A combination of running low on funds and at the same time trying to repurpose as much as possible in this house project leads to some creative work. When we discovered empty wall cavities where insulation should have been, one of the first projects last fall was to strip off the exterior siding in order to insulate properly. As I pulled off the 122 year old lap siding boards I pulled all the nails (19th century square nails) and stacked the boards for some possible future use. Now was the time to put them to use again.

Sorting through the pile I found lots of waste but also a few solid boards that still had some good life left in them.

The table saw was put to use as I passed the boards through several times. The first pass was just to try and establish a straight edge to work out from. After several passes through the saw, the tongue and groove were lost and I had a some realitively straight stock to work with.

Next I needed a pattern to work the stock into deck railings.

Cynthia had taken this picture of me in front of my dad’s birth place in Sweden and I decided to replicate the railing pattern from the front entry porch into our Helena home. But how to do that? I emailed the photo to Steffen (http://sradesignstudios.com/) and he quickly worked up a pattern to scale that I could use in the shop.

I printed out Steffen’s pattern and then cut out a working pattern in wood.

Railings are cut, sanded, primed and painted.

Railings are installed close together.

The finished railing is topped with a 2X6 redwood handrail.

I also incorporated the sculptured railings into a new garden gate.

Beautiful warm weather has provided for some good painting days. After resetting all the fence posts to bring the fence back into a straight line, I primed and painted all sides.

The fence next to Helen’s back yard was int he worst shape and required an extra coat to cover well. Having the old chipped and weathered fence boards coated with a fresh new coat of Benjamin Moore’s “Moregard” paint is a great look for our back yard.