We’d never get the furniture in!
-
Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!
Simple door
- Thread starter RogerS
- Start date
I was going to ask the same. Is it plumbed in like that, can’t quite see if the tails go anywhere or if it’s decommissioned and just sitting there?What on earth is going on with that radiator
No it’s fully functional. The tails are lost against the background which is the top of the wall of the room below. It has to be said that the construction of the house is very weird. For example, in one of the ground floor rooms when we ripped up the manky carpet, right in the middle is a massive slab inset into the floor and measures about 2m square. No idea as to what or why. I asked the previous owner who said he didn’t know although I take that with a pinch of salt.
Returning to those stairs ….You know when rats leave a trail over time on the wall that they hug as they scuttle along? Well me and SWMBO joke that because we both hug that wall as we traverse the turn……….
Doug
Old Oak
It just looks wrong, with that style of air vent it looks like it’s been hung the wrong way round. The top of the radiator is above the window sill which looks odd. The TRV is almost at floor board level & tucked under the radiator so inaccessible & not an ideal position for its effective working.
It just looked like it’s been made to fit rather than bought to suite the space
NickM
Old Oak
Could the slab be capping off a well?
AJB Temple
Sequoia
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2019
- Messages
- 7,560
- Reaction score
- 1,068
Oddly enough I've seen the split flight arrangement in a narrow spiral stone staircase leading to a church bell tower. I found it scary (I don't have great feeling in my feet). Going up is OK as if I slipped at least I fell forward. Coming down was dangerous for me.
Looks challenging Rog. Some very firm handrail arrangement (maybe even a potentially removable thick rope) would be on my to do list.
Looks challenging Rog. Some very firm handrail arrangement (maybe even a potentially removable thick rope) would be on my to do list.
Spectric
Sapling
A capped off mine shaft or some sort of cellar as they used such spaces for food storage before we had refridgeration.
It’s Italian! Say no moreIt just looks wrong, with that style of air vent it looks like it’s been hung the wrong way round. The top of the radiator is above the window sill which looks odd. The TRV is almost at floor board level & tucked under the radiator so inaccessible & not an ideal position for its effective working.
It just looked like it’s been made to fit rather than bought to suite the space
duke
Old Oak
Maybe it's covering an old dug well.
Done and dusted. Middle hinge needs packing out a little. SWMBO will be painting it although I rather like it as it is. Door lock and knob still to be fixed. As are the shutting strips. But she has a door to her bedroom and is well happy.
Good job. I do not think that I have ever seen a door of that style before, looks good.
The next one will be easier.
The next one will be easier.
Sure will !
Phil
Old Oak
When we toured the Southern UK in 2001, I did not book accommodation but did google as I had plotted our route.
When we found a place we liked I always first inspected the rooms (common practice) and all the places had these small narrow staircases going up.
Lugging up 2 large cases and hand luggage was not fun.
When we found a place we liked I always first inspected the rooms (common practice) and all the places had these small narrow staircases going up.
Lugging up 2 large cases and hand luggage was not fun.
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,199
- Reaction score
- 972
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Well you’ve redeemed yourself Roger, hasn’t taken you long to build that, but suggest a door threshold maybe?
Spectric
Sapling
Why do people put a hinge in the middle, in theory it is not doing a lot because the bottom hinge is in compression whilst the top hing is in tension, having the third hinge above the mid point takes some of the load off that top hinge, you have two in tension.
Blackswanwood
Old Oak
As I understand it, having three hinges significantly reduces the chance of twist or warp. It also makes the door more “robust”.
Not needed Ian as the floor is being overlaid by naff laminate. The first room being that bedroom.
Trevanion
Old Oak
It does hold a door straighter and more firmly, for most typical internal applications it is overkill, but it's required on fire doors. Often, the third hinge will be placed only 8" below the top hinge on a fire door, which I personally think is wrong as if the door warps from a fire, the third hinge isn't going to hold it as straight against the door stops as if it were in the middle of the door.
I do three as standard on external doors, sometimes four if it's particularly wide or tall, mainly down to aesthetics as the hinges are rated 40KG per hinge, so in theory two would be plenty for most doors. People like the look of three hinges as a more "premium" product.
Phil
Old Oak
Standing here looking at our fire door between the garage and the house - only 2 hinges.
The steel frame for the door comes standard two hinges.
The steel frame for the door comes standard two hinges.
Reading this thread made m wonder how many woodworkers still use rods and templates when making things such as doors and windows. I seem to remember You Tubers like Ollie Bradshaw and Robin Clevett, after sketching out the design on paper, using rods to determine measurements and then making a full-size drawing of the finished doors on a large sheet of mdf or similar. That way all the final measurements were taken off the full-size drawing and the manufactured components assembled on the drawing. I’m pretty sure I used this method some 20 years ago when making a large louvred shutter for our daughter’s house in France.
Rods are still good practice in many circumstances, even though digital drafting can lead directly to machining wood using CNC technology frequently limiting the requirement for rods. But even now, there are many oddball shaped and sized things where rods have the edge over digital technology, or work well in conjunction with the digital stuff.
How to make and use rods for doors, windows, etc is still taught to joinery apprentices and learners, along with furniture students, especially if I have anything to do with the teaching, ha ha. A few examples of rods and the end products they lead to below from my own work. True, none of these are doors or windows, but the development of them, their purpose and use of the rods are essentially the same. Slainte.
How to make and use rods for doors, windows, etc is still taught to joinery apprentices and learners, along with furniture students, especially if I have anything to do with the teaching, ha ha. A few examples of rods and the end products they lead to below from my own work. True, none of these are doors or windows, but the development of them, their purpose and use of the rods are essentially the same. Slainte.
One example of taking measurements, below.
Rods developed from measurements taken as above, see below.
Below. One of the rods from immediately above in use setting out the length of a carcase end panel.
End products made using rods, below.
Rods developed from measurements taken as above, see below.
Below. One of the rods from immediately above in use setting out the length of a carcase end panel.
End products made using rods, below.
Last edited:
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,199
- Reaction score
- 972
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Yes that’s still an important part of measuring for me, just the other day I used a rod to check for blinds fitting.
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,199
- Reaction score
- 972
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Brill description as always Richard, those long thin lats are never chopped up in my workshop and I also have lots of slats from blinds, painted white wood and wonderfully straight. Never thought to use spring cramps to hold two together like that though, I’ve always just marked the end of one onto the other till I could wrap tape around them. Filed away!
Accipiter
Sapling
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2025
- Messages
- 339
- Reaction score
- 288
- Location
- Frome, Somerset
- Name
- Frank
- LOCATION
- Somerset
Until now I'd not heard of this... not being 'in the trade'. It's an excellent idea and definitely beats trying to get such long measures with a tape 
. Thanks for mentioning 'rods' and for sharing the details 
Spectric
Sapling
Are these rods just the same as a story stick, can be something fancy with adjustable markers or just a length of ply with details marked to locate anything from available space to position of pipes to avoid and electrical backboxes.
When I lived in the US I learnt that what Americans called a story stick is what I know as a rod. As far as I could tell they were essentially one and the same, along the same lines a rabbet (USA) and rebate (British), but then over at UKWorkshop maybe some years back now there were contributors (actually, maybe only one forceful participant?) that came up with distinctions, even in British English, between a rod and a story stick.
For the life of me I can't recall what the supposed distinction was, and I don't think I can get the energy up to care either, ha ha. So, for me, rod/story stick = same thing. Slainte.
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,199
- Reaction score
- 972
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Richard just beat me to it. That just about sums it up, how much info you want to record is up to the individual, personally I just started to do it without being shown, but if you want something to fit between two other things it’s unbeatable.
A small block of wood or a try square resting up against the end of the stick is invaluable, then you put the piece to be marked up against the wood too and there’s no quibbling about that they aren’t level, even better than touch, then a knife to mark the edge at the required length and you can guarantee it will fit and no measure it twice!
Surely not Jacob by any chance ?
Spectric
Sapling
I thought story sticks might have originated way back in the British ship yards, maybe to do with patterns and that rods might have been American since there are some rods made by Veritas called bar gauges.
Actually Roger, I was wrong, because there wasn't a forceful contributor, so I apologise for the potential mischaracterisation. However, it was Jacob who suggested a possible difference between rod, story stick and story pole but he wasn't at all dogmatic about it. It all came out in a thread by someone called ScottyT who described a bridge build he was working on. Slainte.
The trick with the spring clamps is you can simply hold the two laths together with your hands lengthening and shortening them whilst moving the laths around in the space until you find the shortest dimension. At that point the clamps are applied and the end of each lath is marked on to its partner and those marks positively identified for future use. After that you can go around picking up salient references in the space by marking the information on the laths.
The bottom reference for vertical measurements is always the floor, and for horizontal references it's always, where possible, the left wall for me, which always requires being aware of how level floor might be, and how vertical is the wall. Disassembling the sticks or laths means they'll fit in the car or van and can be reassembled in the workshop to transfer all the information to a complete unbroken longer stick or rod, which may have to be two bits of plywood joined if it's big project. In essence, what's created on a couple of rods, or story sticks or poles for the Americans, is a full size drawing, almost as if you are using full scale parallel motion drawing board. I recall setting out the choir stalls below full size on the workshop floor using methods similat to what I've just described. What's photographed is one of, I think, four sets of stalls and I worked on those sometime back in the 1980s. Slainte.
Last edited:
Cabinetman
Sequoia
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,199
- Reaction score
- 972
- Location
- Lincolnshire Wolds + Massachusetts
- Name
- Ian
Yes thanks Richard, those stalls are very nice, and pretty unusual being green aren’t they? I’ve only ever seen them au natural.
I think the first time I came across using a stick for measuring/marking was in a book at school, it might have been the wheelwrights one, where they went out to measure up for a well. Stuck with me - obviously.
I think the first time I came across using a stick for measuring/marking was in a book at school, it might have been the wheelwrights one, where they went out to measure up for a well. Stuck with me - obviously.
If I remember correctly the main materials used for the construction were Douglas fir and birch(?) plywood for panels, seating and other bits plus a bit of show oak and brass hardware. It was forty plus years ago I had a role in the construction of these choir stalls, and I left that company for a new job before they were finished, so I could have some memory lapses. But, given the materials used it doesn't surprise me they were mostly painted with some polish on the oak bits, so perhaps green is not such an odd choice.
I think those choir stalls have now been removed from where they rested when I last saw them and been replaced with some other stalls, also painted green with a bit of polished oak. Next time I'm in Edinburgh, I'm maybe curious enough to go and have another look. Slainte.