Bruce's Journal

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Mr. @Bruce,

Thanks so much for the update. You have obviously been busy! If you can, post pictures of what you have done and will do in trim work and other home improvements.

I hope you can get the furnace fixed before it becomes REALLY cold! Brrr... And I hope you can get the tire back on the garden tractor so you can use the snow blower. Be sure to take pictures of that!

You mentioned trim around your doors and windows. Are you making the trim boards from trees the way Sawing with Sandy does? Are you starting with lumber, such as 1x2s and 1x4s and using tools such as a router to shape the boards into trim? Whatever you are doing, please tell us about it!

Thanks again for the update.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

Got the tire on the rim yesterday with copious amounts of liquid soap. Got air in it last night, seemed OK after a lot of cleaning where the air was leaking out. I think the soap keeps the rubber from sealing. No air pressure this morning so I brought it in the house to warm up, clean some more. Seems to be holding pressure and I did clear the snow. You can bet I spent plenty of time looking down at that tire for any sign of it going flat. I'll check if it still has pressure in the morning.

I buy rough lumber and change it into what I want. I have some left over from the old house though I'm running real shy on that. To save time I might buy boards planed to 3/4". Not sure if I will find it specifically cut to 2 1/4" for the verticals and 3" for the baseboards. If not I'll rip them. Or ... buy rough again, it will depend on the cost!

 

[Baymule]

You make your trim? My woodworking skills leave a lot to be desired. Good thing chickens and pigs don’t mind. LOL

 

[Bruce]

Yeah, that is how you get what you want in the wood you want. If we were painting it I'd just buy premade pine at the store (though I wont buy finger jointed wood). The trim at the prior house was a lot fancier. But I don't have the hands to sand all that anymore, plus fancy doesn't really go with exposed 8 to 170 year old exposed beams and debarked tree floor joists You can see the level of (lack of) detail in the window pictures. Only the sill, apron and the piece over the top are other than flat boards. The doors will be similar.

This is what all the trim looked like at the other house. Door and window top corners were rosettes, TON of sanding on those!! This is cherry as was all of the downstairs to match the kitchen cabinets and sap maple floors (sap maple is a light wood). The stairs, upstairs trim and floor were red birch (heartwood of the yellow birch tree). That is what I am using at this house.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Thank you, Mr. Bruce! I wish you would consider making some YouTube videos. You don't have to do anything fancy like Sawing with Sandy or Red Tool House. You could do something like what Miss @SA Farm does on her YouTube channel Seneca Acres Farm. Nothing fancy, but still interesting. I've watched all of her videos. I hope she keeps it up. I believe your content would be interesting as well, as I like to watch woodworking being done. I know that *I* would watch it and learn a lot, and I think other folks here would, too.

 

[Bruce]

Sorry STA, no plans, no equipment.

 

[Marie2020]

You make your trim? My woodworking skills leave a lot to be desired. Good thing chickens and pigs don’t mind. LOL

Wow girl. That's the first thing I've read that you can't do, YET! .

Give her time and she'll get there

 

[Baymule]

Wow girl. That's the first thing I've read that you can't do, YET! .

Give her time and she'll get there

Since the trim around the floor/walls at the rent house is not finished, I'll get a good chance to learn how to cut angles to fit the trip. I suck at angles, but now I have a saw for that, since the workman left his behind. I'll hopefully figure it out and do at least a halfway decent job of it.

 

[Bruce]

There will be a lot of trial fitting. "Measure twice cut once" except where angles are concerned. RARELY will you find perfect 90° angles in a building so the first cut may not be exactly right. Make some small pieces to test the angle before cutting the finish pieces.

And remember - inside joints are never mitered. If using plain square edged boards you can just butt one to the wall and the other to the first. Which is first depends on the angle the joint will usually be seen from. If not using square edged boards you need to cope the joint. Google and YouTube are your friends here I suggest using fairly plain baseboards

The outside corners are mitered, again test with trial pieces so you don't end up with big ugly gaps.

 

[Alaskan]

Also... wood putty...

Or... just plain wood glue...

If the wood glue is too liquid, take the sawdust, mix with the wood glue and stuff in gaps.

Let it dry, sand and paint.

Think bondo... but for houses.

Sanded properly... then painted... looks perfect.