Two solutions to the annoying hood lift support strut problem. For about six months I carried a stick in the back of the car. But it turns out mechanics have a simpler solution.

For those loyal readers who follow my little blog I have collected all the videos on this site into a special category called, naturally, “Videos”.

This includes my homemade videos-both listed and unlisted- and other videos I thought were interesting, educational or entertaining.

So now, if you wish, you can scroll through two years of videos to find the ones that tickle your fancy.

There should be something for everyone…urban vulture, dove, snipe, shoptalk and techniques, wood borer beetles, clever artifacts, and etc……

Happy NEW YEAR!!

!!!!CLICK HERE TO VOTE!!!!

There is still time to cast your vote for the hard working Miss North Carolina!

This is a picture of a premium wood sash with true wood muntins and individual 12×12 insulated glass panes.

Known generically as a “true divided lite insulated glass window”. The glass is held in place with wood glazing sticks. (NO putty!!)

With proper maintenance these windows with their all wood construction should easily have a service life of 100+ years.

But the devil is in the details.

As it happens insulated glass panes have a relatively short service life before the seal between the insulated panes is compromised and moisture accumulates and randomly fogs the window. In some cases less than 20 years.

It is an exercise in futility to replace one 20 year insulated glass pane with another 20 year insulated glass pane in a long life sash so the owner opted to use single sheet 3/8 inch plate glass to exactly fill the space formerly occupied by the insulated glass pane.

As an added bonus the plate glass replacement is cheaper than the insulated pane counterpart.

A fairly common problem: how to fix a partially rotted or damaged window sill without disturbing the interior woodwork or sash assembly?

As it happens the solution is not that complicated even with window sills built circa 1940!

Modern replacement plates will work, though in this case I did make a custom nose with the original as my pattern.

The repaired sill plate is indistinguishable from the other window sills on the house!

Footnote: this is a demonstration, not a tutorial. If you need a detailed description please consult an experienced local woodworker.

Update: For those of you unfamiliar with replacement plates and nosing here are links to two examples of vinyl replacement moulding available at the big box lumber yards. (Copy and paste into toolbar)
In the video I used wood because the seams are nearly invisible when caulked and painted.

http://www.menards.com/main/home-dcor/mouldings/exterior/vinyl-mouldings/7-ft-white-vinyl-sill-nosing/p-1448790.htm

http://www.homedepot.com/buy/lumber-composites/moulding-millwork/never-rot-7-ft-x-514-in-x-114-in-vinyl-sill-moulding-43634.html

Today’s project, water damage right at the bottom of door threshold.

An all too common job–the damage you see is usually a result of rain water back-splash from some hard surface onto the lower few inches of exposed wood.

In most cases not too hard to fix. Enjoy the video!

Another video! There may be more than a few of these lurking about the shop.

Okay, I am not exactly Bob Villa, but I did manage to drag a camcorder up on the roof with me and not get killed.

That has got to count for something.

So, to proceed….in the ordinary course of routine repairs many times the best repair is to “first do no harm”.

When it comes to water damaged fascia boards repairs frequently require removal of just a few feet of damaged wood.

Unfortunately fascia is classically installed in the longest lengths possible–sometimes with 16 or 20 foot boards.

If the only wood damaged is 3 or 4 feet out from the corner it is preposterous to remove the seamless gutter section, detach the entire piece, recut and reattach it, and refasten the entire gutter.

But you do want your patch to have the same fit and finish as the original work.

So today’s question: How do you field cut a miter junction behind a gutter still attached to the eave?

My solution has always been to use the common, ordinary flush cut cabinet saw. Technically a finish saw exclusively for use in the shop, it can make a big difference in the appearance of the patch.

There is a little more set-up and execution time involved, but most of the time you will only need to make one cut in the course of the entire job and the appearance of that one cut can make a world of difference in the final outcome.

So here is today’s video–unscripted, no teleprompter, no editing beyond the on/off button.

UPDATE 02/26/2011:

Apparently the 21st Century has caught up with the venerable flush cutting cabinet makers handsaw.

This technique will work quite well with the Bosch Multi-X Tool!

Maybe I will make another video in the not too recent future to demonstrate!

CLICK THIS LINK

The tree guys came by to take down a 110 foot tree before it destroyed a bungalow style cottage I periodically repair.

They brought their crane. Turns out life with a crane is a little bit different.

These guys were real life spidermen who rode up and down that thin crane cable like an elevator.

The 110 foot tree came down in 20 foot chunks and was safely cut up on the ground into bite size pieces.

Once the crane was in position it took little more than an hour to get the entire tree prone in the driveway.

The entire procedure was quite a memorable performance.

To see how firewood is made visit this Arbormax video:

Link: Arbormax Firewood Video

From North Carolina, the Tarheel State, comes this example of lighter pine in the form of a window sill in service for at least 100 years!

After all that time the turpentine fumes remain as fresh and pungent as the day the wood was milled and installed.

This wood is still so saturated with pine tar resin it burns at the touch of a match.

Volatile hydrocarbons, not from some internal combustion engine, but from all natural, completely organic pine trees!

The light blue smog emitted from this pine tree resin gave the Great Smoky Mountains their name!

Read more here….CLICK LINK