Lights, Camera, Copper

The moment of truth came Friday afternoon when the electrician flicked the switch and.....it worked! 

I had run all the cables through the Timbercrete walls during construction and now, over two years later, the electrician had come to connect the power points, lights and switches.  Whilst I had checked, double checked, triple checked and labelled all my work a couple of weeks ago, it was still nerve racking watching as the trained professionals had to figure out how to actually make it work - which they did whilst maintaining a good sense of humour. 

Though, I have to say, he was a little unsure at first about my plan to run some of the wiring through exposed copper conduit.  We like it, it gives the idea of an old  house that was built before electricity and has subsequently been electrified.  I have no real excuse for the tap - except that it's cool.

We're really pleased with the bakelite style switches which we purchased from Pales in Style.  Dan provided faultless service and attention to detail - I'd recommend his company to anyone.

Our electrician, Greg Eastman, and his team Brad and Chris were great to work with and very patient and accommodating of my ideas.  If you need an electrician on the South Coast, you would be hard pressed to do better than Greg, Chris and Brad.

The Harry Potter suite is now open

If I was paid by the hour the Potter suite would need to charge Hilton rates!

Swinging the old cedar door from Grenfell took a couple of hours and reminded me just how much harder it is to rebate hinges into hardwood door frames.  The cedar door was like butter whereas the tallowwood took an age doing it the old fashioned way with a mallet and sharp chisel.

One hiccough I encountered was self inflicted - I had over sized the door by 22mm.  No big deal, except to maximise onsite time I’d mortised the old lock into the door while it was in the workshop.  To resize the door I had to deepen the mortise to accommodate the narrower stile.  

The weekend onsite was also an opportunity to check the kitchen bench measurements - no 22mm over sizing there -  they seem to be bang on. This is a good thing as I’ve already starting building the cabinets in the workshop.  Next week will be a slow week - I’m off to hang out with my Dad for a couple of days - but I’m sure the unfinished kitchen bench will still be waiting for me when I get back.

Lock, stock and barrel

The door to the Harry Potter suite is officially ready to install.  I’ve cut it to size, installed the lock, added the hinges and attached an old safe manufacturer’s brass plate (as you do).  

Fortunately I had a bit of a brain wave before I cut it to its final size (see the start of the journey here).   Over a cuppa it occurred to me, why not make the opening wider instead of the door narrower?  I checked it out and, sure enough, by changing the door frame I only needed to trim 25mm off the door’s width - sheer genius.  (Pretty darn obvious really.) 

The rest of the weekend was spent putting together a kids’ talk for church about wisdom - kind of ironic really.

New wine, old skin

The battered old door I’m resurrecting for the Harry Potter suite has a few issues, not the least being severe damage from being kicked in and some large gaps between stiles and rails where the antique cedar timber has shrunk. 

As I mentioned earlier, I needed to shorten the door by some 8 inches in order for it to fit the opening - so the question arises, what standard of fit am I aiming for when I rejoin the shortened style to the rail?

My antique conservation teacher, Anselm Fraser, maintained that such work should be to the same quality as the rest of the piece.  He’s right, because a perfect join between a style and rail on a repaired corner will stand out like a sore thumb when the other joints have large gaps. 

Further, Anselm would argue against dismantling and rebuilding an entire piece just to improve some gaps.  He contended that overtly “improving” a piece often detracted from its aged look and, indeed, its value.  Of course, if the whole thing is falling apart then one has no option but to improve.

The Bible reminds us that we shouldn’t put new wine into old skins, otherwise the wine will burst the skins (Matt 9:14-17) ruining them.  The analogy works just as well with antique conservation, a brand new repair on an old cedar door will only ruin the original piece.

Harry Potter Suite

This weekend I've been working on a door for the sizeable space under the landing, aptly named the “Harry Potter Suite”.  I picked up a stripped cedar door a couple of years ago from Grenfell for $20.  According to the bloke I bought it off, it came from one of the early buildings in the Main St, which would potentially date it from the late 1800's.  It's had a hard life especially where the lock was fitted, with the timber split right through.   Perhaps the door had been kicked in at some stage, maybe during an armed robbery by some bushranger like Ben Hall (or maybe the owner just forgot their keys - equally plausible but not nearly as exciting).

I’ve reduced the height of the door by about 8 inches by removing the bottom rail (otherwise known as the horizontal bit) and taking 8 inches from the side and centre stiles (the bits that run from top to bottom).  I then reassembled the door and, to be honest, you wouldn’t know that it’s been cut and shut.

I also need to make the door narrower by about 4 inches.  Ordinarily, I would take a third off each of the three stiles to keep it symmetrical.  But given the damage around the lock I’ve decided to take 2 inches from the outside stiles and leave the central one as is.  I’ll add a couple of across grain keys on the inside of the door for strength.  This would have been a common repair method when the door was made.

One nice aspect of this job has been the opportunity to use a hand plane from my Grandfather Woolner’s toolbox.  It took a little time to sharpen and tune, but it’s great to use.