Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Reconditioning Old Tools
I spent a good portion of yesterday reconditioning an old miter saw, with my husband's help.
Wait! What does that have to do with gardening?
Well I don't want to leave all the cutting for the potting bench to my husband, so I thought I could try doing some of the smaller cuts. A couple years ago I bought a Millers Falls Langdon 1124 miter box and saw at a yard sale for Tim. Well, I've appropriated the box. Iit's probably the safest way for me to cut wood, since there are guides and no electricity involved.
The saw was covered in rust, and Tim was kind enough to buff it out. He showed me how to do it, and I tried, but my angle was not ideal, so he did it for me, and it only took him a few minutes. Then he buffed in a penetrating wax to help prevent future rust.
The saw handle was also in pretty bad shape. I spent some time sanding off the first layer of gunk last night. More sanding will be done today and tomorrow. I should have taken before pictures, but I'm not that clever.
The miter box itself also needed a good bit of TLC. I scraped the glue off the surface, and sanded everything lightly. I also disassembled the guides and cleaned them out. It's amazing how much gunk there is when sawdust and grease get together. Then, I waxed all the surfaces I cleaned. The box really needs to be fully disassembled cleaned and rebuilt, but it's good enough for now. I found a .pdf of the manual for the box earlier today, so when the potting bench is done, it may get the full treatment, since I have instructions now on how to reassemble it correctly.
Wait! What does that have to do with gardening?
Well I don't want to leave all the cutting for the potting bench to my husband, so I thought I could try doing some of the smaller cuts. A couple years ago I bought a Millers Falls Langdon 1124 miter box and saw at a yard sale for Tim. Well, I've appropriated the box. Iit's probably the safest way for me to cut wood, since there are guides and no electricity involved.
The saw was covered in rust, and Tim was kind enough to buff it out. He showed me how to do it, and I tried, but my angle was not ideal, so he did it for me, and it only took him a few minutes. Then he buffed in a penetrating wax to help prevent future rust.
The saw handle was also in pretty bad shape. I spent some time sanding off the first layer of gunk last night. More sanding will be done today and tomorrow. I should have taken before pictures, but I'm not that clever.
The miter box itself also needed a good bit of TLC. I scraped the glue off the surface, and sanded everything lightly. I also disassembled the guides and cleaned them out. It's amazing how much gunk there is when sawdust and grease get together. Then, I waxed all the surfaces I cleaned. The box really needs to be fully disassembled cleaned and rebuilt, but it's good enough for now. I found a .pdf of the manual for the box earlier today, so when the potting bench is done, it may get the full treatment, since I have instructions now on how to reassemble it correctly.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Spring Suprise!
First, no, steel bolts do not "spring out and plunge straight through both cheeks."
Now that we have that out of the way, the seedlings I replanted after the big storm are doing well. One major issue remains, however. I don't know what most of them are!!!!! While they're alive, they're still mostly at that stage where everything looks alike. Once they have actual leaves I'll start posting pics and we can play "Guess that plant!" Whee! I should have some suhyo and some yellow squash that just came up. They were mystery seeds/seedlings too, but easy to tell apart from other things. I just replanted my zucchini. I lost the seeds I bought for a while.
On the bench front, I sanded almost all of the wood last night. I have some large pieces that still need to be sanded, but they also need to be cut quite a bit, so I'm waiting to sand until then. We also got the table saw set up, but we need to raise it about 3 inches. Hopefully we'll be able to do some cutting on Sunday, but I'm not sure that will happen with other more pressing issues.
Now that we have that out of the way, the seedlings I replanted after the big storm are doing well. One major issue remains, however. I don't know what most of them are!!!!! While they're alive, they're still mostly at that stage where everything looks alike. Once they have actual leaves I'll start posting pics and we can play "Guess that plant!" Whee! I should have some suhyo and some yellow squash that just came up. They were mystery seeds/seedlings too, but easy to tell apart from other things. I just replanted my zucchini. I lost the seeds I bought for a while.
On the bench front, I sanded almost all of the wood last night. I have some large pieces that still need to be sanded, but they also need to be cut quite a bit, so I'm waiting to sand until then. We also got the table saw set up, but we need to raise it about 3 inches. Hopefully we'll be able to do some cutting on Sunday, but I'm not sure that will happen with other more pressing issues.
Monday, April 11, 2011
ReStore Score:
The rest of the wood for the potting bench!!!!! Huzzah! Including two planks of bullnose ceder for the benchtop! Now to get sanding, cutting, staining, drilling, and building! Trying to re-pot without a bench has shown that this is really more of a need than a want if I want to be serious about my garden. Pictures will be forthcoming as we go.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Sunny Days
My friend Eve offered to share some of her plants with me! But she lives in Huntington and we rarely go out that way, cause she's really my only friend in Huntington. But just the offer has helped put me in a better frame of mind.
I've still got a dozen or so plants in the AeroGarden, both mine and Paul's. I'm hoping to transplant them this week sometime.
Paul's garden is looking ok, but it was always looking good. I'm a little worried about his peppermint though. Between the crash and the cold it's looking a little shocky. Paul's Genovese Basil should make it, but I think mine is shot. We have a lot of dried Genovese, so I'm not too anxious there. My initial guess of about five of my plants, not including the peppers, surviving the storm doesn't seem to be that far off.
I've still got a dozen or so plants in the AeroGarden, both mine and Paul's. I'm hoping to transplant them this week sometime.
Paul's garden is looking ok, but it was always looking good. I'm a little worried about his peppermint though. Between the crash and the cold it's looking a little shocky. Paul's Genovese Basil should make it, but I think mine is shot. We have a lot of dried Genovese, so I'm not too anxious there. My initial guess of about five of my plants, not including the peppers, surviving the storm doesn't seem to be that far off.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Weary
As one may have noticed from the previous post, I lost most of my plants last night when the wind tipped over my greenhouse. The peppers, and less than half a dozen other plants were still in pots out of the 30 or so that were growing. Of the half dozen that I salvaged I'm not sure if they're going to survive, or if there was too much damage done to the plants. The peppers are the only thing I'm sure of. I don't know if I'm going to replant or not. This will be the third replanting for many of the plants. I haven't been blogging my death tolls well.
It's still well before last frost date, so I can still replant and have plenty of growing time, but I'm not sure I have the energy for it. Watching all your hard word destroyed over and over is very off-putting when the garden is a hobby and not a necessity. I'm open for opinions. What would you do? Replant, buy plants from a nursery, or give it up as a bad job for this year? Vote using the poll on the right.
It's still well before last frost date, so I can still replant and have plenty of growing time, but I'm not sure I have the energy for it. Watching all your hard word destroyed over and over is very off-putting when the garden is a hobby and not a necessity. I'm open for opinions. What would you do? Replant, buy plants from a nursery, or give it up as a bad job for this year? Vote using the poll on the right.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Miscellany
I've decided that I want to post about not just the plants, but about the various garden related projects I've got in the works. So today I'm posting summaries of all the things I've been doing while it's been too cold for my plants.
POTTING BENCH:
I've got most of the wood I currently have sanded, and now that the temp is above freezing at night, I can start staining again. I'm using Olympic Semi-Transparent Blue Sapphire stain. I'd link you the color, but the Olympic website doesn't have a good url to show just the color I'm using. Before I can sand and stain some of the boards, I need Tim to cut them to size. We've got a few scraps of pressure treated lumber that was in the garage when we moved in. I'm using that for some of the small support pieces and for the grate, since the grate will see the most moisture. The rest of the lumber I'm hoping to get from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
CURRENT ReSTORE SCORE:
3/4 x 6 x 74 in Cedar Board (w00t)
3/4 x 2 1/2 x 48 in Heartwood Cedar Board
Those are my windfall pieces. I've also got, in pine, the wood for the front and back legs, two of the shelves, the bottom shelf supports, some of the bench top frame, and most of the bench top. I still need the bottom shelf, the long pieces of the bench top frame, the backsplash, and the back supports for the shelves.
I thought I had one of the long pieces for the bench top frame. It was a pretty banged up and dirty piece of wood, so I was going to use it where it would not be seen. In fact it was in bad enough shape that I asked Tim to take the belt sander to it. I don't have enough confidence in my skills to use the belt sander when it's not clamped into place yet. When he got done sanding it, it turned into a lovely piece of poplar. It is now in our random lumber pile. C'est la vie.
POTTING BENCH:
I've got most of the wood I currently have sanded, and now that the temp is above freezing at night, I can start staining again. I'm using Olympic Semi-Transparent Blue Sapphire stain. I'd link you the color, but the Olympic website doesn't have a good url to show just the color I'm using. Before I can sand and stain some of the boards, I need Tim to cut them to size. We've got a few scraps of pressure treated lumber that was in the garage when we moved in. I'm using that for some of the small support pieces and for the grate, since the grate will see the most moisture. The rest of the lumber I'm hoping to get from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.
CURRENT ReSTORE SCORE:
3/4 x 6 x 74 in Cedar Board (w00t)
3/4 x 2 1/2 x 48 in Heartwood Cedar Board
Those are my windfall pieces. I've also got, in pine, the wood for the front and back legs, two of the shelves, the bottom shelf supports, some of the bench top frame, and most of the bench top. I still need the bottom shelf, the long pieces of the bench top frame, the backsplash, and the back supports for the shelves.
I thought I had one of the long pieces for the bench top frame. It was a pretty banged up and dirty piece of wood, so I was going to use it where it would not be seen. In fact it was in bad enough shape that I asked Tim to take the belt sander to it. I don't have enough confidence in my skills to use the belt sander when it's not clamped into place yet. When he got done sanding it, it turned into a lovely piece of poplar. It is now in our random lumber pile. C'est la vie.
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