Windows and doors, Part 1
Sunday, January 20th, 2013After getting quotes of $16 000 plus for the doors and windows in Western Red Cedar we made the decision to make our own, out of recycled Jarrah and Kauri hardwood of course. Part of deciding to make our own doors and windows included acquiring the proper machinery to get the job done with the least amount of fuss. A trip to Leda Machinery late last year was made to purchase the toys below.
Pic 1 is a planer/jointer which lets you square up the old timbers. Most if not all of these timbers were rough cut and little to no attempt was made to make them square. I use the planer/jointer to make 2 side square to each other. This is done by planing the wider surface then holding that newly planed surface flat against the back stop and planing down the thinner surface until the timber is squared.
Then the thicknesser in Pic 2 can be used to shave down the opposing sides and leaves us with nicely squared timber. Since few of these timbers are even the same dimensions, the thicknesser is then used to shave down the timbers until they are identical in width and depth. Pic 3 shows how I have them setup in a working environment, the dust extractor to the right of the thicknesser is absolutely necessary and you’d be mad to consider using any of these tools without one. These machines quickly make mounds of shavings and very fine dust which is almost as irritating as fibreglass. The lower bag of the extractor holds around 60 litres of debris and we have filled the 240 litre green waste bin almost twice just making the frames for the windows and doors.
There is a real feel of history passing through your hands when you get to work with recycled timbers. I’ve dug out quite a few “square” hand forged nails from the timber which indicates some of these lengths I am working with could be a hundred or more years old. We have purchased all of the timber so far from Adelaide Rural and Salvage and we’ve bought many metres of timber from them for projects in the past. Highly recommended for both their willingness to help and knowledge of the timbers they are dealing with.
Pic 4 below is a typical piece of jarrah out of the pile. Pics 5 & 6 show just what beauty is hiding below the dirt and grime encrusted outer layer of these timbers. The wood is just exquisite in both colour and grain.
Once timbers are cut and dimensioned they are allocated to a job set, hence the designators such as “T1” and “B3” and the like as in pic 7 below. Pic 8 is a simple lesson in mathematics. Set of blades for planer/jointer = $40, for the thicknesser $70. The metal detector was cheap insurance at only $60.
