What We're Making

[MissMolly]

Get rid of a noisy furnace. Gain some new storage space. A win-win. Plus it looks great!

 

[street]

Very nice!

 

[Ronstar]

^Nice pantry!

 

[pacergal]

So many talented folks here!

 

[sengsational]

Finished installing the sauna. Haven't done anything with the raw footage, but will make a sauna build-out video at some point.

Finally got the video edited and published. I'm using "OpenShot" and it's quite a chore to use on long videos (43 minutes). I actually had to make 5 separate "projects", then join them all to make the long final product video. It's not something I expect many people will be interested in watching, but when I looked on youtube, I didn't find many sauna install videos for pre-cut kits that had all the details, so I figured I'd throw my very non-professional version up there.

 

[Koogie]

A new planter for my ferns out of scrap lumber.


edit: does anyone else find the quality of lumber is going down at the big box stores ? This project used up some 1x3 that I bought at Lowes in May. Absolute garbage. Straight as a ruler when I bought it. Crooked like a politician when I went to use it 6 weeks later.

 

[MissMolly]

A new planter for my ferns out of scrap lumber.


edit: does anyone else find the quality of lumber is going down at the big box stores ? This project used up some 1x3 that I bought at Lowes in May. Absolute garbage. Straight as a ruler when I bought it. Crooked like a politician when I went to use it 6 weeks later.

My husband is constantly complaining about the quality of the lumber nowadays. But, having said that, you did a great job on that planter. I really like that.

 

[Ronstar]

Nice looking planter Koogie! The only good lumber I've found at big box stores is the Select pine at Menards - which is better than their "quality" or standard pine.

 

[RobbieB]

My wall mount display rack for my Italian Stiletto collection;

Made of mahogany and poplar with neodymium retention magnets

 

[street]

^ nicely done! A great collection by the way, RobbieB.

 

[Retired Expat]

Got the email update about a posting to this thread, must admit I was intrigued about what kind of woman did woodworking and wore expensive Italian high heels? My kind of woman obviously!

Imagine my disappointment.....

 

[eytonxav]

My wall mount display rack for my Italian Stiletto collection;

Made of mahogany and poplar with neodymium retention magnets

I know laws have changed, but surprised those are legal in Cali. Nevertheless, nice collection. I had one many years ago that I brought back from Germany, but traded it for a bayonet.

 

[airbornesapper]

A little backyard project...

First kick at the TREX cat...for daughter

 

[airbornesapper]

A new planter for my ferns out of scrap lumber.


edit: does anyone else find the quality of lumber is going down at the big box stores ? This project used up some 1x3 that I bought at Lowes in May. Absolute garbage. Straight as a ruler when I bought it. Crooked like a politician when I went to use it 6 weeks later.

Any lumber you buy, you should Strap-it until you use it... then you will be fine... Most of the stuff you buy from Lowes etc still has quite a high moisture content...if you take the step above- you won’t have issue again...

 

[RobbieB]

I know laws have changed, but surprised those are legal in Cali. Nevertheless, nice collection.

Thanks! Here they are legal to own but not to carry. Since they never leave the house, I'll never get in trouble.

 

[MRG]

My wall mount display rack for my Italian Stiletto collection;

Made of mahogany and poplar with neodymium retention magnets

Nice use of poplar! I loved when we sawed it, light easy to handle and it's very unique colors.

ETA: When fresh sawn poplar is pale with bright green and bright purple streaks, the color fades during drying.

 

[Koogie]

First kick at the TREX cat...for daughter

Great looking deck. How was that stuff to work with ? While it looks really nice, did you feel in the end the extra cost was worth it over premium decking lumber ?

Any lumber you buy, you should Strap-it until you use it... then you will be fine... Most of the stuff you buy from Lowes etc still has quite a high moisture content...if you take the step above- you won’t have issue again...

Thanks. I don't know what Strap-it means.. ?

I do put lumber down horizontally usually to store it and if it is really green I weight it down but this stuff looked good when I bought it. I see there is a separate thread on the forum now about this topic..

 

[sengsational]

Cold water chiller

Not a "hot water heater", but just the opposite.

Earlier, I'd posted about how I just got done installing a sauna. But now I need to offset the heat. My "cold" tap water is 76F now and will get up to 85F as the summer progresses. So, enter stupid idea #432: the cold water button.

 

[ERD50]

Not a "hot water heater", but just the opposite.

Earlier, I'd posted about how I just got done installing a sauna. But now I need to offset the heat. My "cold" tap water is 76F now and will get up to 85F as the summer progresses. So, enter stupid idea #432: the cold water button.
...

Nice. And yes, as soon as clicked, I figured this also would be put to use in your beer brewing (BTW, have you tried the Kveik Yeast strains? They ferment clean at high 90F range! ). Now I'm really curious. I've never tried modifying the cooling coils on a fridge/freezer before, but when I saw you bend those coils, I cringed. And I guess the first attempt was a failure?

So how much water do you use per cold shower? And what temp delta? It's not hard to calculate the BTUs (or joules in SI) needed to chill your water supply, and what it takes to deliver that.

I'm really wondering if you need to go to these extremes. If it is 24 hours between cold showers, I bet the cold water reserve would hit very close to the fridge temp setting even w/o direct contact to the coils.

Or how about a mini-freezer? Using anti-freeze, you could be at 0F instead of 34F, and almost double your delta-T. And it would not be hard to add some ice packs to the coolant. As I'm sure you know, the phase change of water absorbs ~140x more heat than the water alone.

Hmm, maybe even simpler - several (to increase the surface area) big blocks of ice in containers in the freezer. Have the overage drain to a bucket outside at room temp with the pump. The pump drives that room temp water over the ice, and through the counter-flow chiller.

I could draw up a simple diagram if that's not clear.

Also, with your current setup, won't that stored water get slimy, even if kept cold?

-ERD50

 

[sdtech]

Schools here require masks starting today. Granddaughter, at 3 years old, has a small face and nothing fit. Spouse made this overnight. Good to go.

 

[MissMolly]

Schools here require masks starting today. Granddaughter, at 3 years old, has a small face and nothing fit. Spouse made this overnight. Good to go.

Oh, how cute!

 

[ERD50]

Schools here require masks starting today. Granddaughter, at 3 years old, has a small face and nothing fit. Spouse made this overnight. Good to go.
...

I have a solution to the fit issue, and I'm surprised this isn't common. DW also made masks for me, and after 2 tries they still didn't fit well (and of course, this was somehow my fault!). So my solution uses no elastic (which was in short supply), and is totally and easily adjustable.

I decided to go with two bands behind the head, rather than around the ears (which interfere with my glasses and pulled too much for my comfort), but a similar concept could be used for behind the ear. Just sew two cord/strip/straps to each side of the mask, about 8" long (not critical). Then tie each pair of straps to a large rubber band like this (so 2 rubber bands per mask - though you could try just one set of straps):

https://www.amazon.com/Coopay-Pieces-Rubber-Elastic-Folders/dp/B07F32KFFH

They are now fully adjustable, just set how tight each strap is by how far along the strap you tie the rubber band. Easy to change by re- tying it. And a long rubber band has a lot of stretch, so it's easy to take on and off, doesn't pull too hard, and doesn't use any elastic at all.

-ERD50

 

[Boho]

Consider ranger bands. They're made with EPDM rubber that won't break down under UV light as fast as natural rubber. I started disinfecting my mask in the sun and if the elastic starts to break down I may tie a few of my ranger bands together for a new band.

 

[pacergal]

Schools here require masks starting today. Granddaughter, at 3 years old, has a small face and nothing fit. Spouse made this overnight. Good to go.

What a cutie! Of course Grandma is going to keep her babies safe

 

[Time2]

Finished installing the sauna. Haven't done anything with the raw footage, but will make a sauna build-out video at some point. I did take a sauna last night. It worked great! The "duck board" (for the floor) isn't in the picture, but I did make one.

The sauna looks great. I have been reading and listening (podcasts) about all the positive health effects of sauna use. I want one! The only place I have is on a screened porch on the back side of the house. I'm wondering if I could frame it with aluminized styrofoam panels and then build the seating arraingement inside and not have any attachment to the walls. The panels come in many thicknesses, but 2" should be plenty. I have attached a picture of the foam material. I have questions about outgassing of the foam, although the seams would all be sealed from the foam, what 185* temps would do to the foam and fire threat.

We had a pontoon boat with a room and roof made of the material, that we used for 18 years before a hurricane beat it up.
Did you put a finish on the seating in your sauna? What wattage is the heater? How long does it take to bring it up to (what) temperature.?