Shepherds Hut stove build 2

 Most common tool used: the angle grinder.  I found that the casting was generous and I have had to grind all the pieces that fit together.  Though I think I have ground the cowl down a little to far.  I am hoping that fire cement will prevent this leaking too much smoke.

I think it should have been slightly proud of the rest of the casting, but I am not sure.  I had to do a lot of work on this piece to make it fit properly.  The corners proved difficult and in the end I used a Dremal with a grinding stone to slowly grind out the corners.

If I had the money I would have been tempted to get hold of a milling machine.

The other thing with cast is it is so hard, and difficult to weld so no short cuts there!  However I did use a high temperature epoxy (JB Weld) in a few places just to hold the thing together.

The damper and the stove top, were ground into the right shape and added.  Its finally looking like a stove.  The instructions said to drill out two holes on the underside of the top and tap in two screws.  I failed in this. The holes were too shallow to hold the tap properly.  The next time I am down in Bridport Foundry I will have a look to see how the have fastened them on.

I didn't want to drill straight through as that would spoil the look of the top of the stove.  

The damper was easy, and only needed a bit of filing around the sides.

Next was the ash draw and air vent.  Nice and straight forward.  I bent a piece of steel sheet to fit, pop riveting it together and using pop rivets to hold it onto the cast front plate.  The small silver knob I drilled and tapped ready for a M6 screw.  I really like the way the writing on the cast show through.  I Cant help wondering what the No1 Stove looked like as this one is pretty small.  Ideal for a shepherds hut.  When we have stayed in shepherds huts they have been so well insulated that they invariably got too hot, I am hoping this mini stove will provide enough heat without turning the hut into a sauna within a few minutes.

Shepherds Hut stove build 1

Stove Build. 

My retirement project is building a shepherds hut, but before I get started on the main event. I am putting together a small stove from Bridport Foundry. They cast the main parts and you are left to do the drilling and fitting together of the various bits.  Airfix for adults really.  These are the parts:

The first job is to drill holes in the side pieces of the main stove.  I needed to buy Cobalt drill for this as my normal metal drills would not touch cast, and I burnt out two trying.  Live and learn.

 
These need to line up with the floor plate.  Easier said than done.  The plate that make up the four sides of the fire need quite a bit of grinding and thinning of metal to fit properly. but after a lot of work the four side fitted flush at the top.

This is important to get right or the tope of the stove will not seal properly.

Chimney Cowl.

The next bit I worked on was the chimney Cowl, which needed a rebate ground into it so it would slide into the back of the stove.

 

    You can see the amount I have ground off on the flat edge at the bottom of the picture. I have struggled to find something that will grind into the corners of the stove.  My 5 inch angle grinder is a bit unwieldly, so I tried a Dremel but only burnt through milling bits.  I have now bought a multi tool and hopefully that will enable me to get into the corners. 

 Allotment. Getting ready for Winter

Covering

The runner beans ran away with me this year, getting to the top of eight foot poles and producing so much.  But today (29th October) it was time for them to come down.  I cut them off the poles and mixed them into rotting wood chip and have covered with black plastic for the winter.  Later on if I have time I may spread some farm manure.  This should all rot down nicely for spring planting.  You can also see in the picture the Chard is still doing well and will provide winter greens for us.

Next year I shall grow less, as although I like runner beans, there comes a point when I can't face yet another meal with them in.  I also learnt the hard way this year that you have to pick them young or they go stringy very quickly.  I will also try a stringless variety rather than a heritage variety next year.

First Nuc sales

 I have always enjoyed queen rearing and building up new colonies, so I suppose it was a natural progression to start selling Nucs.  This year we have four spare nucs for sale.  The first two went without any advertising!

The first buyer left me a correx box which I managed to squeese the colony into.

I put a thick Nuc roof on top to stop the sun heating the small box too much.

Rosemarie's Quilt

Rosemarie's Quilt

My grand-daughter has out grown her first year clothes, so a quilt made up of them seemed a good idea.

First I cut a five and half inch template.  The size seemed to fit most of the clothes while preseving patterns and pictures.

Of course it has to be square!  After sewing together this should give me a five inch square.

Next was cutting out.  A lovely day to sit out in the sun and cut with the aid of a rotary cutter and cutting board.  This is by far the easiest way of cutting out.

Well what a nightmare putting it together was! Different materials and thicknesses led to lots of machine snarl ups and Brocken needles. I ended up hand quilting sections as it was too difficult for my machine.

Anyway its finished.

Hot day at Tavistock Fishery

 Hot Trout.

With the bulk of the fishing season ruined by Corvid, I have endeavoured to make up time on the lifting of restriction.

Mid August, high pressure, and hot, everything was against this being a good day. However I had promised to take Nic so she could enjoy the tranquility of the place.

It proved surprising with two fish landed three lost while playing in. A long Cast and steady retrieve with a white gold head fished a foot or so down was the killer method today.

Willow Fencing.

Willow Fencing

One of the frustrations of moving every two years is the expense of making a new garden, again and again.  I have finally hit upon a good way of forming raised beds which last about two or three years and can be easily dismantled/  (We have to return the garden to truf when we leave/)

This year I bought willow from Somerset Growers at £10.00 for 10K quick delivery time meant ti was here in a couple of days and still green enough to bend for fencing. My first attempt was not pretty, but I learnt a lot.  I am always better trying soething out first and leanrning as I go; howver the end result while not pretty was functional.

I tried a basket weaving techneque on the top but it failed and I had to improvise by wrapping withies round the top to hold it down.  I put the uprights too far apart and made the corners too sharp.  Lessons learned I tried again in the front garden.

This time I made sure the uprights were long and that they were about 10cm apart.  I put aa curve in using a hose pipe to follow.  The red T bar made putting in the withies a piece of cake.

I used two withies at a time and put a twist in after every upright this made a solid wall and looked a lot better than just the in and out I tried on my first bed.

This is after three, layers, its already looking fairly neat.

The finished article.  On the top I used a basket making finishe called 4 behind 2 in front.  There are lots of different ways to fininish but I like the siplicity of this one.

Now all I have to do is fill it with compost and fill it with plants.

Gas cylinder forge

Gas cylinder forge.

After acquiring an old gas cylinder, I burnt of the remaining gas took the top out and filled with water. This ensures no gas is left in the cylinder, quite important if you value your limbs! I then cut a hole in the top.

The next job will be to cut a hole in the top to take the lance. In the third picture you can just make it out on the top of the cylinder.  I had to drill small holes around and then cut with a small dremmel disk as I didn't have a big enough drill.  Below is the lance and the fitting which came from Devil Forge, by way of Amazon.

A fiddly job next; putting the ceramic wool on the inside of the cylinder.  I had to be careful with this stuff as its fibers get in your lungs, so full mask and gloves on for this job.  I then applied a hardener to stiffen up the blanket.  This came in a gallon tub and I just painted it on and then to dry for a week.

Next was a layer of refractory clay, this came in a large bucket, with enough clay to do about four of these. or maybe a pizza oven!  This took an age to dry and in the end I had to bring it into the house and put it next to a radiator.  The lance was fitted through and I ensured that the end of it was clear.

Almost finished the legs welded on to stabilise it.  Below is a video of its first light up.  Some blistering in the refractory clay. But it got really hot very quickly.

I think I will add a door to the front to keep heat in but all in all quite pleased with the result.

Sanding block.

Sanding Block.

First found a spare bit of Oak and some pine.  The pine for the pad bit as it has some give and the sand paper works better on it.  The Oak, becaus it looks good and I am going to hollow it out with the Fosner bit to take the wing nut so it need to be strong.

Ready to start.  A side point; my bench is made up of movable boxes with draws in, each one can be picked up and moved with the tools inside.  I move a lot around every two years so I need to be able to quickly dismantle my workshop and move it on my own.  This was the solution I came up with.  It does however make the work bench slightly shaky.

Its a very simple design, but very effective, and better than finding a scrape of wood everytime I want to sand something.  

Carp Fishing at Woody Park

Woody Park

A great place to fish, on a very rainy morning, with 7lb breaking strain Hook length I managed to land this monster

Rushed to the lodge to get a photo.

A sunny morning followed and I swapped lakes after failing to get a bite in the pool by our lodge.
 Fishing a method feeder and spam hook bait I landed three Carp. Two common and this beautiful fish

A great place to stay.

Below is the lodge

You even get your own boat!

Garden Table

Garden Table

Finding out the cost of a new garden table I called in B&Q to buy wood to try myself. I have to say, tanalised wood is not cheap.

I raided pintrest to get the ideas and settled on a farm house style. I liked the way the legs angled out at 10 degrees.

I drew some rough plans and worked the rest out as I went along.

The photo below does not show the final brace.  Hopefully I will get round to taking a photo of the finished table.

If I make another I would joint the legs with tenons that go all the way through rather than hidden.

Tavistock Fishing

Got to the fishery just after noon to hear gloomy reports from fishing blokes. However as you can see

from the photo going deep was the oy way.

Mandarin ducks on the Plym

A sunny afternoon  so took the camera for a walk alongside the river. Came across a dipper fishing in the shallows.

Later on these colourful Mandarin ducks. The males are easy to see, but the females blend in with the water colour almost perfectly.

Suffolk catch

Suffolk Catch

My new workshop needed a catch on the door, so a search on Pinterest revealed a number of choices. I finally settled on a Suffolk catch because it looked a neat idea.

From the inside you can just see a toggle which when pulled operates the catch.

I turned a piece of oak and then cut it to make the washers which I tacked and stuck on with exterior wood glue.

On the outside of the door is the latch, which, as you can see has the leather thing attached to the latch.

The catch is at an angle that allows the catch to slide up and fasten the door.

I should have used brass pins on the washer going through the door. You can see where the tannins from the oak have blackened.

2020 Update.  I was worried the leather would perish easily.  But two years on its still going strong.  I will use one of these on my next shed as no draft gets by the catch.

Sheepstor

Sheepstor

The cloud came in as we arrived at the start point. This is just a short walk but uphill all the way. There's a good clear path to the top of the Tor, and on a clear day a nice view. But not today.

Dewer Stone

Sunny November afternoon, which I always think you have to take advantage of. The rain and cold will keep me inside later.
I parked at Shaun Prior Bridge, and crossed the Plym which is just a small river here.

Then up the path till it splits going left onto the old tram track where they used to let the carts down the steep slope.

Past this stone the track forks again, we took the right form up. I. The next picture you can see the holes where the rails were attached.

The picture below gives some impression of the slope.

At the top of the track is the winding house, we took a line out onto the mood, roughly heading for Cadover Bridge. I was aiming for the cross above it.

Here we turned back and walked along the woods edge until we reached the dewer stone.

A few walkers around, and ponies, Hopi g for sandwiches.

Bickleigh bird table

One of the first things we did when moving to Bickleigh was to set up a bird feeding station. As autumn progresses we are seeing more and more coming to feed.

Just a robin, but nice to see, he tries to keep everyone else off the feeder.

Blue tit and Great tit, looking annoyed at the thistle feeder, which they can't get in to.

A pair of Nuhatchs have found the feeder and are getting used to movement in the house four yards away, so are less nervous coming to feed.

The wood pecker has found the nuts too

Fishing by HRTB

Good day at HRBT

My pastor and I picked up a boat from the Naval Marina and headed out the HRBT.  We fished VA beach side just beyond the bridge, hitting into croacker quickly. Tinney catching almost before I got my bait on the hook.

It's great to fish with someone who just gets on with fishing and enjoys the sport for what it is.

After an hour or so we moved across towards Hampton to the little island where the HRBT goes under.  Less fish here but bigger.

We caught, flat fish, on my spinning rod, and puffer fish, sea trout, croaker and a few more on squid and finger mullet. 

Norfolk Zoo

Sunny afternoon walk round the zoo.