Hutching a Plot: Clover's Rabbit Hutch Pt. II

In case you are wondering, yes I have a contract with Clover.

We left off with an array of boards reclaimed from Sierra Nevada.

From the first stack of wood I salvaged from smaller pallets, I set to making structural members. Using the rip fence on my trusty little circular saw, the heavy duty supports were ripped in half.

This yielded twelve sticks at 42" to use for framing.

As I went, selecting boards to fill in a complete sketch and ripping where required, the wood was painted to finish prep.I chose a dark purple from the return section of a local mega-chain hardware store. I usually try to snag my paint from these racks at a big discount.

 The idea is to provide a complete base coat on all surfaces of the untreated lumber, even unexposed end-grain cuts when possible. The final coat will come from only half a quart of a brilliant red, which should create a streaky, rustic finish as it fights to cover the darker purple.

Basic framing is completed before transporting material to the site. I painted hidden end grains and countersink holes on the front and back walls of the covered portion of the hutch.

 Here is the rough framing for the covered section of the hutch.

 Now with siding complete, it begins to feel like home.

 The open section is connected and the front door is tested.

The front and back door function with simple block latches.

The metal roof was cut from a piece of scrap. Most of the fasteners were leftovers or salvage from previous projects. Rubber washer screws, elevator bolts, mesh and fence staples were purchased new.

A big thank you goes out to Don Schjeldahl of Sierra Nevada for the opportunity. And also to the Rimer family for trusting me to build this fun and fulfilling little farm house. If anyone has a truck and an idea, I would love to gather more wood from Mills River and build another dream . . .

ReBoot: material pile

  (Mom's old boots)

 Time has certainly been happening for a while since I last published.
As you might expect, material has been piling up, like scrap wood.
What follows is a year in a life, a good year gone by.

This dresser was decrepit, musty, and delaminating. Hours went into rehabbing its function before I could get down to aesthetics. A good helper helped me to an imaginative transformation when we began to peel off the layers. And of course the finished product needed some pink.

Then there was a real job: good while it lasted, a fair share of suffering, plenty of laughter and in the end it ended. I found myself working in very beautiful places. Wonderful old scraps were commonly found and in them I rejoiced.

As always, I found time to explore my relationship with fire . . .

Beauty abounds.

 At some point I handled much more T111 siding board than ever intended.

I certainly didn't care enough for my health and safety, but here I am still alive.

At times, this work afforded me places of space and of peace.

With the family, I visited a workshop of some boatwrights.

In Hickory, I trapped four racoons in three days. First came ginormous Purina-fed Rocky and then his perhaps-mate Ramona. Then there was Beezus, Ramona's perhaps-little-sister, pictured below. Yet another, even smaller raccoon was next and I took perhaps-Rocky&Ramona's-lovechild very far away.

After this Rocky and Ramona returned and we had a serious talk in which Rocky was told they should never come back. And they never did.


With Justin and Charlie I helped repair roof, soffit, fascia, and rafter tails on a much-loved old family getaway on Lake Norman. We also cleared much brush and fashioned a new cover for the pump house.

Charlie is the dog.

Justin visited me in Asheville when I learned that Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is giving away very good crate lumber. As massive equipment and machinery are unpacked at their new east coast flagship in Mills River, high-grade mostly-German crates are free for the taking. Don, the Site Manager, gave me a little tour and a run-down of the incredible efforts they are making to reduce the impact on the environment.

(a very small sample of what is available)

 (note the size of the nails)

Pictured above is one of the helpers who moved my share of the booty upstairs.

I took on a week of work on my Mom's land, a general farm-and-garden variety: replaced a barn-post, cleaned and repaired metal roof and gutters, built raised beds, mixed trenches for asparagus, hauled well over two tons of fieldstone down a steep mountain pasture with a wheelbarrow, and hung a new swing.

I even managed to make it all fun!

Now it may seem impossible, but my next caged animal is even cuter than the last:

Clover the Bunny now has a new home, built almost entirely from Sierra Nevada pallet boards.

 This one will definitely be getting a dedicated post before long.

And finally, awhile back I was inspired by this hardwood floor in a little furniture shop, old and honest.

 And now I know to what end.

More to come as it progresses . . .

] j [

ps -I believe the "tea-biscuits" in the last image are aged Southern Red Cedar. I'm slicing them from a rough sawn timber cutoff I found in a closet tear out. I'm not an expert on ID-ing hardwoods so if anyone has a better idea, let's hear it. But let's not belabor the identification, or we might end up like this guy.