Walnut Box

Okay, I have been working on something besides the brick patio the last few weeks. This is a gift to a co-worker who is retiring next week. The primary wood is black walnut, Baltic birch for both the bottom and top, with a slice of a splatted wood attached to the top piece and finally a carved myrtle wood handle.

The sides are joined with miters, with a groove on both of the ends to hold the Baltic Birch plywood. After assembling the box, I cut the top off to separate the lid from the bottom. I went with brass hinges this time, so I routed matching locations on the lid and bottom to fit the hinges. Only they didn't match. So I cut another 3/64" off the box bottom and carved a place for the hinges by hand. This time they matched perfectly. I drilled holes and inserted the screws, and the lid didn't close evenly. I drilled out the screw holes under one hinge, inserted oak dowels and re-drilled the holes, perfect fit. I made a handle for the top with a dovetail type fitting to help it hold and attached the top.



The finish is a combination of mineral spirits, varnish and a touch of BLO. After that dried a layer of walnut wax on the outside.

Putting Down The Bricks

Well, I put down 3 ½ yards of ¾ minus rock into the patio area, leveled the stone, compacted with a hand compactor (heavy metal plate on a stick). One yard weighs 2600 pounds for a total of 8500 pounds or just over 4 tons. The compaction had to be done in layers, so I really did the whole thing twice. Then it was pick up a bunch of bricks and another ½ yard of sand so I could get started on the layout. The pole in the center is where (I think) the center of the circle will be. As it turns out, the circle bricks are not the same size as the patio bricks, so I can't merge the paths like I wanted too. So a change of design plans.

You can see some of the sand and a few of the bricks are down. I'll pick up the circle on Tuesday night, if I can get there fast enough (I have to be in the gate before 6 PM). I drew a circle in the sand to get a better idea how big the circle will be. This will involve a lot of cutting.

I have muscles I didn't have before, but lost no weight. If you wonder if the work is hard on your hands, I've been wearing gloves, The pictures show the gloves which are 3 weeks old. It really does rip your hands up. And for some reason I feel a lot of sore.

I covered all of the work tonight with a big tarp. The cats think it is a nice litter box, and I've had to yell at both of them.

Enjoy, and be careful of the blisters.

Diggiing a Patio

Since the deck is done and the lower patio is finished, other than a final coat of sealer, I built a short wall to separate the two patio levels. Yes I know there are a couple of bricks missing. Then I started digging up the space for a brick patio to join the two doors and the stairs together. Pictures of what I dug out the last 2 days are here, two of the patio space and one of the pile of dirt. I did more digging after the pictures were taken and leveling of the ground. I needed to expand the space to make the 10' diameter circle fit that I am planning to put in. At this point I need to get some ¾ minus to be the base of the patio, then I'll add a 1 inch layer of sand. The bricks sit on top of that.


I included a copy of the design, but I already know there will be changes. While I measured everything out and used Google sketch-up to lay it out, when I marked the space and found the center of the circle, it did not all fit. Now I need to make an estimate of how many bricks I need. They don't take returns, so you can't over-buy and return the extra. If you have too many bricks you have to find a new project for them. And the circle you buy as a package, so you do end up with some extra bricks there, but I can make use of them.


Just for grins, this is the link of the company that built my deck, NW Deckscapes. Note that they did come back and added fascia boards to the stairs, making it look a lot better. Also, the lower wood platform is temporary so other people with shorter legs can use the stairs. The bricks are from Western Interlock so you can see pictures of a circle design on their website.

Enjoy, and be careful of the blisters.

Final Pictures of the deck

Here are shots I took last night, and forgot to post when I got back home. As you can see, the deck is finished. We will meet with the contractors later this week to go over any issues. The view through the steps is an issue of my SO, but she also realizes that she may not get them to fix it. I like the way the deck looks, and the size seems huge. Of course now I have a ton more yard work to do, moving dirt, laying bricks, cleaning up the gardens....no rest for the wicked.

This last picture from the bottom of the stairs is to show how they braced the boards cut for the steps with a sandwich of 2x4s to get it more strength and stability. This deck and stairs feels rock solid, unlike my older deck which no-one wanted to walk on the stairs. Next up is a brick patio at the bottom of the steps. The top of the last step and the shop floor are level, so it will be easier to set the bricks at the correct height.

Enjoy, and be careful of the splinters.