Entertainment Unit Part 1

This is a project that I have been working on sporadically for the last few months.  It's a built-in entertainment unit for our living area.  This is the first piece of furniture of any significant size that I have worked on - over 2.4m (8 feet) long.  My other projects have been small tables, chopping boards and a wall cabinet (blogged about previously here).  

Front Elevation

It is intended as a multifunctional piece of cabinetry with the following features:

• Central open shelves for the Freeview box, DVD player or whatever piece of technology replaces them.  The shelves are open to allow the infra-red remote controls to work.
• Storage for DVDs and CDs on the left behind a sliding door.
• Storage for our small stereo on the right, also behind a sliding door.
• A false back to hide the cables, with access to the power points, phone jack and aerial sockets in the wall behind.
• Bookshelves above, random sizes to fit our books and other objects.
• A wide enough lower unit to sit a flat screen TV on, with space each side for guests to sit/perch on during parties.

End Elevation and Sections

The main part of the work is in the lower unit, which is made from oak veneered onto MDF (main carcase), solid oak (trim around the edges) and meranti plywood for the back and doors.

These are not necessarily the ideal materials to use.  It's more a case of what is available and also what is appropriate.  Because the unit is going to be 'built-in' like kitchen cupboards and also because of its significant size the carcase needed to be stable.  Hence oak veneered MDF was used - not my favourite material to work with but it allowed the bottom, sides and back to be fully glued together for strength.

Gluing up the ends to the base

The back and doors are made from inexpensive plywood, which is a little bit splintery as I have discovered, but hopefully will be ok with a few coats of shellac and some wax.

Gluing the partitions, shelves and pre-stained backs in place

The rest of the unit is finished in Danish oil.

First coat of Danish oil applied

Once the second coat of oil has been applied I will bring it inside to see how well it fits against the wall.  Hopefully I've got my measurements correct for the positions of the power points etc, directly behind the central section.  Fingers crossed!

Roofs 101

The roof on your house performs a few different tasks, the main one being to shed rainwater effectively (at least in New Zealand, where it can rain a lot). Given a simple rectangular floor plan, there are two basic roof forms, the hip and the gable, both of which are present at our place:

Hipped roof on our house

Gable on the end of our garage

Other less common roof forms are the gablet, the gambrel, the Dutch gable and the mansard amongst others.  Unfortunately, there are so many different opinions about the definition of each of these that it is difficult do decipher what is 'correct' and what is just common usage (abusage?).

The New Zealand Period House (Arden & Bowman, Random House, 2004) describes a gambrel roof the way a gablet roof is defined in the UK and elsewhere.  I prefer the more descriptive 'hip and gable' which is used in Asia to denote a temple style roof, although the term Dutch gable is often used here, despite it looking nothing like the gable on a Dutch house.

Gablet or is that Gambrel? Or Dutch Gable? Photo: Bill Bradley

A gambrel roof in the US (think hay barn) would be described as a mansard roof in NZ, and possibly the UK, although mansard applies more correctly to a hipped or four sided version, not the one below:

Gambrel or is it Mansard? Photo: Steel Frame Concepts

Back to my copy of The New Zealand Period House, they describe a Dutch gable roof the way a half hip or Dutch hip is described elsewhere:

Half Hip or is it Dutch Hip? Or Dutch Gable? From Houseplans24.com

So you can see that there are very clearly defined definitions for the various basic roof styles.

Well, I'm glad I cleared that one up!  And this is just a roof on a rectangular box.  Introduce a non-rectangular floor plan with bays, lean-to's, valleys, clerestoreys etc, perhaps a flat or skillion roof, then we can look at framed roofs versus the trussed variety, purlins, battens, chords and webs, rafters, stringers, barges, soffits.... 

Public Transport Eh?

I work from home, but my wife has just started back at work in the city, which means a drive and two buses; a drive, a bus and a train; or just driving all the way.  At the moment, as in the past, she is using one of the public transport options but today's experience may be enough to put her off for good.

I will spare you the details, but lets just say the bus broke down on the motorway, the replacement bus didn't stop in time, the replacement replacement bus was going to the wrong place and... ok, you get the picture.  

It got me thinking about the last time I broke down on the motorway in a car.  It was when I was a student and I was driving a rusty old 1970 Holden Kingswood.  Cars now are reliable.  They rarely break down and are vastly improved on my set of student wheels.  One the other hand, I quite frequently see a broken down bus on the side of the road, with the familiar heavy duty tow truck in attendance.  Given that they make up only a small proportion of vehicles this would be somewhat of a concern.  Why is this?  The buses themselves seem relatively new.  Is it that much harder to make a bus reliable, compared with, say, a modern truck?

Reinventing the Door

This novel variation on the common door comes from Austrian artist Klemmens Torggler.  Thanks to Twisted Sifter (again) for the link.

Here's another one made from 10mm plate steel.

Very cool.

The New Era

It's often said that we live in changing times and that the pace of technology and social revolutions seem to be almost exponential.  Since the beginning of the millennium we have seen 9/11, the birth of the Euro, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, the Asian tsunami, the Japan earthquake, 3D printing and drone strikes.  But is our era really any different from the past or do we just look at it through our own myopic viewpoint?

The French have the term fin de siecle (literally end of the century) to describe the turn of the previous century but also the political and cultural changes that were happening at that time.

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893

Many 'isms' apply to this period: rationalism, materialism, surrealism, positivism, pessimism, social Darwinism and nationalism, which led to the upheavals of the First World War, which in turn led to fascism and the Second World War.  

HG Wells wrote The Time Machine in 1895, in which the protagonist travels to the distant future to learn what becomes of humanity and witnesses a dying earth.  The irony for me is that if I had a time machine, top of my list of destinations would be to head right back to where he came from: the late Victorian era and the turn of the twentieth century.

Here are some random fascinating events that were happening around this time:

The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889.  It was the tallest building in France until 2004 with the completion of the Millau Viaduct, which I have previously blogged about here and referred to in this blog here.

Wikipedia

New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the vote in 1893.

Kate Sheppard, 1905

In London, the first proper 'Tube' railway was opened in 1890.  It ran from the City of London to Stockwell (about 5km), under the Thames.

London Underground

By the time of the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, London's population had reached 6.6 million and it has not varied greatly since then.  In 1801 it was less than a million, making the fin de siecle a time of great change, for Londoners at least.

Small Medium Large

One of the nice things about growing your own, or even making your own, is the variety that comes with things that are not sorted into a narrow classification of what is 'normal' or 'optimal'.

 

The big egg is a double yolk special from our largest Austalorp, who has since decided to hot foot it back to her friends next door.

Why Do Cyclists Run Red Lights?

Auckland Transport recently announced the results of a traffic survey of selected intersections around the city (reported here by RNZ National and others), with the surprising result that about two thirds of red light runners were cyclists, despite them making up only a small proportion of road users.  The methodology used in the survey came under some criticism from Cycle Action Auckland and others, and there were the usual vitriolic comments from both sides of the pro/anti cycling sandpit.

I am, however, more interested in the reasons why so many cyclists feel the need to break the law.  I haven't commuted by bike for many years (I now work from home) but I have previously done so in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.  In the UK, I was much younger, and much more gung-ho on my daily 10km commute through London.  I dodged u-turning cabs, squeezed between double decker buses and yes, I went through the occasional red light when it was safe.

Back living in Auckland, I was surprised at how much more hostile and unobservant motor traffic was but if anything the desire to run red lights on my commute was even stronger.  Here are my thoughts on why.

1. Unlike in London, it is quite common to be the only 'vehicle' waiting at the traffic lights in your direction.  Bikes are not usually big enough to activate the inductance loop in the road, so you could theoretically stand there forever, or at least until a car comes along to trigger your phase.
2. Intersections are often tight, congested places.  A two lane road becomes four or more lanes to accommodate queueing cars.  It is an intimidating place to wait while engines rev behind you.  Contrary to popular belief, most cyclists don't want to hold up traffic, not least because doing so risks being pushed off your bike by impatient motorists, so the sooner you can get clear of an intersection the better.
3. Cycling is physical.  That momentum you lose when you stop has to be recovered again.  This is not an excuse, just a statement of fact.  If vehicle drivers had to do a couple of chin-ups at every intersection they stopped at I wonder how many would be tempted to run the light? 
4. Bikes are not vehicles, despite what the Road Code might say.  Cyclists have much better awareness of their immediate environment than motor vehicles - better hearing, less obstructed view and fewer distractions.  Cyclists have much more in common with pedestrians than with cars and trucks, however I didn't see jaywalking pedestrians included in the survey.
5. If you ride your bike through an intersection during the pedestrian phase then you are technically running a red light.  Provided that you don't endanger or frighten pedestrians what is the harm?  You are clearing the intersection so you don't hold up cars so it is a win for all.

Cyclists inhabit a peculiar world on the fringes of two modes.  Drivers say 'Move over or get off the road, you don't belong here'.  Pedestrians say 'The footpaths are for walking, you don't belong here.'  It's hardly surprising that cyclists want to dodge and dive their way from place to place, taking whatever opportunities arise.  Considering cycling is the most efficient form of transport it is surprising that we treat it in this way.

Wood Carving Hyperrealism

Believe it or not, this is a block of carved pine.

This is by wood carver / artist Randall Rosenthal who posted photos of the carving process on woodworking forum Sawmill Creek.  Thanks to Twisted Sifter for the link.  Here is a photo of the carving process - this one is a slightly different work.

Another example of hyperrealism using wood carving:

This one by Tom Eckert.  Yes, also made entirely of wood and then painted.

Christmas Construction Project No. 2

The other project for the holiday season was to help a friend build his new shed.

Despite looking like a giant Meccano set it has been far from a bolt-together job, but it has been very satisfying to see it take shape.

The long hot summer days have been sweltering though.  I have a new respect for people who work outside for a living.

Christmas Construction Project No. 1

The first construction project for this Christmas holiday break was a mobile chicken run or 'chicken tractor' for our four new hens, recently obtained from our neighbours.

The separate but adjacent coop is an internet ordered kitset which I have put on to a home made mobile base.  The wheels come from a cheap hand truck and seem to handle the uneven ground pretty well.

The chicken run is still awaiting some suitable wheels, and also some modifications to make it easier to get to the feed trough.  Once finished, we will be able to move the hens around free range style without them being picked off by circling hawks or harassed by cats or possums.  

One other complication is that three out of four of the hens seem to be off the lay so at this stage they are just well fed pets.