In the Workshop – Sunrise Farm Project

Beer-flavored Sawdust

I finally finished making test beer flights last month so I can share the pictures of each stage of making them. I know this has been a long time coming and I hope there will be more soon.

This is a project that I get to make from tree to board to rough project and then finished flight with makes it very satisfying. The trees are grown and harvested nearby, sometimes from our own property and milled by a nearby friend. The rest of the work is done in my barn that doubles as a woodshop in the fall and winter months. In some cases, the lumber has never been out of a 1 mile radius, except when we deliver the finished product to the customer.

Here is the milled lumber in the shop:

Rough board, without being planed or cut

It’s worth noting that after the board arrived in my shop, it had to “rest” for a month before I could begin. This time allows the wood to acclimate to the temperature and humidity and reduces warping as I begin sawing and sanding. If there isn’t this time, projects will start splitting and not fitting as intended even before anything is completed. I ran into this problem with a few projects last fall, and I hope to not repeat the mistake.

Rough board with outlines of 3 different flights

The first part was to plane the board and then draw my design. After that I cut the board into “square” pieces. Once in a more ‘square’ shape, I cut out each outline and sanded the faces and edges to both remove any rough edges for the cutting and soften the surfaces. I started with 60 grain and moved step by step to 210 grain sandpaper.

Custom ordered flights in the cut stage before sanding

Once the sanding was done it is time to do any finishing work such as woodburning, painting, or staining. I decided to use a beeswax mix on these. I think it helps the wood retain some natural texture and it doesn’t have a chemical smell. The wax also brings out the rich coloration of the walnut that was used in this set of flights. There are some brilliant variations in color that are hard to capture in a photo.

While I do use powered tools, I don’t use any guides so each flight is a bit different from the previous one. Sometimes this adds character I never could have planned out if I tried and other times it means I have to start over. But in the end, I truly enjoy the process of starting with a tree and going through the steps to make a finished product for my own home or for someone else.

Some Great Lakes beer with a few of the Great Lakes states

Featured in this post are a pair of custom flights that were ordered as a wedding gift as well as our “Pure Michigan” flights, four of which are currently available for purchase.

A Finished Cabinet

After several delays because of weather (needed varnish-friendly temperatures), I have finished the small side-board/cabinet that was commissioned earlier this year.

The top is made from reclaimed wood set up in herringbone pattern. We then used an epoxy coating to seal and finish it. The paneling and frame were made in such a way as to not distract from the interest of the herringbone top. All parts were stained per the request of the recipient.

I learned about a variety of hinges, different ways to set in cabinet doors, and how to apply epoxy quickly and effectively. Many of these skills will come in handy as I continue to take on small commissioned projects as well as projects around the house.

I learned a lot about building strength while keeping a piece small and as light as possible. I hope I can build more like this one.

Woodshop progress

The last month has been busy. I planned last year to do most of my projects in the slower winter months, but my shop isn’t insulated which causes more warpage in the wood than I had expected.

I have been spending most of my time on two projects. First was a custom cabinet I was asked to make. The customer had been unable to find anything to the size they wanted that wasn’t pressboard “junk”. They also asked that there be no vertical support between the doors to allow for easier access.

I decided to use small pieces of reclaimed lumber to make a patterned top which took a bit more work but was worth it. With the side, back, and lower shelves made with single sheets and cut to fit inside the frame. The colors were picked by the customer but I did recommend adding a clear epoxy for the top to show off the patterned wood.

The second project that has been getting loads of time and work is a dining room table. It was ordered to a specific size 8×4 ft. The wood and stain selection was custom (although there is a shortage of selection lately).

I started with unfinished lumber and have spent a lot of time planing (smoothing the surface) and jointing (fitting the edges that meet so there isn’t cracks). Then I was able to start to peg and glue the boards together into a table top and apply a stain. I am satisfied with the results so far.

These two projects, given their collective size, have occupied both workshop space and time. As I continue to progress, we will be making decisions about insulation and timing for woodcraft projects. But for now, I’ll continue to make do with what is available.

A Quick Update

This past year has been quite an adventure, to put it mildly. One of the side effects of this crazy busy-ness was that I have fallen FAR behind in writing updates on all the projects going on around SFP. I will try to correct this now.

The first is the garden. The rototiller arrived in late November 2020 just in time to be used briefly in the garden. Unfortunately for us, the temperatures dropped and the ground was frozen the very next day. We’ll definitely update more on that later once we have had a better chance to put it to work. Suffice to say, the rototiller is going to be helpful in adding compost to the gardens and adding a flower garden in the spring.

Next project is that the Mrs SFP has decided to start plants inside so we can get the garden going a bit earlier. So I was “asked” to build so shelves for grow trays that can have lights suspended above them. The build took about a week to plan, gather materials, and then build it. Again, there will be a detailed post to follow.

The woodshop is filled up with projects in various states of not-yet-finished. There has been some small project success with cutting boards and trivets. I really do like the small stuff that I can finish in a late evening or just few hours. The larger projects are taking up a lot of the space in the shop are the 8 x 5 ft table and the half log bench. The cold has made it terribly hard to avoid wood warping as the humidity changes and all the projects have really slowed down.

And finally I have two deer skins salted and hanging to tan as soon as the temp rises. Most of the tanning work has to be done above 40F and the actually tanning paste can only work above 50F.

As we adjust to a new rhythm going into the spring months, I’ll be sharing more about all that we’ve been working on.

Building a Chicken Coop

Chickens are simple, straightforward, and (dare I say it) cheap. My own research found the uses for chickens is meat or eggs. Mary and I decided we wanted to have eggs since as long as you can shop and wait for sales meat can be had at the store very effectively and we already had a good “store and use slowly” system.

Looking into needed supplies and infrastructure, the main part was always the chicken coop itself. Premade coops and kits are available online, but for the size coop we wanted, seemed to cost $4000 or more. However I am very inexperienced in building structures of any quality so I had managed to find a online design that included a supplies list.

The actual build became quite an event. I have a rule that I don’t want to work with powered saws/drills etc., without other people around. This allows me to at least believe if I get into trouble, there would be someone to extract me from underneath or call for emergency services. I only had the help for a day and a half, so the construction was limited to a day and a half.

Stage one was collecting the materials. I do not have a trailer or truck so gathering anything over 8ft long had to be done with a borrowed trailer. You can see the collection here.

The only mistake I really made at this point was I did not pick up roofing cement and I should have been more careful about warping 2x4s (more on that later). Not shown here are the nails (exterior and interior), rolled asphalt roofing, metal drip edge, and tools.

I was able to assemble and frame the floor and the walls on the ground so I could stand them up and attach them to the floor deck without having to balance and maintain 90 degree angles and straight lines.

The floor was weather resistant cedar (shown above) and the walls were made out of interior 2x4s (shown below)

OSB decking was simple enough to add to the floor but Some of the seams did not line up with supports without some modifications. I have not decided if that issue is normal or a result of my inexperience.

The walls were filled in with plywood paneling and then the roof rafters could run from front to back. This was when the warped lumber became an issue but the structure stiffened up when the roof OSB was added. Below is show more issues with framing not lining up to the paneling.

And finally it was paint, cut windows, install door and latches, frame in the wire to keep enough ventilation and keep predators out, place the rolled roofing (once I went and got roofing cement), and the whole thing was finally done.

Evan sitting on the rood, Installing the rolled roofing.

First tool restoration

A rusted-over piece of metal in an old wooden apple box. That was what my dad showed me and asked if I was interested in taking. I am guessing the contents had been untouched since before he was born. But since I had announced my interest in refurbishing metal hand tools, all of my dad’s collection was mine for the taking.

Following some digging on the internet and scrolling through images what started as “an old ax head” was now named, a “Delaware” profile axe head. It weighed roughly 1lb, 4oz and I paired it with a 16inch hickory wooden handle. Given the weight, I chose the handle to make it a “Camp axe” (not small enough to be a proper hatchet but also certainly not a felling ax). This was an all-purpose tool.

Removing the rust was part experiment, part art form, and part wild-brained-guesswork. I started with a an overnight in white vinegar, then steel wool, and sandpaper. I started at 60 grit then 220, 600, 1000, 1500, and then 2000 grit. As I removed the rust, I began to notice the damage the old axe had taken. Dents in the back where it was hammered on the soft steel, groves and divots on the sides where it had hit rocks and such when dropped in the dirt. I had to decide what damage to repair and what parts told the story I wanted to preserve. It is of course more simple and easier to buy a new ax than to find and old one. But you find the old metal tools still around are the ones of highest quality in materials and craftsmanship. In an ax for example The edge must be sharp but that makes the metal more brittle. Softer metal is used toward the back to add flexibility.

The process of restoration from rusty to finished and handled.

Specifically I saw how PLUMB brand (which this is not) had between ½ and ¼ inch more hardened metal at the blade of than axe head compared to widely used modern design.

While working on this axe I found that following the white vinegar soak the change in metal types could be clearly seen as a color change. The difference in metal properties was quickly noticed because the damage to the cutting edge was chips taken out and the damage to the back was in deep dents where some previous user had used a hammer to drive it thorough.

All told I hope this axe lives up to its original quality. It certainly could outlast me as long as it is cared for and not abused.