Yes it was a song by Styx and a great band they were.
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Steve Featherkile said:
Yeah, Jon, its a personal choice. I like the 25/75 mix because its brown, not black, and the grain shows through. Whatever floats your boat, right? The linseed oil is spendy, but gives you long lasting protection.
As I was typing the above, I thought of mixing the ebony stain with used motor oil. Whacha think? Used motor oil is free.
The color is growing on me. I like it better than the stain alone. I’ll see what 50/50 looks like and then make a decision. I have enough of the Linseed Oil to do the job, so the cost is no longer an issue. That, and the motor oil does not dry which rules it out for reasons stated earlier.
David Russell said:
Yes it was a song by Styx and a great band they were.
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And now this musical interlude…
Yes but when your done you will have
It seems that somewhere along the line that the meaning of a ratio has changed. All my life I have understood a ratio to mean X TO Y. But today, at least according to web calculators, a ratio is X IN Y and can also be expressed as a fraction as in 1:1 = 1/1. While that works with equal part ratios, when you change to an unequal ratio like 1:2 the result changes completely.
The old way 1:2 would be 1 TO 2 or 1/3 or 33%
Today I guess it means 1 IN 2 or 1/2 or 50%
This discrepancy caused me to screw up my mix calculations when testing Steve’s 25% Ebony Stain to 75% Boiled Linseed Oil suggestion. What I actually mixed was 20% stain to 80% oil which explains why it came out lighter than I wanted. I went back yesterday intending to change to a 50/50 mix and once again my small brain miscalculated and I ended up with 33% Stain to 66% Oil (and 1% lost to the wind) which is much closer to Steve’s original suggestion.
Film to follow.
I ruled out all but the Minwax Ebony Stain in various dilutions. Yesterday I mixed up another batch just a bit darker than the previous dilution. Here are the contenders…
Left to right: Natural Cedar, 20% Minwax Ebony Stain / 80% Boiled Linseed Oil, 33% Stain / 67% Oil, 100% Stain, And now the mandatory close-ups…
Natural…
20% Stain / 80% Oil…
33% Stain / 67% Oil…
And finally, 100% Stain…
I’ve already made my decision. What’s your choice?
My choice would be 20% Stain / 80% Oil (1:4 or 2/8 ratio). (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
XX
I’d go with the 33%.
33% from this seat
Found a good spot out in the lawn to apply the stain. Placed a couple of plywood scraps on the bunks of a boat trailer and got it done…
I chose the 33% blend. It is plenty dark, but lets the grain show through…
Unfortunately, while I was staining I noticed that I attached the last section out of square with the rest. There is about 3/4" deflection from a straight line at the end of the last 30" section. This is the end that will be cut short, so it’s possible that I may only be looking at half that error at the cut point. If necessary I’ll bust it loose and figure out how to re-attach, but I’m hopeful I can just ignore it…
I think I need to stop here and wait for my hand to be useful again. I have no idea what I’ll do to keep busy next week.
So, a little bit of a curve would add visual interest, that is if its not going to cause a problem. In looking at real track, bridges and such, I have become aware at how imperfect the real word stuff is.
The track could curve a bit if it needs to, but the girder is one solid 8 foot extruded tube. No way I’m bending that!
I really need to wait until I know where the cut will be, and then put the track down and see how bad it looks. Might be able to explain it with a moonshine still at the starting end of the bridge (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)
looks nice, Jon… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
The bridge looks good John. You know you can all ways take a little notch out of the square tubing, bend it over a little and re-weld it to match your wood work.
Easier said than done Chuck. This stuff is thick and well reinforced. Early on I did a cut test and then tried to bend it. Sliced a two foot piece in the middle, as shown below, then put it in my bench vise and stuck a 3 foot bar inside. I could not get it to bend with all my strength. Not saying it wouldn’t bend if heated, but repairing the wood work would probably be easier if needed (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Hey John after looking at those pictures I’d have to agree with you. Fix the wood. LOL
I found another step I could do… Clean paint off the rail tops. I used to do this with lacquer thinner on a rag, but since I’m no longer worried about dirt collecting in scratches on the rail I decided to use a razor knife to scrape the paint off. Lighting isn’t great in this picture but I think you can see that the top rail has not yet been scraped and the bottom three have…
Today the CVSRy Over-Engineering Crew did a final as-built survey of the old Indian Hill Bridge and tweaked the plans for the replacement. Upon further review it doesn’t look like the West abutment will need a complete rebuild. The bridge support pad is in good condition. Only the wing walls have failed due to freeze-thaw cycles. This will make repair much easier and not require concrete work to be complete before work on the bridge itself continues. Here is the current state of the abutments…
The East abutment is still in perfect condition. Only the wood bridge deck and sides are failing…
The center support is currently carved foam. The plan is to replace this with a poured pier, but that can be done any time in the future as the new bridge will be easily removed for service…
At the East end, a track joint will be added at the abutment. Currently the closest joint is about a foot away. This way there will be no transition track off the bridge. The joint will be where the bridge ties end…
Where the track transitions from bridge ties to standard Aristo ties there is about 1/8" of difference in the tie height. This will be accommodated by making the landing portion of the girder 1/8" thinner then the current 3/4" plywood deck. The difference is illustrated here. That’s 3MM PVC raising the Aristo ties up…
With all of the survey data in hand, the Over Engineering department updated the drawing and has sent it down to the shop for implementation…
The hand surgeon has released me for un-restricted work. I still have a long way to go to have full use, but it works so it’s time to get busy!
EDIT to note that most of the photos in this thread are larger. The larger version can be seen using your browser’s View Image function.
Daktah John : The hand surgeon has released me for un-restricted work. I still have a long way to go to have full use, but it works so it’s time to get busy!
Yes?