Earlier this year, while we were finishing the attic, I took a weekend and built a cherry and ash laminated canoe paddle at the Camp Beach Center For Wooden Boats shop – as my own wood shop was in full use for the attic/storage. It was a little bit of a rush build and after paddling with it once, I decided to rebuild and reform it into a better performing paddle. This video will take you through all the steps of the initial build and the refit. The next video in in this series will show the finish steps and some on-water testing.
Category: Film
Film Friday – 3D Printing a Pen Case
Being a pen geek and needing to practice on some new 3D design software I need for my new J-O-B (another post about that later), I decided to build some small parts that held my interest, one of them being a pen case for my Kaweco Lilliput pens and my Fisher Space Pens that would fit in one of the tin boxes that the Kawecos come in. I spent a little time in CREO and used an over-worked and not well loved/cleaned 3D printer (not my personal printer) with some REALLY old PLA, which you can see by the gaps and gobs in the printed pieces – not perfect, but they will do. I spent about 40 minutes drawing the two versions and spent maybe $4.00 in electricity and material. At the end of it all, I know where all the needed tools are in CREO, I have a new pen case, and I have leveled up in my nerdiness.
Update on the Bee Hive in our yard
These are the weirdest bees…
The hive is in full south facing sun all day and protected from wind. They took 6 weeks to draw out the 2-3 new frames in a 10-frame super even with me feeding syrup and when I put the second super on in July not a single frame has been drawn out, even with two lower frames put up top. The frames have plastic foundation, so maybe they hate it. No burr comb either. Weird.They are super protective – not African-ized, but pretty damn mean. I wrote the keeper that I got the nuc from and he sent me a note in return saying that this is “normal behavior” for his survivor bees. It is not a lack of resources or the queen: she is a brood making machine with very few drone cells. They are just kind of mean.
After three months I should have 20 frames covered with drawn comb, pollen, brood, honey, the works. I didn’t think I would pull any honey from them this year and planned to get them strong for a spring split in 2019. The no honey thing was a correct estimation, but not just for me, there is very little honey or pollen in the hive – maybe a frame and a half a frame of capped honey the rest is currently uncapped and capped brood. Instead of 20+ drawn frames, I have 9.5. It is like they did not have enough pollen or nectar, which is no where near the case: They were all over the blackberries, our 40’ of lavender, flower garden, and 70+ sunflowers, so I know they had plenty of the flow this year. I am going to have to feed them with fondant over winter and am condensing the hive into a single super for winter.
The source of the original nuc doesn’t treat at all, so I am finding that they have a pretty high mite count with some wing deformation (DWV?). No AFB or chalk brood though. No robbing or ant issues. The aggression and the possible DWV may be linked and may be the issue with comb drawing and honey production.
There is a hive of Italians right next to the new bees that was an early spring package. Same type of frames and two westerns of honey were taken off them, though am not happy with mite count and will definitely treat them as well over winter. I blame the new bees for the high mite count this year.
I think that I will see how the new hive does come spring with the Apivar, beetle treatment, and all-winter feeding. If they haven’t calmed down or if they show any sign of weakness, that hive will be getting a new certified Russian queen.
Any bee keepers out there have any thoughts or comments?
Film Friday – BEES!!
My wife bought me a package bee hive box kit for Christmas last year, which reinforces the fact that I have a wife that is kind and considerate and pretty damn adorable.
Anywho, I thought that installing a new hive would be a terrific opportunity to document all the steps to install bees into a new hive box. I went with a nuc hive instead of packaged bees and a new queen. That is for a later video. The whole process of bringing a new hive into the apiary also allowed me to show all the steps in prepping the pre-built hive boxes/parts and I was able to build and showcase a couple of steel hive stands that I have been thinking about and designing in my head for years. I will also make a video on the design and build of the hive boxes and parts, but that will have to wait until this winter.
I love bees and I love being a beekeeper. The honey isn’t bad either…
House Painting – Attic Installment
I documented the process to paint the attic conversion that we have spent a couple of months working on. I am using a Graco airless spray rig that I bought a few years ago at a big box store. It has paid for itself MANY times over. This is part 1 of a 2 part video series. In this one, I sprayed the drywall primer and the trim paint. For paint I only use Benjamin Moore. It is my favorite to use and it wears amazing – not cheap though. Wear your mask and keep your lungs healthy!
Film Friday – Organic Lawn Torch
Dandelions are my lawn-nemesis! Their only redeeming quality is that they make pretty colors when they burn and my wife left me without adult supervision after letting me drink more than a little rose in the afternoon sun. This is what happened.
Film Friday – Double Feature: Attic and Bath Remodel Status
I spent two FULL days, with a little help from my wife, instaling the baseboard, door, skylight, stair, and window trim in the new attic space. This video includes a few tips and tricks along the way. As this will be my wife’s studio space, she put in some sweat equity filling nail holes, doing a little sanding, and she chose the paint scheme. I will be painting next and will document that whole process as well.
This is Part 1 of our basement bathroom build/finish. We decided to add a basement bathroom when we replumbed the house a couple of years ago. 6 months of chaos insued and we took a two year break before diving back into the bathroom build. This time has been SO much better. We went with white subway tile for the walls, black and while hex tiles for the floor, and charcoal grout. The next step is trim, paint and fixture install.
Film Friday – Attic Remodel: Week 7
This is the last of the weekly updates for the Attic Remodel Project. The heavy work and drywall is complete and I will start trimming and painting the space this week (nights and weekends as I have a real J-O-B) so that my wife will have a studio that is full of light and opportunity. The next and final installment of the attic build will show all the paint and trim steps, some tips & tricks, and will be a few weeks away.
Film Friday – A Friend and Neighbor’s Story
Jeep Re-Build Update Video
I got the Jeep back from paint months ago and it has been sitting on the lift in the garage – letting the paint cure as we have had work done at the house (Attic and Basement). I am not 100% happy with the paint, but that is another video. I have been collecting small cardboard boxes full of goodies since last October for the after-paint re-fit. That installation process has begun with the mounting of lights, fender flares, a new bumper, etc… I am giddy with anticipation to get it out in the Seattle summer sun.
Attic Remodel: Week 6
This week, we went from bare studs to insulation to wiring to drywall with a dash of new windows thrown in for good measure. The HVAC split unit head vacuum & power lines were installed and we had a serious accident in the attic that occurred during that process.
Film Friday – Attic Week 5
We made huge progress in week five of the attic remodel, even with a couple of setbacks. The windows still are not in, but that is due 100% to the weather. I had an angry cold/flu and my thoughts about getting a little further along that weekend turned into hopeful, but unfulfilled fiction.
Film Friday – Attic Remodel: Week 4
Week 4 brings us views, natural light, and modern wiring! We had a 4’X4′ venting skylight installed that gives us sliver views of Puget Sound, The Seattle Skyline, The Olympic Mountains, and the Cascades. ALL the knob & tube wiring has been replaced, we added some lights and plugs on the main level, are ready for the windows to go in on Monday, and for the last part of the rough carpentry to happen next week as well.
Film Friday – 3D Printing a Sweet Settlers of Catan Robber
I have been 3D printing a lot lately. I found a SWEET robber piece for The Settlers of Catan on Thingiverse (link listed below) and decided to slice and print it out for our game. It worked really well and I have been printing 1 every few days to give to friends and folks that we play Settlers with. I recorded the whole print and what it looked like before any clean up.
The Thingy for the Settlers of Catan Twister Robber:
https://makerware.thingiverse.com/thi…
Film Friday – Attic Rebuild: Week 3
The results from week three of our attic remodel: Floating Floor joists are in, new windows and skylight framed, stairs in, more Roxul insulation in, prepped and ready for electrician to remove everything scary/all the knob&tube next week.
Film Friday – Week 2 of the Attic Rebuild
I know… I have been posting a bunch of videos lately and not a lot of travel, Jeep, Puppy, garden, music, building, or other normal posts. That will change with the coming of Spring and the completion of our attic remodel/rebuild. In that vain, below is the short video documenting week 2 of the process. It looks like it will be a 5-part series.
Film Friday – Mt. Rainier
I am way behind on posting. My J-O-B, video making, house remodeling, class I am taking, and general nerdiness has me swamped. But…. I flew out of Seattle a little while ago and made a little film that has a fantastic view of Mt. Rainier. Enjoy.
Film Friday – Framing Double Feature
We are remodeling and rebuilding a 90+ year old attic into a master bedroom. This required completely rewiring to electrical in the attic, moving/fixing plumbing, building a complete floating floor, adding roof supports, etc… Below is thew documentation of the 1st week of the build.
Part I of a 2 part video on the replacement of a falling down 90+ year old shack of a carriage shed with a modern 24X24 garage. This was not a flat mono-slab, green field build. Lots of digging was required and a rebar-filled retaining wall and slab had to be poured in the middle of winter before the first wall could go up.
Film Friday – 3D Printing Projects
I have been doing some medium-serious designing, borrowing, appropriating, and just plain stealing some 3D designs and printing useful stuff this winter in between shop time, my J-O-B, building projects, and remodel projects. The video below details the printing and use of a couple of safety razor cases, SD card holders, and GoPro Session4 case.
Film Friday – An Update and a Little Ranting
A quick update about why I have not posted here on my blog or been on YouTube for a few weeks and how I have been spending my time: Roadtrippin’, some slight ranting, obscene gestures, naughty words, snowboarding, beer, some boats, a little 3D printing, and a sneak peak at the Jeep’s homecoming after 12 weeks in the body shop are all to follow.
YouTube Partnership Program Rule Change Rant
So, I am going to rant for just a bit, bear with me…
-Mounts Soapbox –
“Ahem… I set a goal to be a better filmmaker, content provider, and maker five months ago. Part of that goal was to reach the 10,000 view threshold to monetize my YouTube account. I did not plan to quit my J-O-B, or be internet famous, I just wanted to use it as a milestone for progress toward the goal and I nailed it on January 4th! 10,000 views!! I was so stoked that I woke my wife up way too late one night to tell her. My account was under review for 2 weeks and I was finally officially monetized for two days – two WHOLE days – before BAM!! I was demonetized with a huge group of small and smaller content providers. Son of a…
While this was a while in coming, it looks like the process/decision was sped up when a guy with 15+ million subscribers named Logan Paul posted a video of a suicide victim. 1st, what a fucking privileged asshat. WTF is wrong with people?! He should be forever ashamed, and spend a great deal of his YouTube revenue on suicide prevention and advocacy. What should’ve happened following the public and advertiser outrage was YouTube suspending or deleting his channel, but that dude generates SERIOUS ad revenue, so… What happened instead was that YouTube took him off the top-tier ad group and YouTube punished the SHIT out of the small folks by demonetizing channels with less than 4000 hours of watch-time AND less than1000 subscribers to ‘protect their core values’? Makes zero sense and this guy will continue to post and earn $$$ even at the lower tier.
OK, fine, fuck’em. I was not doing this for some mythical pot of gold. This setback is just going to make me dig deeper. I am 10% to the new threshold and I will keep slogging on. Keep making and doing. Post better and better content. This will make me leaner, stronger, bigger, better, more… A better speaker, better filmmaker, I will get lighting and sound for my videos dialed, have awesome content, and be a better person from it all. Success doesn’t teach half as much as adversity.
To all effected by the YouTube demonetization BS: Don’t quit! Keep slogging on. Keep making and doing. You too will be all the better for it. Send me your channel and I will follow you and help with the watch hour threshold. As I said, I had just hit the monetization before all of this and we will get there again. It will take some hard work but, we can all help each other out.”
– Dismount Soapbox –
Film Friday – Double Feature
I had a found (fly-away issue) DJI Phantom 3Pro sent to me as a gift by an awesome buddy – a SERIOUSLY awesome friend! I took a look and decided to rebuild the thing and see if I could get it back in the air. Here is that process:
From my second You Tube Channel – the one I use to share vacation videos and miscellaneous stuff – I present for your viewing pleasure: Snowboarding at Loveland and Winterpark in Colorado with great friends on MLK weekend 2018
As always, PLEASE hit the subscribe button if you like my content on YouTube. Thank you!
2018 News Year’s Resolutions:
A year ago, to the day, I said that I would do a bunch of stuff in 2017. I did OK, but not great. I could blame it on my old man hip, the surgery, or the recovery time, but mostly not getting stuff on the list done was all me. All my own laziness, stuborness, or my A+ skill level of procrastination. These are the promises I made to myself that I kept:
Take a pottery class
Take a Blacksmithing class at the Pratt
Read 1 book every 2 weeks – minimum
Play my uke, banjo, and guitar with others
Give lots of $$ to Heifer and MFS
Make movies and post: Adventure, craftsmanship, and family.
Make Stuff!!
Ride my skateboard because I am not too old or too fat
Road trip in WA more
Take my wife on vacation
Plant a spring garden
Fix up the front and back yards
The following is what I am committing myself to do in 2018:
- Organize my chaos in the shop and basement.
- Sell, donate, recycle, or throw away shit that I do not use.
- Use my planner and notebooks as tools not as something that I “have” to use.
- Eat my veggies. Seriously. Salads in my future.
- Take my desk at home back and make it a conducive writing space.
- Cut WAY back on sugar and carb intake!
- Lose weight – back to 175! and put on 5-7lbs of muscle
- Go to the gym 3-4 time a week – minimum.
- Box more at the gym and at home
- Write more: Blog posts, REAL letters, Thank you notes, fiction, and non-fiction
- Take more great pictures
Fly my drones more- Take at least a 45 minute lunch at least 4 days a week at work
- Show up to yoga at least once a week
- Take another pottery class
- Finish my CJ-7 Jeep restoration
- Look into getting back into the judo dojo
- Sign up and compete in the Gambler 500 car race
Sign up for a letterpress class at SVC Downtown- Take another blacksmithing class at The Pratt
- Read 1 book every 2 weeks!
- Learn how to play the mandolin and banjo better!
- Play my uke, banjo, and guitar with others
- Build a skin-on-frame canoe for two
- Road and mountain bike
- Take the puppies to Lincoln Park for a walk at least once a week
- Ride the living shit out of my Single -Speed
- Bike to work at least 5 times this year (12 miles each way)
- Volunteer more at the Center for Wooden Boats
- Pay off all credit cards
- Go sailing in Puget Sound
- Turn some amazing and useful stuff on my lathe
- Give lots of $$ to Heifer and MFS
- Make at least 1 movie a week for YouTube and post: Adventure and craftsmanship
- Monetize my YouTube account and increase my presence and standing in that community
- Lessen my Twitter and social media activity…
- See my kids and grandchildren more
- Be involved in politics more: financally and with a time commitment
- Work on my Genealogy database and organize all my info.
- Finish the house remodel – even if I have to pay a contractor to do it (…shudder…)
- Finish the garage/shop/GROP build
- Make.More.Stuff!!
- Ride my snowboard and skateboard because I am not too old or too fat
- Road trip in WA and on West Coast more
- Have two hives of healthy, happy bees
- Kayak lots!
- See my friends more
- Take my wife on vacation
- Plant a spring garden and have a really bountiful fall harvest
- Have an awesome Griswald-like Christmas light display!
I am printing this list out and pasting copies in my notebook, work planner, in the shop, at my desk at work, on the fridge, and in the basement above my warranty voiding workbench.
Film Friday – Oak and Maple Pizza Peel Build
My Father-in-Law, The Chatty Buddha, wanted me to make him a pizza peel and while I have built cutting boards and boat paddles, I hadn’t yet made a peel. I agreed, sourced the lumber from a local salvege store. It used to be flooring, but after some magic with the table saw, jointer, some glue, and a hand plane or three – he has a pizza peel that I gave to him for Christmas. I hope to be enjoying pizza from it for years to come.
Film Friday – Offering Candle Stand Build
As the weather has cooled down, there are some welding and fabrication projects that I need/want to take care of during the short, cold, dark days of winter. This short video details the fabrication of a steel votive candle or offering candle stand that I am built for my wife/our house. It is made to fit on top of the Prie-dieu that we brought back from France. The stand is made from 1/8″ steel channel and plate, though looking back at the video the plate might have been more like 5/16″ ish…
Film Friday – Another Hammer Re-Work/Repair
I had a tired, old, home-made, second-hand chipping hammer that was broken and had been so for years. So, I MIG-welded the busted joint, ground the transition, and added a reclaimed hickory handle, which came from a hatchet rebuild shown in a previous video that I posted on YouTube. With the re-weld and addition of copper handle rivets, it should last a few decades now.
Chopping Firewood Warms You Twice
I have some on the most awesome neighbors ever. I know a lot of people say that, but I firmly believe in mine. One of my neighbors across the street took down a maple and a cedar and offered both up as fire wood for me to just HAVE! Now, two trees is a lot of wood to and split and the cedar looked nasty with lots of knots and limbs. I decided to rent a $70 hydraulic log splitter for the day and just get it done.
I showed up with a chainsaw, bar-oil, and the splitter and he had it all laid out and ready to go. He gave me pre-mixed gas for the saw and spent 9 hours helping me bust it all up – just because!! Even though we used the splitter, it was still HARD work and we lifted/rolled/moved/cut/shoved 2+cords of wet heavy wood around. It was work! I bought him lunch and a bottle of Bushmills 10yo Whiskey, but that is nowhere near enough payment for all he did!
The maple is enough to supply around a third of our wood for next winter (takes a while to season) and the cedar will make for awesome fire pit wood in the back yard and at the beach! I am on the lookout for some oak to lay up this winter and I would commit heinous acts for a load of madrona…
Film Friday – Home Garage Car Lift Details
The short film below is part on my on-going series on YouTube discussing and showing my garage/shop build process. It details my experience of having a 2-post Rotary Revolution RTP10 vehicle lift, why I went with the type/brand/style that I did, thoughts after using it for 9 months, and what I might do differently if I could go back in time.
As Always, likes are really appreciated on my YouTube Channel!
Film Friday – Blacksmithing and Forging
I am a novice smith and that is being generous. I do like to forge though and it is awesome when I get a little time to make things for myself. This short film details a couple of the different type of hold fasts (metal work and word work) that I recently made at the Pratt Center for Fine Arts forge in Seattle. If you live in Seattle, have a single maker bone in your body, and haven’t checked them out – do so immediately and sign up for a class or two.
Film Friday – The Garage Sidewalk Pour
Below is a short film documenting all the steps taken in pouring a walkway between our existing patio and my garage/shop, as also discussed in less detail in a previous post. I MAY have overbuilt it… a little… maybe…