Well folks, this blog is usually reserved for some fun projects but something has been nagging me for a few weeks now. This is going to be my review of how we now review movies. Essentially, we've lost that loving feeling, in a way.
Like many, I had been looking forward to seeing Batman V Superman. To make things even better, I was going to see it with my 11 year old son who is rapidly becoming a fan of all the genres I like. No need to think about who would like to see a particular movie or show with me, he's now my go-to guy for that. Seeing a new Star Wars movie earlier this year with him, well that was a special feeling. All those childhood fond memories of seeing certain movies for the first time are now happening again but now I can share the experience with my son, which is awesome.
So back to Batman V Superman, which never got a fair shake right from the start. Think about it, as soon as Ben Affleck was announced backseat directors and critics started bitching about it. Nobody could believe that Affleck would make a good Batman. There was also the stigma from Man of Steel to contend with. Certain people were disappointed with that movie so having the same actor reprise the role of Superman as well as same director didn't instill confidence in people, I guess. Jump to a few weeks before the film opens, we hear that Ben Affleck actually did a good job as Batman and that Gal Gadot also puts in a good performance, which I wholeheartedly agree. So the day the film opens, we get our first real reviews by so called experts, and they hate it! Aside from Gal Gadot, they can't seem to find anything redeeming with the film. And although a few critics note that Affleck puts forth a pretty decent Batman, mentioning it too much might be a little hypocritical as some of these same people blasted the choice of Affleck as Batman. We can't say he was good because last year we said he wouldn't be.
So reviews are bad, but people end up going to see it anyway. Which I guess miffed some critics as the following Monday morning, along with news that the movie has actually had a huge opening, these critics come out in full force to voice their utter disbelief that people didn't trust them enough to not go see this piece of shit. Really? Could they not just reconcile that their views on the movie were not automatically shared by one and all?! So for a full week following it's release, we were treated to the most negative marketing campaign they could muster together. Article after article, dissecting the movie every way possible and showing people all the negative aspects of this movie. Trying to convince people how wrong they were to go see this movie.
So second weekend comes around and surprise surprise, the ticket sales for Batman V Superman plummet. Critics rejoice as they have finally been vindicated. People have listened to them and not gone to see a movie on the big screen that they will end up renting or just downloading illegally anyways. But this is where I started to notice something. Although North American box office for Batman V Superman plummeted in it's second weekend, foreign box office didn't plummet at same %. Why is it that? Are moviegoers in North America more fickle than the rest of the world? Or are we just so critical of everything now, necessitating perfection and if we don't get it we throw a virtual tantrum on every form of social media we can find.
I'm sorry Zach Snyder ruined your life. I mean seriously, that he did not make the movie you had envisioned in your head, how dare he??? And I'm sorry you can't admit that Ben Affleck made a pretty good Batman. He probably didn't get your memo that he was supposed to suck. And you know what, I thought Henry Cavill, which I thought was good in Man of Steel, also upped his game for BvS. The only portrayal I had issues with was Lex Luthor. Have always enjoyed Eisenberg's performances but I felt he played it a little too crazy for this character. Did I enjoy the movie less, not really as I still go to the movies just for the pleasure of it. To sit for a few hours and be entertained by something I have never seen before. I don't feel swindled because the director chose to portray a character differently than in the comic book but I guess some people do.
So now the movie has crossed the 700 million dollar mark and the first article I see this morning is that even though the movie has crossed 700M in just a few weeks, that it's failure may very well cause Warner Brothers to scale back on number of movies it produces over next few years. Seven hundred million dollars in 2 weeks and change, a failure??? Wow, you just can't stomach that all your negative reviews have stopped this from being a profitable movie?
I guess since we live in an era where we can have 3 different Peter Parkers within the same decade, that we could reboot the justice league next summer. Why not?
Coming back to international box office. I remember another film that I enjoyed but was also torn to shreds by critics, Waterworld. Waterworld was deemed a flop in North America but it still ended up being a commercial success, despite it being way over budget. The reason? International box office was strong. Does that mean that other countries are stupid? easier to entertain? No, I think it comes down to the fact that they may appreciate more. That their expectations are not that a director will be 100% faithful to source material that will end up making a movie accessible to the small percentage of fans who are actually familiar with source material. I'm sorry Batman and Superman superfans but you are not as many as you would like to think. Studios need to make compromises to make a movie accessible to as many moviegoers as possible. Sometimes you stick to your material and put out an R rated Deadpool movie but when a movie,s budget is in the hundreds of millions, you kind of want to get more than just the hardcore fans into those seats. So at 700 million dollars and having already recouped it's production budget just in North America, can we stop calling this movie a failure? You don't have to like the movie but you can't say it isn't successful.
We are now a medieval king, sitting on a throne, chomping a turkey leg and screaming at the jester: "ENTERTAIN US!!!!" But we've seen a lot of jesters before and are no longer impressed.
And don't get me started on the season finale of The Walking Dead.
When I was a kid, going to the movies was a treat. We didn't care if it was a good or bad movie, as long as it was a fun experience.
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
Friday, 30 October 2015
So long my friend.
I know it's only been 2 days since you've been gone but I'm still looking for you when I get up in the morning. Still expecting you to come running up the driveway to meet me when I get home from work. The house seems so empty now without you, not to mention we now need to pick up any crumbs of food that make their way to the floor. Matt misses you, your "Mum" misses you, all the kids at the bus stop miss you, hell, even the cats miss you. Thanks for being the best dog a family could ever ask for. Rest in peace Doofer.
Thursday, 15 October 2015
Tralali trala Trellis
Hi there,
hope you enjoyed the summer, we sure did. Our backyard projects did go on "pause" for August but we're back on them now. A little off topic but in August we usually hold a little shindig at our place with some family and friends. The evening always ends with a fireworks display that me and a buddy put together. This year was first year we had another friend take a bunch of pics and video of the event. I'll post video when I get it but here is a cool pic he took of us when we doing the fireworks.
So back to my current project, a trellis (or pergola??? what the hell do you call these things?) to replace our old rotted fence attempting to hold up our growing grape vines. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been manually digging the holes for the concrete pillars and although this structure is eventually going to require 16-20 posts, this year I'm aiming to finish up half the structure so 8 will do. I've got 6 done but I went ahead and started the framing.
As you can see, the ground isn't level but next year we will level it out. Now if you know anything about these brackets that i have in the concrete pillars, you know they are made for standard dimensional lumber, meaning a 6X6 is really 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Problem is that I'm building this with rough lumber so I had to dress down (with a hand planer) the end of the posts I was putting into the brackets.
So by taking close to 1/16 off at a time with my powered hand planer, a few passes on each side did the trick.
Now before I put these posts up, I needed to mill the other end to be able to cradle the horizontal beams. One day I may learn some fancier jointing techniques but this was simplest way I thought could give me the strength and a bit of a design aspect. Again, working with rough lumber does have some drawbacks as my skillsaw only has a cut depth of 2 1/4 inches so one cut on each side, a 2 inch cut across and then I finished with a reciprocating saw. Out of 8 posts that I did like this, I had a slight offset (one cut not aligning perfectly with the other) on just one post so I'm pretty happy with that.
Now it was time to start building this thing. I put some anchor stakes into the ground so I could temporarily brace the posts on 2 axis, so I could keep them level. This was a little tough to do by myself but I knew I'd be able to tweak the positioning of these posts once I had a few pieces of the structure in place.
Put up a few more of the posts then it was time to add some horizontal pieces. Again, no one else was home, the dog just wants to sit there and watch and don't get me started on how useless the goats are when it comes to building stuff. So thankfully, last year's big purchase has become the swiss army knife of the farm.
I know this picture screams "you need a bigger tractor", but some day, maybe, probably. In the meantime, even though the bucket couldn't lift as high as was needed, it still was really easy to get that piece up there when you only need to lift it up another foot or so. I was able to just lift one end and put it in it's place and then move ladder to other end and finish putting it in place. Having the right tools makes these projects so much more fun (and easier).
I did put in another full day on this last weekend but it was a rainy day so I wasn't pulling the camera out too much. I have to say, this is one project where I didn't really do any drawings and just had the rough deisgn in my head. Anyone who knows me will find it odd that I hadn't meticulously planned every aspect of this project but I figured it would be a simple one. The surprise for me during this project is that although I had a "vision" of what it would look like, the finished product is already starting to exceed my expectations. Once this is fully done next summer, it will be a central feature in our landscaping. I think we will end up building outwards from this feature. The positioning of it is pretty neat as well. From the pics in this post it might be hard to see but this structure will be flanked on both sides by two maple trees. The center of the structure will then extend towards the old barn we plan on refurbishing next summer. That "center" will then serve as the "gateway" to the back portion of the property.
So for now I've run out of lumber, but more is getting delivered tomorrow. By end of this weekend I should have some new pics for you, but in the meantime, thanks for stopping by.
André
hope you enjoyed the summer, we sure did. Our backyard projects did go on "pause" for August but we're back on them now. A little off topic but in August we usually hold a little shindig at our place with some family and friends. The evening always ends with a fireworks display that me and a buddy put together. This year was first year we had another friend take a bunch of pics and video of the event. I'll post video when I get it but here is a cool pic he took of us when we doing the fireworks.
So back to my current project, a trellis (or pergola??? what the hell do you call these things?) to replace our old rotted fence attempting to hold up our growing grape vines. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been manually digging the holes for the concrete pillars and although this structure is eventually going to require 16-20 posts, this year I'm aiming to finish up half the structure so 8 will do. I've got 6 done but I went ahead and started the framing.
As you can see, the ground isn't level but next year we will level it out. Now if you know anything about these brackets that i have in the concrete pillars, you know they are made for standard dimensional lumber, meaning a 6X6 is really 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches. Problem is that I'm building this with rough lumber so I had to dress down (with a hand planer) the end of the posts I was putting into the brackets.
So by taking close to 1/16 off at a time with my powered hand planer, a few passes on each side did the trick.
Now before I put these posts up, I needed to mill the other end to be able to cradle the horizontal beams. One day I may learn some fancier jointing techniques but this was simplest way I thought could give me the strength and a bit of a design aspect. Again, working with rough lumber does have some drawbacks as my skillsaw only has a cut depth of 2 1/4 inches so one cut on each side, a 2 inch cut across and then I finished with a reciprocating saw. Out of 8 posts that I did like this, I had a slight offset (one cut not aligning perfectly with the other) on just one post so I'm pretty happy with that.
Now it was time to start building this thing. I put some anchor stakes into the ground so I could temporarily brace the posts on 2 axis, so I could keep them level. This was a little tough to do by myself but I knew I'd be able to tweak the positioning of these posts once I had a few pieces of the structure in place.
Put up a few more of the posts then it was time to add some horizontal pieces. Again, no one else was home, the dog just wants to sit there and watch and don't get me started on how useless the goats are when it comes to building stuff. So thankfully, last year's big purchase has become the swiss army knife of the farm.
I know this picture screams "you need a bigger tractor", but some day, maybe, probably. In the meantime, even though the bucket couldn't lift as high as was needed, it still was really easy to get that piece up there when you only need to lift it up another foot or so. I was able to just lift one end and put it in it's place and then move ladder to other end and finish putting it in place. Having the right tools makes these projects so much more fun (and easier).
I did put in another full day on this last weekend but it was a rainy day so I wasn't pulling the camera out too much. I have to say, this is one project where I didn't really do any drawings and just had the rough deisgn in my head. Anyone who knows me will find it odd that I hadn't meticulously planned every aspect of this project but I figured it would be a simple one. The surprise for me during this project is that although I had a "vision" of what it would look like, the finished product is already starting to exceed my expectations. Once this is fully done next summer, it will be a central feature in our landscaping. I think we will end up building outwards from this feature. The positioning of it is pretty neat as well. From the pics in this post it might be hard to see but this structure will be flanked on both sides by two maple trees. The center of the structure will then extend towards the old barn we plan on refurbishing next summer. That "center" will then serve as the "gateway" to the back portion of the property.
So for now I've run out of lumber, but more is getting delivered tomorrow. By end of this weekend I should have some new pics for you, but in the meantime, thanks for stopping by.
André
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
DIY Greenhouse and other projects
Well hello there. You thought I was gone didn't you?
Apologies for not posting in a while but now that I have several upcoming projects, thought I'd get back into documenting them. Not to mention after not doing much on it last year, I am planning on upgrading the main project, the pirate ship in a few weeks from now. I've got some neat ideas on how to finally complete this project but more on that in posts to come.
So what have been up to? Well, the wife wanted a greenhouse for this summer so late last fall we salvaged the frame from a temporary garage (10x20) and got to work. I should have taken some pics of just the frame but here you go.
I took the side braces and moved them up to the roof section to give the
plastic that would eventually cover it more support. I didn't know what kind of winter to expect but I sure as hell didn't want to do all this work and come spring have plastic all shredded so I built up some half walls. All the wood used was hemlock, which I find gives me excellent rot resistance and there is a small family mill 5 minutes from the house that saws it and leaves it in rough form, meaning a full 2 inches thick.
Now the pic below is once we had greenhouse sheathing draped over it. The Mrs. was afraid of too much air getting in so opted to have the plastic right down to the ground. I felt that with tongue and groove boards, there shouldn't be much air and that having plastic over the wood would keep too much moisture and be detrimental to the wood. Look at the picture and try to guess who won that discussion.
So the pics so far were right before winter. Below you can see we've accentuated the setup with some garden boxes and some screen doors on each end of the greenhouse to let air and pollen carrying critters through. Oh, you may also notice that my plan of leaving the wood uncovered by plastic has been revisited.
Honestly, this really turned out better than expected. The pic below is from a few weeks ago but yesterday my wife said he tomato plants in there are the best looking ones she has ever been able to grow. She added a few solar driveway lamps in there and at night it looks pretty cool.
Another pic below here shows behind, again a few boxes.
Now here are some pics of upcoming projects. First up is an old fence we have been using as support for some grape vines. As you can see this fence is dead. I'm currently (one per night), digging holes for concrete pillars (in the ground) that will support a trellis (or pergola, not sure which is which). Hoping to have this project done by end of next week.
Next up is going to be the pirate ship. It has endured a few rough winters and still held up and any time there Matt has one or more friends over, this still becomes make believe central. I'll be finishing up the rigging, replacing the cheap cargo net, finishing railings and a few other bells and whistles. Need to get this finished before our yearly fireworks shindig in mid-August.
Next pic are big logs I got from a neighbor. Have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet but I'm looking for ideas.
The bridge is still rock solid but severe flooding in the spring has eroded quite a bit of soil around the concrete piers so I need to fix this before winter. I'm hoping the creek will dry up enough this summer that I can pour more concrete to shore up the piers.
Now before I get to the bulk of these projects, I need to sort out the workshop. It is a DISASTER right now.
Following pic is of the other section which I have started to clean up.
So that's what I've been up to and what's coming up. I've got a few other smaller projects that I want to try and get to as well but I don't want to put them down here quite yet. If I write about them now, a certain someone will hold me to them. : )
I'll be back shortly, I promise. And as always, thanks for dropping by.
Apologies for not posting in a while but now that I have several upcoming projects, thought I'd get back into documenting them. Not to mention after not doing much on it last year, I am planning on upgrading the main project, the pirate ship in a few weeks from now. I've got some neat ideas on how to finally complete this project but more on that in posts to come.
So what have been up to? Well, the wife wanted a greenhouse for this summer so late last fall we salvaged the frame from a temporary garage (10x20) and got to work. I should have taken some pics of just the frame but here you go.
Now the pic below is once we had greenhouse sheathing draped over it. The Mrs. was afraid of too much air getting in so opted to have the plastic right down to the ground. I felt that with tongue and groove boards, there shouldn't be much air and that having plastic over the wood would keep too much moisture and be detrimental to the wood. Look at the picture and try to guess who won that discussion.
So the pics so far were right before winter. Below you can see we've accentuated the setup with some garden boxes and some screen doors on each end of the greenhouse to let air and pollen carrying critters through. Oh, you may also notice that my plan of leaving the wood uncovered by plastic has been revisited.
Honestly, this really turned out better than expected. The pic below is from a few weeks ago but yesterday my wife said he tomato plants in there are the best looking ones she has ever been able to grow. She added a few solar driveway lamps in there and at night it looks pretty cool.
Another pic below here shows behind, again a few boxes.
Now here are some pics of upcoming projects. First up is an old fence we have been using as support for some grape vines. As you can see this fence is dead. I'm currently (one per night), digging holes for concrete pillars (in the ground) that will support a trellis (or pergola, not sure which is which). Hoping to have this project done by end of next week.
Next up is going to be the pirate ship. It has endured a few rough winters and still held up and any time there Matt has one or more friends over, this still becomes make believe central. I'll be finishing up the rigging, replacing the cheap cargo net, finishing railings and a few other bells and whistles. Need to get this finished before our yearly fireworks shindig in mid-August.
Next pic are big logs I got from a neighbor. Have no idea what I'm going to do with them yet but I'm looking for ideas.
The bridge is still rock solid but severe flooding in the spring has eroded quite a bit of soil around the concrete piers so I need to fix this before winter. I'm hoping the creek will dry up enough this summer that I can pour more concrete to shore up the piers.
Now before I get to the bulk of these projects, I need to sort out the workshop. It is a DISASTER right now.
Following pic is of the other section which I have started to clean up.
So that's what I've been up to and what's coming up. I've got a few other smaller projects that I want to try and get to as well but I don't want to put them down here quite yet. If I write about them now, a certain someone will hold me to them. : )
I'll be back shortly, I promise. And as always, thanks for dropping by.
Monday, 29 December 2014
Social Media
Addendum!
As I was closing off the last post, I thought about the other social media outlets I'm on and if you want to know when new posts come out, you can also follow me on Twitter at @Stratt38.
Fair warning, my posts there are not limited to home improvement issues but you might be amused from time to time while you await anxiously a tweet that says "new post on backyard kidz!"
Cheers!
André
As I was closing off the last post, I thought about the other social media outlets I'm on and if you want to know when new posts come out, you can also follow me on Twitter at @Stratt38.
Fair warning, my posts there are not limited to home improvement issues but you might be amused from time to time while you await anxiously a tweet that says "new post on backyard kidz!"
Cheers!
André
Not the end of the road, yet.
Good day and welcome back (to me too I guess).
A reader sent in a comment asking if I was done and thought I'd do a quick post about the status of the ship.
We spent this past summer and fall taking actual vacation time and working on a few other projects. Had to build a new raised chicken coup that would blend in to the surroundings.
The chicken coup was partially built out of used pallets. That's a bit where we're heading with some of our projects, salvaging and giving new life to materials. My wife has been spending quite a bit of her online time on Pinterest and she found some nifty uses for used pallets. There is one project in particular, a small cabin made out of pallets that is just amazing and we have started to collect pallets to make one. We have maybe 8-10 pallets but I guess we'll need about 100.
We also decided it was time (the Mrs. has actually been asking for one for years) to build a greenhouse. So I recycled to metal frame from a used temporary garage and added in some wood components and we covered the thing with greenhouse plastic sheathing and voilà, instant greenhouse. Actually, it wasn't as instantaneous as that. I built sidewalls so we wouldn't have to shovel snow away from the sides during the winter. Still need to rearrange the interior but I should have some neat pics of this project up at some point.
Other projects ahead in 2015: well in continuing with out recycling theme, the workshop is in for a major overhaul. Yes, the little red barn that we had always planned on demolishing once we got around to (and have the budget to) building a garage, will be SAVED! We are going to tear down sections that are not salvageable but the main 2 story section will be saved. We will add a small garage (22x12 maybe) and also a covered porch section in the back. Be sure to check in on this project, should be a fun one.
So the list for this summer is now (not necessarily in order of completion):
A reader sent in a comment asking if I was done and thought I'd do a quick post about the status of the ship.
We spent this past summer and fall taking actual vacation time and working on a few other projects. Had to build a new raised chicken coup that would blend in to the surroundings.
The chicken coup was partially built out of used pallets. That's a bit where we're heading with some of our projects, salvaging and giving new life to materials. My wife has been spending quite a bit of her online time on Pinterest and she found some nifty uses for used pallets. There is one project in particular, a small cabin made out of pallets that is just amazing and we have started to collect pallets to make one. We have maybe 8-10 pallets but I guess we'll need about 100.
We also decided it was time (the Mrs. has actually been asking for one for years) to build a greenhouse. So I recycled to metal frame from a used temporary garage and added in some wood components and we covered the thing with greenhouse plastic sheathing and voilà, instant greenhouse. Actually, it wasn't as instantaneous as that. I built sidewalls so we wouldn't have to shovel snow away from the sides during the winter. Still need to rearrange the interior but I should have some neat pics of this project up at some point.
Other projects ahead in 2015: well in continuing with out recycling theme, the workshop is in for a major overhaul. Yes, the little red barn that we had always planned on demolishing once we got around to (and have the budget to) building a garage, will be SAVED! We are going to tear down sections that are not salvageable but the main 2 story section will be saved. We will add a small garage (22x12 maybe) and also a covered porch section in the back. Be sure to check in on this project, should be a fun one.
So the list for this summer is now (not necessarily in order of completion):
- finish pirate ship
- renovate the red barn into something AWESOME.
- Finish greenhouse (it is pretty much done but once we start using it, there will undoubtedly be some changes to be made).
- Finish chicken coup (actually only a few pieces of trim remain and we'll probably finish that this winter)
- Finish the actual barn (this is the one with the actual farm animals in). It's a board and batton but I never actually got around to putting the battons on. Also need to rethink the windows in the hayloft as some rain does make it's way in.
Lots of other small projects but the big ones will be the ship and the red barn.
On the pirate ship, I'd be interested to hear your ideas as to what you think is missing. Here is what is planned.
- Crows nest with rope bridge to the bridge.
- Finish railings
- Cargo net (we bought one but I find it very flimsy so will buy a spool of rope and make one from scratch)
- Possibly use some netting to make a mock-sail. I don't want something that will catch too much wind but would like something that "simulates" a real sail.
- Finish the cabins (need to put in some sleeping areas) and brig area.
- "Child proof" a few hatches. I don't have any springs or pistons slowing down the shutting of hatches and although doors aren't too bad, the hatch in the middle of the deck has ALMOST caught a few fingers.
That's it for now I guess but check back soon for progress reports on the ship and any other projects I'll have on here.
And to everyone, a very happy 2015!
André
Friday, 5 April 2013
I'm BACK!
Well, it looks like winter is finally over. We celebrated by going for a few days of spring skiing last weekend but as of yesterday, there is no snow left. That means I'm about to start work on the ship again.
I have to say, it came through winter pretty good. I noticed last night that the stain had weathered a bit so I may need to put a coat sometime this summer but I'll likely wait till I'm all finished. Noticed also on one side of the ship that the ground settled a little and I have a few support points to adjust (re-shim).
So over next few weeks, I'll be ordering some of the accessories (rope ladder, cargo net, ship's wheel, etc...) and finsihing the design of the crow's nest, which I'll get my neighbour the master welder, to make.
So no new pics today but I wanted to do a quick post to say that the project is still alive and I am looking forward to finishing it soon.
Will update soon....
A.
I have to say, it came through winter pretty good. I noticed last night that the stain had weathered a bit so I may need to put a coat sometime this summer but I'll likely wait till I'm all finished. Noticed also on one side of the ship that the ground settled a little and I have a few support points to adjust (re-shim).
So over next few weeks, I'll be ordering some of the accessories (rope ladder, cargo net, ship's wheel, etc...) and finsihing the design of the crow's nest, which I'll get my neighbour the master welder, to make.
So no new pics today but I wanted to do a quick post to say that the project is still alive and I am looking forward to finishing it soon.
Will update soon....
A.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Backyard Pirate Ship Playhouse - The Chest (the sequel)
When we last tuned in, I had built a treasure chest that was too big for it's lid.
So last night I got home, put Mathieu to bed, puttered around the house a bit and it was garbage night so put those to the curb, then I headed out to the workshop. My plan was to dissassemble one side of the box then rip off a side of the box by running the whole thing lenghtwise on my table saw. So I took all the screws out but remember when I said carpenter's glue holds wood together better than nails (or screws), well here's the proof.
May be a little hard to make out but the first board I took off actually broke as the edges of the boards were glued together and that joint was actually better than the actual grain of the wood. A glued joint is definitely not your weakest point. So I thought so what, I can just cut 2 pieces to replace this face but the more I tried, the more evident it was that this thing would not come apart as I wanted.
So here it lies in the corner, now a scrapped pile of wood. It's a shame as I should have just left it as is and used it as a nice storage box as I now ended up starting the box from scratch.
I don't even remember why I bought this 90 degree clamp and I know I had definitely never used it but boy was it ever perfect to start a box with. I predict I will use this clamp again in the future and when the wife saw it she also started dreaming of all the projects she could use this for. Just goes to show, this thing has been hanging on the wall in the workshop for a few years and I'm just discovering it's usefulness.
This time around, making the box a little shorter (with one 1X6 and one 1X4), I decided to stagger the boards, 1X6 for bottom board on the face and back and the 1X4 as the bottom board for the sides. Seeing how strong the glued joints were on the let's call it the prototype, I figured it made structural sense to have staggered joints.
Now doesn't that look nice. I drilled 2 holes in each side that once this thing is painted, we'll run some rope through and make a rope handle on each side. I also broke out the palm sander and with some 80 grit paper sanded the joints on the lid and this thing turned out way better than I ever hoped for. Still need to fill in a small crack with some wood filler and it may not come out as good in a pic but I am more than pleased with this lid.
Obviously when the munchkin saw this this morning he ordered his mother to paint this "tout de suite". I'm taking him with me this weekend for a reno project I'm doing and on one of my inevitable trips to KBS or Home Depot, we'll pick up some hinges and a latch so when we get home Sunday we can complete the chest. I'll post some pics of the finished product.
Till then, as always, thanks for dropping by.
A.
So last night I got home, put Mathieu to bed, puttered around the house a bit and it was garbage night so put those to the curb, then I headed out to the workshop. My plan was to dissassemble one side of the box then rip off a side of the box by running the whole thing lenghtwise on my table saw. So I took all the screws out but remember when I said carpenter's glue holds wood together better than nails (or screws), well here's the proof.
May be a little hard to make out but the first board I took off actually broke as the edges of the boards were glued together and that joint was actually better than the actual grain of the wood. A glued joint is definitely not your weakest point. So I thought so what, I can just cut 2 pieces to replace this face but the more I tried, the more evident it was that this thing would not come apart as I wanted.
So here it lies in the corner, now a scrapped pile of wood. It's a shame as I should have just left it as is and used it as a nice storage box as I now ended up starting the box from scratch.
I don't even remember why I bought this 90 degree clamp and I know I had definitely never used it but boy was it ever perfect to start a box with. I predict I will use this clamp again in the future and when the wife saw it she also started dreaming of all the projects she could use this for. Just goes to show, this thing has been hanging on the wall in the workshop for a few years and I'm just discovering it's usefulness.
This time around, making the box a little shorter (with one 1X6 and one 1X4), I decided to stagger the boards, 1X6 for bottom board on the face and back and the 1X4 as the bottom board for the sides. Seeing how strong the glued joints were on the let's call it the prototype, I figured it made structural sense to have staggered joints.
Now doesn't that look nice. I drilled 2 holes in each side that once this thing is painted, we'll run some rope through and make a rope handle on each side. I also broke out the palm sander and with some 80 grit paper sanded the joints on the lid and this thing turned out way better than I ever hoped for. Still need to fill in a small crack with some wood filler and it may not come out as good in a pic but I am more than pleased with this lid.
Obviously when the munchkin saw this this morning he ordered his mother to paint this "tout de suite". I'm taking him with me this weekend for a reno project I'm doing and on one of my inevitable trips to KBS or Home Depot, we'll pick up some hinges and a latch so when we get home Sunday we can complete the chest. I'll post some pics of the finished product.
Till then, as always, thanks for dropping by.
A.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Backyard Pirate Ship Playhouse - Props
A little late with my post this week, or a little early, depending on your frame of reference.
Well winter is almost upon us as it was pretty cold this weekend and let's not forget, more rain. Anyways, didn't get out to the ship much but last night I decided that I really couldn't go a weekend without doing something for this ship so I tackled something Mathieu has been asking for, the treasure chest.
This is one of several props (I'm sure) we'll end up making ourselves. I've been looking for small cheap wooden barrels to simulate gun powder kegs. I may end up duplicating one technique I used you'll see a little later on this page and make the barrels myself.
So, I started off by cutting all the pieces, which really didn't take too long.
Next came the lid. Now again, I'm no genius here as I just got inspiration from a small chest I saw in a decoration store and I just improved on the design. The one I had seen in a store they just built the lid with straight edge pieces so they had cracks between the pieces. I cut mine at an angle on each side.
You see my mistake? Obviously something went wrong and that something is that after I had already cut the rounded sides for the lid, I went and made a slight design change in the box. I opted to glue and screw the sides on the outside of the bottom board instead on top of that bottom board. This added and inch and a half that I failed to compensate for. Ordinarily I wouldn't have posted these and would have waited until I had a "perfect" result but I wanted you to see that sometimes, a slight change of plan can have some embarassing results. My wife couldn't believe that me, the planner, could have made such a rookie mistake.
So Wednesday night I'm going to have to modify this box to accept the lid. I will need to empty it out first as my wife has advised me that Mathieu has already loaded it up full of pirate treasure. I left the house before he was up this morning but by what she's told me, he was VERY happy with this new pirate item.
Hope to have some pics of it finished soon.
Drop by again soon, ya hear....
A.
Well winter is almost upon us as it was pretty cold this weekend and let's not forget, more rain. Anyways, didn't get out to the ship much but last night I decided that I really couldn't go a weekend without doing something for this ship so I tackled something Mathieu has been asking for, the treasure chest.
This is one of several props (I'm sure) we'll end up making ourselves. I've been looking for small cheap wooden barrels to simulate gun powder kegs. I may end up duplicating one technique I used you'll see a little later on this page and make the barrels myself.
So, I started off by cutting all the pieces, which really didn't take too long.
Assembled the box. You may notice a jar of carpenter's glue next too the box. If you've never used it, do not underestimate glue in a project like this. Once that glue is dry, I could likely remove all the screws from this box and it could still take a beating and hold together.
Next came the lid. Now again, I'm no genius here as I just got inspiration from a small chest I saw in a decoration store and I just improved on the design. The one I had seen in a store they just built the lid with straight edge pieces so they had cracks between the pieces. I cut mine at an angle on each side.
Assembled (bu missing last piece) you can see the result. With a little sanding on the edges where the pieces but against each other, this thing should look really nice. This is how I may end up making the wooden gun powder kegs.
Now next pics are with the lid on the box.
You see my mistake? Obviously something went wrong and that something is that after I had already cut the rounded sides for the lid, I went and made a slight design change in the box. I opted to glue and screw the sides on the outside of the bottom board instead on top of that bottom board. This added and inch and a half that I failed to compensate for. Ordinarily I wouldn't have posted these and would have waited until I had a "perfect" result but I wanted you to see that sometimes, a slight change of plan can have some embarassing results. My wife couldn't believe that me, the planner, could have made such a rookie mistake.
So Wednesday night I'm going to have to modify this box to accept the lid. I will need to empty it out first as my wife has advised me that Mathieu has already loaded it up full of pirate treasure. I left the house before he was up this morning but by what she's told me, he was VERY happy with this new pirate item.
Hope to have some pics of it finished soon.
Drop by again soon, ya hear....
A.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Backyard pirate ship playhouse - the paint job
Hi there.
well, it's been a couple of pretty good days. I got some more boards to finish up the bow as well as start the trim work on the railings etc...
So Saturday I started by completing the boards on the port (left) side of the bow. I also put in a porthole on that side as well in the bow as when you look at the ship from the front you see two identical sides.
Then I was planning on staining the bulk of the ship but the threat of rain was omni-present so I decided to keep working on some structural stuff, framing in railings and such.
Now as for the choice of colours... as previewed, the wife and I had a lengthy discussion about choices, what each colour made us feel about ourselves and about each other, what our choice of colours symbolized.
I'm just kidding, we actually agreed pretty quickly. And I have just spent all day outside staining this behemoth. Have a look.
Now you can't see it from this vantage point but the main deck and bridge have also been stained, but in a dark slate colour. Doors and portholes will eventually be stained yellow.
Now I want to write a bit about stain vs paint, we went with a semi-transparent stain to give it some colour while still seeing some of the wood grain come through. It's all about personal tastes but on a project like this I prefer stain.
Today was a good day to do this as it was about 16 degrees celcius outside, not dry but not overly humid and thos conditions were forecasted for the whole day. The somewhat cool temperature ensured that my coats didn`t dry too quickly, a good thing especially for the novice painter. If you've ever painted on a scorching July day, you know that your technique has to be pretty good to avoid brush or roller marks, picture framing, etc... Now I did only finish staining the deck around 5 PM and dew point was around 8 PM so I was cutting it a bit close. Also they were calling for rain after midnight so I'm a little worried. The stain would certainly be dry but if you start drenching the whole thing too soon you may end up with some issues. Tonight will be the test.
Now, to roll and brush or spray. A colleague did lend me his Wagner sprayer but when I started today it was way too windy for a sprayer. So, I got a nice roller with 19mm thick material, does a great job with stain. You need a thicker rooler than you would with pain as stain isn't as thick and you want to make sure your roller soaks up enough stain. Also, the thicker roller is great for rolling some stain into cracks and grooves. I used the brush to cut out everything and I'm pretty pleased with the end result.
well, it's been a couple of pretty good days. I got some more boards to finish up the bow as well as start the trim work on the railings etc...
So Saturday I started by completing the boards on the port (left) side of the bow. I also put in a porthole on that side as well in the bow as when you look at the ship from the front you see two identical sides.
Then I was planning on staining the bulk of the ship but the threat of rain was omni-present so I decided to keep working on some structural stuff, framing in railings and such.
Now as for the choice of colours... as previewed, the wife and I had a lengthy discussion about choices, what each colour made us feel about ourselves and about each other, what our choice of colours symbolized.
I'm just kidding, we actually agreed pretty quickly. And I have just spent all day outside staining this behemoth. Have a look.
Now you can't see it from this vantage point but the main deck and bridge have also been stained, but in a dark slate colour. Doors and portholes will eventually be stained yellow.
Now I want to write a bit about stain vs paint, we went with a semi-transparent stain to give it some colour while still seeing some of the wood grain come through. It's all about personal tastes but on a project like this I prefer stain.
Today was a good day to do this as it was about 16 degrees celcius outside, not dry but not overly humid and thos conditions were forecasted for the whole day. The somewhat cool temperature ensured that my coats didn`t dry too quickly, a good thing especially for the novice painter. If you've ever painted on a scorching July day, you know that your technique has to be pretty good to avoid brush or roller marks, picture framing, etc... Now I did only finish staining the deck around 5 PM and dew point was around 8 PM so I was cutting it a bit close. Also they were calling for rain after midnight so I'm a little worried. The stain would certainly be dry but if you start drenching the whole thing too soon you may end up with some issues. Tonight will be the test.
Now, to roll and brush or spray. A colleague did lend me his Wagner sprayer but when I started today it was way too windy for a sprayer. So, I got a nice roller with 19mm thick material, does a great job with stain. You need a thicker rooler than you would with pain as stain isn't as thick and you want to make sure your roller soaks up enough stain. Also, the thicker roller is great for rolling some stain into cracks and grooves. I used the brush to cut out everything and I'm pretty pleased with the end result.
Now doors and portholes will be painted yellow as well as the ladder going to the bridge. And although it`s not visible from the outside, to protect the wood from the inside we are still going to stain those inside walls in the cannon room as well as the hold. We're going to go with a stain that let's the natural colour of pine show through, mayeb even just a clear coat, not sure yet.
Rain tomorrow morning and I have some work to do for the office so I'll be busy but later on in the day it's supposed to clear up so we may end up doing a bit more work on the railings. If I do you can rest assured I'll do another update tomorrow.
Until then, thanks for dropping in...
A.
Sunday, 30 September 2012
Backyard Pirate Ship Playhouse - rained out - AGAIN
Good evening all.
So Friday night it rained, them Saturday it rained, then I'll give you one guess at what happend today. This is bullcrap! As I write this at 7:30 at night, it's still pouring. I'm this frickin close to rounding up the animals in the barn and getting them on the ship, just in case.
Anyways, it did let up just long enough for me to install the crane.
Now this thing isn't quite finished yet as I am not filled with confidence that my son will follow my instructions to not lift anything heavier than a bag of potatoes with this. Something tells me that at some point I'll catch him trying to lift the dog or one of the goats onto the deck of this ship, so I'm going to reinforce the aft mast with angle steel I have in the barn. I need to sand it a bit as it's rusted a bit over the past few years and I'll paint it black as with all the other hardware.
Anyways, as you can see this thing swivels so he can work with it on both sides of the ship as well as anywhere he wants on the forward deck.
You can see that pine that's been soaking for a few days isn't too pretty. I will remedy this next weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) when I will have a long weekend to work on it. Plan is to spend a day finishing all the pine then a colleague has loaned me a paint sprayer that I'm going to use to stain the whole thing.
As for choice of colours, this has been the subject of a light debate that will quickly erupt into a full blown argument when we finally come to buying the stain. My opnion is to go with a more traditional pirate colour but my wife wants to go all technicolour on this bad boy. I'll let you wait for the pictures to see who won.
So then it started pouring again so back into the workshop I went. Slowly getting ready for a few projects that could keep me busy when it's raining as well as after I'm done with the ship.
Thinking of making a few adirondak chairs. They're pretty pricy, the nice sturdy ones at least, and I'm getting cocky enough that I think I can build one myself. In fact, I'm so full of myself that I think I can improve upon the time tested design. We'll see.
Also need to build another shelving unit for the ever increasing Lego collection. I've got a nice sheet of birch plywood that I don't really remember buying but Im sure going to use it.
On the topic of buying and forgetting about it, one piece of advice, KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS! While sorting through the barn, I have discovered enough electrical supplies to build another barn, and tools I've likely only used once. Although this project has required a lot of tools I hadn't used in a while.
Suffice it to say that I probably have 1000 to 1500$ worth of good supplies that I'm going to need to find another project for next spring. Possibilities are endless.
Be sure to drop by again.
A.
So Friday night it rained, them Saturday it rained, then I'll give you one guess at what happend today. This is bullcrap! As I write this at 7:30 at night, it's still pouring. I'm this frickin close to rounding up the animals in the barn and getting them on the ship, just in case.
Anyways, it did let up just long enough for me to install the crane.
Now this thing isn't quite finished yet as I am not filled with confidence that my son will follow my instructions to not lift anything heavier than a bag of potatoes with this. Something tells me that at some point I'll catch him trying to lift the dog or one of the goats onto the deck of this ship, so I'm going to reinforce the aft mast with angle steel I have in the barn. I need to sand it a bit as it's rusted a bit over the past few years and I'll paint it black as with all the other hardware.
Anyways, as you can see this thing swivels so he can work with it on both sides of the ship as well as anywhere he wants on the forward deck.
As I've mentionned before, our son is very mechanicaly inquisitive, so I know he's going to play with this feature A LOT. If you were to build this for younger children or if this was for a playground where you wouldn't have a lot of adult supervision, you'd probably want to stick with a slide and some swings on this.
You can see that pine that's been soaking for a few days isn't too pretty. I will remedy this next weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) when I will have a long weekend to work on it. Plan is to spend a day finishing all the pine then a colleague has loaned me a paint sprayer that I'm going to use to stain the whole thing.
As for choice of colours, this has been the subject of a light debate that will quickly erupt into a full blown argument when we finally come to buying the stain. My opnion is to go with a more traditional pirate colour but my wife wants to go all technicolour on this bad boy. I'll let you wait for the pictures to see who won.
So then it started pouring again so back into the workshop I went. Slowly getting ready for a few projects that could keep me busy when it's raining as well as after I'm done with the ship.
Thinking of making a few adirondak chairs. They're pretty pricy, the nice sturdy ones at least, and I'm getting cocky enough that I think I can build one myself. In fact, I'm so full of myself that I think I can improve upon the time tested design. We'll see.
Also need to build another shelving unit for the ever increasing Lego collection. I've got a nice sheet of birch plywood that I don't really remember buying but Im sure going to use it.
On the topic of buying and forgetting about it, one piece of advice, KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS! While sorting through the barn, I have discovered enough electrical supplies to build another barn, and tools I've likely only used once. Although this project has required a lot of tools I hadn't used in a while.
Suffice it to say that I probably have 1000 to 1500$ worth of good supplies that I'm going to need to find another project for next spring. Possibilities are endless.
Be sure to drop by again.
A.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Backyard Pirate Ship - rained out (almost)
What a wet weekend! All I managed to do was pick up the customs metal parts for the crane and work on the portholes. It did clear up today but Mathieu had a birthday party to go to so off we went.
Ok, so here ae the parts my neighbour made for the ship.
Don't worry if these don't look like anything to you. I showed them to the wife and she didn't know what I was going to do with these. They make sense if you go back to one of the first posts where they might have been in the rough drawings I had. Anyways, 2 of these parts will be going on the main mast but the 4 almost identical (except one) parts will be components in the the crane on the aft mast. I was going to assemble that when we got back from the party but the 4 inch bolts I have are not long enough. I didn't figure that a 4X4 (actually 3.5 X 3.5) along with 1/4 inch steel plating (times 2) added up to 4 inches. DUH! Of course it does, so my bolts go from one edge to the other but I have no meat left to screw a nut on to.
On Sunday afternoon, at 5:30, hardware store is closed so I went back to working on the portholes.
Now I'd like to say that I used that pretty little lazer level to make sure the porthole on the bow was level with the other two, but I can't. It was the plan but I ende up eyeballing it as the lazer level just wasn't working out. So viewed from the outside.
All I need to do now is run a bead of silicone around the inside and outside of these.
Ok, so here ae the parts my neighbour made for the ship.
Don't worry if these don't look like anything to you. I showed them to the wife and she didn't know what I was going to do with these. They make sense if you go back to one of the first posts where they might have been in the rough drawings I had. Anyways, 2 of these parts will be going on the main mast but the 4 almost identical (except one) parts will be components in the the crane on the aft mast. I was going to assemble that when we got back from the party but the 4 inch bolts I have are not long enough. I didn't figure that a 4X4 (actually 3.5 X 3.5) along with 1/4 inch steel plating (times 2) added up to 4 inches. DUH! Of course it does, so my bolts go from one edge to the other but I have no meat left to screw a nut on to.
On Sunday afternoon, at 5:30, hardware store is closed so I went back to working on the portholes.
Now I'd like to say that I used that pretty little lazer level to make sure the porthole on the bow was level with the other two, but I can't. It was the plan but I ende up eyeballing it as the lazer level just wasn't working out. So viewed from the outside.
Viewed from the inside.
All I need to do now is run a bead of silicone around the inside and outside of these.
Again, small details that just keep adding to the ship. Before the cannon doors and these porholes, the side of the ship was just "plain", no character, just no detail. As I said before, finish work is definitely not my favorite part of the job, or at least I think it isn't. The truth is when I do end up with some nice detail work like this I am quite proud of my handy work.
So tomorrow I'm going to hit the hardware store and pick up the right bolts and hopefully one evening this week I'll finish assembling the cran for the aft mast. Also going to grab some more pine to finish the railings, etc... Plan is to stain this in two weekends, weather permitting, so I guess I'm grabbing some colour swatches tomorrow as well.
Have a great Sunday evening everyone!
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