On Other Fronts...

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Historic Home Preservation


No, I'm not talking about the Joseph Poffenberger house.

A friend asked me to fabricate some missing pieces for her 1930s folk-art bungalow.

This looked like the perfect project to both kick off the shop season and to distract me from my homework; a win-win as they say.

Originally assembled with tiny brads, many of the components of this house were loose or missing entirely.

Using scrap wood, I first fabricated the missing railing and post.  

Once assembled, as a component, it was glued and clamped into place.

This was followed by tackling the missing chimneys.  By ripping a small piece of stock, I matched the dimensions of the chimneys based upon the pattern left in the paint by the originals.  I cut the resulting pieces at a 20-degree angle to match the pitch of the roof (fine tuning done on my sanding wheel).  Chimney caps, modeled off the one larger, original chimney, were cut and then beveled on my sanding wheel.  Everything got glued and clamped into place.

Aside from these major components, two smaller issues were taken care of; the cutting and shaping of a missing piece of window frame,

and the replacement of a small piece of missing wood on the front wall.

Once primed and painted, this will be up to the standards of those cool kit homes sold by Sears in the1920s and 30s.

Ready for occupancy.

Happy shop season!

Mannie

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