Category: Rehab Ad Infinitum
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Plank by Plank
A hale hurrah to Glen and Tony for their enclosure fence progress. Plank by plank, they’re installing the tree-to-timber pickets, advancing the privacy screen behind Rosslyn’s carriage barn that will conceal the generator, mini-split compressor, propane tank, etc. while framing the sunken courtyard west of the icehouse. Yet another tree-to-timber project, all of the cedar…
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Door Reconceived for Icehouse Bathroom
It’s time for an overdue chronicle of the antique door we adapted and upcycled for the icehouse bathroom. From concept through re-fabrication and installation, this project demanded the focus, precision, and creativity of Peter Vaiciulis. The photograph of the bottom of this post offers testament to his impressive execution. Although I prioritized upcycling and adaptive…
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Joyful Joinery
Revisiting a reflection on “Durable Joinery” from one year ago because… circularity. A regathering of ideas once again — and probably forever — relevant. Recollecting. Relearning. Mission Intermission Joints. Joinery.Durable joinery.Rejoinery.Durable. Dynamic.Durable dynamics.Team dynamics…interrupted.Progress interrupted. Again.Stutter steps.Impromptu regrouping.Remapping. Rebooting.”There are timeswhen the border —between brokenand unbroken —blursand faultines become fractures.”Would woodworkingsuccor?Would wood joineryreconjoin?Might metaphormend?Joining, conjoining,…
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Stump-to-Table: Ron’s Bistro Table
At long last — albeit ten months to the day after it was completed and delivered — I share with you the looong promised “concept-through-construction of a mixed species (ash and elm) ‘bistro table’ built by Ron Bauer…” mentioned in “Tung Oiling Ash & Elm Table” and elsewhere. I started to compose this reflection on…
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Planks to Pickets
Plenty of “ciphering” on the details of the privacy enclosure recently. True, the team has been juggling multiple concurrent projects, but designing an executable construction plan for the screening fence behind the carriage barn combines several distinct challenges from steel structural skeleton to stump-to-lumber (aka tree-to-timber) pickets. I’ll save the specifics of the steel skeleton…
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Lakeside Staircase: Demo
With a grateful nod to the weather gods and resounding applause for Glen’s and Tony’s concerted effort, I offer you another progress report on repairs to Rosslyn’s lakeside staircase. Several years into this slooow rolling maintenance project, we’ve successfully implemented the second phase: demo and cleanup. Here’s where I left off a little less than…
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Illumination Tweak
Brandon wrapped up the icehouse interior lighting early last summer. I was thrilled. Much planning. Much micromanagement. Much collaboration with Brandon who helped devise (and implement) some creative lighting solutions for this unique environment. But I immediately noticed a problem in need of an illumination tweak. To be precise the tweak was to resolve an…
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Poetics of Planing
As Tony concludes his transformation of our homegrown cedar into finish grade planks for the privacy fence enclosure I pause to ponder the poetics of planing. Almost 3-1/2 months ago, the notion appeared as part of a poem. Come and chant with me,a poetics of planing —unroughing, smoothingtruing, straightening —for patient makersalchemizing plants in-to ingredients…
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Lakeside Staircase: Recon
After several years of delays — from false start to postponement to more false starts — Glen and Tony have resuscitated Rosslyn’s lakeside staircase repairs. Today I’ll catch you up on their preliminary “deep dive” (don’t worry, I’m speaking figuratively since Lake Champlain water temperatures are presently inhospitable at best.) We started out by assessing…
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Pickets & Kindling
While Glen has been enjoying some much deserved R&R, Tony has been finalizing preparations for the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn. Woodworking, especially repurposing rough or recycled material into finish grade lumber, has proven to be a well matched and rewarding undertaking for Tony over the last year and a half. Again and again…
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Perfect Imperfection
Tonight’s update captures a typical exchange within the team, this one between Tony, Pam, and me pertaining to the cedar board in the photo below. How do we approach a board with so much character? — Tony Foster Great question, right? Tony has been transforming rough cut cedar into properly finished and dimensioned pickets for…
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Tree-to-Timber
As we prepare to fabricate the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn, the constituent parts are starting to fall into place. One of the most important is the material that we’re using for the pickets. Yet another tree-to-timber project, all of the cedar slats/boards that will comprise the fence pickets grew less than 150’ from…