Multiple hobbies.

Hi,

I enjoy multiple hobbies and subscribe to about a dozen interesting forums as well as this excellent gardening forum. I enjoy all aspects of woodworking; veneering; french polishing; furniture making etc. Lots of engineering/metalworking; welding; oxy acetylene; arc and TIG; making my own machinery and restoring old heavy duty scrap machines; steel erecting around the bungalow; metal spinning; lathe work both metal and wood. Electrical work; fully restoring vintage radios and a vintage TV/Radio. Household electrics of all kinds; plumbing; all kinds of building like replacing the bungalow roof; recently replacing the front porch and converting the bathroom into a shower room installing a new floating vanity unit I made. I could go on and on but I stress I'm not smart or an expert in anything; by trade I'm a mechanical engineer (National Coal Board) trained by highly skilled engineers not fitters but true engineers who actually made things from scratch hence some of the training must have rubbed off on me; I post about work I've done but if I add work of others they'll receive due credit.

My wonderful wife Bron sadly passed away in March this year leaving me entirely on my own other than with her spirit and love for company; no family and no kids also only a handful of trustworthy friends. I was heartboken and devastated and remain so but I wanted to keep very busy whilst coping with deep grief.

I'd made and installed a new front porch about eight years ago; the timber was joinery grade softwood PAR (planed all round). All machining was done in my home workshop where it's well kitted out. I ensured every piece of timber was fully sealed with high end American Benjamin Moore paint now available in the UK but quite expensive. I did the entire job on my own with Bron looking after me with support and meals.

Neighbours I've often done free work for just watched but never offered to help but it was my job and as such I knew I'd be on my own.


Here's the porch completed; I also made the door. The glass is tinted dark grey adding to its appeal. I was happy by the way it turned out.

Living here on the very steep valley side the bungalow front is subjected to severe weather conditions often with powerful horizontal rain. For the first three years the porch was fully watertight then it started to admit small amounts of rainwater much to my disgust; I resorted to repainting but over the next few years it started admitting about a cup full of water which was promptly removed but with Bron so ill there was little I could do.

I'll have to complete this in parts because the replacement porch can be shown in detail so please bear with me if you are interested in this kind of thing.

Dinnertime is upon me so I've got to go.

Kind regards, Col.

 

You are very clever, not many people could do all those things.
I'm sorry you lost Bron, I think I remember reading about that in another post a while ago. I am in the same position since my partner Beryl died 6 years ago. You never get over it but having several hobbies to occupy your time does help. I also try to remember happy things and daft things we did and it makes me laugh ... that's good too.

 

Hi,

Having now decided to sort out the porch I was appalled by what I found. The joinery grade softwood was rotting from the inside out? I've never come across this before; the timber was absolute rubbish and proved to be a really bad choice. The porch pictures not in order.


I bought a new planer thicknesser which would pay for itself.

The new door glued up being sanded. Note the knots which later gave lots of trouble. Letter box opening cut out using jig saw.



Planed all round as bought; already off to a bad start; as I say bad choice of timber I should have bought sawn and planed it myself; better still hardwood without knots.


Main frame installed; a difficult job on my own; it measures 8' x 5' Three hands would be useful.

The middle rail having been biscuit jointed and at cramping stage on home made cramps.

Simple but accurate cheap routing jig I made for routing tenons.

The door being fully painted before being hung; note the heavy gloss black paint which was generously applied both bottom and top; because of weight I hung the door before installing the panels.
Inside the porch; new tiles completed the job.

WBP Plywood panel having V groove profile added using small router.

Having gone to extremes of protecting with paint I thought I could forget this porch forever as long as I kept up with routine maintenance; how wrong I was. I'm out of time again but will add more time permitting. I regarded this as a nice project at the time enjoying a bit of woodworking.

Thanks so much for your kind reply @Michael Hewett I'm truly sorry to learn of your loss and know exactly what pain you must have suffered losing your beloved Beryl. This pain and hurt never goes away but at least we learn to live with it; your Beryl and my Bron will be deep in our heart and soul until the day we die; I'm forever talking to Bron; it makes it worth getting out of bed each day; I know Bron is with me and I've no intention of moving; 38 years building our life here out of 48 years being blissfully married. Yes Bron is still here with me everywhere I look.

I'm still finding it difficult to come to terms with but lately I've actually laughed a lot the first time in a long time; I've watched some of the old series of "The comedians" this has gone a long way to lift my spirit. Do you talk to photographs of Beryl @Michael Hewett I definitely talk this way to Bron especially as I go to bed and get up each morning. Two of the biggest things I miss are our cuddles every morning and night but as you rightly say we have such happy memories to keep us going. I'll never marry again and I'll not even bother looking; Bron is the one.

Kind regards, Col.

 

It's nice you can feel close to Bron, it's comforting to think someone we love is still around us ...
Beryl was like me - a plantaholic, and we never went anywhere without calling at a garden centre. When she became disabled and had to be in a wheelchair I used to push her around and we'd put all the plants we wanted to buy on her lap. We used to laugh about it and it still makes me smile when I go to a garden centre myself.
All the plants she bought are still in the garden, and now it's as if I'm looking after them for her. I tell her things like "Oh look, this is flowering again"

You're doing a good job with that door, I hope you can get the porch sorted out soon !

 

Hi,

Thanks @Michael Hewett; we have a lot in common; Bron became disabled about six years after we married; not needing a wheelchair until she became too ill to stand about six months ago; Bron used me for support linking arms as we very slowly walked around; we always visited places like garden centers as soon as they opened when it was quiet; Bron could easily get knocked over losing her balance. We always knew what we wanted and headed straight for them; Hampsons Garden Center near Wakefield has a decent crafting section where Bron bought lots of her card making items; she couldn't walk far at all but never gave up or complained. I too talk to Bron all the time and yesterday asked her if she could see the flower bud on her Gardenia; I'm sure everyone in our position must do the same. When you have a wife you love more than you love yourself and they die; no one is prepared for the hurt.

Thanks; I'll finish off the story of the first porch then add the story of the new replacement porch which is fully installed and completed.


So much time and effort put in to make and install the first front porch for this to happen.


I added new panels to cover up the damage; not perfect but better than it was.

I couldn't stop the rot; I've lost the pictures showing just how bad the inside of the porch was; the door in particular was rotting from the inside of the timber; unaware the new timber must have been wet on the inside even though it was summer when I made the porch I sealed the wet in due to my eagerness to completely seal the frame and door with paint.

I've never had timber rot from the inside out and this was a nightmare; the knots too were a huge problem oozing sap/resin in hot sunshine; what was meant to be a low maintenance front porch was now occupying lots of my valuable time but I was losing with each passing year.

Inside the door I did use a router to let in new patches of timber routing out most of the rot but then Bron became very seriously ill so a coat of paint was added to the door inside just to tidy it up whilst I looked after Bron.

This new porch was a huge disappointment all because I chose the wrong timber but not only that but it was rubbish timber to start with. Bron's health deteriorated over the next six months; I converted the bathroom into a shower room because Bron could no longer safely use the bath so I installed a new walk in shower but this will possibly be added as another hobby. My lovely Bron sadly passed away in March. My life became a blur but in order to keep ultra busy I ripped the leaking porch out in utter disgust and was annoyed at myself for even trying to patch it up; I've never been a bodger; some went to a woodburner the rest was dumped at the tip; I was glad to see the back of it. Now I had a big hole where the porch had occupied so I set about making and installing the replacement porch which I'll continue this thread with shortly.

I'm aware I go on about Bron but Bron was my life and after 48 years of wonderful marriage Bron will always remain with me; everything I did I did for Bron to make her happy; we were content.

It takes time adding text then sorting out the pictures hopefully in sequence but I'll have a go.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

To follow on with the making and installation of the second new porch now the first porch had been disposed of.

This time I wanted to change the design a bit; adding the door to the right hand side and right hingeing it from the outside gave an increased floor space to the left inside the porch.

Having already chosen poor timber for the first porch I wanted some timber this time that wouldn't self distruct by rotting from the inside so I started browsing the web for durable sawn hardwood and wasn't worried about what it cost after all the first porch proved expensive it only lasting a few years.

I've been woodworking for 50 years and have worked with all types of hardwood even exotics whilst woodturning so I had a clue as to what to look for. However whilst browsing eBay I came across a timber called Accoya which I'd never previously heard of and it caught my interest

It's a softwood but converted to hardwood by a pickling process involving acetic acid; it's expensive but carries a 50 year guarantee if used above ground and the only supplier I could find is Arnold Lavers in Bradford; Lavers is known to me having bought from there in the past.

https://www.accoya.com/uk/




https://www.laver.co.uk/sawn-a1-gra...kZzAkdDE3NjEwNTg0MTEkajYwJGwwJGgyMDcwMzY4MDkx

The only size available on eBay was 4" x 2" in full 16' lengths; I measured for the porch framework and placed the order. 16' lengths of this Accoya take some handling on my own but as the longest lengths I needed were 8' I cross cut them using my radial arm saw making them more manageable to handle.

Only now owning a small planer/thicknesser it took ages to reduce these to dimension but I stuck with it but had to wear face protection and gloves; the workshop quickly filled with dense clouds of dust and piles of shavings had to be swept up; my workshop isn't equipped with dust extraction so a face mask was a must. The spliters from this Accoya are razor sharp often not found until hands are placed in soapy water; heavy gloves are a must but just moving the lengths of Accoya without gloves can be painful. It was supplied full size 4" x 2" sawn so it needed machining.

The workshop smelled very strongly of vinegar; this treated softwood now hardwood is indeed hard machining to a nice finish requiring little power sanding. I was now pleased to have timber that wasn't going to rot even if it did cost a lot of money; it would be very cheap long term so would be a good investment. The Accoya would last 50 years even without further protection. This is the main problem now solved so on to the actual making of the porch. I hope I can find the camera images so more to follow.

Kind regards, Col.

 

I’ve been admiring all your work @Retired. I thought this article might interest you…

https://edition.cnn.com/science/superwood-10-times-stronger-than-steel-spc

 

Hi,

Thanks so much @Tidemark for your kind comment and for adding the link.

I've known about Superwood for a while having watched YouTube videos about it; here's one as an example;



I'm pleased you mentioned it though to highlight modern progress. I wonder how long this superwood will last in years to come; being a mechanical engineer I trust steel.

I shudder when I see OSB used; this is a material I definitely wouldn't want in my home.

The softwood window frames in my bungalow are 60 years old and are still like brand new but in those long ago days we had real softwood unlike now as seen in my first porch. Moving here 38 years ago my first job was to make a back door because the former owner had an alcoholic son who wrecked the door on the day they moved just because it was sticking; he even poured petrol down the outside drain. The new back door I made from Russian Redwood which was readily and cheaply available. Some modern things are better but many older things take some beating.

I've spent over an hour trying to find the images I took of the second porch I made; I know I took lots of them also of a floating vanity unit I made for Bron; it's upsetting me having lost them because as I've said before 2025 has been and still is the worst ever year of my life. I've checked two SSD's and lots of memory sticks without success; I'm also sure I posted a lot of the porch pictures on another forum but I'm on over ten forums. If I tried to shoot myself I'd miss. I want to add the pictures if I can find them to encourage others to have a go at woodworking; a fortune can be saved. The kitchen I made is made from offcuts of Meranti hardwood bought at a local timber merchants as a car load at a time and I machined it on restored woodworking machinery but this is another story. I'll have another go at finding the pictures.

When Bron passed away I hadn't a clue what I was doing I was so heartbroken and devastated; I wonder if I've deleted a file by accident.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

What a relief; I've finally found the images about 270 of them. I feel a bit more cheerful. The rotten door below.

Batten attached to guide router .

Routing completed but timber well rotted.

New piece of hardwood glued in and sanded flush. More rot can be seen on the stile to the right; the timber was collapsing and bodging like this goes against everything I stand for but I had real life problems at the time to contend with; I slapt a coat of paint on it to tidy it up until I could sort the job out properly.

The best place for the porch; awaiting collection by a woodburning neighbour.

The rotten door ready to be broken up and disposed of at the tip; it sure was an heavy door but when I first installed it I did so before fitting the glass and bottom panel. I was totally disgusted with this porch; it was only letting in a cupful of water but it was getting worse.

I dug out for the pathway seen when I retired; I dug out at the rear of the bungalow first 25 years ago then this pathway a year later; the pathway replaced 9 steps to the rear door in order to help Bron also I made the bespoke fence and added the safety handrail (Mopstick). The only help I had was Bron with her continuing support and her feeding me; neighbours kept their distance even though I'd spent hours giving them free help; it suited me because I like to work alone then mistakes are mine.

These paving flags are the heavy 2" thick type; have you ever tried laying such a pathway on wet bedding mortar on a slope? The flags wanted to head to the valley bottom so having successfully laid the first bottom two I could then use wooden spacing blocks. I also pointed the wall using lime mortar. Jobs are never ending living here.

The wet clay I dug out was run to the tip six miles away taking 72 trips in a Nissan Micra; I wanted skips but Kirklees council wanted £6 to issue a certificate to have the skip on the street; I had the pleasure of Bron's company on summers days to the tip and let the council spend a lot more than the £6 they wanted from me emptying their skips; I bet the council don't issue certificates when they place skips on the road outside council houses they work on. A lot of money was saved at the time because only petrol for the car was needed and my time. One distant neighbour came to watch what I was doing saying he'd come to see if I had got it straight; scum bag.

Two neighbours later copied the pathway but they had builders in; one day I returned home to find two builders inspecting the pathway. No help but willing to copy my idea; there are steps to the other end of the bungalow allowing safety during freezing conditions; Coming up with new ideas is the hard bit but copying isn't?

Enough for now but I'm pleased to have found the images so I'll start adding them possibly tomorrow; I was worried I'd started this thread but couldn't finish it.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

Now for the new porch made of Accoya timber.


My 8" Woodstar planer/thicknesser which is very useful and accurate; I sold my industrial combination woodworker a few years ago.


Basic homemade router jig from offcuts costing nothing other than a bit of time.


For the first time I used "floating tenons" here some of the joint halves are routed at over 2" deep.


I have 5 mains powered routers; here's my most powerful in action on the jig. It doesn't take prisoners.


Careful to measure five times before routing.


What lovely timber this Accoya is to machine; Here's a planed all round stile needing very little sanding. 8'-0" long lengths of heavy timber take a lot of handling through a small machine.


Working entirely on my own I experienced lots of difficulties with "snipe" this occures as the timber leaves the thicknesser when the rear feed roller lets go allowing the timber to tip then it takes a deep bite over the last couple of inches or so. I tried holding the timber up as it left the thicknesser but without success so I had to come up with a new idea.

Here is my idea in use; I screwed two short lengths of disposable timber to the end of the stile; it worked a treat and is something I've never seen done before. If two people are using the machine then pieces can be fed through one after another avoiding snipe.


I was in deep grief having my wonderful wife Bron passing away; Bron was constantly on my mind and still is; I wasn't concentrating as I adjusted the jig for this cut; the jig is "handed" and I attached it the wrong way round; hence over running. 100% concentration is really needed but I was often in tears. This is big mistake #1.

More to follow.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

This time I made the porch frame in two parts; the main frame for the door the second was the window frame; I struggled so hard with the fully completed frame for the first porch.


Glass wooden beading is expensive and especially if made to order; I wanted Accoya throughout and I've cut lots of beading over the years; Here're I'm using my home made router table it having a permanant 3hp router underslung; guides were securely attached and with the 1/2" round over bit installed the lengths of timber were easily fed through with this result. Routing needs to be carried out on the largest timber section possible so I routed two beads from one length then ran the length through the saw bench to separate them. Setting up is a slow process and needs to be accurate.


Some of the beading; this porch needed a lot.


Not in any order but here is the big Makita router with extra long 1/2" cutter installed; bought from Screwfix this cutter was cheap in fact I bought a spare and was perfect allowing through cuts in 4" timber by turning the timber over; it saved lots of hammer & chisel work & time. Only one cutter did the lot.


The window frame being tested for fit before gluing; the door frame is on the floor behind.


The frame fully glued and rebates being cut with the router; I did it this way for simplicity; I could easily have cut the rebates using the saw bench. The only problem was the sheer amount of dust and chippings; a face mask is a must; I got covered in the stuff. The router is powerful enough to cut these 1/2" x 3/4" rebates in just two passes without the router being stressed or bogging down.


Both frames nearing completion; a lot of heavy work was involved to reach this stage; handling heavy frames in limited space is difficult.

More to follow.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

Again not in any order.


Typical Yorkshire weather; I got up one morning after a storm had passed through during the night to find the porch flooded; all I could find were offcuts of Formica and what a terrible job it was to fit these in powerful wind and horizontal heavy rain rain.


This porch was to have a block wall below the window; here the blocks are being cut the old fashioned way.


Inside.


Outside. Adding the top blocks was a pain within the frame. Full damp proof course was added as it was for the whole frames.


Out of interest I found these on Temu very cheaply; they are simple pyramid stand offs to use whilst painting; I could paint front and back plus all sides & edges using these just turning the job over; they are brilliant.


Above the door I used 12mm thick exterior grade plywood routing a chevron pattern as seen to match other such panels on the bungalow front. The router bit I think was 22mm diameter so a big one to hogg out the waste then a V bit was run down each edge to chamfer making it look like individual boards; this was slow and laborious but I wanted to keep very busy.


The panel looks totally different after two coats of Zinnser primer paint then two coats of Benjamin Moore top coats of paint all around and especially every end & side ensuring total protection; stainless woodscrews were used for fitting; another big job working on my own with the heavy panel overhead; I screwed a wooden batten to the framework to support the panel whilst I screwed it securely in position.

Next pictures will be of the new door so the porch is coming along nicely. Sorry the pictures aren't in order but it takes so long to arrange them without messing up.

Enough for now I'm busy this afternoon.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Hi,

Final pictures.


Here are three of my saws; foreground is the sawbench I madel it's 4hp single phase 240V; rise and fall with fine adjustment; twin poly v belt drive with rock solid rip fence. Big DeWalt radial arm saw where I can cross cut 16'-0" lengths of timber and very wide bords. The white bandsaw I fully rebuilt and modified; it's a nice saw with 6" depth of cut and 12" throat. Note the 16'-0" length of Accoya on the floor.




This saw creates a great deal of sawdust so I decided to fit temporary skits which now help a lot to contain the sawdust.


Door in two coats of primer but with heavy gloss paint top and bottom edges which was added in the workshop whilst access was easy; it's very important to paint the top & bottom edges. The finish paint was applied whilst the door was installed.


Rendered using Weber OCR (One coat render) it's actually scratch coat and finish coat but with embedded fiberglass mesh to prevent cracking. I've never previously done any rendering but I've done plenty of plastering. The black concrete floor edge was repainted black later. The cill was machined with a drip groove to throw rainwater clear.


The frame to wall was sealed with linseed oil mastic and the bottom black repainted after the picture was taken. The glass is 4mm thick dark grey tinted & toughened to comply with safety regs. The design is a lot different to the first porch I installed; with the door now on the right it gives a decent floor space behind the window wall to accept parcels. The inside of the window wall is covered with a WBP exterior grade plywood panel fully painted before being installed. Stainless steel fittings/screws are needed otherwise the timber will rot them due to the acetic acid content.

The chevron patterned panel above the door matches the other panels to the bungalow front I also made and installed.

The accoya timber cost exactly £500 inc. but this included Lavers planing all round the second delivery for the door; I'd struggled enough and messed the workshop up planing the first delivery.

The tinted glas costs exactly £150 collected from Huddersfield Plate Glass who have been supplying my glass forever. The Benjamin Moore paint I already had; I keep a spare gallon of the two colours which are 997 Baja Dunes and 2111-40 Taos Taupe.



Yes £113 per gallon but not a UK gallon it's an American gallon of about 3.8L.

I mentioned I'd made two huge mistakes; the first was with wrongly routing the joint but the second was a major mistake; I measured so many times but still made the window frame 7" too wide. I was in tears during the making of this porch missing my wonderful Bron in my life.

Since installing the porch it's been subjected to power washing by the climate blasting heavy horizontal rain directly to the bungalow front; it's 100% watertight and had better remain so with timber so expensive and having a 50 year guarantee against rot.

Normally I'd enjoy a project like this but 2025 has been a nightmare for me; the porch however turned out well in the end. I failed woodwork at school and detested the subject and the teacher.

Many thanks to everyone who has read this extended thread.

Kind regards, Col.

 

Most impressive. Not a lot more I can say! Your woodwork teacher would be proud of you.