Fancy New Banner

As you can see, I've been having fun with Photoshop. What do you think of my fancy new banner? Here is the color version:
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Just click the "comments" at the bottom of the post you want to comment on. It's one of the fun features of blogs! That way I'm not here just professing by myself ~ YOU can add your two cents to the discussion.

So let me know what you think of my new banner. The horsecar is kind of bothering me. I think because its a downshot and everything else is from ground level, so I might change that. And my goofy mug. I might take that out.

Overall though, I think the banner kind of makes my blog look quite official. Yessir! Quite official!

Yet More Fun With Engineering!

With principal construction done with the valence it’s now time to trim it out, hide a multitude of sins with wood filler, trim the roof slats in the front to a nice arc, and a bunch more sanding.

While taking these photos I noticed that the curved roof slats are pulling up the front of the frame! Compare this photo with this earlier one of just the frame and you’ll see what I mean.

Luckily, it’s not so noticeable when it’s in place on the display case. It’s actually a nice arch. In fact, it almost looks intentional. Yes-sir! Looks intentional!

Dandy

More Fun with Engineering!

It's too late for me, but you can still save yourself! That is if your reading this to learn how to bend wood. See, the problem I was having was, even though I was steaming the wood, it would rather just angle towards where I was trying to get it to go instead of bend in a nice arc to where I wanted it to go. As you can see in the photo below, the roof slat is almost straight. Not the curving arc as seen in the blueprints.

In this close up shot below, you can see where the roof slat would rather break its bonds and bite into the support its attached to.

I figured out a solution, but unfortunately, it wasn't until the last slat. Turns out that cutting the slats to length before installing them was the problem. The secret is to keep them long and cut them to size after installation! First, The slat is nailed and glued to its support beam. This is allowed to dry over night.

Then, using the natural springiness of the wood, grab the end of the slat and bend it down. The longer the wood slat, the more it arcs when its end is pulled down(the shorter the wood, the less it arcs)! All this without steaming it! I couldn't pull it down too much because it would arch way more than its neighbors and be out of line.

Too bad I didn't figure this out sooner. Oh well... live and learn. Yes sir. Live and learn.