knoernschild.org » Projects

The 2012 Pinewood Derby Lineup

karl — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:29:47 +0000

Our new Pinewood Derby cars are finally complete, after about 1-1/2 months of work. I did the rough shaping and painting, but Kyle and Ian both picked out their designs, sanded their cars, put on stickers, and hammered on the wheels. They look pretty nice, now we just have to wait until February to see if they drive nice.

Left to right:
Skull Candy (Ian)
The Wolverine Wedge (Kyle)
The Green Streak (Me)

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Garage Entry Deck, Phase 3

karl — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:19:38 +0000

I completed installing the railings today. I still have to stain the columns and touch up the stain on the railings:

Also left to complete is the floor tiles on the deck and the paint on the skirt around the deck, but both of these have to wait for warmer weather.

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Garage Entry Deck, Phase 2

karl — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:39:07 +0000

Work on garage entry deck continues. Today I fabricated the 8 newel posts from 4×4 cedar, installed bead board on the skirt, installed 4 of the newel posts, and attached the trim at the top and bottom of the beadboard.

Closeup of one of the newel posts

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Garage Entry Deck, Phase 1

karl — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:07:06 +0000

With the generous support of several relatives in the form of Lowes gift cards, I was able to begin construction of the garage entry door deck that we have been planning for a while. This deck will give us a place to stop, set down groceries, and take off our shoes and coats before coming in the house. I will be building a shoe storage bench along one wall and a cubby along the other. Ultimately we intend to install beadboard on the lower 4 feet of the wall.

When completed, it will look something like this:

Sunday morning we went to Menards and Lowes to buy supplies. That afternoon and evening I completed the deck framing.

Crowbar at the ready to destroy the junky old builder steps and railing

Stairs removed, and the garage floor scrubbed clean. (oops, got a little water on the drywall)

Deck framing completed.

This evening I finished the subfloor, sheathing and stairs:

Subfloor and sheathing installed

Stairs built and installed.

Thanks to the grandparents (both sets) and my sister Chris and her family for helping to fund this project.

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Shane & Melissa’s Wedding Clock

karl — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:23:37 +0000

This is the clock I made for Shane & Melissa for their wedding, along with the fabric carrying case Katra made. The design is my own, with Mission Style features. The movement is automatically synchronized to an atomic clock via a radio receiver built into the clock. The wood, cherry with black walnut accents, is from my Dad’s supply.

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Kyle’s Builtin: Down to the details

karl — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:42:27 +0000

Tonight I installed the two movable shelves above the desk, finished the desk surface, and installed the cover plates for the furnace vents. All that is left now is to finish edging the carpet, install a few pieces of trim, install curtains and do touch-up paint.

Kyle's new desk, with shelves for books, toys, and odds and ends. The desktop is a blue laminate that looks a bit like water to compliment the pirate themed wallpaper.

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Kyle’s Builtin: Soffits

karl — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:33:04 +0000

After a long hiatus for outdoor work, I started back on Kyle’s builtin again. I completed the soffits above the desk and window and installed the fixed shelf above the desk.

The center soffit, complete with lights

The left soffit (above the desk)

The fixed shelf above the desk, with lighting underneath. The desk light is controlled by the switch to the left.

The complete package (so far). The gaps at the ceiling will be covered by crown moulding.

Kyle presents his new digs to Ian

Next up are the two movable shelves above the desk, and then it’s just trim, carpet and finish work.

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Playground assembly complete!

karl — Sat, 30 May 2009 23:30:50 +0000

At least, the structure itself is complete. We still have to finish the edging and add mulch.

The rock wall, assembled on the garage floor

The rock wall, with rocks attached

The swing arm, with hardware attached

Kyle, showing off his climbing skills

Land Ho!

Wheeeeeee!

A wide view of the playground. The swings are all that remains to assemble.

The three boys having fun on the swings

The completed playground

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Playground assembly continues

karl — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:42:14 +0000

After I installed the ladder, Kyle climbs up into the playset for the first time

Daddy! The slide is missing!

Uh-oh...

Tuesday evening I installed two of the roof panels. They were still waiting to be raised in this photo

Wednesday evening, after finishing the two roofs and installing the fence panels and climbing handles. All that is left is the rock wall, slide, and swings.

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Playground assembly, day 1

karl — Mon, 18 May 2009 01:52:08 +0000

This weekend we began assembly of the playground. We started by sorting all the parts.

The four boxes of wooden parts, sorted and labeled by part number

The hardware, sorted and bagged up by assembly step number. There are 38 steps in the assembly process, and we have a separate hardware bag for every 1 or 2 steps.

Assembly started with the main structure, which includes six vertical posts and a number of connecting planks

Steps 1-5 completed. Only 33 more to go!

Hard at work

At the end of the day, 7 steps completed.

Kyle is so excited about his new play set. He kept coming over during the day to see what we were doing, and near the end we couldn’t stop him from climbing around on it.

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