Firewood Drying
07/10/2019
Oldest: Small woodstore
Newer: 1B/T, 4B/T, 2B/T
Newest: 3B/T
Author: hoose-owner
Motorbike
We have a small motorbike in the family!
It’s a 90cc pitbike, and was a generous donation from a colleague. It’s got a Chinese copy of the famous Honda Supercub engine, so parts are cheap. It will be a good project for me and my son.
Here are some things we’ve done in an effort to get this running properly:
- Replaced carburettor (I broke the original in an attempt to remove it).
- New piston and piston rings.
- Modifed the foot peg bar (must be from another bike I think).
- Cleaned out the fuel tank & replaced the fuel line.
It still wouldn’t run for long or start consistently. So I took it to a friend’s neighbour who offered to help. ‘Try replacing the spark-plug’ he said.
- Replaced the spark-plug.
Suddenly this thing came to life! The old plug was still sparking visibly but obviously not strongly enough. So after this I had to look at another modification:
- Added a restriction to the twist throttle handle.
Photos to follow.
Fixing up an old trailer
I’m fixing up an old trailer I was given a couple of years ago.
It was originally a trailer tent (a Conway Challenger, no less). It’s sides are sheet metal and the floor is plywood. The fibreglass wheel arches have come detached, my right foot has breached the floor and the rear door has taken its leave.
It has long since passed the point of being safe, and is well on its way to becoming useless.
I’ll be welding up a new frame using 40×40 x 5mm angle iron. and use decking boards for the floor & sides.
Cyclone style dust collector and hose size mayhem
So I want to connect a vacuum up to my table saw to reduce dust. I buy a cyclone-type dust collector. Then I sit and tie myself up in knots looking at the hoses, fittings and cannot work out what I need to complete the job.
This all looks fairly straight forward until you consider the diameters of the hoses/fittings.
| Ref | Device | Outside Diameter (mm) |
Inside Diameter (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vacuum | 35 | n/a |
| 2 | Dust Collector | 55 | 50 |
| 3 | Dust Collector | 55 | 50 |
| 4 | Table Saw blade guard | 38 | n/a |
| 5 | Table Saw chip case | 58 | n/a |
I’ll update this when I find the hoses and fittings required.
Winter Visitors
Here are a couple of snaps of feathered friends from a few weeks back – a robin and a goldfinch.
I’m indebted to a friend who has furnished me with a Canon EF 100-400mm L – Mk 1. What a luxury.
Table Saw Table
- I’ve build a stand for my table saw (a Metabo TS something or other). Space underneath for a vacuum and a debris separator.
Table Saw Stand
With wheels on one end, it will be easy to move. First I’ll need to build a ramp to roll the stand down into a storage area. I used one part cement, 2 parts aggregate (about 15mm) and 3 parts sand.
Concrete for ramp
Ramp complete
Glove Holder
Here’s an idea for storing gloves or other small items – wooden clothes pegs glued and screwed to a board of wood.
Clothes pegs on a bar of wood.
Wood Dried in the New Wood Store
We burned the first batch of wood dried in the new wood store. I think it’s beech.
First batch of wood dried in new wood store.
A tale of two mauls
Buying a splitting maul or splitting axe? Learn from someone who made a mistake.
One terrible splitting maul and one great one. The first literally bounces of most logs. The second cuts beautifully.
The first is a Faithfull (unfaithful) something or other which I promptly returned. It was like hitting a log with a sledge hammer. The second is a Draper Expert and makes splitting a pleasure.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-Expert-09944-Splitting-Fibreglass/dp/B002SCOLTY
Fibreblass handle. 6lb / 2.7kg head.
Trailer!
Very excited to get my hands on this new (to me) trailer.
It needed a new plug, so that was tonight’s task…
My Wood Corner
An hour or so round here of an evening and stress levels are destroyed. Not that I’m stressed. Think I just enjoy chopping wood.
Slates, slates, slates
I’ve spent a few days repairing dodgy slates on the roof of our auld hoose. Almost every replacement slate needs cut to size. Hence the debris…
Mantel Beam Mounted
It’s doing the job. The floating beam remains aloft, even with some cards weighing it down!
I settled on 12mm threaded rod to mount this beam.
Pi Zero Temperature Sensor (+webpage +StatHat)
This small project came about when I was asked whether the Raspberry Pi could measure the temperature of a biomass boiler and display it on a phone.
Using a couple of digital temperature sensors, the DS18B20, some python and a bash script, the temperature at each sensor is relayed to a web page every 60 seconds.
Shaping the Beam
The beam was 6″ x 6″ PAR – planed all round – so it was anything but round.
Some shaping helps it look more aged & natural…
I used a freshly sharpened kukri to carve off the sharp edges and shape it around the knots. [Side note: have a read at this: wikipedia:Kukri — what a great tool.] I followed that with a belt sander at 80 grit, then hand-sanded to 120-grit. Oak is a nice wood to work.
Choosing a Finish for the Oak Mantel
I’ve got an offcut from the oak beam to test a couple of finishes… left is stain in shellac previously donated by a local french polisher. On the right is Briwax wax, “Jacobean” coloured.
I’m leaning toward the Briwax… the grain comes out more prominently.
Kids’ Ladder
Here’s the ladder constructed… just needs a coat or two of varnish. 
Beginning the Kids’ Ladder
I’m going to attempt to build a ladder for the kids to get into their loft-den. I’m using spare, recycled timber. The steps will be decking boards cut down the middle.
Log Store Loft
The loft in the log store is the perfect size for a kids’ den. Here I am flooring it with some recycled HDF.
