Shellac
Watched This Old House to-day and viewed two houses in Charleston, North Carolina. One was fixed up with basic necessities. the other had major remodelling done and some special features added.
Both had a couple of things to note.
The "other" had an old-growth cyprus table created. The wood workers revered the wood: cut it and sanded it, then finished it. They used seven coats of shellac to get a shiny natural surface which allowed the grain to be accentuated. Between coats they sanded with 320 sandpaper, then 4.0 steel wool. So I wonder if what I add could get the same treatment?
The basic fix-up house had classic newel posts, detailed wider railing with tapered balusters. Everything appeared painted a medium dark brown and all treads were bullnosed on the sides and fronts.
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Today I turned off the power to the half-bathroom. This turns off the power to the light in the bathroom which powers the exhaust fan. If the light is turned off there is no power to the exhaust fan. It also turns off, I think, all the power to the 2nd floor.
I don't know how the power cable was connected inside the fan box: it was not easily accessible. I didn't need to know: I just cut the cable outside the box. It was easier to do this with the box off the stud. I loosened the straight wood screw at the bottom, then pushed the top part off the nail there, then I could do the bottom part over the wood screw. Once the box was out of the way it was easy to finish loosening the screw until it was off...and easy to pry the nail with a hammer claw.
Being scared of getting shocked I used my voltage detector and tried it in several places with active power to make sure it was working. I had hoped of gently disconnecting the wires but instead just cut the cable. My new stripper had a wire cutter but it only got through the insulation. My pliers were also ineffective. So I brought in tin-snips.
To get at the wires I used a sharp carving knife to whittle away the outer insulation, then the pliers to pull it off.
This revealed 12 guage solid copper wire: uninsulated ground, a black insulated conductor and a white insulated conductor.
I used the stripper 12 solid hole to strip the insulation. I rotated the tool around the wire to get a good cut, then flung the insulation off the wire with the tool! All my life I have cut and pulled off with pliers. It was sloppy and took a few minutes. This was clean and took just a few seconds. For that, a good $10 investment!
To cap off, I bent the ground around to the cable. I wouldn't need to cap ground. Each conductor I left enough exposed to screw a wirenut and then not see copper once the wirenut was in place. Adjustments in length were made by the pliers wire cutter. I used red wingnuts.
Then I bent the two wires with wingnuts on opposite sides of the cable and wrapped electrical tape around everything.
Turned back the power and cleaned up. I used scissors (to open the bag of wingnuts and cut the electrical tape), tin snips, an electrical tester, a hammer, a nail puller pliers (to pull a couple of additional errant nails in the area), a flat screwdriver, a wire stripper, pliers, electric tape, sharp carving knife and and two wirenuts.
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Went outside and used a wood chisel and a sharp carving knife to remove most of the cardboard around one of the piers supporting the stoop. I will do the other pier in the near future...and do a little more clean-up on this pier. The concrete saturated cardboard went into the contractor waste bag.
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Grabbed my tamper and mashed some of the clay clods a bit by the North inside corner. I think I will try again later, but the tamping worked very well and gave me confidence. I do think I need to do a concrete patch right there at the inside corner. For some reason there is a void. Whatever concrete I don't use to fill that void can be used for the foundation's exposed area at the Northeast corner of the 1908 house.
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Took one good look around for our $155 electric chipper: front room, basement, under the tree. It is gone. I never got a chance to use it, either. The branches I wanted to work on mostly were kept behind the tarped walls around our trees! No one I know borrowed it, either. So I will report this to NK: maybe NK can shame whomever took it to return it. If NK was an honorable company it would credit me $170 or replacement cost of $175.
Both had a couple of things to note.
The "other" had an old-growth cyprus table created. The wood workers revered the wood: cut it and sanded it, then finished it. They used seven coats of shellac to get a shiny natural surface which allowed the grain to be accentuated. Between coats they sanded with 320 sandpaper, then 4.0 steel wool. So I wonder if what I add could get the same treatment?
The basic fix-up house had classic newel posts, detailed wider railing with tapered balusters. Everything appeared painted a medium dark brown and all treads were bullnosed on the sides and fronts.
---
Today I turned off the power to the half-bathroom. This turns off the power to the light in the bathroom which powers the exhaust fan. If the light is turned off there is no power to the exhaust fan. It also turns off, I think, all the power to the 2nd floor.
I don't know how the power cable was connected inside the fan box: it was not easily accessible. I didn't need to know: I just cut the cable outside the box. It was easier to do this with the box off the stud. I loosened the straight wood screw at the bottom, then pushed the top part off the nail there, then I could do the bottom part over the wood screw. Once the box was out of the way it was easy to finish loosening the screw until it was off...and easy to pry the nail with a hammer claw.
Being scared of getting shocked I used my voltage detector and tried it in several places with active power to make sure it was working. I had hoped of gently disconnecting the wires but instead just cut the cable. My new stripper had a wire cutter but it only got through the insulation. My pliers were also ineffective. So I brought in tin-snips.
To get at the wires I used a sharp carving knife to whittle away the outer insulation, then the pliers to pull it off.
This revealed 12 guage solid copper wire: uninsulated ground, a black insulated conductor and a white insulated conductor.
I used the stripper 12 solid hole to strip the insulation. I rotated the tool around the wire to get a good cut, then flung the insulation off the wire with the tool! All my life I have cut and pulled off with pliers. It was sloppy and took a few minutes. This was clean and took just a few seconds. For that, a good $10 investment!
To cap off, I bent the ground around to the cable. I wouldn't need to cap ground. Each conductor I left enough exposed to screw a wirenut and then not see copper once the wirenut was in place. Adjustments in length were made by the pliers wire cutter. I used red wingnuts.
Then I bent the two wires with wingnuts on opposite sides of the cable and wrapped electrical tape around everything.
Turned back the power and cleaned up. I used scissors (to open the bag of wingnuts and cut the electrical tape), tin snips, an electrical tester, a hammer, a nail puller pliers (to pull a couple of additional errant nails in the area), a flat screwdriver, a wire stripper, pliers, electric tape, sharp carving knife and and two wirenuts.
---
Went outside and used a wood chisel and a sharp carving knife to remove most of the cardboard around one of the piers supporting the stoop. I will do the other pier in the near future...and do a little more clean-up on this pier. The concrete saturated cardboard went into the contractor waste bag.
---
Grabbed my tamper and mashed some of the clay clods a bit by the North inside corner. I think I will try again later, but the tamping worked very well and gave me confidence. I do think I need to do a concrete patch right there at the inside corner. For some reason there is a void. Whatever concrete I don't use to fill that void can be used for the foundation's exposed area at the Northeast corner of the 1908 house.
---
Took one good look around for our $155 electric chipper: front room, basement, under the tree. It is gone. I never got a chance to use it, either. The branches I wanted to work on mostly were kept behind the tarped walls around our trees! No one I know borrowed it, either. So I will report this to NK: maybe NK can shame whomever took it to return it. If NK was an honorable company it would credit me $170 or replacement cost of $175.