Worked Slick

I’ve been busy with work on some client projects in addition to home and yard work so there has not been time to write.  The phrase, “I’ve been worked slick” came to mind.  I heard it years ago and assumed it alluded to how a well-used wood handle tool like a rake gets polished slick from hand rubbing.  I always assumed it was in common use but I couldn’t remember a single instance of hearing it since that original experience.  I searched for it on the web and didn’t come up with anything.

As I pondered other references about work which I had tucked away in my memory a few came back to me.  From childhood there was “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”  About twenty years ago I first heard “Woah there, a man can easily over do.”  A friend used this as a joke whenever he heard some type of work proposed.

Another favorite was used by my paternal grandfather.  As a teenager I was eager to get things done and when I got impatient with the pace of our work I occasionally did something which evoked “Slow down there.  We’re not at a rat killing.”

Today I’ll be working again on finishing an unusual railing project.  I am making what I call a twining vine motif rail.  The rail is inspired by the concept of a vine such as bittersweet twining around the trunk or vine of another plant and seeming to sink into it as the encircled plant grows in diameter.  I have been told that some cane makers will coppice a sassafras  grove so that there are a lot of young sprouts which will quickly grow to cane-size.  Some of these will be encircled by twining vines and the resulting deformation makes especially sought after cane stock.

My clients home is in a rural setting so the work I am doing will reflect some of the native flora such as river grape vine.  The rail is mounted with grape leaf - fruit cluster - tendril brackets.  I’ll start posting some information about how the project was done as soon as I can get the time.

Scroll down to the twining vine image:

http://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/tree-shrub/american-bittersweet

More quotes about work:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_work.html

The Gamble House Front Steps Rail

In August 2012 I visited the Gamble House in Pasadena, California and took a your of the home.  It is an outstanding example of American Arts and Crafts style architecture. The house and furnishings were designed by Charles and Henry Greene in 1908 for David and Mary Gamble of the Procter & Gamble Company. The house, a National Historic Landmark, is owned by the City of Pasadena and operated by the University of Southern California and is open for public tours  I thought it was a wonderful experience and on a par with some tours of work by Frank Lloyd Wright.  I highly recommend seeing the home if the opportunity arrises.

The front steps had a forged handrail which I found pleasing and fitting for the site.  I took some photos of the unusual design and joinery.

Later, after returning home I decided to see if I could find who forged the railing.  An image search for the Gamble House revealed that some renovation had been done in 2004 and I see the railing at that time was a single center-of-stairs run and appeared to me a “modern-ordinary” design and not the Arts and Crafts one I had seen.  More recent images showed the new rail.

I wrote and received this reply from Edward R. Bosley. “Thank you for your interest in The Gamble House and our hand forged railings. They were designed and made in 2008 by the late Bobby Sharpe, whose shop was in Oakland, California. He passed away in late 2011, sadly, at age 65. His railings replaced a single rail that previously ran up the center of the front steps, and was installed in the 1960s. Originally, there were no railings at all. I hope this is helpful.”

I did further investigation of Robert Sharpe and was able to see more examples of his interesting work.  It was a a rewarding adventure.  If you visit the Gallery page of Robert Sharpe you will find much better images of the Gamble House railing done by Sofia Sharpe.

http://robertsharpeblacksmith.com/Artist/Gallery.html

A lengthwise view:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/seanbabee/2769836748/in/photostream/

Green and Green Primer

http://greeneandgreenestyle.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-primer-on-greene-greene-and-their.html

Sand Setting A Handrail

I’ve said that I don’t do architectural jobs anymore and now proceed to contradict myself.  A few weeks ago I completed a front porch handrail job.  It was made for a friend who was doing an extensive renovation of the home entrance landscape in more or less and Arts and Crafts rectilinear style.

The new front door incorporated a glass panel with an A&C rectangular grille which I used as my inspiration for the accent which would appear in the handrail jog on both sides.  I made some test pieces and sketches while waiting for the new concrete porch landing, steps and walk to be completed.  The final design involved using square hole passthroughs.  The cap rail was 1.25” square solid bar forged on the diamond to a 7/8” thickness.  The posts are 1.25” thick-wall square tube.

I worked with the concrete contractor to make sure he placed the “pop can” post pockets in the correct positions - four posts on both the north and south rail.  When the concrete was a fully set it was possible to open up the holes by tearing out the aluminum can with screwdriver and pliers.  The shop vac came in handy too.

I was able to enlist the help of a friend who runs an engineering company to help me build the railing structure.  He had a lot more experience than I in this type of work.  We took the posts to the site with a bucket of used water jet garnet abrasive sand.  As each post was set in the hole the hole was filled with the garnet sand and packed while the post was held vertical and checked with a level.

The pair of posts which incorporated the decorative infill were taken back to the shop and welded.  Then we returned to the site with the cap rail pieces and placed them and marked them for cutting.  When they were cut we held them in position and tack welded them at the site to the posts and to each other.  That made the assemblies rigid enough to return to the shop for final welding and painting.  The shop vac was used to remove the garnet sand and leave the holes clean for pouring the anchor cement.

Probably everyone who does railing knows the sand trick but it was new to me.  I had always used some kind of jig I could clamp onto but this is much simpler.  Old dog learned a new trick.