After over two years of unabating work on our dream home restoration project, we decided to take a two month respite and enjoy our hard work. And did we ever! No words can explain our joy as we were blessed to host multiple holiday season gatherings with friends and family at our farm house. Two years of perseverance culminated in the collective smiles, laughter and memories of those we hold dear. For two months we lived like normal people and just lived life, but come February we were back at it, though, at a more comfortable pace. All of the remaining projects we have on our current list are elective and not essential. The entire interior and exterior of our house is complete with the exception of the master bedroom and en-suite (which is our current project, so stay tuned). I mentioned that our pace has slowed because when we started this journey and this blog we never imagined how many people would be asking us when the next blog update was coming! We are truly honored that so many people have taken such an interest in our journey and to them we say, worry not, we will continue posting (as we have time).
In this blog post we feature three very different, but, equally interesting projects: The making of our massive reclaimed wood farm table, our journey into the life of beekeeping and the successful resurrection of our inherited 1947 Case tractor.
Making our custom farm table out of reclaimed wood
Chances are your eye was already drawn to the picture of the table below. It has become the anchor piece of our dining room. Beneath it's beauty, lies what we think, is an even more beautiful story; it's history and the family effort in the making of the table.
Rewind to our very first blog post in the end of 2014. Below is a picture of the den/office as it was before we purchased the farm. Part of our plans for the dramatic transformation was to remove the sub-floor in order to sure up and insulate the floor. When we did we were shocked at what we discovered... the original hand hewn floor joists (actual trees hand cut flat on the top side). At some point these "tree joists" began to sag and were "sistered" with true 2'x10's which makes us think it was sometime before 1950. Lucky for us, they left the originals! We carefully removed them and stored them in one of our outbuildings for two years.
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| the "tree joints" next to the 2'x10's still in the floor |
Over those two years, we debated the best way to make use of these pieces of history. Finally, we decided to mill them into becoming our dining room table. As we have written before, our dream of creating and sharing memories was the deciding factor when we took this leap and a large dining room table for everyone to gather around was central to that.
The idea was simple, take them to a sawmill and have them cut the trees into planks of equal thickness and then go from there. Sounded easy enough until I called every mill in a 60 mile radius and was told the same thing "sorry but we can't help you. Hand hewn floor joists that are that old are riddled with hand made steel "cut nails" which ruin our expensive saws. We have even tried running a metal detector over them to pull all the nails but even that doesn't work. Since the nails have been there for so long they have oxidized so badly that when we pull the nails out, a portion remains in the wood." I even called around to find mills with large band saws but every one I found only cut softwoods. So time for plan B... except there was no plan B!
Thanks to Google, plan B was to purchase an "Alaskan mill" which is a jig for a chainsaw that gives you a safe guide to cut with the grain. Armed with the Alaskan Mill and eager to try it out my dad and I got to work.
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| You can see the bare tree and some bark |
In theory it was a great idea and it apparently works great to cut planks out of freshly fallen trees... not so much on 200 year old petrified hardwood. The one cut pictured took us about 2 hours and we had to sharpen the chain countless times. Also, we learned that ideally, we should have purchased a special "rip chain" that is special order only from a hand full of manufactures for this exact purpose. It has a different tooth configuration on the chain that is designed for cutting with the grain. But even with that, we were advised that this wood was so hard and so old that even a rip chain would be difficult. On to plan C!
The ideal way to rip planks is at a mill that uses a giant toothed rip blade so we decided to try a regular skill saw and try our best to keep the cuts straight and plumb. As we expected, this was MUCH easier but also as we expected the 7.25" blade didn't even make it through half of the skinniest log. We did try flipping it and cutting a second time from the other side but it was virtually impossible to cut the reverse side directly in line with the original cut.
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| notice the end grain and age |
Time for plan D! Knowing we were on the right track, I called every rental place in a 30 mile radius. Finally a solution! A 16" skill saw. Even with this, we had our share of setbacks like getting it home and the motor smoking the second it was under load (we returned that one and rented the same saw elsewhere). Once we had the proper (working) saw it all started to come together.
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| Even the 16" blade did not cut completely through most of the logs but it was close enough |
With the logs ripped, it was time to plane them flat and to uniform thickness. First, with a hand planer to take down the high spots and then with a table top planer. We enlisted the help of my brother, Tim, for this job. Much like ripping the planks, the hardness of the wood and the old "cut nails" made planing an arduous task.
Next we used a table saw to square off each side.
With the planks cut to size we moved on to building the base of the table. For the legs we used an original support stud that we had removed from an internal wall to make room for a new door.
Due to the massive size of the table we decided it would be easiest if we assembled and finished it right in the dinning room. We did ensure that the legs are removable in the event we ever needed to remove the table from the room. At the grand size of 11' 6" long by 4' wide and weighing approximately 300 lbs, it won't be moved often.
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| We used modern 2"x 4" studs as a base for support knowing the planks would also give the table support |
Time for what we were all waiting for, assembling the table top. We used 3" countersunk screws to affix the first plank, ensuring the first course was true. Once the first plank was set we joined plank by plank using a biscuit joiner, glue, clamps and countersunk screws.
Next we scored square end lines and cut of the ends flat, leaving room for an end plank that we joined in the same manner.
The final step before sanding was to plug all of the screw holes with oak dowel plugs, being careful to line up the grain with the planks. The plugs really are a neat, period appropriate, feature of the table.
Time to sand! As we expected, the wood was very difficult to sand. We used a combination of a hand planer, belt sander and palm sanders starting with 40 grit and ending with 220 grit. Notice the plastic hanging in the back ground. This was a dusty job!
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| Abigail getting in on the action |
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| A trick to make sure you hit every spot is to draw pencil lines and sand them away |
With the table ready for finish, we tested different shades of stain and varnish until we settled, ironically, on the color "early american" and a satin lacquer.
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| We cut this with alcohol to create more of a varnish (4 coats) |
The final product speaks for itself and we could not be happier. This table tested our patients with many trials and tribulations, however, all of that melted away the first time we broke bread with 16 of our family members seated comfortably at the table.
Beekeeping: the evolution of our apiary and new hobby
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| Me pulling a brood frame to place in our second colony (explained later) |
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| picture from the bees point of view |
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| We installed an electric fence and prepared the ground flat. |
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| baiting the electric wires for black bear |
We could go on and on about how fascinating honey bees are and the science behind it but for the sake of keeping this short we will mostly comment only on the pictures. As you can see below the colony we purchased was and is thriving. This hive has approximately 50,000 bees.
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| I am looking forward to combining my amateur photography with my amateur beekeeping |
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| "smoking" the bees to calm them |
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| There is no better feeling than being able to bring guests and their children down to the apiary and teach them about honey bees. |
We quickly learned that there is A LOT to know about beekeeping. The hardest part is not physical but mental. There is so much to learn and know, but once you learn, beekeeping is simple. Again, focusing only on the pictures, below we were making sugar fondant for food over the winter. It was very difficult at first to get the consistency correct despite following multiple YouTube videos (I intend to make a tutorial next fall to help others).
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| The temperature has to be exact to properly convert the the sugar, Too hot and it would be brittle candy, too cool and it would be a runny drippy mess. |
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| Cooling the sugar fondant |
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| We placed fondant strips on top of the hive as a winter food supplement. |
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| A beekeeper educating the group about inspecting a frame at our Beekeepers Association meeting (North West NJ) |
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| assembling the hive body |
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| Assembling the combs by hand before I switched to the guns |
How to assemble combs with pneumatic tools tutorial
How to seal a hive with Eco-wood (organic) tutorial
In the beginning of April we received the call that our package of bees was en-route from Florida and we could pick them of that afternoon.
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| Each box contains three points of honey bees and one queen |
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| placing the queen cage |
Here is the video I made: setting up the new hive with a the three pound box of bees.
Beekeeping has already been a tremendously rewarding experience. This summer we will harvest our first batch of honey! We will also harvest beeswax and propolis. All of that plus our flowers and vegetables now have an army of eager pollinators!
It seems that everyone has gotten in on the fun. When I told someone on my staff that I was going to be a beekeeper for Halloween, my staff surprised me and dressed up as honeybees!
There will be some readers who felt that we did not go into enough depth about beekeeping because they are interested. If you want to know more, please contact us or comment and we will get back to you.
1947 Case Tractor: The revival
When we purchased the farm there were a number of items that we negotiated to keep. While Abigail had her eyes set on antique furniture, I immediately fell in love this this old tractor. I assumed it had seen it's last operational day decades ago, but I imagined painting it and using it as decoration somewhere on our farm. That is until my Dad, who knows how to fix just about anything, saw it and vowed to have it running again as if it just came off the assembly line. I certainly had my doubts, but soon enough he was disassembling the entire tractor and working on it piece by piece. It was so rewarding to work along side my Dad and learn about how each part worked and how to fix them. My fathers patience while working on the tractor was astounding. Weekend after weekend, as we worked on it, I was like the kid who constantly asks "are we there yet?" Dozens of hours working and months flew by without my dad even attempting to start the tractor. This drove me NUTS! Me: "What if it doesn't work???" My Dad: "It will work, patience."
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| The tractor was stored in our barn, nice and dry. |
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| This was the key to finding out what our tractor actually was and what parts it needed |
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| We found this Spec sheet which gave detail and identified it as a 1947 |
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| Who knew, push button ignition 70 years ago! |
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| View of the side panels taken off. You can see the original faded red color of the tractor on the inside of the opposite panel. |
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| De-greasing the tractor |
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| Replacing the oil pan gasket |
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| Bleeding the fuel line |
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| 4 Speed with independent left and right breaks for zero turn radius |
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| He took apart the engine down to the block and repaired and cleaned everything |
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| rebuilt carb |
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| Cleaned Radiator |
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| Soaking Gas Tank in cleaner |
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| The gas cap was missing so we temporarily used a glove and when we came back the next day the pressure had blown it up! |
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| New choke cable and gas cap |
The only part of the job where I wound up being the lead technician was the electrical wiring which I know well. I rewired the electrical system and volt tested all leads to ensure each competent was getting the correct voltage.
Finally, it was time to start the tractor. I wont lie, I was very nervous. I had prepared myself to be let down if it did not start, which I assumed would be the case. My dad said "ok start her up!". I pressed the starter button and rrhuuv, rrrhuv......rrrhuv, until my dad said "ok stop". My fear was confirmed, all of that time wasted, but my dad was unaffected and calmly popped the distributor cap and checked the firing order. "Ok try it again" my dad said. When I pressed the start button my dad immediately said " The cap isn't getting any spark, is the key on?" I replied "oh I guess turning the key on is an important part of starting a tractor! WHOOPS!" So I turned the key to the on position and tried again... rrhuv, rrrhuv, BANG, ruv ruv ruv ruv ruv ruv.... SUCCESS! Both of our eyes lit up as we gave each other a high five. As we were executing our high five there must have been an old paper birds nest wedged in the exhaust (which is upright) because the pressure blew the nest into the air and rained paper confetti on us! It couldn't have been more perfect.
It was already dusk so I quickly hopped on the tractor and took it for a spin! (videos of the first ride are below.)
It was such wonderful and enriching experience for my dad and I. During the weekends to follow we started working on the hydrolic system and dug out the six foot rotary cutter that also came with the farm (pics below). We are currently working on fixing the rotary cutter which had a badly bend shaft making it unusable. But, if there is one thing I learned through this experience is, if it can be fixed, my dad will fix it, so be patient.
As always, there are many beautiful and interesting projects going on both inside our farm house as well as outside on the farm. We will continue to post updates as we complete tasks and have time to write the posts. As always, we are humbled that so many people have taken an interest in what is going on at Hummingbird Hollow and we thank each and everyone of you.
