ensuring a perfect fit; screws and exterior quality glue were used to secure the sides. Using the belt sander removed the saw marks.

The cutout for the hasp was marked and made then the hinge added. A short length of heavy gauge galvanized wire was bent and utilized as a clip to hold the cover closed; a couple of coats of preservative finished the job.

Now I need to make a similar cover for our outside water tap.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[MoonShadows]

Nifty idea to keep the lock from corroding.

 

[zigs]

Looks good too

 

[marlingardener]

Colin, forgive my asking, but why do you have to have your shed and the water tap locked? We live in the country, so perhaps I am less sensitive to the thought of theft.
You are quite the woodworker, and inventive, too!

 

[Greenhorn]

I really like how the grain rolls over the top.

 

[Colin]

Hi,


Thanks MoonShadows; yes that's the idea; I've bought a selection of padlocks over the years even waterproof types but all have eventually failed in our dire climate hence I thought as I've gone to so much time and trouble to make the hut sort the problem out once and for all?


Thanks zigs; its a basic hut design but I added the top framework on the outside allowing an overhang from the roof bottom and also from the facing boards; this throws water clear rather than have it running down the hut and it does give better visual appeal; just going that bit extra doesn't usually cost much but is worth it. The hut by the way is 6' across front and back and 5' on the sides; the door is full height at 6' and 30" wide to save banging my head.


Many thanks for asking marlingardener; the hut definitely needs locking in fact I had considered wiring it into the national grid? My lovely wife Bronwyn and I live in a desirable part of Huddersfield on a private estate of detached houses and bungalows; when we moved in 30 years ago we never expected to have a family next door whose sons are burglars; car thieves and druggies; being the family they are they stole items from their next door neighbour these being found in their garage by the police; a few years ago across the street and part of the same family the police did a drugs bust seizing the car at 2am; this is a very good area let down by this family whom we do our best to ignore and don't speak to. So much for our modern society and if you can leave doors unlocked in the country I'm pleased for you. I'm making a wooden cover for the outside water tap to prevent it freezing in winter and this doesn't need locking. Thanks also for your compliment; I do lots of woodwork of all kinds from restoring vintage radio/TV cabinets (veneering/french polishing etc) to making our own furniture both fitted and free standing; I also buy and restore machinery including designing and making my own machines as needed; this afternoon I made a good start on a wooden cold frame; nothing special but something to ease me more into gardening; one minute I was working in wonderful hot sunshine; I went into the workshop to cut more timber and as I opened the workshop door arms laden with timber and tools I was greeted by pouring rain hence I'm now on the keyboard.


Just an offcut of timber was used Greenhorn to make the wooden cover and as you say the grain has shown up well; hopefully as I become more involved in gardening I'll add more such woodworking if in any way associated with gardening endeavours.


Looking at the completed hut it would appear an easy enough project but it proved difficult from the minute I started; a mature 30' tall holly tree was in the way; I felled this and disposed of it but then I had to remove the big stump and roots; this involved taking down a section of garden retaining wall to access the roots then rebuild the wall; living here on the steep slope next job was to dig out a wedge and level a site big enough then lay 3' x 2' paving flags with more masonry work all before even starting on the hut; summer as usual has been a big joke; I've been soaked with rain; blown about with high wind and been hailed on; sound effects too at times with thunder. The timber is treated softwood and when it arrived I was amazed by how heavy it was; I've never worked on timber previously as wet as this was; it was oozing water as I drove screws home and routing the rebates and chamfers was a nightmare with the big Makita router clogging as seen in the pictures; once I start a project though nothing is going to stop me. The hut was assembled on site using screws; the door though I made in the workshop but it was so heavy I ended up dragging it up the paths as I couldn't lift it. I must add that I've got a fully kitted workshop for both metal and woodworking. Making the hut wasn't much of a challenge but fighting the working environment sure was. I got there in the end and next year plan to replace the 30 year old hut with another new one; the cold frame is only temporary and this is screwed so will be easy to take apart as needed.


It's now 5:04 pm and outside its a black hole with rain coming down like pencils; sunshine is rare living here.


Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Colin, I knew I liked you! My husband is a woodworker/cabinet maker in his spare time. In this photo you can see the tallboy he made that hides our TV and DVDs. The table to the left is a Shaker reproduction waterbench he made, and the coffee table in front of the sofa is his, also. He used left-over tiles and made a simple table. The lamp on the right of the tallboy is on a demilune table he made out of maple, kerfing the skirt and tapering the legs. Sorry I don't have a photo!

He has made reproduction 18th and 19th century furniture for us, a garden table that I use almost daily and dearly love, and can repair and maintain the machinery we need on our small farm. Who knew shredders were temperamental?
Sorry about your nasty neighbors. We moved from town to the country to get away from loud music, trash, and crude people. Here is so much better--the only loud music is the birds in the morning, and the only trash is the occasional cotton boll that falls off a truck.
Your posts will be of great interest to me, so please keep them coming!

 

[Colin]

Hi,


Your husband and I have a lot in common Marlingardener as I'm sure you and my lovely wife Bron also have. What a wonderful job he's made of all the furniture; the tallboy picture I doubt actually does it justice because the timber looks superb; he must think the world of you and be content in life as I am with my Bron; I make the furniture and do all the big heavy work then when finished Bron looks after it all keeping it spotless and adding her feminine touches like pictures and flowers turning it into a home for us. Your room looks very cozy indeed and of a style we both like; modern glass houses being minimalist are not for us; Bron and I like dark furniture which will never go out of fashion. Your home looks like a very comfortable place to be in.


I enjoy furniture making whenever I get the time which isn't often and I like to upgrade our home each time I do any work on it; a bit of wallpaper and paint doesn't cut it for me; much better to have lots of mess ripping out a 10' long stone fireplace than taking the easy option of just changing a colour; Bron and I like stately homes and I've always admired coffered ceilings so a few years ago I installed a coffered ceiling into our master bedroom; the blood has now returned to my hands? Our kitchen has taken around 25 years to reach this stage and much of it is made from offcuts (mostly Meranti) which I used to buy by the car load as funds permitted; Bron enjoys card making so as she is my best friend as well as my wife I decided to make something special for her and made the oak chest of drawers to hold her card making materials; this turned out to be a lovely and interesting project using up lots of pieces of English Oak I had to hand; I installed the complete fitted kitchen and it never ages.


It's nice to meet like minded people on forums and exchange pictures and information. Certainly not a gardening topic but once a skill is learned then other skills can quickly follow; a bedroom or front room makeover are just stepping stones and other projects are only limited by imagination; many times visitors to our home have given us excuses why they can't (?) do as we do such as; I haven't got the skills; I haven't got the tools; I haven't got the space etc; these are reactions from visitors who seem to think we were born with everything needed when in fact we've made most of the mistakes possible whilst learning new skills; anyone who can do fine woodworking will find rustic woodworking for the garden very easy indeed as I do; those who do rustic woodworking could if they so wished move onto more delicate woodworking needing more precision; those who say they "can't" do anything are the ones who most likely haven't tried? Sorry if I sound to be preaching but I like to encourage anyone to have a go and to leave their comfort zone finding new interests; also like your husband Marlingardener I understand machinery and the bigger the machinery the better for me. I recently designed and constructed a 4hp single phase saw bench; I did this from scratch and it's been used during the hut build and today I've used it on the cold frame timber. I realize I'm a newbie and am off topic but this is just a bit of background information and the skills I have can be adapted to gardening which I'm looking forward to. I can do rustic woodwork but I can also do fine woodworking and even make my own machines as seen in the pictures below; the new hut was easy; the other items a bit more advanced but by starting on something simple skill quickly builds up.


Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Love the photos of your ceiling (wow!), the oak chest, and your saw bench. My congratulations to Bron for picking a winner, and to you for the same.
We have had the same reaction from visitors--"You're so lucky to have flowers, vegetables, a lovely home, land, etc." Yeah, luck usually comes with calloused hands and a lot of sweat!

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Many thanks for your kind comments marlingardener; very much appreciated.

You and your husband appear to have a similar take on life to Bron and I. It's strange how visitors to our home and no doubt to your home only see what they want to see; they never see the sheer hard graft that has gone into replacing the entire bungalow roof when the insurance company told us to get lost after a heavy storm brought in sections of two of our bungalow ceilings six weeks after we moved in resulting in a new roof was needed; we had borrowed maximum amount and couldn't borrow more so it took 18 months of living at work with overtime for the both of us in order to save enough for roof materials then over a spring bank holiday of two weeks Bron and I replaced the entire roofs (bungalow and two roomed rear extension); neither do they see that Bron and I haven't had an holiday away from home for 40 years all our hard earned money going into our home to better our lives; we are now so content we don't even want to go on holiday and we certainly don't miss holidays; because we lived and saved within our means I was able to fully retire aged 53 16 years ago; every day is now Christmas and doing without for so many years now pays off whilst people we know are still having to work at 70 years of age to make ends meet? You'll know exactly what I'm on about marlingardener?

Why do so many guys call their wives/partners derogatory names? I love my wife Bron to bits and she's my best friend; we help and support each other in every aspect of our lives.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Colin, my husband and I were fortunate to take short vacations in the Caribbean to warm up during the cold months when we lived in upstate NY, and we took short trips here and there, wherever our interests took us. Since we moved to our farm, the travel bug has not bitten us. We work to improve the farm and our house, try to help the less fortunate, and enjoy watching the local wildlife.
Being careful with our resources paid off for us, but we weren't hit by any unexpected medical or home expenses, unlike some folks who have suffered sickness or hurricane, flood, and wind damage.
I don't understand women who talk badly about their husbands. Doesn't that mean you made a bad choice? I am so proud and so in love with my husband, as I am sure Bron is, too.
We support each other, except in the question of cats. We had a third cat show up and my husband is making "let's keep him" sounds and I'm trying to find the cat a good home, far, far away!

 

[Colin]

Hi,

We have a lot in common marlingardener. I couldn't agree more regarding those who call their partner names and as you rightly say why put up with a bad choice making each other miserable? You've got your soul mate in your husband I've got my soul mate in my lovely Bron; what more could be wanted; money and possessions never bring lasting happiness; we know quite a few people who go out of their way to better their neighbours; they must have a bigger car; bigger house extension or more expensive foreign holidays but they always look downright miserable.

30 years ago when Bron and I moved here into our dream detached bungalow we owned a Citroen 2CV bought new but now a year old; our immediate neighbour appeared quite put out that our car was newer then hers even though she owned a much bigger and more expensive Saab; our tin snail was a poor comparison to the Saab but all she saw was the newer number plate?

At the risk of being nosy what kind of farm do you and your husband own; is it arable or livestock? Owning a farm even a small farm must place a big demand upon your time with day to day running and upkeep; Bron and I struggle to keep on top of our bungalow and gardens. One thing I do notice when I look at programs about America is the size of the homes and those who enjoy DIY activities always appear to have huge barn type workshops with lots of expensive kit? Here in the UK its getting to the point if we want to knock a nail in we'll have to apply for planning permission and the rates (council tax) put many off from expanding their home or improving anything; 16 years ago we needed a couple of skips (dumpsters in the US?) at the time a big skip would have cost £117 each but when I was placing the order our local council wanted to add a £6 surcharge for a certificate just to place the skip in the street outside our bungalow; I cancelled the skip order. At that time we had a Nissan Micra; it took 72 trips to our local refuse centre to deposit all the wet clay but we had the pleasure of watching the council wagon transporting their skip to the dumping site; serves them right for being greedy. Neighbours watched as I dug out the wet clay in order to lay paving flags forming a new sloping path to replace 9 steps; one neighbour even said he had come to have a look to see if I had got the flags laid straight before he went to play golf; once the path was completed then other neighbours asked if I would install a new path for them? This also occurred when Bron and I replaced both roofs; at first our neighbours thought it was a huge joke us doing the work and openly laughed at us; things changed though once the roofs were on; I was asked by our immediate neighbours if I would replace their roof? Bron and I don't like many people but the friends we do have we fully trust in fact I'm grounded today because four friends are travelling up from Leicester (95 miles) to visit us all met years ago through a vintage radio forum; it started with Harold who visited us then he brought along his chum Ken; later he brought another Chum Alan and today we have Alan and his sister Pauline with Harold and his friend Dot visiting us; lovely trustworthy friends; our best friends live 80 miles away in Hull and these too are met years ago through the same vintage radio forum. I also have many friends whom I've never met in person but we exchange lots of emails. Bron and I find people who have hobbies are the most interesting and we rub along well with such people; those who live for sport and trying to outbragg each other we avoid; we are not into competition of any kind just wanting to make the most of what we have rather than dreaming about what we don't have.

We've just watched a gardening program on our TV hooked up to YouTube and the narrator said people who do gardening are usually very nice people to know; I think he could be right.

The path I dug out is 42' long all done by hand and it was heavy wet sticky clay; I adding the low retaining wall then designed and built the new fence; this fence is bespoke due to all the angles involved; the path is sloping; when we have a proper sustained downpour this pathway turns into a 5' wide stream as the water runs down the valley. The picture also shows a few of the laurel logs ready to be collected by a wood-burning neighbour; the laurels were 30' tall but many are now taken down to 3' tall where I can manage them.

Regarding cats marlingardener; Bron and I love cats but we'll never have another as a pet; our last cat "Furball" was gorgeous he having adopted us; he became ill and we spent a lot of money on him but being quoted up to £1,000 for scans to determine why he was being put to sleep proved the last straw; poor Furball had gone blind and his quality of life was poor so tearfully both Bron and I agreed best thing for him was to put him to sleep; we'll never own another pet. Four years ago a lovely small tabby cat appeared and wanted to adopt us; Bron would have jumped at the chance but I was against it; our new neighbour Carole had just moved in next door and Carole adopted him; he's called Max and as I've been typing this rambling story Max has been on my lap to say good morning; he's dribbled on my knee and has now left me with a fur coat on my trousers; we love all the animals that visit us and all are made welcome.

Life is good.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

Colin, not nosy at all--I love to talk about our little farm! We have large vegetable gardens, keep a small flock of hens, and have a pasture with a pond. We keep the pasture in grass and a few trees. Running cattle is a bit beyond our expertise. However, we are on a list of pastures available for refugee animals. During hurricane Ike we had a $50,000 bull in our pasture. Boy, was I nervous something would happen to Baah (his name since that is the sound he made).
Right now we have three cats, all ferals that we gentled down and now trip over on the way to the barn!

 

[BigC]

Hi Colin,
I'm interested in making a new but acurate fence for my table saw..How would you approach this and tips ( nice sturdy and accurate)
Loving the thread...Regards C

 

[Colin]

Hi,

What a nice homely farm you and your husband have marlingardener; I bet you enjoy the space available and it will be a lot different to living in the big apple. The bull would indeed have been a big responsibility and certainly not be regarded as a pet. Three cats now but cats seem to tell their friends when they find a good home? Isn't it strange how cats always want to walk in front of you when you can't see your feet due to carrying something; a few days ago I was coming out of the hut with fully laden arms and about to try to close the door when our neighbours furry missile shot into the hut; just what I needed; this morning I was on my hands and knees in our front garden attacking yet more small holly trees which had self seeded when I heard a loud thud; I looked up to see the same furry critter now looking down at me from the roof of our Yeti; I love cats but told him if he had bulged the Yeti roof I would make a pair of gloves out of him. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Thanks for asking BigC. A very good question and not an easy one to answer without a lot more information because there are so many variables involved. Here are just a few questions in return which are relevant; what kind of table saw do you plan to add the new fence to; what is the table top made of; is there easy mounting points to the table front; are there any obstructions such as a starter or emergency stop. What workshop facilities do you have; can you drill metal; can you weld metal; do you want a full length fence and if so how tall; do you want just an half length fence; do you intend to ride jigs along the fence for cutting tenons etc; I hope I don't sound negative because I've recently designed and built a 4hp single phase saw bench from scratch and I tried three fences before settling on the one currently installed; I will however take some pictures tomorrow to show my table saw fence and I can say its rock solid; the fence itself is made of 2" x 2" box section black steel (common box section). I always have assorted lumps of steel kicking around so tend to use whatever I have to hand. I'm sure between us we can find something to suit your needs but first I'll post some pictures to give you something to look at and something to think about.

My previous saw bench was part of my Startrite combination woodworking machine and this was fitted with half length fence; I've made a full length fence for the saw I've just built but care is needed with these full length fences because its so easy to nip timber between blade and fence resulting in a nasty kick back which is always a dangerous situation; I never run my saw bench without a riving knife installed just for this very reason; I cringe when I see guys ripping using a saw bench without riving knife installed and ideally a crown guard should also be in place with everything accurately adjusted.

There are many YouTube videos on the subject of fences if you care to browse YouTube but many are based on more expensive materials which I think will be difficult to get hold of here in the UK. I'm interested in this kind of project and I'll be happy to help if I can. I promise to post some pictures in fact I plan to start a new thread showing a number of machine restorations I've carried out because I know lots of guys enjoy workshop activities of all kinds.

Kind regards, Colin.