The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[GPW]

Good day to lay out on the beach in Miami ....

[KCStudly]

Yeah, you should see the pile of snow at work where most people would normally park.

Dave, over on his Temple, TX build, used some nice bungee netting to finish out his galley shelves. I have considered this option for my shelves and cabinets, so am making a reference to his supplier here, available in bulk qty, or in various sizes with bungee perimeter loop and hooks already made up: http://www.organizedobie.com/categories/260/Bulk-Netting-Bungee/1.

Looks to be reasonably priced, as well.

[KCStudly]

Tonight I took the backers and pipe clamps off of the glued up shovel blocking so that I would have access to bolt the axe head mount up and verify the location of the lower block for the axe handle.


A little closer up you can see the hinge is now mortised in and the screws are pre-fit. I used #6 x 1-1/2 long screws so that they go thru the hinge block and well into the base block reinforcing the glue joint there.


With the location set, next up was to trace around the lower block and clear the foam out.


Dealing with the backer and pipe clamps across the front of the cabin has been like a juggling act when working by myself. Somehow I managed to flip the setup out of position allowing the pipe clamps to drop. The one on the street side whacked the door sill, making a ding/gouge in the soft cedar there (right next to the smaller ding from a previous oops). I tried a different setup with the backer resting on top of the locker bump out, but then the tab on the temporary vertical brace wouldn’t fit between the horizontal backer and the rock guard blocking. Well, the tab on the brace already had a hole in it, the upper axe blocking was firmly affixed and has two perfectly good threaded holes, and I had a bolt at hand; so why not just bolt the top of the temporary brace up?


Detail of temp brace tab bolted to axe head blocking.


Bottom of temp brace screwed to front of floor with a small spacer and wedge shims clamping lower axe handle blocking during glue up.


I apologize for the poor quality pic’s. They were taken with one hand under lantern light, but at least I got something done and have the pics to show for it!

On Sunday (?) we tested the tongue box for a few hours with the 40w bulb inside fastened to the “electronics mezzanine”, just to be sure that it didn’t burst into flames. We used an oversized single layer of 3/4 inch foam weighed down with 1/2 inch ply as a top and plugged the access holes with chunks of foam. The underside of the “lid” got warm to the touch, but nothing scary happened so we put the recording thermometer at the bottom of the box opposite the lamp and let it go overnight. Karl checked it in the morning and found that the lowest recorder temp was 42 deg F. Since I only have one thermometer, and it was in the box, I didn’t get a corresponding ambient temp for the loft, but the outdoor overnight low was surely below freezing. I’d like a little better idea of what it can do when I know for sure that the outside temp has really dipped, and data points from times when Karl hasn’t run the wood stove downstairs for a day or two (happens often enough if he is doing installs in the field or on the road doing errands), before I put my inventory of chemicals at risk, but it looks good so far. Before you know it, it will be spring!

[tony.latham]

KC:

Your snow pictures got my head shaking. Crazy. It warmed up a bit here and w'e've got 4" of heavy-white slop.

I find my self staring at your axe head. It has character. I did a bit of Googling, and I think it might be called a Hudson Bay Ax, but I dunno. Has it been in your family long? Any idea of its history?

Also, I'm curious about the rubber-looking blade gaurd. Is that something you've conjured up?

T

[KCStudly]

Sorry to disappoint you, Tony. The axe is just something I picked up at the big orange a few years back (I think), or maybe it came from dad's place. At any rate it is not old or anything special as far as I can tell. The cover is the original plastisol like dip molded edge guard that came on it.

When we cleaned out my dad's stuff we found his old leather working tools, including several stamping tools that he had fashioned form nail heads... a basket weave pattern, a serrated fan/crescent shape, etc. He made beautiful knife sheathes for his kitchen/camp knives (including a pair of color dyed stemmed rose patterns and the aforementioned basket weave). Also, he restored his old boy scout hatchet, polished the head to like chrome, replaced and stained the handle in white oak/milk colored stain, and made a custom head cover for it; all in secret to gift to me at xmas one year (it is one of my most prized possessions). I hope to someday follow him in the hobby and make a head cover for this axe... as a 5/ct never done project for the camper. Someday.

There was a remnant of a makers stick-on label on it, but I think that went away during recent handling. I'll look at the head stamp for you tonight and see if I can make anything out of it.

[GPW]

Nice to know your camper will have some “Historical” quality , not just wood and steel ... Stay warm , stay safe KC !!!

[KCStudly]

Nice to know your camper will have some “Historical” quality...

Yeah, if I continue at this rate the build will be an antique before it is finished! (ba-dump-bump)

I did make a little progress last night, cleaning up the glue squeeze out on the lower axe blocking and preparing a backer flange for the outlet box that I may cut into the ceiling inside of the upper rear cabinet. I'm still not 100/ct sure I want to do that, but am proceeding based on the assumption that I will since, if it will be done, it should be done before the foam and canvas go on. (Can you tell that I am reluctant to make a cut in a perfectly good ceiling? )

I have a few pics to load, but got distracted looking at axe head stamps and axe info online (thanks Tony... ). Best I can tell is that the axe is a modern The Collins Company brand, made in Mexico (I say modern because, apparently Collins is an old company with roots here in CT). No great shakes these days. It has an italicized capital M with what looks like it may be a small 8 (deeply stamped) followed by what may be an italicized capital VI, the V having a rather flat bottom. I found an example of the mark in Google images but could not link to the page from here. The round logo shown at the beginning of the above link is reminiscent of the partial sticker that was on the axe, but I can't be 100/ct sure, and couldn't find any sign of it when I rifled thru the garbage (the things we will do for a fellow TD'er, geez ).

[GPW]

KC, I don’t know about you , but with this Cold weather , it’s hard to get anything done... not only is it uncomfortably Cold , paint won’t dry , glue is not supposed to freeze , and if you accidentally hit your cold hand with a hammer (Ouch!) ... There’s a time and place for everything ... it’s just not now ... Spring is on the way !!!

Cool you’ve been able to work on all these “technical details” that aren’t a major part of the build , but do contribute a lot of “character" to the overall appearance !!!

[KCStudly]

The thermometer in the Ford indicated 6 deg F this AM. We have had more snow today, heavy at times, but compared to the big dump it hasn't amounted to much.

I was running low on kerosene for the heaters, so stopped by the usual place on the way and they were out! Everyone must have filled up before the storm. So last night I had to shut the heaters down before I was done, before they ran out and burned up my new wick. Good thing I didn't have anything to glue, because it started cooling off pretty rapidly.

GPW, you are on the Gulf coast. How cold can it be?

Then again, all things are relative, aren't they?

I'll get a session in tonight (after I find kerosene), but the plant will be running tomorrow to make up for the closing. So I will be going in during the day, but will likely still get an evening session in.

[GPW]

“ How cold can it be? “ ... We’re not used to Cold weather at all ... Really !!! 40’s here now , that’s COLD for us ...

[Ned B]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1422690916.949202.jpg (186.53 KiB) Viewed 1240 times

[GPW]

Ned... That’s Nice ... I only visit up North in the Summer now ... and of course ,smart folks from the North never visit here in the Summer. We are the same latitude at Cairo Egypt...

[KCStudly]

Ran some errands after work and did not make it to Mecca. 9 Deg F this morning. Blowing icy cold at lunch break. Low 20’s at clock out time. Sucked the ambition out of me after working 8 hrs.

Pics from the other day. Axe head stamp.


This is the shallow duplex box and wall plate that I got for the ceiling outlet I am thinking about putting in the upper rear cabinet. Plan is to wire now for future entertainment center, inside charging of cell and camera batteries, or maybe a 120v option. I looked for a stainless steel or brushed nickel finished plate, but did not find a blank one. They had silver plastic, but smaller and would barely cover the blue edges of the box, so I got the steel one in white and will paint it. Probably black to subdue its appearance at the rear of the cabinet.


In order to have a little something more than the single layer of 5 mm ply to screw the box to and to stiffen the cutout some, I will use a second layer of ply. Here I have laid out the box with a suitable margin; scored the cut (seems to help the jigsaw run true); drilled a starter hole; threaded the jigsaw blade thru; and have made my way around enough to pop the plug out. At each corner I ran into the line then backed out enough to turn the corner to the next one. Once the plug was removed I could turn the piece around and go back to nip out the corners in the other direction. Here we are in progress.


Piece test fit nicely, shown here after cutting to length on the power miter saw. I might add a couple of shallow blocks on the top side just where the screws go. I decided against using the raised maple block style like I did for the light switches, etc., because I would rather not celebrate the visibility of the outlet inside of the cabinet.


Last night I positioned this piece up on the roof, marked it, took pictures of the locating dimensions for future reference, then pondered some more about wire routing and decided to change the location.

I thought I might be able to glue this piece where I want it, then use it as a router template to cut thru the ceiling, but it looks like it will be too close to one of the spars to get the whole thing, given the size of the shoe on my small trim router.

Today I picked up some more wire. I want to be sure I can pull them thru the wall with the vent fan wires before I commit to the roof cut. That will be tomorrow’s #1 task.

Also, after punching out, I did a little more work on that top secret camping equipment project that I started a while back. Filler work for when the weather does not cooperate.

[ghcoe]

Nice shallow electrical box. I was just looking at those at Lowe's for my build a couple of weeks ago. I had the same problem trying to find a cover that would fit over it with some overlap. I was on my way out when I saw that lowe's has another section for outside fixtures and they had larger covers there. Might check them out. The cover even had a nice waterproof seal, I guess that is why they are a bigger cover.

[KCStudly]

Yeah, I was more concerned with the shallow part than the water proof. Had to find something thinner than my roof so it wouldn't stick thru the foam. I shouldn't have to pocket out the under side of the second layer of 3/4 foam much to cover the top ("back" side) of the box. The open side will be in the cabin so if water gets into this box I'll have bigger issues than just electrical. I suppose there is breath condensation to consider, but that will always be a factor.