Cedar Trellis

Our neighbour needed cedar trellis to keep kids and dogs from falling off of the wall.

So we obliged with the above.

All that is needed now is for the posts to be cut flush and a top rail to be added.

Thankfully jobs like this are easily done while maintaining social distancing and lets the neighbour have one less worry. 

The mini boat - the fifth post

Decided to add some plywood stem and stern shrouds to the mini boat.

These serve two very important purposes, firstly they reinforce and strengthen the stem and stern, and secondly they make the stem and stern look tidy. Improving the lines and general appearance of the boat.

Then, further removing this build from the original plan, a keel has been added. Keels improve the stability of a boat and also make it easier for the boat to be kept in a forwards direction.

And finally, the outer hull of the boat receives its first coat of epoxy.

The next step is to turn the boat over. 

The original plan that this is now loosely based on can be found here:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Back to Shepherd's Huts

This shepherd's hut has been built for a customer who placed it earlier in the year. We had all of the materials in ready just before the start of the lock down and have found that having this hut to work on means that it almost feels normal at the moment.

Although we are running down on some materials, we have found that we had had enough to finish this hut and are now practically ready to deliver it.

Like most of our standard huts it has double glazed windows, an engineered oak floor, stable door and is fully insulated all round. It comes with a set of steps, turning axle and A-frame. This one is fitted with 12v electrics; including a leisure battery, LED down lights and an outside lamp. There is a multi fuel stove and a small kitchenette unit as well.

We're hoping that we can get the hut to its resting place sooner rather than later, however we are also aware that precautions need to be taken. We are a father and son, who are practising social distancing while also getting on with some projects to just keep going until we run out of materials. Some of our suppliers seem to be able to send some things out, which is also helping.

The Tricoya Dragon

Below is a welsh dragon silhouette cut from tricoya. It is a rather successful experiment, one which left us with no choice but to make a few more. 

The first one has been painted with primer and then sprayed with a red paint and placed as a finishing touch on the new shed. The others may yet end up in pride of place on the small and standard shepherd's huts that are currently on the drive.

The 'wood' that they are made from is very stable in water, quite strong and carves very well. It does leave a pickled onion taste in the air after sanding according to John, although this doesn't last long.

The dragons themselves would make great additions to many a shed and if you would like one please get in touch.

Another boat post

The boat is looking a lot more like it will float,

Between this and the last post on the boat there have been a few changes.
We removed a slither of plywood from each of the lower deck panels to take some of the stresses out of the plywood, and changed the shape slightly from the original plan.

As it was there was more chance of the boat cracking and causing more issues than becoming a successful build.

So things were changed after first replacing the cable ties with copper wire to see if that would help, we then had a beer, looked at the boat hard and decided altering it slightly was the better option than the box of matches.

The seems have been sealed and taped with epoxy, gluing the pieces together with epoxy tape and epoxy filler.

As the pieces are glued up the stitches are removed.

The plywood will then also pasted with epoxy to make it water tight. This is the next step.

Plans for this boat are from:

http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Even more on plywood boats

Cable ties, we failed to recall, have a habit of stretching out when not being watched. Thus we resorted to copper wire for the stitching part of stitch and glue. 

The beauty of copper is that once it is tight it stays that way. 

replacing cable ties with copper wire

Between the tape, the cable ties and the copper wire the boat started to behave as it should. However it was under a lot of stresses and the plywood has threatened to crack in a few places. This is down to using 4mm plywood on a design meant for 3mm.

We had 4mm, we couldn't get hold of the thinner plywood due to the lock down situation.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

The Cedar Lid

This is a cedar disc carved with the names of a few hills and the profile of a few of them. It is around 3 feet in diameter and would make a great garden table top. However that is not what it will be used for.

This cedar disc has a section of foam beneath it to help insulate (soundproof) a new septic tank that is in a customers garden. The lid will be near the ground, helping to cover the noises that occasionally come form the tank, while also acting as a pleasant talking point as opposed to the plastic lid that it will be covering.

The cedar is layered and held together by epoxy, and will be finished in Osmo oil once we receive delivery of it. Another delay due to the current situation, however for now it will sit and wait. Much like everything else seems to.

We're not sure when we can go and fit the finished lid, as the delayed delivery makes planning difficult. We're pretty sure that we're okay to deliver it in person and put it down as we do not require any contact with the customer to fit it. They, like many people, aren't in a hurry for it though. It is just one of those things.

More on the plywood boat

In the previous post we were talking about the plywood kits, and to get us back into the building of this kind of boat we selected a single sheet design which relied on a tape and glue method of putting it together.

This is basically using a load of parcel tape, or duct tape, and then once the boat is boat shaped epoxy is used to stick the boat into shape.

It is a method of construction which is meant to leave less filling todo once the boat is made, however it is quite frustrating to watch as the tape peels away and the boat shifts back to being just pieces of plywood again.

So we resorted to a different method, the method that we originally intended to use. Stitch and glue.

For this you need a drill, and cable ties or copper wire.

The below is the boat now that we are using a method of construction that doesn't shift around as much, and is easier to walk away from when things go askew.

The above boat will not be the kit that we offer, this is purely to work out the best way to produce the kit.

Plans for this boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

Thinking about Boats again

A long while ago, before we were building shepherds huts, Dave built a few small wooden sailing and rowing boats. These boats were built mainly for the fun of it. However they were mostly quite good little boats and in the main quite successful and satisfying builds.

Late in 2019 Dave got the boat building bug again and started a strip planked boat, the frames for which were done on the CNC machine while the rest of the planks would be hand machined. This boat is slowly coming together.

This strip planked boat is from a set of purchased plans that we've had for a while.
The frames were cut out on the CNC machine, the cedar strips were then processed on site.

Which brings us to this year, and we've got an idea to offer plywood boat kits for sale. The great thing about plywood boats is that they look like boats faster than strip planking. The hard part is marking out the plywood and cutting all the parts just right so that the stitch and glue construction works.

Our idea is to take the hard part away from the build.

We supply all the plywood parts already cut out using our CNC machine and a set of instructions.

The customer can then have all the fun and satisfaction of building their boat, without the worse bit.

A good project for kids and parents to do together?

That's the plan. We are working on a couple of prototypes at the moment and as soon as we are happy with the concept we'll get them out there.

The prototypes are being put together in the new shed, a new project suits a new shed, which keeps them out of our way while we work on other things.

Pieces being cut out

The pieces for this test build

Gluing and taping the first pieces together

Starting to look a bit boat shaped.

Plans for this mini one sheet boat are from:
http://flo-mo.weebly.com/one-sheet-boats.html

FOR SALE (SOLD) The Office Hut (A smaller shepherd's hut)

This is our office hut. The idea was to take this one and a 14ft Shepherd's hut to a couple of the country shows we were going to be doing this year. These shows have all been sadly cancelled due to the understandable safety concerns and the impossibility of social distancing at some of the busier shows.

The office hut is 10ft by 6ft and is built to our usual standards and specifications. It is Fully insulated, a few 230v double sockets, small desk, panel heater and has a few down lights. The floor is engineered oak, which is hard wearing, easy to clean and will put up with a lot.

We have a plan in mind for an allotment style hut, about the same size. We're undecided as to whether it should be empty, with plywood walls inside. We're thinking 12V lighting with a solar panel and leisure battery and perhaps a 12v aux socket.

It could easily be used as a Home office, garden room or spare single bed room.

The Shepherd's hut is for sale, can be delivered when deemed safe to do so, and we can also take orders for later in the year.

It is painted in Cuprinol Shades Wild Thyme outside and Country Cream inside.

The Shepherd's hut has a small built in desk with generous sized drawers, a few shelves suitable for box files or just large books, some double sockets, a couple of ceiling lights a wall light and and outside light too.

The Shepherd's hut is fitted with a stable door, and one end window is a top opener.

The Shepherd's hut also comes with a small electric heater which could be wall mounted or left on wheels as shown. It quickly brings the shepherd's hut up to temperature and has frost settings to keep whatever is stored in the Shepherd's Hut frost free.

Power is provided by a 230v 16amp caravan hookup.

There is enough room to put a single bed down the long wall.

The steps are painted in Sage, again Cuprinol shades, and are also included. The wheels will be painted as shown separately.

T