Arts and cRafts with the nephew!
May. 16th, 2026 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickThe nephew wants a raft. So, brother the elder and nephew and I built a raft this weekend.
Because this is an activity I am shepherding brother the elder and nephew through, there will be education!
I can't do anything without education.
There will be construction! So, this is going to be construction-related education. The nephew is maybe ten or possibly eleven. I don't fucking know. Something in the low double digits, anyway.
Let us examine the end grain on this 1x4 decking board. Which way will this board, on exposure to water and sunlight, cup? (follow the grain) So which side is the "up" side for our raft deck? (the convex side of the curves) Let us mark the boards with a T for top side. When we screw these boards down, they will not be able to cup much because they will be screwed tight to the 2x4 framing and if they DO cup, they will not retain water. (There are twenty-five boards, so a fair amount of "examine grain, identify cupping direction" practice.)
Now, we have 8' 2x4 boards for framing our deck. We are floating the deck on 4 55 gallon plastic barrels that will be secured underneath by way of cordage. These barrels are 2' wide and 3' long. We would like the raft to have 2' between the barrels each way. (This is to facilitate squirtgun battles in the water, so you can shoot people from the other side of the raft and hide under the raft and shoot out from it and stuff.) I'm just the contractor here, the client has been very specific about the design constraints. Given these constraints, what is the smallest possible dimension for our raft's deck? (6'x8').
Further discussion and a quick mock-up on the driveway suggests that the 8' boards need to be the "crossways" boards and that we need 6' boards for the endcaps. Boy measures and marks (tape measure, carpenter square) and cuts (miter saw*) two 6' 2x4's.
We construct the frame, using the 8' boards for the crossways and the 6' boards for the endcaps. "How can we place these five boards evenly across the endcap boards? Obviously two go on the ends, but what about the others? (Discussion, measuring, math. Nonzero board width makes an appearance, these are not geometric ideals over here, they are 2x4's which measure neither 2 nx 4.) Measure and mark the endcaps with where the centerlines of the crossways boards go. Discuss importance of centering beams on marks.
Install the joist hangers with the crossways boards. Discuss toenailing from the exterior endcaps afterward. Do that. I don't have a picture of this part, but here's a nice shot of the joist hangers after we were done:
Install the corner boards using metal corner braces. I hold the braces, nephew does the screwdriver. He got to do a lot of screwdriver.
Lay out 1x4 decking, use spare board to square up the one set of edges, use chalk line and snap for measuring all the boards at one go. How fun!
More miter saw instruction for how to use miter saw, where to put hands, importance of securing board against backrest while cutting, etc. More discussion of kerf and consistency in cutting.
We start installing the decking on the frame. There need to be consistent spaces between the boards that will let water drain but not be big enough to catch toes or fingers. We are using a pencil to space the boards.
One screw in the near end, go do other end of board (so that it can pivot a little if needed), then two screws in all board x 2x4 intersections.
Partway through cutting the decking: How are we planning to get aboard the raft from the water (it is a raft for floating out into the water and swimming with/on, jumping off off, etc.)? Discussion ensues. Probably if we put a hole in the middle of the deck, that would be way less tippy than if we had a hundred and eighty lb human (it me) crawling over the one edge of a raft making an 8' moment arm when said raft at the very best, weighs two hundred and fifty pounds. Like, that's just not gonna work even pretending us normal humans can lever our fucking selves A FOOT+ out of the water. It won't sink the barrels but it will for sure tip the shit out of the raft for all raft occupants. NOT IDEAL.
Redesign, with hole in middle of deck. How big a hole? Measuring. People sized. Fine, fine. Edges of hole will be lined with used bike innertube to make less splinter-y. Brother the elder has a lot of used bike innertube to hand. (I feel like I should inquire about slingshots...)
Here's the completed frame and deck for the raft, showing the hole for getting on and off the raft.
Does there need to be a ladder? I left that to brother the elder and his boy, but I think yes. This thing is going to float more than a foot out of the water with four plastic drums under it.
After lunch break (two hour break for lunch) we sealed up the lids for the barrels and made lids for the barrel that doesn't have lids. Spray foam is a wonderful thing.
Tomorrow, when the caulk and stuff has set up, we are going to lash the barrels to the raft and launch it. Will it float? Fuck if I know. Probably. Barrels are pretty damn floaty.
(googling ensues)
A sealed 55 gallon drum provides 459 lbs of buy.. boy...bo--... FLOATY POWER. You kinda want the barrels half out of the water for best raft handling, so figure you can't do more than 220 lbs (half the floaty power) per barrel. We have four barrels, so we have 880 lbs of floaty power available to use.
Raft weight is about 250 lbs including barrels... so the raft (8' x 6') can easily hold three good-sized adults (we do not have any adults over 180 lbs) plus the raft and barrels before it exceeds the design constraints of "half submerged barrels". The raft will not sink until it has about 1600 lbs on it plus the raft itself. I think it'll be fine for a child and his "smaller than me" dad and maybe a couple other kids.
*Why are you using a miter saw for construction? A miter saw is a very stable, safe, controlled way for a youngster to "power saw" boards for his raft without injuring himself, cutting crooked, or otherwise fucking it up. Because the miter saw is very limited in directional movement and very stable, it can be operated (with supervision, we are not monsters) by small hands that would struggle to run a circular saw. You can line everything up and "practice" your cut to see JUST WHERE THE BLADE WOULD GO before actually cutting, which is great if you haven't used a saw much before. The miter saw is a great way to cut wood if you're teaching a kid to build shit and have way more cuts than the kid can do with a hand saw.
Yes, I have a circular saw. Fuck, I have a battery powered circular saw, even. I'm a good circular sawyer. This is NOT ABOUT EFFICIENCY. This is about having the boy help and do and build so that more than half of the raft is his work and he feels a sense of ownership and pride. (It is my design, but we did discuss the design and plan an approximate design over the winter and this is that design but firmed up and finalized so that we will get done on the first try and it will work and be safe and stable.)
After that, we did some wood splitting because nephew would like to split wood. Brother the elder uses a splitting axe. I've tried it. Do not like. I really like my splitting maul, which is a different tool. You don't really cut anything with a splitting maul, it's not got what you would call a sharp edge. The splitting axe totally has a sharp edge.
Anyway, nephew hasn't spent much time with splitting maul (brother the elder has both tools, prefers axe) but I sure as hell have. I look like an idiot with a splitting axe. I look like I know what I'm doing if you hand me a splitting maul.
We talked about positioning, foot safety, solid stance, the way you change your grip as you swing, proper selection of a place to hit the wood, importance of control, etc. And we did some guided practice.
Tomorrow we're tying the barrels in place and (hopefully) setting sail. Stay tuned!
Because this is an activity I am shepherding brother the elder and nephew through, there will be education!
I can't do anything without education.
There will be construction! So, this is going to be construction-related education. The nephew is maybe ten or possibly eleven. I don't fucking know. Something in the low double digits, anyway.
Let us examine the end grain on this 1x4 decking board. Which way will this board, on exposure to water and sunlight, cup? (follow the grain) So which side is the "up" side for our raft deck? (the convex side of the curves) Let us mark the boards with a T for top side. When we screw these boards down, they will not be able to cup much because they will be screwed tight to the 2x4 framing and if they DO cup, they will not retain water. (There are twenty-five boards, so a fair amount of "examine grain, identify cupping direction" practice.)
Now, we have 8' 2x4 boards for framing our deck. We are floating the deck on 4 55 gallon plastic barrels that will be secured underneath by way of cordage. These barrels are 2' wide and 3' long. We would like the raft to have 2' between the barrels each way. (This is to facilitate squirtgun battles in the water, so you can shoot people from the other side of the raft and hide under the raft and shoot out from it and stuff.) I'm just the contractor here, the client has been very specific about the design constraints. Given these constraints, what is the smallest possible dimension for our raft's deck? (6'x8').
Further discussion and a quick mock-up on the driveway suggests that the 8' boards need to be the "crossways" boards and that we need 6' boards for the endcaps. Boy measures and marks (tape measure, carpenter square) and cuts (miter saw*) two 6' 2x4's.
We construct the frame, using the 8' boards for the crossways and the 6' boards for the endcaps. "How can we place these five boards evenly across the endcap boards? Obviously two go on the ends, but what about the others? (Discussion, measuring, math. Nonzero board width makes an appearance, these are not geometric ideals over here, they are 2x4's which measure neither 2 nx 4.) Measure and mark the endcaps with where the centerlines of the crossways boards go. Discuss importance of centering beams on marks.
Install the joist hangers with the crossways boards. Discuss toenailing from the exterior endcaps afterward. Do that. I don't have a picture of this part, but here's a nice shot of the joist hangers after we were done:
Install the corner boards using metal corner braces. I hold the braces, nephew does the screwdriver. He got to do a lot of screwdriver.
Lay out 1x4 decking, use spare board to square up the one set of edges, use chalk line and snap for measuring all the boards at one go. How fun!
More miter saw instruction for how to use miter saw, where to put hands, importance of securing board against backrest while cutting, etc. More discussion of kerf and consistency in cutting.
We start installing the decking on the frame. There need to be consistent spaces between the boards that will let water drain but not be big enough to catch toes or fingers. We are using a pencil to space the boards.
One screw in the near end, go do other end of board (so that it can pivot a little if needed), then two screws in all board x 2x4 intersections.
Partway through cutting the decking: How are we planning to get aboard the raft from the water (it is a raft for floating out into the water and swimming with/on, jumping off off, etc.)? Discussion ensues. Probably if we put a hole in the middle of the deck, that would be way less tippy than if we had a hundred and eighty lb human (it me) crawling over the one edge of a raft making an 8' moment arm when said raft at the very best, weighs two hundred and fifty pounds. Like, that's just not gonna work even pretending us normal humans can lever our fucking selves A FOOT+ out of the water. It won't sink the barrels but it will for sure tip the shit out of the raft for all raft occupants. NOT IDEAL.
Redesign, with hole in middle of deck. How big a hole? Measuring. People sized. Fine, fine. Edges of hole will be lined with used bike innertube to make less splinter-y. Brother the elder has a lot of used bike innertube to hand. (I feel like I should inquire about slingshots...)
Here's the completed frame and deck for the raft, showing the hole for getting on and off the raft.
Does there need to be a ladder? I left that to brother the elder and his boy, but I think yes. This thing is going to float more than a foot out of the water with four plastic drums under it.
After lunch break (two hour break for lunch) we sealed up the lids for the barrels and made lids for the barrel that doesn't have lids. Spray foam is a wonderful thing.
Tomorrow, when the caulk and stuff has set up, we are going to lash the barrels to the raft and launch it. Will it float? Fuck if I know. Probably. Barrels are pretty damn floaty.
(googling ensues)
A sealed 55 gallon drum provides 459 lbs of buy.. boy...bo--... FLOATY POWER. You kinda want the barrels half out of the water for best raft handling, so figure you can't do more than 220 lbs (half the floaty power) per barrel. We have four barrels, so we have 880 lbs of floaty power available to use.
Raft weight is about 250 lbs including barrels... so the raft (8' x 6') can easily hold three good-sized adults (we do not have any adults over 180 lbs) plus the raft and barrels before it exceeds the design constraints of "half submerged barrels". The raft will not sink until it has about 1600 lbs on it plus the raft itself. I think it'll be fine for a child and his "smaller than me" dad and maybe a couple other kids.
*Why are you using a miter saw for construction? A miter saw is a very stable, safe, controlled way for a youngster to "power saw" boards for his raft without injuring himself, cutting crooked, or otherwise fucking it up. Because the miter saw is very limited in directional movement and very stable, it can be operated (with supervision, we are not monsters) by small hands that would struggle to run a circular saw. You can line everything up and "practice" your cut to see JUST WHERE THE BLADE WOULD GO before actually cutting, which is great if you haven't used a saw much before. The miter saw is a great way to cut wood if you're teaching a kid to build shit and have way more cuts than the kid can do with a hand saw.
Yes, I have a circular saw. Fuck, I have a battery powered circular saw, even. I'm a good circular sawyer. This is NOT ABOUT EFFICIENCY. This is about having the boy help and do and build so that more than half of the raft is his work and he feels a sense of ownership and pride. (It is my design, but we did discuss the design and plan an approximate design over the winter and this is that design but firmed up and finalized so that we will get done on the first try and it will work and be safe and stable.)
After that, we did some wood splitting because nephew would like to split wood. Brother the elder uses a splitting axe. I've tried it. Do not like. I really like my splitting maul, which is a different tool. You don't really cut anything with a splitting maul, it's not got what you would call a sharp edge. The splitting axe totally has a sharp edge.
Anyway, nephew hasn't spent much time with splitting maul (brother the elder has both tools, prefers axe) but I sure as hell have. I look like an idiot with a splitting axe. I look like I know what I'm doing if you hand me a splitting maul.
We talked about positioning, foot safety, solid stance, the way you change your grip as you swing, proper selection of a place to hit the wood, importance of control, etc. And we did some guided practice.
Tomorrow we're tying the barrels in place and (hopefully) setting sail. Stay tuned!
