Building a Cabin for Cochise

Cochise is an American Bulldog who is staying with us on a foster dog program through the local animal shelter.  He has health issues that require one-on-one care and observation. You can read more about that at Rescuing Cochise.  We built a quickie sleeping shelter for him the day before he arrived, but it was a temporary arrangement - made more temporary by his habit of leaping atop his wickiup trying to get a better view of things when he hears a noise.  It's time to build Cochise a proper house.

As with all projects, we start by pulling lumber.  In this case the lumber we're using if from a 100 year old barn we bought and had torn down.  We thought there would be a market for this lumber... we were wrong.  But it should make an attractive abode for this American classic named after an Apache chief.

While I'm pulling boards out and carrying them inside the shop, Marie is stripping the cover and supportive fencing from the wickiup so we can re-use the door panel an the base for the new cabin.  This should have been a fine summer shelter for him but repeated mashings weakened the wire fencing to the point that I could not reform it properly.

Construction begins with breaking the long boards down into rough-length pieces on the chop saw (compound miter saw).

Then I use the jointer to flatten one wide face of each board. With the wide face flattened I flip it up and run the jointed face along the fence and let the cutters straighten an edge and make it square to the flattened face.  That's two sides, smooth straight and square.

Then I run the boards through out surface planer, with the flattened face down on the bed. The cutter-head (above the board) skins off the rough wood to smooth that face and make it parallel to the jointed face: three sides smooth straight and square to one another.

On the table saw I remove the last edge to make it straight and square to the two faces and parallel to the jointed edge.  Now we're ready to start assembling parts.

First up it's back to the chop saw to trim the dressed boards to finished lengths.

We make panels out of the individual boards my arranging them in pleasing patterns and trimming an edge board to get the exact finished height. The front & back panels are long, three short panels will make the sides and inside baffle.  I'll use plywood for the roof.  I use some 2x2 stock (sort of) for the corner cleats, clamp the face boards together and just nail them to the corner cleats - using a framing square to square up the end and as a guide to get the nails into the cleat.  One nail at each end where I can see the cleat end, then make a line with the square between them to start the rest of the nails.

Yeah, I know: nails - shudder!  But this isn't fine furniture and time is short.

I needed to add a batten inside the long pack panel to help keep the boards aligned. I drove nails through and clinched them to hold the batten tightly to the panel.  Here's a good way to clinch nails so they never snag anyone:

Bend the end of the nail over with a plyers, then hammer the nail over flat to the board, burying the sharp end of the nail back into the board. The only problem with this method is that these nails are a BEAR to get back out again should you want to dismantle the component.

I use a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes on the lower, inside faces of the corner cleats.  These will be used to attach the walls to the floor.

When the front panel is complete I lay-out the door using the framing square and a home-made beam compass.  Then cut out the opening with a saber saw.

Cochise looks on as we work, but is unimpressed at this point.  I don't blame him, we're just making big boards out of little boards so far.

I cut a plywood baffle to go in beside the doorway.  This will help keep the winds out in the winter. I brace it top and bottom as well as screwing it to a center cleat. The braces will (hopefully) keep him from breaking off the baffle if he gets rowdy in his cabin.

Then I can begin assembling the panels into the basic structure.

I decide to use a piano hinge to attach the roof to the cabin so I can lift the roof for cleaning, and to allow for some air circulation in the summer.  Spacer blocks atop the back wall will hold the roof up 1" to allow warm air to flow out. These will be removed in winter to keep the cold air out.  If the plwood roof decides to warp I'll have to add hook & eyes to the back to draw it down tight in the winter.

We decide to use up some left-over shingles we have laying around to put a proper roofing on the cabin and make sure the roof stays weather tight. TO avoid injury from roofing nails protruding down through the plywood roof panel (and because I don't have any roofing nails) I use heavy duty staples in my staple gun to affix the shingles to the plywood. I lay the shingles in runs and staple the runs where the next run will cover them and prevent rust. Just like laying a real roof.

Done!  Now it's time to take the roof off, separate the four walls and move it all out to Cochise's pen.  The floor panel is already out there, blocked up and leveled.

The walls are screwed to one another and then attached to the base using face frame screws in the pocket holes I drilled earlier.  I also put a screw through the angle brace at the bottom of the baffle.

Finally I attach the piano hinge to the roof panel with lots of small screws.  That roof panel got pretty heavy with shingles on it!

I flip up the roof, add some straw and cedar chips, install teh spacer blocks and it's ready for Cochise to do a walk-through inspection.  Of course, when we brought him out to his pen, he refused to have anything to do with this new thing that has invaded HIS space.  He may be afraid that if he goes in we'll close a door and trap him in there.  Once we leave and he has some time to explore on his own terms I'm sure to settle in.

And that's it.  I think it's a fine lil cabin for our classic American Bulldog guest.  It is by no means a furniture grade project, but it was fun to build, it serves a useful purpose, doesn't look half-bad, and it cost us nothing.  At least not now.  It was built entirely from materials we had on hand, so there was no out-of-pocket expense in it's construction.  Of course, we bought all that stuff earlier, so it's not entirely free, but close enough.

Hope you enjoyed following along.  Come back again soon, I'll be starting on Marie's headboard.

UPDATE:

As time passed, Cochise became a house dog and had no need of his cabin.  Several other foster dogs used it until I decided to move it out into our big new play yard to be used as a play house by all the dogs.  I also spiffed it up a little by adding a covered porch. We ARE in the ountain, after all and all proper mountain cabins have a proper porch.

Blondie Bear is especially fond of sitting on the porch on a warm summer afternoon.  It also makes great shelter if a pop-up rain shower catches them outside. 

This cabin has been in service for 7 years now.  I have made repairs now and then, but the basic structure (including the roof) is original.  I'd say it has held up really well for something we put together in a hurry.

Cochise's Cabin

We're starting a new project.  We had hoped to have it done by now but the high temperatures drove us out of the workshop on Saturday and we don't work on Sunday.  Monday is radio program day (and gardening) although we may make use of teh cooler environment this evenig - depends on how tired Marie is after working in town all day.

This project article will begin soon.  I see Blogger has changed how it does things AGAIN which means I have to lern the new interfacte before I can proceed.  Bear with me...

Pew Project Postdate

It has been decided that the pews are to be completely stripped and refinished to a pristine, like-new appearance.  I'm not up to that task for a couple of reasons.

One is that I suspect they are finished in catalyzed lacquer.  Catalyzed lacquer finishes are well known for chemical resistance. They have an acid catalyst added to the lacquer that causes the molecules to crosslink together much, much tighter (ie, a stronger chemical bond) than regular nitrocellulose or CAB acrylic lacquers.This is great for producing a durable, low maintenance finish - but hell to get off.  The best way I've found is sandblasting.

Another is the goal of "pristine".  These are old pews that have been heavily used.  There are some deep scratches, a few gouges and dings that will have to be filled and re-grained.  At one time I had the tools to do a decent job of such work, but those dried up years ago.

There is also an issue of staples.  I pulled out all the steel staples - in many cases this meant digging them out of the wood a bit, making a little more damage to repair - but there are also quite  few copper staples in that unfinished band that are set right at or barely below the surface of the wood. Trying to leverage them up and pull them out results in snapping them off every time.  This leaves a sharp nub that is too small to grab hold of with pliers and too soft to set below the surface with a nail set, it just curls over on the surface.  Sanding with emory cloth might smooth them flush to the wood, but the legs of the staples will remain in the wood and digging them up out of the wood will create a lot of pits to repair.

No, I don't think I'm up for getting these to "pristine" condition.  But they do make an interesting little seating bench.  They are quite heavy, so quite stable and the bible rack is still on the back side to retain that church pew flavor.  I'm sure once someone equipped to do a good job of finish restoration is done with them they'll make a very nice addition to Tammy's home.  Pricy, but nice.

Tuesday, April 24th

Today I returned to the Pew Project (among several other chores) by removing the fabric & padding, removing an end piece and cutting the bench down to length.  I also pulled out about a bazillion staples.  There are many left, but they are all at or below the surface; to get them out I'll have to dig them out enough to get a hold on them with pliers.

It is still undecided how these are to be finished/refinished.  The owner isn't sure if she wants them "touched up" but left with the original finish or stripped and done over. 

Bag Handles

Just completing 6 pair of cherry bag handles.

Friday, March 23rd

My woodworking time today allowed me to get the stand sanded and finished.  Then I discovered (remembered) that I did not poly the table tops on the set I had on hand.  Most of the time we do this to protect them against careless use - but we do get some requests from furniture purists who don't want their furniture plastic coated, they prefer to treat it like fine furniture and enjoy the lacquer finish alone.

The folks who ordered this set did not say anything about that so I'd best poly the tables.

It is spring in the Smokies, so it's raining.  It does that for about a month.  The high humidity makes everything dry more slowly, but I should be able to get these tables packed this weekend and ready to ship out on Monday.

Thursday March 22nd

This afternoon I finished the finish sanding, this evening I'm shooting lacquer.  But, it's raining, so the lacquer is drying very slowly.  It's a;most 10:00 PM, I'm going to have to head home or get locked out for the night!!

Wednesday, March 21st

Wednesdays are always busy days around here, but this one was especially so as this nebulous and unpredictable thing called life interrupted.  I did not get as much as I had hoped done on the stand, but did make some pretty good progress.  I completed all the parts making and got the stand assembled.

Now come all the sanding and finishing work.  But it's getting quite late; I'll get a fresh start on this tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 20th

My woodworking time today was spent milling parts blanks for the TV Tray Table Set I'm working on.
This involved taking the rough-cut chunks of board from yesterday, using the jointer to flatten one face and edge, the surface planer to smooth the opposite face and bring the wide faces parallel to one another and the part to proper thickness, then finally trim the blank to proper width and length on the table saw.

The templates are then used to lay out the shape of the parts on the blanks.  I use masking tape in critical areas - those were I will be drawing shapes - because pencil lead does not show up well on dark woods like walnut.

I also punch centers for holes that are to be bored.  With all that done, it's a good point to stop for the night.  (it's 9:00 anyway; late enough since I'll to be up at 4:00 tomorrow) We'll pick it up from here tomorrow.

Monday, March 19th

Most of the day, being a Monday, was spent on the radio program, web site updates, bookkeeping and system back-ups. 

The afternoon was spent digging-in a couple of the many garden boxes I've built.  But that would be digging in dirt and not woodworking, so it is not a topic to be covered here.  Check out Simple Life Prattle for details on that.

I worked at that until 7:00, had dinner with Marie then went to the workshop.  Over the weekend we received an order for a two-table set of TV Tray Tables - which are not complete (I got sidetracked with stuff like the Pew Project, garden boxes, tree trimming, etc, etc, etc... ).

So I spent the evening clearing the decks for new action, finding the tables and parts I do have made up, getting out the template set and locating walnut stock for the parts I have to make. 

Because that order has been paid for it needs to be a priority, working late nights until it's done.  And then I ought to work more late nights to make up another set.

One Pew is shortened, the other is yet to be done, neither has been refinished because we're not sure what's going to be done with that yet, and Tammy is out of town for two weeks.  Details are in The Pew Project post.

Now it's 9:15, I'm tires and sore and in major need of a shower.  More tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 14

I spend the morning working on The Pew Project, Go to that article to check out the update.  This afternoon I'll build more garden boxes and haul them out to the garden.  My grape plants arrived too so I'll be needing to built a grape trellis pretty soon.  The rest of my plans for today involve gardening and are not suited to this blog.

Tuesday, March 13th

Yesterday was, as always is on Mondays, the day I produce our weekly radio program, burn it to CD and mail it off to the radio station.  Then move on to maintaining web sites for my various clients on that front, do all my system back-ups, and finally get caught up on bookkeeping and bills.  That's Mondays.

Today I get to work on The Pew Project some.  Those details will be added to that project post (click here to go to The Pew Project)  This will open in a new tab/window for you.

Today I've also been working with my new editor at Grit Magazine to polish up their version of my blueberry boxes article, and I will continue building boxes this afternoon.  So, check out The Pew Project, and I'll see you again tomorrow!

Thursday March 8th

I got my blueberry box all dug out and the base flattened. Rolled the box upside down and got the roll of landscape fabric from the barn. RATS! It’s 3 foot wide fabric, I need 4 foot.

I called Wilton Springs, “Oh, sure we have that stuff.”

“Do you have it in 4 foot widths, and do you have it in stock?”

“I know we’ve got it in stock, not sure about the width, let me check ... it’s all the 3 foot width.”

"Sigh.  Thanks anyway."

SIDEBAR

For the past couple of years any time I go into Wilton Springs hardware, which is just down the road from us, they are out of whatever it is I need that day. They are chock full of stuff I *don’t* need that day, but whatever it is I’m needing; they just ran out. Boggling!  But they are really great people to deal with, even if my quest ends in frustration.

So I borrowed (stole) Mom’s car and drove into Newport and Lowes. They had the 4 foot fabric and the T50 staples I needed for my staple gun. Bought that and went home to complete the job.

 

I cut the pieces for the extended sides, bored them for pocket holes and screwed them to the top of the main box. This added height is just for water deflection, not added soil depth.

 

I then built another 4x8 box and laid it out next to the one I just finished. I need to repeat the digging-in process for it, then I’ll start on the 12 4x4 boxes.

 

But first I’m going to eat my lunch. Yepper, I’m gonna have me a samich an a apple, an meby a Dew. Yepper, thas a just wat I’ll do.

 

After lunch it will probably be raining, so I'll finish finishing those bag handles and wrap them up for the stock shelf.

Wed. March 7th

Today I'm completing the sanding and beginning the lacquering of 5 pair of bag handles in walnut.
I'll post them as available on the web site later today.

I went to Lowes to get more lumber for garden boxes, but the aisle I needed to get into was blocked off for a forklift - which no one was using.  In fact no one was in the aisle at all.  I can go to another lumber yard, but it's way out on teh edge of town.  No time today, no truck until the weekend.  So maybe Saturday.

Back By Popular Demand

I've recently had several people ask why I'm not posting Shop Notes articles like I used to.  I explained that - but they want to know what's going on anyway.  While this is not a thundering herd of people, it is enough.  And, this blog is the most popular of the 4 I run and sell through Kindle.  Can't disappoint those folks.

Updates to the Pew Project will be added to that post.  I'll mention them here, so you know it's there (blogger does not send out a notice or update the RSS feed when a post is updated, only when a new one goes up.) But I'll toss out some notes on my daily activities in (more or less) daily posts as well.

Because woodworking is no longer what I do 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, not everything I talk about will be woodworking technique, but I will try to talk about only the woodworking related stuff.

Yesterday (Monday) was the day I do our weekly radio program.  Nothing woodworking related about that.  Moving on.

Today I split my time between sanding bag handles and building a garden box.

I have at least one person wanting bag handles, but we're sold out of those, so I need to make up more.  I have a whole shelf full of them cut out and routed, so all I have to do is sand and finish them.  But sanding is the tedious part.

I start with a fixture I made that has pins that fit into the slots to hold the handles in place so I can sand the flat faces with a random orbit sander.
I'll start with 120, then work through 150, 180 and 220 grit papers.

As I work through each grit with the sander, I hand sand the curved edges with the same grit.  This is the tedious part, and my hands cramp up pretty quickly.

When my hands get sore, I take a break and work on the garden box.  This one is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide.  All of my previous garden boxes are 4x4, but this one is specifically for a group of blueberry bushes and needs to be bigger.  I'm building it out of 2x8" lumber and fastening the corners together with coated deck screws.  I'm using untreated lumber to prevent the "treatment" from leeching into the soil in which I'm growing our food.

I'll alternate back and forth between building and mounting the box and sanding bag handles.

Once the box is built I lug it out to the area I'll be expanding our garden into.  this is normally the simple part: Just tack some weed cloth on the bottom and flop id down on top of the grass. But we live on a mountain and have to do things a bit differently.  To prevent all the special soil from washing out of the box in a heavy rain (which we get often here) I have to dig the box down into the dirt to level it up.  I start by going around the outside of the box with a pick to mark the location.  Then I use the broad blade of the pick axe to dig a trench into which the rails of the box will sit.  I can set the box in place every now and then, check it with a level and know where I need to dig more out.

Here I'm almost done, I just need to remove the rest of the grass and dirt from inside the box, use some of it to build up around the downhill side and toss the rest into the garden cart to be hauled away.

I dig in the upper side, build up the lower side.  If I were to dig it in completely the high corner would need to be dug in about 16" deep.

As it is I'll need to add a second run of lumber along the upper two sides to make sure water running down the hill won't wash out my fancy dirt and fill the box with grass, leaves and mud.

Over the next couple of weeks I need to build another 4x8 box and 10 more 4x4 boxes.  We're going to be raising some for selling at the local farmer's market this year; that's one of the way's I'm replacing the lost income from flat-lined furniture sales.

The Pew Project

Today I begin a new project.  As I work through this project I will add photos and text to the end of this post, not by putting up new posts - this way it will make a more valuable resource for woodworkers who visit after the project is completed.  If you're interested in following this project, bookmark the post and drop in every few days.

I just discovered that Blogger squelches the ability to insert internal links, so I can not give you a "Click here to read the new stuff" link, you're just going to have to scroll down.  Sorry.

Sentimental Pews
The reason for this project is kind of a neat story in itself.  A local woman and her family have been attending the same church for as long as she can remember, and as will happen, they tended to inhabit the same pews each week.  When the church decided to remodel the sanctuary; installing all new pews, Tammy decided to buy the pews her family used because of their sentimental value, and have them converted into furniture she could use in their home.  Preserving those memories is her objective.

Project Objective

My assignment is to remove the upholstery, cut the 12 foot long pews down to love-seat length and refurbish the finish as best as I can without stripping them.  Then I'll deliver the shortened pew benches to her home for use in her daughters' rooms.


The First Step

Tammy had the pews delivered here and we managed to wedge them into my shop.  This forced me to clean up and clean out an area that has become kind of neglected.  My "assembly room" has in the past been kept clear so I could assemble large items if need be - the largest being a monstrous King size bed with storage under and closet space in the headboard.  But lately a collection of unfinished projects and assorted parts have piled up in there.  When I  heard "the guys" were on their way with the pews I had to rush to get the assembly room cleared out.  Even then only one pew would fit in there because there is no room to swing the second one around the first and they are far to heavy to lift the second up over the first.  So the second one is staying in my tool room for now.  I'll work on that one first. Then I can work on the second in the assembly room


Ripping the Padding

Now that I have details of what is supposed to be done, I feel  confident in starting in on the de-construction process.  I start by working a putty knife in behind the upholstery on the top edge and getting a bit of fabric I could grasp with heavy pliers.  Lots of staples here!  I continue pulling the top edge loose all the way across.

Because I am not planning to strip and completely refinish the benches I am careful not to tear up the finish any more than is absolutely necessary.

Once the back is loose and the foam rubber removed I begin working on the seat.  The cloth is tucked underneath the front edge and stapled prolifically.  I thought about rolling the pew on it's back to make getting at this edge easier, but that proved impractical: not enough room to do it well, and it's so heavy I'm afraid I'd tear my hip out again doing it by myself.  So I use a utility knife to slice through the fabric under the edge of the seat - I'll remove the stapled part after I've cut the bench down.

The two corners are very, very stubborn because of extra staples and multiple layers of cloth.  The middle part comes out fairly easily.  I did find that there is a span of unfinished wood where the fabric is stapled down at the bottom of the back - darn!

Once all the fabric and foam rubber are removed and carted outside, I can start yanking out staples.  These long ones are easy: grab them with pliers and yank.  The ones that remained driven flush to the wood will require "digging out" but with a minimum of digging, please!

It will probably take a couple of days working on this part time to pull all of the staples.

Remove an End
To lighten the piece a bit and hope that makes it possible to handle this beast my my self, I'm going to remove one end piece, and then cut the bench down to length.

 Inspecting the construction of the pew, I decide that the bench portion is mortised into the end pieces and held in place by screws that are angled in from the bottom and back.  On the back these screws are hidden by this trim strip.  To access the screws I have to remove the trim strip.

 I do that by speaking to it softly, holding my tongue just so and prying gently with a sturdy putty knife.  I do NOT want to break this trim strip as I will need to reuse it.

 This one was successfully removed, revealing the screws, just as I expected.  What I did not expect is that they are standard slot screws - I should have, these are old pews.  Fortunately I have some large, old, flat-blade screwdrivers.  I use a file to touch up the end of the one that will fit the big screws and *very* carefully extract the screws.  These things strip out very easily.  If the slot strips the only thing left to do is to drill through the screw head so it pops off. 

 Much to my chagrin, when I crawl underneath I find two problems.

One is that the center screw is an old round-head that someone put in here - and that they chewed it up pretty badly doing so.

The other is that the final screw is hidden under the front apron; which is also mortised into the end piece and nailed in pretty well.

Removing the chewed up screw involved punching the screw head with a large center punch to make a sort-of round depression.  Then chuck up a smallish twist drill in my electric hand drill and drill a small hole.  Then I swap out the smallish drill for a larger one and use the small hole as a pilot to guide the big one and drill through the screw head.  Once the big drill gets down to the screw shank, the head pops off and I move on to the next problem.

This apron is mortised in and nailed at both ends, and nailed to the center leg as well.  Fortunately it is not nailed or screwed to the underside of the seat.  It took some rather creative prying with lumber not a crow bar (don't want to chew up the rolled edge on the seat) to bow the apron out enough to pull one end loose enough to get in behind it with a small pry bar and detach the nails.  And of course this required me to be both in the center bowing out the apron and under the end ready with a pry bar to extract the apron.  That was quite a trick, let me tell you!

With one end loose I could wiggle, wedge, wiggle, wedge, the other end until it too was worked loose enough to work a small pry bar in behind it and pull the nails loose.

With that out of the way, and that last screw removed, a couple of good whacks with a dead-blow mallet and the end piece popped right off.

I'll quit there for today, and we'll pick it up here tomorrow.
Making The Cut

 After moving around enough equipment to clear out a workspace large enough to roll this 12 foot long pew around, I lay it over on its front and measure out the distance I need for a 4 foot seating area and a 1/2" stub that will fit into the mortise in the pew end.

I mark the line then back it up with masking tape.  The tape is to help prevent splintering as the blade comes up out of the wood.

 With the layout done I mount a good blade in my hand held circular saw and carefully make the cut up the back.  With that cut done I roll the pew up on it's top and find clever ways to brace it that way.  Layout for the seat cut is done the same way as the back was done.

 Both the part of the pew that will be kept and the cut-off part must be supported, especially as I cut through the rail along the front of the seat, this last little bit is all that hold the pew together and I don't want any of this bench crashing to the floor, causing kickback or pinching my blade when it separates.

 I place the pew end that I removed yesterday on a work bench and use a pair of vice-grips to remove the stump of the screw I had to drill the head off.  Doing this without chewing up the dado is slow work: Lock onto the screw, twists it a bit, release, grip the screw again, twist a little bit, over and over...

 Then I lay out the cuts in the top and front rail. The recesses in the end piece do not include these rails, so I have to trim the excess.

Finally I'm ready for a test fit.  It's really snug, but it works out just fine.

Next up: remove a gazillion staples - preferably without chewing up the finish and more than necessary.

Building a TARDIS

I had absolutely nothing at all to do with this project, but I just loved the video and thought I'd share it with you while you're waiting for me to come up with something of my own.  This is just adorable.

To be clear: It's not this German schoolteacher's do-it-yourself quest to build a dimension-hopping time machine that's adorable, it's the manner in which she does it. She recognizes her shortcomings as a craftsman, but doesn't care. She just boldly goes forth and builds herself a pretty smart-looking TARDIS.  It's a long stretch of a video, but totally worth it.  And the finale is worth waiting for.