MJ's Studio

Something I have been working on since last fall - completed in time for MJ's move on July 1.
I posted a low rez video if you want a two minute version.

March:

The piers were installed last October when the equipment was on site. The other lumber came in March, when the ground was frozen but there was no snow.

Made quick work of installing the platform - buying the cordless nail gun was the best thing I have ever done!

Getting ready to cover up for the night...

And a good thing - it snowed overnight!

May:

Returned to see if everything survived. This is the window we found on 5th St. We like it for the size and for the guard dog that came with it.

Whipped through the framing - have nail gun will travel!

Here's the window with guard dog installed and ready to protect MJ from anything that goes bump in the night.

The framing, some walls and part of the roof installed - lots done in May!

June:
Onward towards completion. I kept building; one shoe in front of another. I have learned so much since the first cabin! The only major error was that I miscounted the roofing material. Each panel is 26" wide, but after overlapping each other it is closer to 20." This meant that I was short one piece. I had to wait till we had a van to carry the 12' piece to the site. 

Measuring for the door was another error. I only left 3/16th of an inch extra in width. that was not enough. Plus, I went crazy with the nail gun, so removing the over nailed stud was extremely difficult.

I'm very happy with how the roofing has worked out, although it is too bright and too hot even though the roof faces North. We will be adding shading and venting.

Painted floor - almost ready for the move.

July:
MJ getting comfortable in her new space. 

 

Some notes: I spent extra time to make tight cuts around the rafters & I caulked everywhere. Hopefully this will keep the majority of bugs out. Our very first shed has become wasp central, partly because of enormous gaps I left in the structure. For the week we were there after I was done caulking there was not one bug inside this space.

And I do not work for Home Depot, or Paslode, or Suntuf. I added those links for your ease if you are interested in the product.

Shaker Style Oak Desk

Last winter I was on the floor grading papers when I realized I needed a desk. I found a lot of great info on line for  building and design, and thought I would add my own two cents.
I wanted to build a Shaker style table, roughly 36" long, 14" wide and 30" high. It's Shaker in style only because I used glue and, as you will see, a whole lot of electric power.
At the beginning of my summer vacation I journeyed back out to my friend Larry's to see what we could do about it. Larry has been collecting trees, cutting them into boards, and aging them. After going through his collection we found a piece of oak - one of the first trees he had prepared, probably 20 years ago.

The three pictures above are of the jerry rigged planer. The board is 15 1/2" wide and too wide for the planer that Larry has. We mounted the board on a level table, attached rails to the table, and attached the saw to an non-bending metal bar. I then passed the saw over the board in increments until the board was one level. I then flipped the board and repeated. If you do this take your time - it took me the better part of a day.

After completing the planing we sanded. Have I mentioned Larry is a professional? His tools made all this very easy.

Before attaching all the pieces we gave it a quick oil finish - this makes for easy cleaning if there are any glue spills, plus it gave me chance to see how incredible the wood looks!

Again - a professional and his tools.

These are the legs from the same board of oak. They are 1 1/4" square. We then tapered them down to 3/4."

Getting assembled...

Complete...

and in need of a finish. I used danish oil again, but since it is oak it did not absorb as readily as the walnut.

On site. Not a great picture, but the piece is just what I was hoping for. A (very) small desk that blends into the cabin

West Deck

I'm on a building frenzy!
I wanted to build decks last year, but got side tracked because of the rain. This year there has been no rain (or snow this winter) to speak of, and mild temperatures, so a-building I will go!

In March I brought down the lumber and pumped out the frames (in background) before the snow.

I built two joist frames for ease of movement - each one is 8' 3" by 10'. And yes, they are only 2 by 4 pressure treated. Since I don't live here and only get to visit intermittently, I am not into over building. Stay posted - I will let you know how it works out!

I had a fancy pants google sketch up plan, but made changes as I built. The biggest change was to pull the deck away from the cabin - those windows open out and I don't want to bang my head on them!

With all the building I have been skipping the cutting of the pasture. I'll get that next trip!

Just making sure the chairs work. :)

The North Deck

This also began with the piers from the new foundation, with some extensions. I chose to go the low tech way - digging in this dirt is too hard core for a summer place. When the frost heaves them, I will just crawl under and fix them. 

This began as a "when you get lemons, make lemonade..." plan. I had bought too many 80-# bags of cement that I didn't use, plus I left them in the rain,

so I had a lot of blocks of hardened cement to rest the piers on.

I used 16' 2 by 6 that made it easy for construction, but the warping was severe enough that I had to add the spacers.

There will be stairs here leading to the west deck

Photo taken at 1PM in July - lots of shade cover for the height of the heat of the day!

The builder at rest