| ShortCuts© |
December 23, 2011 |
Column 741
This week's column: #777 |
Previous Columns |
| May 10, 2013 #776 |
| April 26, 2013 #775 |
| April 5, 2013 #774 |
| March 28,2013 #773 |
| March 9, 2013 #772 |
| February 22, 2013 #771 |
| February 8, 2013 #770 |
| January 25, 2013 #769 |
| January 11, 2013 #768 |
| December 21, 2012 #767 |
| December 7, 2012 #766 |
| November 23, 2012 #765 |
| November 9, 2012 #764 |
| October 26, 2012 #762 |
| October 12, 2012 #761 |
| September 28, 2012 #760 |
| September 13, 2012 #759 |
| August 31, 2012 #758 |
| August 10, 2012 #757 |
| July 20, 2012 #756 |
| July 6, 2012 #755 |
| June 22, 2012 #754 |
| June 8, 2012 #753 |
| May 25, 2012 #752 |
| May 11, 2012 #751 |
| April 28, 2012 #750 |
| April 14, 2012 #749 |
| March 30, 2012 #748 |
| March 16, 2012 #747 |
| March 2, 2012 #746 |
| February 17, 2012 #745 |
| February 3, 2012 #744 |
| January 20, 2012 #743 |
| January 6, 2012 #742 |
| December 23, 2011 #741 |
| December 9, 2011 #740 |
| November 25, 2011 #739 |
| November 11, 2011 #738 |
| October 28, 2011 #737 |
| October 14, 2011 #736 |
| September 30, 2011 #735 |
| September 16, 2011 #734 |
| August 12, 2011 #733 |
| July 29, 2011 #732 |
| July 15, 2011 #731 |
| July 1, 2011 #730 |
| June 17, 2011 #729 |
| June 3, 2011 #728 |
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THIS IS AN ABBREVIATED COLUMN DUE TO THE HOLIDAYS
  AND WE WISH YOU AND YOURS A MERRY CHRISTMAS, A HAPPY  HANUKKAH
AND ALL OF THE VERY BEST IN THE NEW YEAR.
WE TAKE ON A NEW PROJECT PART 1
 Talk about fortuitous happenings! Gwen and I decided against exchanging gifts this Christmas but we will share in the cost and work on a new living room project. Hopefully this will not turn into the long and protracted project like our kitchen makeover of several years ago
My wife feels that our beautiful brick fireplace is outdated and wants a change. She happened upon a faux-stone material at one of the big box stores and was enamoured with it.
 Now, this does not mean that we have to tear down the existing brick facing, we are going to add the new facing on top of the brick. To walk you through our project I’ll first show you what the fireplace looked like before we started the work. As you can see, there is a fairly wide hearth in front and this will have to be changed as well. This also means that the brass fireplace screen and doors will have to be replaced as they will not fit after we have finished.
The Demolition
The first thing that we did was remove the fireplace screen and that was a real dirty job. The soot build-up on the inside of the unit was falling everywhere so we had to be extra careful in the way we handled it. There were four old and sooty nuts and bolts securing it to the firewall.
We then had to remove the mantle and it also had to be done in a gingerly fashion. We did not want to damage the surrounding painted walls. We plan to remake the mantle to make it look like a thick slab of pine.
 Our plan is to cover the existing brick with the new stone work in the event that somewhere down the road we or someone else may want to revert to the brick fireplace.
In order to do this we will cover the brick with cement board (it’s fireproof) and screw it to the mortar between the bricks using 3 ½” Spax screws. This proved to be a almost a snap using the new I-Level from Skil Tools. I simply set the horizontal laser line on the mortar then slid the sheet of cement board against the brick. Traced the laser line with a pencil and repeated this with each course that I wanted for fastening. The I-Level was a great time saver and we will have a complete Tool Test on it next issue.
The Hearth
The surface of the hearth is flat and needs no substrate; I’ll simply glue the taupe colored 12x12 tiles directly on to it. The face of the hearth, being uneven, I’ll just use gyproc as a substrate and then cement the same 12x12 tiles on it.
That’s about as far as we got so far, installing the substrate panels. Next week Gwen and I will start cutting and cementing the 12x12 tiles. We’ll see you in 2012!
OUR SOMETIMES REGULAR BOOK REVIEW
You don’t need a million bucks to buy a Stradivarius to make music; author and musician Mike Orr can show you how make music for a lot less than the price of a Strad.
Many years ago I built a “Gut Bucket” or washtub base as the author calls it and if I say so, I played it pretty well. I used a ‘gut’ ‘G’ string from a real string bass and had a lot of fun with it over the years. Orr’s book shows you how to build many more.
 Handmade Music Factory
Mike Orr
Fox Chapel Publishing
160 Pages
I was once considered to be a virtuoso of the ‘Gut Bucket’ over the years so it was with great anticipation that wanted to read and review this book. Mike Orr has brought back old time musical instruments in this classic. You can almost hear these great improvised instruments being played on the streets of New Orleans.
Orr calls the instrument a One-String Washtub Bass but the principal is the same, it emanates a true resonating bass sound and he shows you how to build one..
Orr and his collaborators continue with old time instruments with a ‘Soup Can Diddley Bow, a Stomp Box and Washboard. In later chapters Orr details four guitars of varying types and then show you how to amplify them.
This book is a blast! Not only are there super improvised instruments but Orr has included a great compendium of musicians that played these fabulous musical innovations. Oh, check out the Hub Cap Banjo on page 127.
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