Vacation Wrap-up

Well, vacation is over.  this post covers some of the things that happened during the last week of 2016 and the first week of 2017.

Chili 

Enjoyed making some chili with ALL home preserved or harvested ingredients!

My own venison from my recently harvested buck!

Beans that I canned last January.  I used Adzuki beans and Kidney beans. They canned great!

The final pot of chili!  It tasted great!!

Workbench top build

I decided to "frame" the 22" wide hickory section of my workbench top with oak so that I didn't have to mill up any more of my "finished" hickory boards/planks.  Remember that this project started when I took a look at the hickory mill ends and decided that it would be such a waste to just burn them (I didn't want to chip them up for mulch because I am not sure if hickory would should be used for mulch - hickory is in the walnut family which produces chemicals that retard the growth and germination of other plants!)  So anyway, I decided to recycle some of the old oak boards that I had laying around the place.  I have already recycled a number of these old oak boards for a canning shelf and for the base of the workbench.  As I started milling the old oak boards I noticed quite a bit of powderpost beetle damage.  I remember seeing lots of damage to the canning shelf lumber too.  I sealed the canning shelf with polyurethane as a finish and that seemed to stop most of the beetle activity.  However, the legs of the workbench have on-going powder post beetle damage (I see piles of dust under the legs!)   Therefore, for this workbench top, I was extra-picky to try to remove any damaged sections of the oak that had powderpost beetle damage.  I went through A LOT of the old oak boards to get the wood that I needed, and even then I still have some with powderpost damage.  I will finish the workbench with some kind of oil treatment and hope for the best!

This is one of the last hickory glue-ups.  I did 3 of them. one 11 inches and two 5.5 inches.

A total of  5 glue-ups were done - this is the last - an oak glue up, about 5-6 inches wide..

After the 5 laminated pieces were complete, I had to carry them out to the shop to plane them!  The 5 inch  wide ones weren't too bad, but the 11" one was quite a challenge!  

First step was to cut the 11" section in half to fit it through the planer!

My re-saw bandsaw did this task quite well!  I put up my roller tables to handle this heavy beast.

After cutting the 11" incher in half I then proceeded to plane the laminates (6 now) so that I had "good wood" and even edges to do the final glueup

Again, I used the roller tables to support the pieces 

They planed up quite nicely!  

I really should have put one edge through the jointer to make sure they were all square, but there was no way to handle these things through the jointer!

All laid out on the floor - ready to move to the workbench top for final glue up!

The final glue up!  I laid all of the laminate sections on top of the workbench and arranged them as best I could to get them square and aligned.

The workbench without a top.  It sags significantly in the center!

Glue up underway.  Clamps in place.

It was pretty cold that night so i placed this space heater on top.  I don't know if it helped or not, but the glue-up worked!

The next step, after allowing the glue to set and removing the clamps, was to "plane" the table top smooth, level, and flat.  I did this using a router sled on some wooden rails.  While making the router sled I discovered that my jointer blades were a problem for flattening boards over 3 inches wide - there was a nick in the blades from last years projects that caused the center of the jointer blades to not cut.  Therefore, when I ran a wide board though the jointer it would wobble significantly!  I burned a day of time learning this lesson!  Since I couldn't flatten a board using the jointer I just found a piece of OSB that was pretty flat and used that.  I made a couple of side pieces edge-straight (the jointer did work for edges) and then glued and nailed the sled together.

Router sled.  OSB with jointed oak sides

I made a couple of rails from old oak(?) I found and jointed.  I aligned them using the "cross string method"

The router sled runs on these rails.  The router bit height is adjusted to the lowest part of the table top and then moved across the table until the whole surface is routed to the same height.

Here shows after the first couple of passes

it works!

DONE!  I had to use some hand tools to get the edges, but that was easy.

Level and flat!  (actually, its mostly flat - if you look close there is a slight "sag" in the center that I think was caused by the sled sagging when the router was furthest from the edges.)

Sweet!

After flattening it, I sanded it a bit and patched a few mistakes and some glue-gaps.  Then I used some Watco Danish oil to finish it.  I only had time to put on one coat of oil so far.  I will do another the next time I am at the farm.

Before danish oil

After danish oil!

Pretty!

I also trimmed off the rough edges.  I used the hand held circular saw and then a hand saw to finish up.

At the upper right of this picture you can see the boo-boo I did.  Just at the end of routing it flat the router sled slipped off the rails and the router gouged out a section!  GRRR  I used some wood filler on it.  

Whew!  After doing all of this, I am thinking that maybe I should redo the base of this workbench! 300lbs is a lot for these legs.  The table does move (wobble) when you force it....  and I am not done adding weight yet.  I need to added the vices yet!  There is only 4 "board based" legs on this bench. Thinking I might replace these with 6 solid wood legs.

Faucet Replacement - sink repair

The kitchen faucet went out at the Silver Spring house.  The under counter part that held the faucet in place rusted out.  So i went shopping for a replace faucet.  I got one that had the long gooseneck with a sprayer built in.  This seemed ideal until we realized that we have a portable dishwaser and needed a ordinary faucet nozzle to fit the dishwasher adapter to!  I thought about it awhile and decided to add another simple faucet to the same sink - this simple faucet would then server as the dishwasher adapter faucet.  Instead of using the base plate to cover the old faucet holes I just used some plugs.  I think it turned out pretty nice!  The only problem now is tat the hot water feed line leaks a bit under the sink,  We have a bucket there now.  I am hoping that it self-seals; they often do.

Dishwasher adapter on left, fancy sprayer on right.

We put the dishwasher one on the left to keep it from splashing the clean dishes in the rak to the right of the sink.  However, the gooseneck makes the splashing so bad that even  on the left the splashes reach the clean dishes!  We will have to figure out something..

Miscellaneous

I finally got around to making some elderberry liqueur.  Well, I started it anyway.  It needs to sit for about 6 months.  I haven't added the sugar or lemon yet.    I made about 2 quarts.  I followed a recipe on the internet that called for 1 quart vodka, 1 pint elderberries, the peel of one lemon (with white stuff removed) and 1/4-1/3C sugar.  

It looks really pretty!

I also made a couple pies.  I am trying to "eat out" the freezer a bit so that I can fit my venison in (its in mom's freezer now).  While going through my freezer i found a container of blueberries that I picked the year before, so I grabbed them and a couple pints of canned apples (I am also trying to use my older canned goods) and made these pies.  They were quite good!

Apple-blueberry pies. 

More trees coming for the new year!

I went ahead and submitted an order with "Cold Tree Farms" for the following:

(placed on January 4, 2017 9:39:35 PM EST)

Item	Sku	Qty	Subtotal
Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) - 1-2'	WABL12	25	$27.50
Northern Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) - 6-12"	PECA612	4	$18.60
Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) - 1-2'	GINK12	25	$37.00
Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) - 1-2'	CHOK12	30	$51.30
Choke Cherry (Prunus virginiana) - 1-2'	CHCH12	25	$51.25
I saw that the Fulton County Conservation District has also put put their tree order sheet for next year so I need to put that order together too.  I really should plan out where I am going to put all of these trees!

More woodshed. Walnut milled!

Mill status

I moved some more of the timber logs from near the house over to the mill-barn.  Moved some heavy ones - those big oak pieces from the big tree I felled in the spring of 2013.   I was barely able to use the front-forks to move one of them - it was just on the edge of tipping!  The other log, the bole, I had to drag.  The ground was frozen so it didn't tear things up too bad.  I have no idea how I am going to load that bole onto the mill!  I might need to halve it with the chainsaw first.  IDK.

After moving some of the outside logs I found that I had several Black Locust logs of a decent size.  This made me consider using locust wood as the base of the floor of my woodshed!  I milled one of the boles  and found that it was somewhat decayed at one end and was only able to get a few 2x4 pieces that where long enough for one side of the woodshed.  I milled another locust log and was able to get 3 2x6's with enough length to provide the basis for the other side of the woodshed floor base.  I have 2 more locust logs that I hope will give me enough wood to put in some floor joists.  Not all of the floor base and joists will touch the ground, so finger crossed that the remaining logs have enough good wood!  The locust, like most of my wood, has been "cured" for at least a year, so its fairly hard. Locust is known for dulling saw blades so I am already seeing that this latest blade is showing signs of "wandering"!  I have been using the water drip for all of my cuts on this blade - I think it does help with the locust.

Walnut, milled!

Chris came over Sunday and we milled the Walnut into mostly 6/4 boards.  He had purchased some AnchorSeal and we painted the ends good with that before and after milling.  Walnut mills very easily, I'm not even sure we needed the water drip, but since this is green wood I wanted to be sure we got no fouling from sap!  Chris and I stickered the wood with some old ash and some pine.  

Chris next to the freshly stickered Walnut boards.  We got about 73 board-ft of mostly 6/4 lumber 

Woodshed progress

As I mentioned above in the "Mill Status" section, I milled some locust for the floor base for the shed.  I wasn't sure about using locust wood in this fashion since I haven't heard of it before.  However, after a search on the internet and talking with John Black, I am convinced I should be using a lot more locust for my building projects!  Locust is hard on the mill blades, but its a very stable wood and otherwise mills quite well.  I will be milling more locust for the floor joists next weekend, I hope.

Woodshed with the floor base installed.  Locust 2x4's on the upper side and 2x6's on the lower.

I should mention that John Black stopped by my place on Saturday and informed me that I should get a permit for the woodshed.  I was a little surprised since I thought that the shed was below their threshold (1500 sq ft I thought), but he said that any building requires one.  It's not really a building permit I guess, but a "land use permit".  It's only $25 so I am not sweating it.  He said the next township meeting was on the 26th and I should go to get the permit then.  I called the old secretary number, but a machine picked up - I left my number and asked for a call back.

John and I got to talking and I learned a lot.  He makes wine too (evidently uses the same recipe book I do!).  We exchanged some of our recent wines.  He gave me a bottle of plum and I gave him a bottle of the concord and a bottle of the pear (I gave him a half-pint of raspberry jam too).   The plum wine was excellent - I think I got the better deal in that trade!  I have 4 plum trees, but they wont be producing plums for a couple years yet.  I will definitely think of making some plum wine when I get some plums!

Tree purchase and plans

I got the new Fulton County Conservation District tree order form for this year.  I am planning on getting some of the Pristine and Liberty apple trees (maybe 3 each?)  Also going to try to raise some strawberries this year!  I have no idea what to do for strawberries, so this should be a learning experience.  Getting 12 more blueberries (2 of each type) and 50 more elderberries to go in the "swampy area" out in the clay field.  I am considering getting 100 black locust seedlings since I don't see a lot of black locust on my property (not that I have looked very closely).  I think I will plant them along the fence line of the hay field.  I need to measure that fence line and see if 100 will be enough.  I also want birch trees eventually, but the conservation district doesn't have them on the form.  I will ask if that is something they will look into carrying.

Just for point of reference, I have already ordered some trees from Willis Orchards.  So far I have (order number: 101027226580)

5	2-3' (Limited Supply) (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Jefferson Hazelnut Tree	$27.95
5	2-3' (Limited Supply) (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Yamhill Hazelnut	$27.95
1	1-2' (10 Trees) (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Pecan (Native Hardy Seedling)	$34.95
5	1-2' (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	White Walnut Tree	$5.95
5	1-2' (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Black Walnut Tree	$4.95

and (order number: 101348118149)

6	3-4' (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Montmorency Cherry Tree	$24.95
6	3-4' (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Dwarf North Star Cherry Tree	$24.95
4	2 Year Old Vine (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Pinot Gris Wine Grape Vine	$8.95
4	2 Year Old Vine (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Sauvignon Blanc Wine Grape Vine	$8.95
4	2 Year Old Vine (Ships 11/10/2014 - 04/10/2015)	Zinfandel Wine Grape Vine	$8.95

I am still mulling over where to plant all of these.   I think the grapes will go just below the current vines (I need more trellis posts!).  The walnut I will probably plant up along the high field along the wood border.  I am still considering where to plant the  pecans and hazelnuts.  I want the pecans to be somewhat protected, so not along the high wood line!  Maybe below the barn in the wet field area?  The hazel nuts could go in there too - I need to see if its maybe too wet an area for them there.