36 Degrees of Doneness

Glazing windows when it is 36 degrees INDOORS is not fun at all. Especially when you have to cut some glass to replace broken panes while you are at it. Regardless of the cold temperatures, I was able to re-glaze two six pane sashes and one, one pane sash in an afternoon. I was amazed at my glass cutting skills. Normally I break the glass that I am cutting, but not this time. The secret must be tapping the glass with the club end of the glass cutter (which I picked up on "Ask This Old House" last season) and oiling the cutting wheel of course which I had learned from someone who makes stained glass windows.
My hands were once again smothered in DAP 33 window putty. Which is great for putting fingerprints on any surface and leaving me with that all-telling glazed look.......

Blow Me!

Since I have been throwing all the corny jokes around about my caulk lately it prompted me to recollect an incident from my younger days when I lived in Pittsburgh.
There was this guy I knew that worked in "Bill and Walts Hobby Shop" in the downtown area. Someone came in the store and asked for such-and-such and this guy I knew said "Blow me!"
The customer said with a surprised look on his face "Huh? and the employee said once again "Blow me!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Below me, in the display case!"

That is a true story.....

Speaking of things that blow. Did anyone see "Ask This Old House"? Tom showed some couple how to inject blown-in insulation on one single space in their wall then left them to finish the rest of their house on their own..... Bastard!

Suspense! The Meeting.

If you haven't read my "Suspense" series of articles then you may want to look at the posts made last month that start with that title. Otherwise you won't have a clue what I am writing about.

Well, we had the first public meeting regarding the Wayne Ave/ Wilmington Ave intersection improvement project here in Dayton. The room was full. Standing room only. My guess is that there were well over 100 people present. The city engineers and traffic department were there in force with some aerial photographs and large scale planning drawings but absolutely NO plans. They didn't mention the plan they submitted to get the funding and passed the plan proposing the removal of the "House on the Hill" off as rumor. They described the planning process and the concerns for air quality, public safety and congestion at this intersection in 10 minutes and opened the floor up for questions. The idea being that they would gather information and then put some plans together once they had a feeling for what the public would deem "acceptable". It was a smart move really. I think many people in the planning department have been reamed a new asshole over submitting the 1960s proposal for improving this intersection. They made it clear that they would not be touching anyone's house but that they may need to acquire some 5 foot wide strips of property along the roads if they were going to have to widen Wayne Ave. The use of eminent domain was a big issue. The consensus of the public opinion was that it should not be used to "improve" this intersection at all.

I asked for the results of the traffic survey done 4 weeks ago. They did a song and dance around this. I don't think they are comfortable with the results. They didn't get specific but admitted that the traffic pattern has not significantly changed in the last 20 years and may actually have gone down a little. They are under the impression that people are using some of the residential streets to avoid the intersection which is total crap! They are cutting through the neighborhood because it is the shortest route across a few major streets.

There were many good points brought up and some good questions asked but a few things that stood out to me were;

1) that there was no objection to the idea of a Stewart Street cul-de-sac which would actually reduce the number of traffic lights preceding the intersection.

2) that the junction where Anderson intersects with Wayne could benefit from a center turning lane to reduce back up of traffic in the morning.

3) widening the road at the Wayne/ Wilmington intersection was not really necessary and that doing #1 above may actually solve some problems..

The general public at the meeting indicated that the engineers should try to improve the traffic flow with signs and synchronized lights before they should widen any roads. None of this should cost the proposed $1.9 million ($1.3 million in federal funds) allocated to the project.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 26th or there-abouts when we will be presented with some plans. I'll bet they use up the whole $1.9 million when they work out the plans.

I calculate that at my current rate of around 3 posts a week, it will be about 30 posts before an update on this issue. So now I can get back to blogging about important stuff like how exciting it is to strip paint from doors, whether my sausage stuffer is more valuable without yellow paint, the joys of scraping glazing compound off ones hands and whether indeed I should wash those hands before I touch my caulk!

Got Crack?

Do you have cracked plaster walls? Do those cracks annoy the hell out of you? Most people who see cracked walls think they have to replace the plaster with drywall if they want to rid themselves of the cracks. Well, you could, but it is a messy way to solve a problem. Then they remove all the lath behind the plaster and that creates a whole new set of problems when they find that the wall board won't lay flat on the old studs.
Here is the simplest way to get rid of hairline settling cracks in walls and ceilings. I didn't make this up either. I saw it on "Good Morning America" yonks ago. Back in the 90s.
People will pay $$$ for this secret. You can make $10,000 a day with my secret. In fact my uncles wifes second cousins brother whos father is a priest made $25,000 in his first week with my secret! (Sorry, it's late and the infomercials are starting to appear on the TV. I thought a blogfomercial was in order.)
I won't charge you $39.99. I won't charge you $29.99 or even $19.99 for this secret. I won't even ask for one thin dime. Why? Well people should pay for what advice is worth. Wouldn't you say that was fair? Since my advice isn't worth a damn thing, well, you get what you pay for I guess. So, what is this secret? Does it really work? Will it rid my walls of cracks forever and ever? Of course it will.
The solution? Painters caulk!

I've been messing around with my caulk all week. Sticking it in every single crack I can find. When I'm done, I wipe it down with a damp paper towel to remove the excess from the walls. See, the way it works is this. As the crack expands and contracts, so does my caulk. When it's hot, it expands. When it is cold, it shrinks. If you put a coat of latex paint over your caulk it will expand and contract too. Thus, when you are finished, the crack will be out of site and your caulk is protected.

So, in case you are curious, here I am holding my caulk!



Some of you have really dirty minds. I'll bet your parents told you that if you played with your caulk you would go blind, too...... Now where did I put my glasses?

Match of the Day

Let's talk about window hardware. In this place, none of it matches! I don't have enough sets of matching sash locks or pulls to do a room. The windows all had missmatched hardware, some new and some quite old. The living room has three windows. The hardware did all match but two of the locks had broken parts. So, they don't match but do work.

Several months ago a neighbor threw out a pair of sashes, back in October I believe. I threatened to remove the sash lock since it was kind of cool looking. Well, on Friday I finally removed it since the windows were still in a heap on their side yard. It had rusted and wouldn't budge but a little oil took care of that.

I then looked through my cigar box of removed hardware and low and behold, I found one that matched it exactly. It was from the one and only window of two that are in what will be the dining room (which was in a bathroom when we bought the place) which actually opened. The other window had long since been re-muddled and downsized until I restored it and was fortunate to find a pair of sashes that fit the opening around the place.

Here is a picture of the lock which I have already cleaned and put a coat of shellac on. As you can see, it isn't your run of the mill, standard turn of the 20th century, simple sash lock which I actually have several since I tend to scrounge all the thrown out windows in my block.



He shoots! He scores!
What are the chances of that? Well, I guess they were better than winning the Powerball lottery of $365 million! Those odds were 1: 146 million.

Mission Accomplished!

Here is how the window sashes look now. They are all quite dark but the constant layering of tinted shellac has paid off. They are all dark like walnut and have that pale amber fine graining that is common in dark walnut. The two pictures are the same frame against some of the orange colored yellow pine molding in the residence house.

Todays work involved the light sanding of the shellac covered surfaces, then the application of three more coats of the dark tinted shellac left over from my floor. The first of the three coats was thinned down a little with denatured alcohol but the final two coats were not. The final coat could have been diluted with more shellac really so as not to be quite so dark but hey, I'm lazy! The whole process took another 3 hours. It would have been quicker if there weren't those six paned window frames to deal with. Now I just have to go and buy some more glazing putty so I can put all the glass back in these frames.

So, for all those people who whine about stripping their woodwork to find putty and dents. Then make some excuse about how they just have to paint it because there is nothing they can do about it..... don't come whining to me. Here is proof that you can make it look like old wood again!

I had no clue if this would work when I first tried it in our hallway (that's a lie, I had faith) but what I did know was that someone had done much of the original wood work in a similar manner to this because I noticed it as I stripped it off. There was definitely shellac over paint (probably to look like rosewood) so it seemed to me that it would be possible to do it here. I used walnut dye because that is what I have. You can get oak, mahogany and all sorts of colors if you want. Even blue and red! You really don't need more that 2 oz. of the stuff. I bought an 8oz can for around $25.00. I used 2 oz which was enough to do my dining room floor, the patterns and risers on the stairs and these windows. I probably still have some of the dye dissolved in alcohol sitting in a jar. I sent 2 oz. to Greg so he could use it on a piece of furniture but it was probably stolen by his hill-billy neighbors and free-based into a dark brown crystalline substance known on the streets, not as "crack" or "crank" but as "crap". Which leaves me with 4 oz. I won't need more than another 2 oz. of the stuff. Cincinatti Cape Cod didn't want any when I offered it. House in Progress didn't want any when I offered it to them. Hmmmm, anybody wanna buy some "crap"?

Mission Impossible! Window repair 101 extended...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make four window sashes that are painted a shade of beige (the same color as our bedroom ceiling) look like wood. Preferably walnut.

"Heh! Piece of cake!"

Here are two of the windows. They are a pair with a six over one configuration when installed. The other pair are identical. These windows will be installed in the main dining room where we currently have no floor or door molding. The plan is to do that molding the same way.



Here are the tools and items I have to work with. A can of amber shellac, a jar with some aniline tinted amber shellac, some left over aniline tinted clear shellac from the dining room floor project last spring (not in the picture), some aniline dye in case I need it (but I shouldn't because I suspect that I have enough), a small brush that I use for shellac work and a large brush that I use for shellac work that has curved bristles because it sat in a jar of alcohol too long.



"Ummm, that sucks!"

I did a test on a wood paint stirrer to see if I could do it. Looks possible.



I applied a first coat of amber shellac to all the windows. By the time I got done the first window had dried. I applied a second coat of amber shellac with some aniline tinted clear shellac mixed in to make the windows darker. By the time I was done with the 4th window sash, the first one had dried. I thinned some of the dark tinted shellac from my floor project with some denatured alcohol and brushed that on being certain to make distinguishable brush marks. After 4 hours, all my windows looked like this. Can you see where we are going?



The next step is to let all this dry so that I can lightly sand the surfaces with 220 grit sand paper to remove any dust, bubbles, cat hairs, etc. I could have done that last night too except for one thing. I am working on these in the basement of my residence and the sand paper is sitting by the front door of the "Crackhouse" where I left it when i went to pick up the windows!

These will be done today! I'm waiting for the 4th coat to dry right now...

Who'd a thunk it.....

You would think that with all these posts lately that I haven't done diddly-squat on the house. You would be WRONG! I have actually been striping paint from two window sashes and a door. I've tried, but there is no real way that I can make stripping paint from wood an interesting story. If you have never stripped paint before, try it! Then you will know what I mean...
Here is something that is a little more interesting. Remember this from a post I made back in December?



What is it did you ask? It is a genuine piece of American ingenuity and craftsmanship! A bonifide piece of Amercana. Folk painted of course. It is a sausage stuffer.

I did some research and found this. Just to prove that I know what I am talking about!



It wasn't even invented by a German! I saw one just like it in "The Brass Armadillo" for $60.00. I saw one on ebay sell for $13.99. Our delightful object d'art was $5.00 at an auction. Do you want to know the one thing that would make our sausage stuffer worth more? What could possibly make it worth at least twice what we paid for it? What could make it look like the other two?



Paint stripper!

Since I am in Dedication Mode....

I remember this song from when I was a teenager by "The Stranglers".
I thought I would post the lyrics here. Then I would pop the burning question...... (wait for it.....)

No More Heroes

Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky?
He got an ice pick
That made his ears burn
Whatever happened to dear old Lenny?
The great Elmyra and Sancho Panza?
Whatever happened to the heroes? (x2)

Whatever happened to all the heroes?
All the Shakespearoes?
They watched their Rome burn
Whatever happened to the heroes? (x2)
No more heroes anymore (x2)

Whatever happened to all the heroes?
All the Shakespearoes?
They watched their Rome burn
Whatever happened to the heroes?(x2)
No more heroes anymore (x2)

This song is dedicated to ALL THOSE HOUSEBLOGGERS who don't post much any more.

For some of you (and you know who you are) it has been almost a year. Put up a post and let us know what you've been up to. Your house is nowhere near done. We know that, because if it was you would have blogged about it by now.There are almost 200 houseblogs logged onto http://www.houseblogs.net/ these days. So my question is "Where did you all go?" Enquiring minds want to know.....

We dedicate this post

To Home Improvement Ninja
Who is about to practice imperialism on a neighborhood scale.
Go and watch the "Four Feathers" and read this 1892 poem before you put on the khakis and pick up the Martini Henry rifle! The Sudanese are a formidable foe!

“Fuzzy-Wuzzy”
(Soudan Expeditionary Force)

Rudyard Kipling

WE’VE fought with many men acrost the seas,
An’ some of ’em was brave an’ some was not:
The Paythan an’ the Zulu an’ Burmese;
But the Fuzzy was the finest o’ the lot.
We never got a ha’porth’s change of ’im:
’E squatted in the scrub an’ ’ocked our ’orses,
’E cut our sentries up at Suakim,
An’ ’e played the cat an’ banjo with our forces.
So ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your ’ome in the Soudan;
You’re a pore benighted ’eathen but a first-class fightin’ man;
We gives you your certificate, an’ if you want it signed
We’ll come an’ ’ave a romp with you whenever you’re inclined.

We took our chanst among the Khyber ’ills,
The Boers knocked us silly at a mile,
The Burman give us Irriwaddy chills,
An’ a Zulu impi dished us up in style:
But all we ever got from such as they
Was pop to what the Fuzzy made us swaller;
We ’eld our bloomin’ own, the papers say,
But man for man the Fuzzy knocked us ’oller.
Then ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an’ the missis and the kid;
Our orders was to break you, an’ of course we went an’ did.
We sloshed you with Martinis, an’ it wasn’t ’ardly fair;
But for all the odds agin’ you, Fuzzy-Wuz, you broke the square.

’E ’asn’t got no papers of ’is own,
’E ’asn’t got no medals nor rewards,
So we must certify the skill ’e’s shown
In usin’ of ’is long two-’anded swords:
When ’e’s ’oppin’ in an’ out among the bush
With ’is coffin-’eaded shield an’ shovel-spear,
An ’appy day with Fuzzy on the rush
Will last an ’ealthy Tommy for a year.
So ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, an’ your friends which are no more,
If we ’adn’t lost some messmates we would ’elp you to deplore;
But give an’ take’s the gospel, an’ we’ll call the bargain fair,
For if you ’ave lost more than us, you crumpled up the square!

’E rushes at the smoke when we let drive,
An’, before we know, ’e’s ’ackin’ at our ’ead;
’E’s all ’ot sand an’ ginger when alive,
An’ ’e’s generally shammin’ when ’e’s dead.
’E’s a daisy, ’e’s a ducky, ’e’s a lamb!
’E’s a injia-rubber idiot on the spree,
’E’s the on’y thing that doesn’t give a damn
For a Regiment o’ British Infantree!
So ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, at your ’ome in the Soudan;
You’re a pore benighted ’eathen but a first-class fightin’ man;
An’ ’ere’s to you, Fuzzy-Wuzzy, with your ’ayrick ’ead of ’air—
You big black boundin’ beggar—for you broke a British square!