Topic: Any carpenters here? Building an Octagonal "Glassebo"

[Bushman]

Please video its lifting and installation. 

[SLOweather]

Back to work... The Weather Vane thread is here: http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=27818.0

Yesterday, I started on the copper letters for the directionals for the vane. I printed out  big N, S, E, and W in Word and then glued the letters to the copper:



And cut them out with aviation snips and a hand nibbler.



I filed the edges smooth. Also the soft copper was too soft, so I work hardened them by hammering with a ball peen hammer over a wood block. Besides hardening them, the process also gave them a nice hammered finish.

In 60 years, I think that's the first time I've ever used the peen side of a hammer as it was intended.



The mounts are 1/2" copper street els with a cap soldered on. The 18 ga copper letters fit tightly in a hacksaw groove. When everything's ready, I'll silver-solder it all together...

[SLOweather]

After fretting for a while over a theme for the design of the upper indicator, I decided to stick with the name of our property, Teddy Bear Oaks. (Out front we have a driveway gate made of Cor-Ten steel, of oaks and mountains, and a pair of bears that spin in the wind, made for us by a local artist...)

Yesterday, I started on the fletching for the wind arrow. Same basic process as the letters, but no hammered finish.



I should receive more copper from MCMaster-Carr today to finish it up.

[SLOweather]

The Anvil Sidetrack, or, maybe, better, the Anvil Siding.

I don't have a decent anvil. I have a lil one on my vise, and a couple of chunks of steel bar and round, but not an anvil. And, hey, that's something no one seems to be selling around here on craigslist.

On Ebay, I saw one cut from a railroad rail. It just so happens that I have about a 3' chunk of narrow gauge rail I scavenged from up in redwood country. A 7" piece would make a nice little anvil for beating out my copper shapes.

But how to cut it? I could try my  abrasive cutoff wheel, my battery recipro saw, or the gas axe. Any  is likely to take forever, with less than optimal results. After a phone call, it seems that my neighbor has an old Jet power hacksaw, like a metal band saw.

Amazingly, it took about 5 minutes to slice through the rail.



After I took the picture, I ground the crown of the anvil piece with an angle grinder to smooth out some of the pits.

It's pretty cool. The pitted end actually makes a more interesting surface on the copper.

[SLOweather]

Got a lot done the last couple of days. After I got more 18 ga copper, I made another, larger leaf for the tail, and a big acorn for the pointer. Then I sized the arms for a nicer appearance.



I bought a 1 1/2" cap at Ace and cut the end off to make a reinforcing collar for the directional arms and silver-soldered it on. Then I marked it and used a step drill to make the 5/8" holes for the arms.



Here's the whole thing, as it is today, test assembled without solder for any of the vane or directional arms. Hence the sag in the vane

[W3DRM]

    Nice job Chris, but, does it turn in the wind as you want it to? Am thinking the tail of the wind vane still needs to be a little bit bigger to ensure it follows the wind.

You also may need an armed guard for it if you add much more copper... 

[SLOweather]

  Nice job Chris, but, does it turn in the wind as you want it to? Am thinking the tail of the wind vane still needs to be a little bit bigger to ensure it follows the wind.

You also may need an armed guard for it if you add much more copper... 

Thanks, Don!

It's more sensitive than I expected. With 2 18" arms of 1/2" copper on the bottom, it seems to have a little too much rotational mass. In a really light wind, it's underdamped and overshoots, swinging a bit too much. To complete the Teddy Bear Oaks theme, tonight I cut out a bear shape with separate arms and legs that will be riveted on. I need to refine the shape and file the edges, and then hammer some dimension into it. Once done, I'll pose him and solder him in place. That will give a little more surface area on the tail. I dunno yet about balancing the nose/tail equally. Maybe with some lead sinkers in the pipe.

[SLOweather]

Who knew adding a nice verdigris patina was as simple as spraying with a 3:1 mixture of red wine vinegar and Miracle Gro???

[SLOweather]

OK. I got the copper version of the add-a-mometer running, with copper arms and temporary cups.



It's made from 1 1/2" pipe, shimmed for 2 ball bearings, 1/4" hobby copper tube for the arms, a 2" copper cap for the drip shield, and the temporary holiday ball cups.

Youtube vid here:

https://youtu.be/2c5kUy9HUg0

[SLOweather]

In keeping with the theme of our property, Teddy Bear Oaks, I cut out, hammered and riveted a copper bear for the weather vane...



As soon as the chemicals arrive, he gets a bath in Florentine brown patina.

[SLOweather]

And I tried my hand at hammering out a 4" copper anemometer cup...

[SLOweather]

It's time to start working on the base and posts. As with seemingly the rest of this project, my methods of construction are not simple and straight forward.

The base 6x6 beam are connected with mitered half lap joints, which are both then mortised and then pinned with a 2x2 tenon cut on the bottom of the post.

Sidetrack... I added a 240 outlet to the garage and rewired the radial arm saw for 240 to get a little cooler running and more consistent power.



The laps and tenons were all cut on the RAS, then smoothed with a chisel and Stanley Surform. I drilled the mortise holes with a 2" Forstner bit, and then squared them up with a reciprocating saw, chisels, and the Surform.



Still refining the mortise procedure. They are a PITA to make, and I have like 30 more to do.

[SLOweather]

Well, back to the timber work. Yesterday, the vintage Ohio Tool Co. 1" corner chisel I scored off ebay arrived. It rained overnight and a little today, so I've only been able to try it a little bit. It arrived really sharp, and seems to work well.

So far I've been roughing out the mortises with a 2" Forstner bit and then cleaning up the corners. I've tries a battery reciprocating saw, as well as an assortment of chisels, and a Surform.

I think the corner chisel will help a lot.

Here it is with an elm maul my grandfather used to cut the stone for my parent's house, before I was born.

[SLOweather]

Woo hoo! Today, I got the rest of the 8 base/sill beams cut and rabbeted. The octagon closes! (Which, while I didn't really doubt, I'm pleased to finally verify!)

[SLOweather]

Score! When I designed the cupola, I originally wanted wooden louvers. However, I couldn't find any I could afford. So I settled on steel gable vents from Home Depot. I cleaned them out when I bought 4 of the eight I needed, and hadn't got the rest yet.

Earlier this week, I was at Restore, a used building materials shop run by Habitat For Humanity. In the door section, they had a couple of pairs of bi-fold closet doors, for $15 a set.

I bought one and brought it home for study.



I think with a little judicious cutting, and adding 8 rails, I can get the 8 wooden louvered vents I need out of this set of doors. The steel venst were about $12 each, and I needed 4 more, so, even though I already have 4, I'll save a little money.

And, if it works, I'll donate the 4 I have back to Restore...

[SLOweather]

I guess I forgot to include the pic of the bifold doors:



After studying the bifold doors for a day or 2, I committed to cutting one up. I sawed it in two through the center rail, sawed the other rail of one half to match, and then trimmed one section and added a 1x2 rail with a drip bevel to the new bottom. And did the same with the other piece.

Here's a temporary look at them in place.



Since these are interior doors and the slats aren't even glued into the slots in the stiles, I need to figure out how best to weatherproof them. I'm thinking about soaking them each in a penetrating oil finish or something.

[SLOweather]

Sidetracked... Between having the cold that's going around, and the holidays, I haven't gotten a lot done.

I save the cut off ends of the 6x6es for joint practice and other things.

So I tried a little finish experimentation.

First, I put a wire wheel in my angle grinder and distressed part of one side to "weather" it a little. The I applied a little home made weathering stain. Basically, that's a jar of white vinegar and a 0000 steel wool pad or 2, and let it age for a couple of days.

Then, a little sanding with some fine paper to knock off some of the weathering, and a coat of clear penetrating oil finish to see what it looks like:



The weathering stain is pretty cool. It's not a pigment or dye, but a chemical reaction to the tannins in the wood.

[SLOweather]

I was watching an episode of Barnwood Builders on GAC the other night. They used a chain mortiser:



Man, could I use one of those (for a day).

[PaulMy]

In case you didn't know it, some of us ( I ) are watching and following your progress, and enjoying it tooo.
 
Paul

[SLOweather]

Thanks! It's nice to get a little feedback occasionally.

[C5250]

Since these are interior doors and the slats aren't even glued into the slots in the stiles, I need to figure out how best to weatherproof them. I'm thinking about soaking them each in a penetrating oil finish or something.

Totally normal for the slats to be floating. The wood will expand and contract as humidity changes, so they should be floating so that the movement doesn't push apart the frame. You could seal them with polyurethane, but be aware that they will not develop an aged look anytime soon, so if you want that look stain them first.

[SLOweather]

OK, I think I'm on to something mortise-wise. I picked up a Dremel Multi Max oscillating tool at Home Depot. With the correct blade I can plunge cu into the 6x6 with relative ease, up to the length of the blade.

After some experimentation, here's the current way I'm making therm.

Mark the center and corners on the cut part of the lap joint with a template, and connect the corners with a straigh edge and pencil. Drill a 2" hole with a Forstner bit and a half inch drill motor with a bubble level on the back.

Use the Dremel to square up the corners.

Flip the timber over. Mark the corners with a template and straight edge. Finish up the corners with the Multi-Max

[SLOweather]

Well, it's been a little over 2 years since I worked on this. I've had to take a hiatus for family/elder care reasons. Dad hurt his back and ultimately passed away a year ago last October at 91, and then we've spent the interim getting Mom healthy at 95.

The recess hasn't been all bad. I refined my woodworking skills on the antique phone, the Tribute table, a tray, and the workbench built around the old vise. And, I had a lot of time to read woodworking books and realize what I was doing wrong with the mortises.

Everything...

Wrong thing 1: Wrong chisels. I ordered a couple of Robert Sorby 2" timber framing chisels and do they make a difference.

Wrong thing 2: Trying to work on them at ground level. I'm glad I built the new bench. It's sturdy enough to hold 2 of the 6x6 base timbers.

Wrong thing 3: trying to mark and cut the mortises for 2 mating timbers one at a time. Now I put the 2 of them up on the bench, mate the half lap joints and check the miter, clamp them and then screw the joint together with 2- 3 1/2" screws for the mortising.

Wrong thing 4: Impatience... Not much else to say about that. Now I'm enjoying taking my time and doing it right.


I dollied my floor drill press out to the bench. With the table lowered, the drill head fits over the bench. So, I check and shim the timbers for level, move the press into position, check it for plumb and shim it. Then I drill the marked mortise location as deep as I can with a 2" Forstner bit and an extension, and then finish it off with the bit in a 1/2" hand drill. That way, the hole goes through both halves of the lap joint in just the right spot.

Then, it's chisel and chip with the framing chisels and my late grandfather's elm stone cutting maul.

I also cut a precise 12" long 2" square tenon template on the table saw to proof the mortises as I cut them.

Now I have to go back and clean up the first 5 mortises...

[Glenn]

Very cool project!

[SLOweather]

I made progress in the last week or 2.

The tenons at the tops of the posts are all cut:




The top eight 4x6 beams are all cut and the half laps done:



And the octagon closes nicely:



So now it's on to marking, drilling, and chopping the top mortises.

I have an 18 gallon shop vac connected to the dust outlet on the radial arm saw I use to cut the kerfs for all the tenons and half laps. The other day was trash day, and I decided I should probably check the vac and see if it needed dumping.

Duh. That's ALL sawdust...



And, I have a half of a trash can full of kindling cookies from all of the mortises and tenons from this round of cutting...