Carpentry – Page 2 – Modern Anachronist

Hanging window treatments from the ceiling. (Don’t do it!)

[Apologies, dear reader. No pictures on this post. I got into the zone while working & never stopped to take photos.]

Actually, it’s not as bad as all that. Just a lot of information that needs to be made visible on the ceiling so you can install things aligned with the window. You’re going to need to mark the window frame, ceiling joists, and mounting hardware locations on the ceiling.

Step one (skip if you plan to paint the ceiling.) Painter’s tape gives you a place to make marks without marring the ceiling. Go big here. A few inches past the outside of the window trim. A few inches further out than you think you’ll need.

Step 2 (get creative). You need to transfer the outside, and maybe the center, of your window from the wall to the ceiling. I used a combination square and a speed square.

The blade of the combination square goes against the window trim. But 50 years of paint & caulk have built up the side of the trim so it’s no longer square to the wall. I used the speed square against the wall to rotate the head of the combination square. Then I traced the speed square along the ceiling.

If you’re paying attention, you know that because the head of the combo square is thicker than the blade, my line is about 3/8” inboard of the window trim. Given that it’s the same on each side of the window, it doesn’t matter.

For the center line, I eyeballed my blade on the center divider of the window and traced both left and right sides of the head. Then I drew a center line between those two marks. (It’s easier to eyeball the middle of a 3/4” gap than the middle of a 72” span).

Step 3 (Finally something straightforward). Use your stud finder to locate the ceiling joists and mark them on your tape.

Step 4 (in which something that your partner will recognize as progress actually happens) Now that you know where the window treatment has to be and where the joists are, you can hold your window treatment against the ceiling and plan your fasteners. Can you lag it into joists? Are you using toggle bolts?

Mark your ceiling where the fasteners are going.

Step 5 (making holes, finally). Drill your pilot holes. The sizes you need are determined by your fasteners.

Step 6 (no subtitle needed) Peel off your painter’s tape or paint the ceiling after your holes are drilled.

Step 7 (The light at the end of the tunnel. Or is that an oncoming train?) Attach your mounting hardware to the ceiling and your window treatment to the mounting hardware.

New Door for the Ger

Last year, I noticed that one of the finger joints on the door was failing. I also may have figured out a way to reduce the amount of rain that runs down the door. So this spring I’m replacing the door frame.

New door frame. Kept the old purple door.

Ladder (Ger) rack for the trailer.

So, I CAN fit our entire camp setup in & on the excursion, but doing so means loading some heavy bits on the roof. I’m starting to see that this is not worth the risk.

It also means squeezing the kids onto the left & center seat and they’re starting to require a bit of space between them. (Teenagers apparently require more personal space than toddlers.)

So I bought the trailer. And now it’s time for the second phase of the modular trailer to be built.

Modifying the utility trailer

Last year I bought a utility trailer. Mostly because I was tired of putting Yurt bits on the roof of the Excursion. But also because I knew I was going to need to haul things I didn’t want inside my baby.

Today, I needed to hail a cubic yard of gravel, but the open sided utility trailer was just the wrong tool for the job.

I think I’d get home with almost zero gravel.

Garden Storage & Workspace (Phase 1)

Birthday present for the wife this year is a space for working and sitting and storing tools and materials for the veggie garden. *

It’s a wee space, but it has room for all the bits & bobs she keeps in the garden.

In addition to storage, she has a bit of a work space and a place to sit so she can commune with her plants.

Screw hole repair / upgrade

We bought the house from a flipper who “redid” the 45 year old kitchen. And by redid, I mean he replaced the old solid wood cabinets with the cheapest builder grade particleboard cabinets he could source. (My neighbors are still rocking the original cabinets, and while dated, theirs are holding up better than mine.)

After three years of use by my kids, hinge screws are starting to pull out of the cabinet frames.

Gotta catch ‘em all!

Yesterday I went to the flea market and was able to complete two sets of tools.

Did you know there are three heads that fit this ruler?

From left to right – a center finder, a protractor, and a combination square attached to a 16” metal ruler.

A day with the drill press

Alternately, a day of project creep.

I’ve been trying to figure out a tongue box (my wife loves that term, BTW) for the utility trailer. A place to store the lines, straps, wheel chocks, locks, tarps, tools, and other sundries that the trailer requires. But they’re fairly expensive and I’m having problems finding one that seems to be the right size size.

Remember the drill press? It’s a post about the drill press (mostly).

But then I saw it, on a neglected shelf in the garage. A Rubbermaid Action Packer box. Before we met, my wife used it to store her camping kitchen equipment. It sat empty at the old house for years. When we moved here I filled it with the candle lanterns that we use for party lights. Of course we moved just before the pandemic started and haven’t had any parties.

I know that the KLR crowd uses small action packers as tail boxes, so I think it is reasonably water tight. It’s lockable, certainly large enough for my needs, and the price is definitely within my budget. It might not be perfect (foreshadowing), but it will do.

Measure twice, check orientation, then cut.

While building kitchen Mk.2 I made a cutting error that cost me time and money to fix.

Circular saw offset jig

I made a quick jig so I could accurately place my saw guide. And, as usual, I made it incorrectly and then figured out an easier way. I’m going to write up the way I did it, and then explain how to avoid my mistake.