General Upgrades & Ideas

[Pelado]

Very cool, P-lad.

FIFY

edit: I guess I can't paste in the fire emoji

Gracias. We were planning to use the benches to roast hot dogs and marshmallows on the 4th, but I was too busy barfing. I'm feeling better today, but still not 100%.

[Lost Student]

Very cool fire, P-lad.

FIFY

edit: I guess I can't paste in the fire emoji

[Bo Diddley]

Very cool, P-lad.

[Pelado]

A couple of the benches still had a fair amount of damaged/rotted material on one side that I determined still needed to be removed. I had been hoping that the epoxy would fill it in but it wasn't really working. That damaged material also produced a potential hazard in picking up those benches, and I want to avoid slivers and other inconveniences. So I took those slabs back out for another date with the angle grinder with flap disk. After I got them mostly smoothed out, I took them back in to the garage, vacuumed them off, lightly sanded them by hand with 220 grit paper, and then cleaned them with a moist rag and then with rubbing alcohol.

I was thinking to apply the polyurethane last night, but I was just not up for it. So I got up somewhat early this morning and sprayed them with poly using an airless HVLP handheld sprayer I picked up on special for $40 at Harbor Freight. It worked pretty well - so much better and faster than brushing it on. It dried quickly and I sprayed them again.

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The second coat also dried quickly, but I left it alone for a while before coming back to it and "sanding" the finish by hand with a brown paper bag. As I was doing that, I realized I'd forgotten to "sand" between polyurethane coats. Hopefully that doesn't become a problem.

After sanding, I buffed the flat surfaces by hand with a microfiber towel.

The benches are now surrounding the fire pit.

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[Pelado]

Umm, are you going to finish the story by telling us your wife’s reaction?

I suppose.

She was not pleased, but in a playful way. Then she started scheming to get a yoga mat upgrade since this mat obviously can no longer be used for yoga or similar activities.

[Moliere]

Umm, are you going to finish the story by telling us your wife’s reaction?

[Pelado]

I've finished the leveling on the last slab, but only completed the mortise on one side before my daughter requested help packing for her Girls Camp trip tomorrow morning.

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This slab is thicker than the last slab, so I had to use taller rails than the 2x4s and 2x3s I used on the last slab. I tried a few different arrangements of 2x4s and 2x3s combined before switching to 2x4s and a couple of levels. After removing enough material, I was able to use just the 2x4s as the rails while routing out the mortise.

As I was showing the router sled setup to my wife the other day, she asked about where I'd procured the mat upon which the slab was resting. I answered with a suspicious-sounding "Why do you ask?"

It took her a few seconds to register that it is her yoga mat. I wanted something that would keep the slab in place without damaging the epoxy surface. Her yoga mat fit the bill, and I didn't feel too bad using it since she hadn't touched the mat for at least a couple of years.

If I'm going to do much more of this, I'll need to get a more powerful router and more purposeful router bits. The compact trim router can do the job, but each pass takes a while to complete since it's just a 1/2" diameter bit with a 1/4" shank. Additionally, each pass has to be relatively shallow so as not to bog down the machine.

[Moliere]

Looks really nice! I love the detailed process write up.

[Bo Diddley]

My understanding is that talking to yourself is completely normal. When you start answering yourself, that's when you have a problem.

[Pelado]

I understand the confusion. I often sit and mumble to myself.

My understanding is that talking to yourself is completely normal. When you start answering yourself, that's when you have a problem.

[Bo Diddley]

Thanks (assuming you're directing that comment to me)!

I understand the confusion. I often sit and mumble to myself.

[Pelado]

Nice work!

Thanks (assuming you're directing that comment to me)!

[Bo Diddley]

Nice work!

[Pelado]

I found a couple of viable logs from the firewood pile and split them each down the middle with the chainsaw. I then planed the cut surfaces. I used an angle grinder with flap disk to sand off some rot and stubborn bark. I used the miter saw to square off the top and bottom of each piece.

On one set, I cut about an inch into the half-logs about an inch and a half down from the top. Then I chiseled that material away. As I was displaying my progress to my son, he mocked me, asking why I was bothering with saws and chisels instead of using the trim router or the router table. On the other set of half-logs, I formed the tenons with the router table. I'll let you guess which set is which.

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The next steps were flattening the ends of the slab and then routing out the mortise on each end. I built a router sled using a couple of 3-foot long pieces of angled aluminum and some scrap plywood to assist me in those pursuits.

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For the flattening, I used 2x4s as the rails for the sled. I removed half the required material on one side in one pass and then lowered the bit and removed the remainder. When I switched to the other side, I was a bit too ambitious. Rather than remove the material in a couple of passes, I tried to just go more slowly but at the full depth. Not a good idea.

The bit started to vibrate and it came loose from the collet, sinking down and cutting deep gouges into the workpiece. I'm somewhat lucky the only damage was to the slab.

After letting the bit cool a bit and then tightening it back down, I started the corrective measures of removing a lot more material. After finally (mostly) leveling out the ends, I switched to 2x3s as the rails for the router sled (as pictured above). That allowed me to extend the bit deep enough to carve out the mortises.

I then applied plenty of lubricant glue and inserted each tenon deep into its respective mortise and then balanced some plywood on top of the new legs and weighed the plywood down with the other slab.

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Here it is as of earlier today:

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I still need to carve the mortises on the last slab and glue it up. After that, I'll sand all the benches and then spray a few layers of polyurethane to protect the wood and epoxy. And then the benches will finally be ready to live outside by the firepit.

[happyone]

I mention somewhere that my middle daughter has been living with us trying to save up enough to by a condo. With housing prices/interest rates it seems that she just can't come up with enough to move out. To solve that problem, we are putting a ADU in the back yard for her. We have the footing poured and are waiting pouring of the slab. It will be two bedrooms, a single bath, living area/kitchen - roughly 650 sq ft.
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I couldn't believe the cost. We got 4 bids and the lowest was $200K and the highest $350K. we took the one for the gentleman who did our kitchen/garage -$215 and that is without land costs

No wonder kids can't a ford to buy a home!