Central heating – Is it a Pipe Dream?

Posted on April 10, 2016 by Tom Green

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You can only talk about a project for so long, eventually you do have to actually do have to start work, and I have been talking about this for years, in fact I have been using the same joke for years. I remember mentioning it in an article for a society I belong to years ago. But until now been, wait for it, its been a  Pipe Dream.

Now I have a decent size workshop, although its seems to be getting smaller, in the summer its lovely, but in the winter it can be challenging especially if I am working with wood and need to get the glue to dry, you need heat, as I get older my capacity to rough it goes down I need heat, so its time to accept the inevitable, its time for my workshop to get central heating. Now I could install electric heating, cheap to install , but the running costs would be prohibitive. We are in the country so gas isn’t available, unless we use propane which means storage tanks, and I had a heart attack at the cost of a air source heat pump, so you can see it coming. Its time to Do it Yourself, how hard can it be.

So today I started on my Central heating boiler with waste wood as the heat source.

Key to it all is the heat exchanger which as you can see from the picture I have based on a steam engine boiler, and already I hit issues trying to braze copper, but we will get there. Or at least I hope so because my original plan was too buy the radiators, but now I think about it I have a design……..

 

 

 

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There getting bigger!

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Tom Green

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One of my regular customers is http://www.trafalgarlighting.co.uk a theatrical equipment hire company based in North London.

For some time now I have been making Location Mirrors for them. The first order was for some Table Top Dressing room mirrors, closely followed by a larger version, both of which I understand have been very popular and are frequently seen in advert’s, magazines, and Television.

Last summer these were augmented with a full length version, mounted on a steel frame with rubber castors, to make them “roadworthy”, and they have now taken it a step further by ordering Monster Mirrors which were delivered today. At 1.2mts wide these are enormous, a real statement piece. Yet as delivered them the reaction was “their great, can you go bigger?”. The answer is of course but before I get the order these have to be popular for hire first, so keep an old man in work, go hire these and then I get more orders

Now there out the way I can get on with the workshop central heating boiler, after a few sleepless nights the design is finished, I just need to build it.

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Time is under rated

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Tom Green

There is an old saying “that if you won’t something done then ask a busy man”. Well I think I qualify for the description of being a busy man, more so than usual recently and as a consequence the fun of getting to make things just for the hell of it disappears. Which is when the four day Easter break saves the day. Work stops, and for four days, family willing,I have the time to play.

In preperation earlier in the week I started curing some bacon, which as soon as the holiday started went into the food smoker to be cold smoked along with some cheddar and double Gloucester cheese. However the big excitement is home made mozerella. At Christmas I was given some cheese making equipment and a book, and I have been champing at the bit for enough time to try it, and finally the day has come.image

 

A good starter which gives almost instant results (well about an hour) is mozzarella, involves a few basic ingredients and the ability to measure. As you can see from the picture it’s one of those things you learn how to do in 20 minutes and the rest of your life is spent perfecting it. But for a first attempt I am really pleased.

When you then use that mozzarella on a pizza with home made dough, home made passatta from home grown tomatoes, home smoked bacon, and cheese, cooked in a wood fired oven. It all sounds a little hippy but by god it was good, and there are still two more days free so who knows what else we can come up with.

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A Daffodil for Mothers Day

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Tom Green

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As promised in earlier posts its time for some practice working with copper before I attempt to make a central heating boiler for my workshop. Now I am no stranger working with steel and iron, having had a forge now for over 15 years, and jolly good fun it is, but in all that time I have never worked with copper, and I have never brazed anything until today.

Like all my projects I have had a long time to think this through, study books and videos and in those many sleepless hours I have completed the project without a hitch and nothing is an issue , and then you actually have to start, and that’s when the problems start.

First problem occurred as soon as I unpacked my sheet of copper. I had ordered 1.2mm thick copper and received 2mm doesn’t sound a lot until you try and braze it when the amount of heat you need to apply shoots up, bearing in mind that copper is  very efficient at transferring heat, which meant brazing for a first time coppersmith a challenge, but as you will see the candle sconce came out OK.

Project 2 was using up some offcuts of copper from the sconce. Hammered thin to about 1mm it became much easier to work and braze. The starting point was to make a cone with a brazed seam, which I am delighted to say held water, add to that some leaves hammered out of some scrap copper pipe, and you have a Daffodil for Mothers Day.

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Am I going too far

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Tom Green

As I get older and the weather turns colder I once again start to consider the subject of central heating for my workshop, to use an old joke its been a pipe dream of mine for many years.

Over the years I have considered all manner of heating methods, but am put off by the costs, and the upheaval, however as I am soon to consolidate several workshops into one, the need for warmth becomes important, especially if I want glue to dry all year round. The biggest downside is that we live in the country, the house system uses fuel oil, cheap at the moment but that wont last, I could use electric but that puts quite a strain on the power supply, and to upgrade is both difficult and expensive. Heat pumps create draught which isn’t conducive to fine finish work, the last alternative is LPG which comes with all manner of problems not the least of which is I would prefer to use a renewable source.

My solution as I see it is to build my own heating system after all how difficult can it be. Last summer I built a water heater for the hot tub and I have been considering a more fuel efficient version of that using a copper boiler, similar to that found in the average steam engine. If I had something like that linked to a couple of radiators then I could heat the workshop using waste materials as the fuel source, cheap to run and no draughts. Perfect I hear you cry, with only minor reservations.

The only drawback I can see is I have never made a boiler, never really worked with copper, and know nothing about brazing joints. However I do work with tools and I did read a book about it so in my mind I’m ready. I have purchased some copper sheet, along with a pack of brazing rods. Being sensible (?) I will start slowly and make a few items first to get used to working with copper before I head for the boiler. I have a wedding anniversary coming up so I am sure my dearly beloved would like some candle sconces, I would try a copper sauce pan but that might be misunderstood, that’s up there with buying your wife an iron for her birthday, and the workshop without heating would be too cold to sleep in. It all sounds so simple but then as they say ignorance is bliss.

Wish me luck I’m going in.

 

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Never believe the review

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Tom Green

imageI do enjoy a bit of variety and the other day at the local auction I came across this very sorry looking rocking chair which became mine for the princely sum of £2.00. All it needed was the paint stripped off, re polishing, and caning. Simple I hear you cry,

Now it so happens in the dim and distance past I have caned chairs, which you would imagine is the hardest part. years ago I was taught the art of French polishing, so no issue there, leaving just the paint stripper. How difficult can it be. I have watched the TV shows where one application of some miracle paste, and all the old paint falls off. careful research online identified a suitable paint stripper from a well known chain store that shall remain nameless. However the reviews suggested that whilst this was indeed the miracle paste I needed.One review suggested I might leave it on overnight, and then use a second application just to clear up those one or two stubborn patches.image

Dont believe the review its taken 8hours work spread over 2 days scraping and sanding,brushing with wire wool,rinsing in water,then methalated spirits to get the old polish off that the paint stripper couldn’t touch and writing off the top of my work bench in the process, with so much ingrained dissolved paint I will never a be able to do clean work on it ever again.

The only good part of the whole sorry saga is that I have discovered an old fashioned hardware shop in Norwich which had a range of French polishes the like of which I have never seen before, so this is going to be polished with “red polish” to bring out the wood, a polish I have never used before but I think I am going to like. Wish me luck and then it’s just the cane to do.image

 

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The Final Piece

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Tom Green

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For sometime now I have been trying to make the perfect Bacon Sandwich, and the way to do this as I see it,is to control as many of the ingredients as you can. Get that right and it has to work. Already I make the bread, in an oven I built, I cure the bacon, smoke it in my smoke house, and fry it over a wood fire in a frying pan I made. The brown sauce is home made, and most of the ingredients are grown in garden. The last piece of the Jigsaw was the butter, until today, shop bought.

My dearly beloved knows me well and as a present today gave me a set of butter paddles and a pot of cream. What more do you need. 20 minutes later we had our first pat of home made butter, and it certainly wont be the last. It was good, really good and yet so simple. All you need is a pot of double cream, a food mixer and some salt.

Place the cream in a bowl and whip as you would if you were whipping cream, but keep going past the whipping stage until it starts to separate, and keep going for a bit longer. The cream separate’s, the liquid is buttermilk so drain it off and save it, you can use it for all sorts of cooking. The solid is the basis of butter, what you then need to do is rinse out all the remaining butter milk, so fill a bowl with ice cold water, and put the solids in it, squeeze it and work it to wash out the remaining butter milk, change the water and do it again, and again until the water remains clear. That way you have got rid of the butter milk and so the butter lasts longer.  Dry off the butter solid, place it on a wooden chopping board & squeeze out any remaining butter milk. If you like salted butter this is the time to add it working it into the solid, shape it and its ready.

From start to finish its 20 minutes, probably the easiest thing I have ever made. I can imagine if you have a young child to help this would be the ideal project. Try it and see for yourself

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A Real Sacrifice

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Tom Green

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For the last couple of weeks I have been working on my latest http://www.heritagecraft.co.uk project book that deals with the Building and Operation of a wood fired Bread oven – out soon, and I felt the need to include a few bread recipes. As always happens when you get old like me the mind starts to wander and I found myself desperate to make Beer Bread with a twist.

I have seen and tried several beer bread recipes, which tend to be German or Belguim, delicious but quite heavy for my tastes. I wanted something light for lunch, so I thought I might have an experiment. Based very loosely on a French Fougasse recipe this bread uses beer in place of water, my very last bottle of my favourite Adnams Explorer beer, the sacrifices I make for my craft, with the addition of caramelised onions and sauté mushrooms. I think if you place it in an airtight container it will keep for a few days. If we ever get to keep some for that long I will let you know. It must be magical because it vanished.

It would be good cooked in a conventional oven , but Stone baked in a wood fired bread oven it takes  you to another place.

 

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Its a tough job

Posted on January 11, 2016 by Tom Green

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Every January finds me at the Canary Wharf Winter lights Festival providing technical support. DSC_0048

My primary role is providing the electricity that powers it all , but have developed a subsidiary role in building wooden weather proof boxes to house the myriad electronic components needed to make it all work. All very last minute as artists are not always renowned for organisation

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My final role and the one I enjoy the most is chief tester, I get to try it before the kids, who would have thought you could get paid for this. Back to my workshop is going to feel really tame after this.

However should you find yourself near canary wharf in the next 10 evenings I would drop in its certainly worth it, take a child with you and its even better, and make a point of seeing the cleverest water fall you will ever see as shown below, computer controlled jets that work with droplets to write words.DSC_0041

 

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My New Office Chair

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Tom Green

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As the Christmas break draws to an end for once I am in the unusual position of looking forward to going back to the office. Now as a rule I do have to admit I enjoy my job, lots of different projects to get my teeth in too, and the time off over Christmas has given plenty of time to research what I need for this years projects. However this year I return with renewed purpose keen to try out my new office chair.

Big deal I head you cry the mans got a new chair. In reality I don’t think I have ever had a new chair, the last one was a hand me down 10 years ago, and finally the back fell off a couple of months ago, however all the mechanism and adjustment’s worked, its just the structure that went, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away., so I have saved it for when I have some time. The Christmas break.

image When I took it apart I discovered a makers label stating it was made in 1994, so its done well to last this long for what was really a cheap office chair now without a back

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The challenge was to do this without spending money, making use of offcuts and bits and pieces laying around the workshop, so it helps if you have a workshop like mine with lots of different materials, wood, steel, Upholstery fabrics and horse hair.

So now I have a refurbished chair, good I hope for another 10 years.

Happy New Year

Tom

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