Home Improvement Discussion & Advice

[LadyTevar]

Tomorrow night is easter bonfire time. Traditionally we'd have a huge public bonfire in every village, but due to corona we'll be doing our own instead. I want to use it for cooking in the future too, for cooking over open fires and using rotary spits.

I just spent an hour in the basement looking for my roasting pan. Couldn't find the lid for it, so hell with it, I'm buying a new one for the Easter Pork Butt.

[The_Saint]

...
I just spent an hour in the basement looking for my roasting pan. Couldn't find the lid for it, so hell with it, I'm buying a new one for the Easter Pork Butt.

I know that feeling...
Starting to get everything out of storage as we get closer to moving into new house and finding a lot of my good oven trays have a lovely orange patina.... whelp, time to thin them out I guess and think about nonstick

[His Divine Shadow]

Why is a little rust a problem? Nonstick is the worst, doesn't last a damn.

[His Divine Shadow]

Also I'm gonna use this thread for various DIY stuff, so here's a project I finished last week, called a pantorouter, got the plans from woodgears.ca - Matthias Wandel was the guy who originally got me interested in woodworking.

[Gandalf]

Why is a little rust a problem? Nonstick is the worst, doesn't last a damn.

[Gandalf]

No idea what happened there, and missed the edit window.

I presume the whole appeal of nonstick is the sheer ease relative to effort leading to longevity. When it's done, throw it out because who cares? We've had a brass (I think) pan for over a decade which does take some effort to clean, but is still going strong.

[His Divine Shadow]

I presume the whole appeal of nonstick is the sheer ease relative to effort leading to longevity. When it's done, throw it out because who cares?

Yes, this is my problem with non-stick. This attitude.

[LadyTevar]

I presume the whole appeal of nonstick is the sheer ease relative to effort leading to longevity. When it's done, throw it out because who cares?

Yes, this is my problem with non-stick. This attitude.

Because I moved in with Mom, all my baking sheets are in the basement still boxed up, because she's got her own sets. I gave what I could to my brother when he moved into his new place, but I couldn't remember which boxes had what so he didn't get everything.
Nitram's grandmother's tea-set is down there, as well as the box with my FiestaWare 5-piece setting in 12 colors.

[His Divine Shadow]

I was mostly talking about why I didn't think some rust was a reason to throw away working cookware, and why I don't like nonstick (it doesn't last, and the buy and throw away mentality it engenders).

And from last night, what happens when you take sawdust and throw it in the fire:
https://i.imgur.com/0vTR0MA.mp4

Night vision mode on the camera resulted in some funky colors.

[His Divine Shadow]

Pantorouter mortise and tenon test, that's a reaal good fit, goes plop when I pull it apart. Once setup you can make perfectly fitting mortises and tenons like this forever. I can also make integral dowels if I wanted to, or multiple mortises and tenons instead a single large one.

[LaCroix]

Niiice...

[The_Saint]

My issue is a history of cheap 2nd hand or inherited stainless which in this day and age isn't very stainless and poor storage has lead to it deterioating.

Cast iron makes effective non stick and as a bonus it should work well with an induction cooktop.

[His Divine Shadow]

Hewing axe, derusted, sharpened and a new shaft made. Ready to be put to later for hewing the logs I will use as roof beams.











Finnish hewing axes are double beveled, scandi-axes tend to be. You angle the axe instead so the bevel hits right. So this can be used from any direction on any side. This has a straight shaft and will be permanently affixed, people in the savo region would have curved shafts (curved sideways that is) and pop the head off and swap the handle around. Which the long single taper design allows. Another reason for the design is the use of birch as shafting material. It's not as strong as hickory so the axe has a long collar and large bearing surface instead. Works well, birch has a nicer feel than hickory, transmits less vibrations to your hands and tolerates extreme cold better, when it gets eral cold hickory can get brittle.

[LaCroix]

Interesting design. Makes Hewing much easier when you do not need two axes to be able to work in proper direction
Does the other one (red goop on handle in first picture) have a dedicated anvil/boss on the rear to hit it with a hammer when splitting or is it a hammer for staking/dogging the log when hewing?

[His Divine Shadow]

The other axe is a general purpose forestry axe, it's used for rough hewing after notching, felling, splitting and so on. Also used when doing timber work on log houses, cutting joints for instance. It's a real old timer axe.

It's a copy of a Billnäs 12/1 made by rival company Kellokoski. The most common and popular axes in finland of the early 20th century where the Billnäs models 12/1 12/2 and 12/3 (but there are alot of models out there). The 12/1 is the largest and the 12/3 is the smallest, like a carpentry axe.

My three axes of the 12 model range:


The red goop was from fitting the taper btw

[His Divine Shadow]

Put the hewing axe to use tonight. First time ever attempting this. I made a wooden template I screw to the end of the stock and get level, then I use that to make cuts on the end to see where I should remove material. I follow the principles shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8DD5NQ1L7c

After the layout work I cut stop cuts first with the regular axe, then I rough hewed, again with the regular axe, then I tried to remove to the line with the hewing axe. I guess not bad for a first try (IMO), I feel I could get a nicer finish if I go over it a few times with the hewing axe and take small cuts, but it's getting late.

[The Infidel]

Hewing axe, derusted, sharpened and a new shaft made. Ready to be put to later for hewing the logs I will use as roof beams.

This is just beautiful!
I really like to reuse old stuff like this. I have a scythe that had an old, rusty blade. A new blade is inexpensive, but it is much more satisfying salvaging the old stuff, and now, it is razor sharp. I like the heavy beard of the axe, makes it easier to use it as a hook when needed. Please give it a female name. Pretty please with lots of sugar on.

My big cleaver is named Elvira. She's my favorite axe. She's an old lady not afraid of doing hard work.

[His Divine Shadow]

Naming your tools is like naming your guns, it's a weird thing to do.

[The Infidel]

Naming your tools is like naming your guns, it's a weird thing to do.

I know. I do it as a joke. When I introduce her to someone who can take a joke, I smile gently and have a flat, soothing voice of a psycopath.

How did you derust the head? I would think getting the worst off with sandpaper and a steel brush, then soak it in Ferrobet. When it wad dry, use some zink spray to make it more resistant in the future?

[His Divine Shadow]

I use an electrolysis bath, then I might follow it up with citric acid solution and some scrubbing in regular water. Then I just oil it lightly. Some of my axes I painted partly black because that was the factory appearance, but not this one. Don't think it had one.

[His Divine Shadow]

Bricklaying (LECA blocks), got help with the strings from an expert.

[LadyTevar]

A week ago, after some strong thunderstorms with high wind, I found some of the roofing shingles in the yard.

This is not a good thing. Mom's been trying to get the roof fixed for the last few years because it's leaking, and that was before shingles started flying off. She's had three companies give her estimates, and we can't afford ANY of them. She's only getting $2000/month. I'm getting $800/month now that I'm back to work.

It needs done soon... but gods alone know how we'll get it done

[LaCroix]

A week ago, after some strong thunderstorms with high wind, I found some of the roofing shingles in the yard.

This is not a good thing. Mom's been trying to get the roof fixed for the last few years because it's leaking, and that was before shingles started flying off. She's had three companies give her estimates, and we can't afford ANY of them. She's only getting $2000/month. I'm getting $800/month now that I'm back to work.

It needs done soon... but gods alone know how we'll get it done

I think you need to get a ladder and take pictures to figure out how bad it really is.
(not telling you to get on the roof, yourself - a tall ladder to take photos from)
Also - if you have access (think so) get in the attic during the day and search for light coming in.
Also - hunt down the places you know water is leaking and take well lighted pictures of the roof structure under them (Both structureal and and insulation, if present).
If you have a roof hatch, that would also be a good vantage point to try getting a look at things.

That might solve the question of handyman vs. contractors, and the urgency involved. The leakages might have been a question of some shingles being slightly out of place (Water is really good at finding the single bad spot), and those might have flown off in that storm - so maybe it's just a job for joe neighbor putting a few shingles into the right places for a sixpack and a pizza, if you are lucky. But it might also be that pretty much everything is just barely hanging on, and the shingles you found are only the ones that did not fly far enough...

But you should assess that need, quickly. If shingles are down, you are exposing the roof structure (and the house underneath) to a lot more water, and that will make things worse the longer you keep it linger. It might be "just" a couple hundreds right now, but could become a serious rebuild or imminent collapse in less time than you might think if you are less lucky with size.

[Zaune]

If you don't feel comfortable clambering around on a ladder, incidentally, it's a good bet that someone in the neighbourhood has a drone with a camera. I was looking them up earlier today and they're surprisingly cheap.

[His Divine Shadow]

Log rough hewn on the sides, I went for 7" wide and will try and aim for 8" high, damn what a workout, developing entirely new calluses from this. I've refined it since the picture was taken.



Gonna build some sturdy saw horses so I can get the log higher up, so I can work standing straighter. I think I can flip it next and do the top and bottom, the log is not straight so I positioned it so the bend points upwards.

Also got a couple of berry bushes and planted three more fruit trees, so now we got an apple tree (with five types), pear tree, two plum trees and a cherry tree.