Free timber.

Hi,

Our new neighbours across the street have been remodelling their house including installing a new staircase. I volunteered to dispose of their old staircase thinking it to be similar to one I was given a couple of years ago. The previous staircase yielded lots of very useful hardwood Meranti.

By volunteering though for this latest staircase I got more than I bargained for; I'd completely forgotten this staircase was carpeted. Our neighbour and I carried the two heavy staircase sections over to our driveway yesterday morning; I had already collected the big bag of spindles and newel post; the exposed timber had also been painted a number of times.

The spindles and newel post filled four bags with firewood as I cut them into short lengths on my big radial arm saw. Removing the carpet proved to be a nightmare due to hundreds of long staples having been fired in; I think a machine gun must have been used; it took a great deal of effort but eventually I had a pile of carpet and underlay; the treads had been fully carpeted; as I looked at the bare treads they were absolutely peppered with the staples and the staples were 3/4" long. I cleared one tread of staples before giving it up as a bad job. I loaded the car with the carpet; underlay; treads and four bags of firewood; first stop was to drop the firewood off at a woodburning neighbour then six miles to our local tip; the carpet went into the general waste skip the treads into the wood skip then I returned home.

This morning I set about the "stringers" these being 2.5" thick by 6" wide and I'm pretty sure the timber is pitch pine by the smell and look of it after machining it.

Rather than bother using a blowlamp to remove the paint I carefully checked and removed any nails and screws then put each section through my home made 4 hp 4" cut table saw; this worked a treat but certainly messed the workshop up; I need to add extraction to the big saws; I was working with dust mask; ear defenders and rigger gloves for personal safety.

So for all the work a neighbour has four bags of free logs plus another bag I've filled this morning; I've got four nice sections of pitch pine plus a lot of expensive 10g x 2" brass screws; apart from all the sawdust I enjoyed using my toys again; the table saw isn't one to be used by a novice it being powerful. 15 minutes tidying up and job done; win; win all round.

Just the sort of thing I get up to whilst it's pouring with rain outside and a black hole known as a Yorkshire summer.

Kind regards, Colin.


Not what I expected; treads fully carpeted.


Plenty of nails and heavy paint.


Stringers being made ready for running through the saw.


Ready for sawing.


More firewood to make our neighbour happy.


Ripping underway; this was the quickest way to tidy up the timber ready for reusing.



Very nice timber indeed; costly to buy and highly likely it's pitch pine as a bunus.


Some of the brass screws; I removed these easily using my Makita cordless drill/driver. A box of this size brass wood screws are expensive.

A lot of effort but it worked out well in the end and I enjoyed my workshop time playing with my toys whilst the rain poured down outside.

 

Nice work @Retired. What was the hardwood you got on the previous occasion used for? Do you turn bowls etc?

 

Hi,

Many thanks CarolineL and thanks for asking. The previous hardwood was Meranti and well worth having.

I've never turned bowls but I do like trying different smaller items as seen below.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

Beautiful! Love the spalted wood. I have a spalted beech (?) bowl made by a late colleague. It is gorgeous, but I have noticed that as the wood has 'aged' and got more yellow, the spalting shows up much less. I always wondered if you could get a dark wood with light spalting to contrast...

 

Hi,

Thanks CarolineL.

Most of my woodturning has been related to furniture making but I'd like to spend more time turning fancy items; I like turning the lidded boxes with finials; these make nice gifts and are well received.

I have plans to mix metal spinning and woodturning but I'm struggling to get workshop time; our gardens and bungalow are demanding once the weather warms up and these take priority because here we seem to have 9 months winter and 3 months bad weather every year; when I can finally get into the workshop it's perishingly cold and extremely miserable; I installed 5 LED 2' square panel lamps to the workshop ceiling but even these are poor at cutting through the gloom. I'm disappointed with the LED panels because they are too directional with little spread so I'm considering reverting back to strip lights. It's miserable and wet again today and it's supposed to be summer which is a huge joke.

I only started metal spinning a few months ago when I need six aluminium reflectors for two vintage coach lamps I was restoring; I did the metal spinning on my Union Graduate woodturning lathe; the Graduate I completely rebuilt and heavily modified.

I like metal spinning so would like to do more.

Kind regards, Colin.


Once I start something I'm too stupid to know when to quit; here's my first attempts into metal spinning; it's not easy but then most things are seldom easy to a raw novice.


I needed six reflectors so I made six reflectors; it was a very steep learning curve but highly interesting.



Spinning this was challenging but excellent practice. I'd like to combine metal spinning and woodturning because I've not seen it done before and I like doing things that are different; anyone can copy but doing something completely new is much more rewarding.

 

Very nice pieces @Retired Like you, I enjoy doing things that are a little different, so thought that you might like to see this piece I turned a number of years ago that combines both metal and wood. (Apologies for drifting somewhat!).



The basic design is from a viking bowl, ie Scandinavian. The inlay is pewter from India, and the wood is Imbuya from a managed forest in Brazil. That was actually given to me as thanks when I played at a birthday party for a 100 year old man. Theres a long story behind that!

 

Hi,

Many thanks for adding details of your turned item Sandy; A lovely job and as you say it's "different". I bet you enjoyed turning it and adding the embellishment; very well done.

Drift away because it's surprising where many threads divert to adding lots more interest as your lovely turned bowl does.

I've been arc welding for over 50 years but this week I'm expecting a new TIG welder to arrive it being a prezzie from my wonderful wife Bron. The welder is brand new and unused but the guy who bought it found upon its arrival it needed 16A supply so he couldn't simply plug it into his 13A sockets; it's been under his bench and is still covered by warranty; not cheap but a good saving on buying new from a dealer.



I'm now sourcing an Argon cylinder which again isn't cheap but I'll not bother with the disposable bottles; I'll pay the cylinder deposit then in future just pay to have the cylinder refilled; the deposit is fully refundable if ever I return the cylinder.

I'm interested in TIG welding aluminium so once the welder arrives I'm in for another steep learning curve; first project will be to make a new petrol tank for the Colt mower I've just restored; the new tank of aluminium. Yesterday I made space in the workshop for the new welder; my Oxford oil cooled arc welder is now under a bench and the space vacated by it will accommodate the new TIG welder; I need a big warehouse to play in then I could buy lots of big toys to play with.

Kind regards, Colin.


My workshop is crammed with machinery and assorted kit; here it's cluttered as I restored the Colt mower; the mower is now in the garden hut and the bench tops cleared for the next project.



My Oxford welder stored neatly under a bench; it's extremely heavy so is mounted on castors.

 

@Retired if I lived closer, then I would gladly give you some tips in regards to TIG welding. As long as you have copious supplies of tea in your workshop, that is!

 

Hi,

Many thanks Sandy; you'd have been made most welcome; a visit would involve bickies and cake as well; tea's too wet on its own.

Like anything new I'll soon settle with the TIG welder; I can already gas weld having been taught as an apprentice with oxy/acetylene; perhaps TIG welding won't be as scary because it will be without the explosions that scare novice gas welders to death with a fear of flash back into the regulators/cylinders. We apprentices all experienced the same at first; quietly welding with the gas torch feeding in the rod then suddenly a loud bang which didn't do nerves any good at all; I'm crying with laughter just thinking back to those days half a century ago; if you can gas weld with oxy/acetylene Sandy I'm sure you'll fully understand what I'm on about.

I have a friend nearby who owns a metal spinning company so if I need TIG advice on welding aluminium he'll be happy to help me out; he got me metal spinning in no time at all.

I'm awaiting a reply to an email request I sent yesterday asking for price of argon cylinder and welding rods; I'll buy 1050 rods because the aluminium sheet I'll be using is grade 1050.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

What an immaculate workshop Colin!