Druidic exploits of a various nature!!

[v8druid]

What kind of paint are you using?

it's a Paintmaster oil based product Bert .... brilliant coverage ... and sticks like the proverbial sh1t on a blanket .... have used it before

[245dlc]

What kind of paint are you using?

[v8druid]

Where the shed ??? , winters coming aint it ??? ...

if only it was that easy .... hundred and one hoops to jump through before you can even dig the footings.
if it was a case of just bang up what you want, I'd have had the steel here a long time ago and been fabbing the steel-frame ready ... it's all in the head, what I want, right down to connection details
don't want to 'poke' the planners, 'til everything else I want to do is done and sorted, or they'll be telling me what colour socks I can wear on Wednesdays .... bas**rds

[Wazza]

Where the shed ??? , winters coming aint it ??? ...

[v8druid]

spent the day yesterday ........ painting !!


boxes were so dry it just had to be done .......








they've shrunk !!


amazing the difference the darker colour makes ... no longer look like they dominate me patch


body is wrecked this morning after doing the roofs and finished about half six last night ..... 'slorra square metres of paint










the one's a doddle as it's flat .... t'others're corrugated so much harder work to cover .... fabricator's friend slaps it on........with me behind it .... have had LOT of practice


what I couldn't get at will get done as and when things get moved

was gonna have the morning spreading planings .... visitors this afters ..... but it has pissed down all morning so thy'm all still sat



Oh and as you can see ..... 'Bucket's back up

[v8druid]

gonna have to bear with me on the pix front tonight ..... 'Bucket appears to have crashed so gonna be uploads which takes for ever

as said earlier ..... 'Twas a loooong day Tuesday ... 90 minutes in the MRI scanner is enough for anyone .... especially a claustrophobic Druid ...

back on the road by ten and home just after eleven ..... traffic much better at that time of day ...

second breakfast and set to sorting the battery cables on the Thwaites ..... she wouldn't start for me the other day, which is unusual and having looked at the battery connections, had decided it was time for some new ones and a good clean up of the earth point on the chassis.
couple of new pole clamps and some fresh ends to the leads and she was away first flick !!

Moved her to a new parking spot behind the 'Drema, for now .... trucks were going to need all the room I could give them when they arrived with the planings.

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then spent some time with a paint brush on these .....

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... started with the hard bit first .... and had 3 doors done by tea time

been trying to get around to painting these a darker colour for a loooong time ... always something more urgent, when it's dry.

As I've been waiting on the planings and materials to finish the gates, I thought I'd use the dry time to get these done ... another ear ache-er to be ticked off the list, when they're finished !! Plus it'd be nice to have 'em not quite so conspicuous from the top of the drive !!

spent a lot of yesterday, between interruptions finishing off the doors ..

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and a bit around the side that has a bit of damage to it .... been there since I bought the box, 30 odd years ago and makes it a bit difficult to roller it, so slapped the brush over it whilst I had it 'wet', after the finnicky bits on't doors.

been on t'other end on/off today, again between interruptions and Clara.
unknown to me ... 'the boss' been sneaking a few pix today


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Phone call late afternoon ... was I at home about 6.30 tonight to take delivery of ........ 40t of planings .... you betcha.

another phone call 6:15 from a truck driver for directions, from the main drag and ten minutes later I can hear them rolling down the drive way ... no. 1 in, turned and tipping ...

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second one in and turning round, ready to hop into his mates wheel tracks

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parked him up alongside his mate, so's no.1 could get back out ....

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then swapped 'em around, with no. 2 tipped ready to depart...

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good job Pam was up in the window taking pix .... I was way too busy 'marshaling' traffic !!
first bloke thought it was a bit tight .... told him it was before I opened it all up a bit .... his boss used to get in and out, no sweat

Nice bit of stuff .... and a good pile of black top for spreading about....

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scored a bit of scrap too .... old cast iron cat's eye!!

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got the last little bit of the box ends done this morning and was going to set about relocating this lot to where I want it,but weather was dry and so were the boxes, so carried on with the old green shiny shit ... sposed to rain tomorrow see what the morning brings, weather-wise .... they never get it right these days !!!! Planings time



ON EDIT
Dunno WTF is wrong with the emoticons?? showing fine in preview ??

[v8druid]

As said ..... sod all done over the weekend due to a Plymouth jaunt ..... got back about half nine last night ... can't seem to better the 2hrs 20mins for the trip ..... dial 80 and sit there for 170 miles .... bloody busy on the M5 though ... will have to have a go much later in the evening next time we go down

Fire guard fitted a treat











and was pretty well 'received' ..... took some getting in the back of the Golf though .... was an 'only just' job and I mean ONLY !!




so .....day recovering from the weekend today and we've had Clara most of the day too ..... plus I've an early start tomorrow ... up at 05.30 to be in Llandough hospital for a loooong hour plus, head first, in an MRI scanner ... again!!
.... at 07.45 a.m. !! don't think they realise it's a 100 mile round trip for me ... done enough mileage this weekend already .. gonna be pushing my luck
I'm claustrophobic ... it's always a very loooooooooooooooong hour plus

[v8druid]

got Clara-ed the following day so sod all achieved other than mowing the grass after she'd departed

but was a beautiful day ..... up here at least ...









..... was pretty bloody foggy, down in the village though
crazy cat developed a new skill set .... Mower Surfing ... rode around the entire lawn, either on the bonnet or on my lap










not the greatest of pix, but on the move and almost dark

not a great deal achieved Friday ... Pam's elderly farmer cuzs turned up, mid morning .... which slowed any progress ..... followed by more visitors after lunch, which damned near knackered the entire day ..... did get the one end of the black shed finished off with a fresh coat of 'bitch' and a few facia boards cut and painted ready to get the guttering up, for the inevitable winter downpours, in between the interruptions

Now't done over the weekend, as been down to Plymouth for Lil' Shem's 1st birthday and his christening gathering

Forecast looks good for the coming week, so soon as my infill material arrives for yon gates, I can get those finished off and 'the boss' can get the paint brush out

Should also have 40t of planings before the end of the week to play with too, so'll hopefully have some more usable space the spread a few bits out, to get at said stainless sheets, currently at the back and buried, to make Pam smile ..... yet again ...... once they've had a talking to with the plasma

[v8druid]

another lovely day yesterday and sky to finish off with



sod all done yesterday, aside from entertaining lil' miss Clara .... not seen her for a week, as she and mummy have been visiting cousin Shem in Plymouth ... she made up for it .... and kept me on my toes all day !!

Squeak has turned 'Punk', with a green forehead .... god knows where he'd been






and much to Clara's amusement

did manage to get a suss on me gate hinges after she'd gone home, in readiness for a crack at 'em today ..... after I'd lopped this up into 4, more manageable lumps, in readiness for a repatriation with Josh and Katie May, the next time we head down to Plymouth ...



made for their wedding .. 5 years ago and been taking up space here ever since ... didn't want it slung out, so it had to be made more transportable ..... after I'd removed all the 'pretty' lights



one of the many things I was tasked with, back then .... bit of a head scratcher at the time .... "you want what? .... how big? er .... ok see what I can do " the things we do

anyway ...... been a busy day today, on all the fiddlys for yon gates .. takes for ever to make the lil' bits, especially when they have to be mm accurate, to get it all to fit and work ...












only two more to make ....... once I'd got a 'fit' sussed.

stuck some cross bars in't frames, suitably positioned to match an existing 'run line' and fitted the first pair, ready for a trial fit .....






then set them up for a lift into position to suss the other pair of hinges ......




the posts they're attaching to were perfect when i put them up about 5 years ago .... but being timber, have been subject to the vagaries of the UK climate and aren't as upright as they were, when they got set in concrete

so needed to tailor make the top hinge set ..... once i could measure up the discrepancies .....

enter the 'Drema to the fray



and a bit of assistance











suitable sussed, they went back on the bench ....



and I turned my attentions to producing the bespoke top hinge set to allow for some bent/warped posts

by the time I was ready for a re-fit, my assistant had 'burgered off' to her keep fit class, so was a one man op getting it all back in spot and suitably 'fixed' in spot ........






mission accomplished though ....






big grin from 'the boss' on her return

now to dream up the next bit ...... infill and decoration

Certain people have been playing with 'templates' of what 'she'd' like, this afters.



made the mistake of telling her I'd got several sheets of 2 & 3 mm stainless stashed away

yet another great skyline tonight .......

[v8druid]

well yon forecast was spot on ...... paint pot out this morning .........after a LOT of fettling and spatter removal




getting Blackfriars black board paint to cover with a decent finish is an art form ..... one I am well acquainted with after many years of decorative iron work coating



but a slow process ..... yet to find a better product to produce as good a finish ..... all down to the wrist action


then moved on ..... eventually ..... to the lil' 70mm box section job I mentioned .... a.n.other job for Alex .... sign post gibbet for the project he's just finishing off on ... for this year, at least !!



all it needs now is the base plate to arrive


Then ...... got started on 'the boss's gate requirement





I'm in the middle of this and Pam arrives ..... she's been in painting mode today ..... having interrupted the gibbet creation earlier, to get her a tub of bituminous mixed up to do the soffits on the mower shed (which saved me doing it),there was now a can you just ?? ....

Pam hates heights ... as in, can't stand on a chair .... could I come and do the gable....she could manage the rest





it certainly needed a coat, after all the blazing sun shine we've had, through the summer, it was in need of sealing over again, for the coming winter's weather .. that end catches a lot of the worst of it ...... so half an hour later I was back to me bench .. having covered the 'pointy bit', leaving Pam on the rest




only one sure way to create a match pair ........





as long as you make damned sure the first one is absolutely 'bang on'





hinge creation tomorrow ....... then I am going to need some idea of just what she has in mind for infill ...... I have several ideas, but have to get them past 'committee' .... she has a few, but no idea of HTF I am gonna achieve some of 'em ..... more on that one again


treatment night, so 'early bath', hence half a shed end painted and me finishing while it was still light ...... great sky tonight after it ......





hard to do it justice without going and getting a decent camera out.......by which time it would have disappeared ....... bright orange, in multitudinous shades


ten day forecast is awesome ..... dry, dry and more dry YAY!!

[v8druid]

You like like a handy fella with the tools and equipment ,so whats the hold up on the shed to keep the tools dry struth mate ,a mans gotta have a shed before all else

made thousands of metres of balustrading over the last 45 years Wazza .... should be able to knock it out by now, eh?

shed is in hand mate ..... need some planings to get the last of the flat area winter-proofed .... yet another juggle about and I can then get on to .....The Shed !!

[Wazza]

You like like a handy fella with the tools and equipment ,so whats the hold up on the shed to keep the tools dry struth mate ,a mans gotta have a shed before all else

[v8druid]

.... when the rain eventually ceased dropping out the sky, 'bout 12 today, I went and eyeballed yon genny again ...... sod all obvious in the way of re-sets, so re-introduced the battery to the system, with the isolator and up comes said "delayed inputs active" orange light .... bearing in mind that up until Friday, I'd never seen it lit before.
turned the key to manual and pressed the go button ............. and away it went ?? :) ....... AND said light turned green after about 20 seconds of running ..... WTF??





So blessed with 3ph again, .. I got a lead out, plugged in the band saw and cut up a pair of gate frames








then plugged in me belt grinder and sorted all the shaping up on the fire guard kit, sharpened up a few chisels and re-ended a few bars and drifts that were in need re-shaping , before turning yon genny back off.


Probably ran it as long as I had the other day, when it refused to re-start. ..... Started sweet as a nut again ...... and again 10 minutes later, with said light doing the same sequence each time.


I need to get some better info. on the 'nuances' of this old girl


Anyway ...... with the big yeller thing in the sky co-operating, thought I'd get said fire guard assembled


started with the end panels/returns first





framed up, infilled



and consolidated



followed by the main centre run

bloody weather had to have a go, just to remind me how fickle it can be

but didn't last long



the off-stand / distance from the 'hot-box' isn't huge, if I'm reading Josh's dimensioned photos right .... certainly not enough to stop a one year old from reaching it, so the central area had to have some Shem-proofing, with reduced bar spacings being favored over meshing it. ..... hence the gaps reducing by 50%, in't middle section.


got the ends onto it .....



and then spent the rest of the afternoon consolidating it all






although it looks a lot bigger in the pix .... the centre gaps are only 30mm and after discussions with SWMBO the consensus was .... no way is he going to get his arm through them






Way toooooo breezy today for even contemplating MIG, so stick and chip it was ....... tea interrupted the consolidation process and was getting on for dark by the time I'd come back to it, got this all welded up ...... plus a few capping pieces onto a couple of bits of 70mm square, I'd had sat, for a.n.other lil' job as well, whilst the Caddy was whirring.
If the forecast is to believed ... 'sposed to be wall to wall blue sky tomorrow, so an hour or so,s fettling in the a.m. and this can have a coat of not so shiny sh1t (satin black) and get left to dry in peace in a box.
get the 70mm bits fettled as well and assembled, then I can start on 'the boss's much mithered for gates.


These women don't understand the need for seeeeeerious thought processes in creating ..... taken me ages to hit on an idea for hanging these damned gates ... 'tain't gonna be an easy one .... it's got to look right, as I will be looking at it, ad infinitum and now't pisses me off more, than looking at summat and thinking, " if only I'd done ...... " !!

[v8druid]

well we had some bloody rain yesterday ... left an empty cup out .... a good 60mm in it this morning .... wild winds with it too .. bits of tree and bloody acorns everywhere





been 'shopping' down me mates place, this morning .....





been instructed to 'produce' a fire guard, similar to what I had to create, to keep young Clara away from our Morso, for Josh's little un, Shem who's one very soon and becoming more mobile by the day. With 'hot box' season coming on he needs to be kept at a distance from their wood guzzler.


so after unloading me 'spoils' I plugged the band saw in and wound up the genny, as I had a couple of other items to lop up too whilst I was at it .....


apologies for the lousy, flared image





an hour later ..





one fireguard kit

also gave it a try on summat a little larger to see what it was like for square ....... pretty good, so .........





knocked the genny off and set the bandsaw up for mitre-ing some box section ... got a 25' length sat in it and all set to go ...... pushed the go button on the genny and ........ nada ...... other than this warning light ..... WTF are "delayed inputs" and who told 'em to be active ?? weren't me





So .... phone call to me mate the genny man ... a few tricks tried and still ...... Nada!! ....
there are far too many fancy lectrikery gizmos in't control box ...... I am never going to need a modem to communicate with it .... and that is my best guess as to a culprit, ATM ..... we'll see tomorrow, ..... Serge is coming over for a shufty .... if it doesn't piss down, as forecast .... or it starts, if it doesn't rain


ran sweet as a nut for an hour or more and started first flick
so that was the end of my metal lopping for today ..... but was gone six by the time i'd finished faffing about and scratching my head looking for anything obvious in the panel
damned annoying as I'd have had it all lopped by then ..... fire guard, a couple of gates, I have been incessantly nagged about for a looooooong time and a bag lifter for me firewood man

[v8druid]

So ..... Saturday saw three more bags down the wood shed ...








and almost finished stuffing it by teatime





also slotted the last three, out of the ten I'd filled, into me trailer for a Sunday morning delivery to the step daughter's in the village ..... gotta keep that lil' girl of theirs warm when the weather turns to sh1t ..





which it has well and truly done yesterday and today howling, horizontal rain ..... lots of it !!!!

got the last of me pallet stack slotted away for now ......





with all the bags gone off the top of the drying cages.


stopped off on me way back from the village for a bit of an inspection to see what the field's looking like ....





was going to give it another once over, ....... 'til the weather turned to sh*t ... be a while 'fore i can get on there again after the last two days rain ... with wheels, anyway !!


Pallex turned up Wednesday morning with me latest acquisition





welcome home to me plasma .... bought it back off the CEF member who bought it from me, back in '14 .....





with 3 phase now on tap ..... 120 Amps of plasma will make for some easy cutting of most things I want to do .... will do 32 clean and more with patience


Needed a bit of a clean, but he'd done an excellent packaging job, for it's trip back from Ireland !

in light of Wednesday afternoon's weather and the forecast for yesterday, we'd planned a day out to go take a look at this .....








new Trago Mills shop in Merthyr ... it's ****ing HUGE


looks like a Disney creation .... God knows how they got planning for it ???


600 metres long in the main 'hall' .... stood at the one end you can't make out the other end clearly - where the floor stops and the roof starts


Been to their other places in Devon and Cornwall years ago and always well priced and stocked with all sorts of interesting stuff .... this one's no different, just on a MASSIVE scale .... picked up a few bits and bobs ... that you'd just not expect to find ... like boxes of M20 nuts, - got a great range of fixings .. huge tool selection .... all sorts of stuff and well priced, as usual.


Nice roast turkey lunch - I love turkey and again very well priced !!


wild old day though .... front sliding doors blew in as I was heading out of 'em ... caused a bit of a panic with the staff !! think they may need a rethink on them .... some screening might be in order outside the entrance or they're gonna be sorting them on a regular basis ..... but if they will build in Merthyr!? ..... LOL