Grandma got her hammer out: Porch railing repair

Replaced rotted wood!

Yesterday was calm and clear and sunny, and at only 48, nice enough to work outside. When J rebuilt the stairs in his studio (another episode in the now 17-month saga of the building of the studio which has been under re-building construction for the past 6 months), he pitched the 2x4s he removed from the landing outside on his porch. The wood was new when installed the first time but J opted to replace it…because there were anywhere from 6-12 nails in each piece. That seems like overkill to me, but it certainly resulted in shoddy workmanship to put it kindly. My original plan for this repair had been to cut a length off a left-over piece of 2×4–of which we have some quantity now stockpiled [see above notation about re-constructing the studio]. Being ever mindful of the sky-rocketing price of lumber since the beginning of the pandemic, I found two pieces of wood that were almost perfect in size…with 15 nails holding these two pieces together in a T. It looked like someone had given a hammer and handful of nails to a 5-year old.

It took me longer to remove the nails using my trusted Stanley Wonder Bar Pry Bar than it did to saw the extra length, tap them into place and toenail the supports to the base. Wonder Bar? you may be asking? Had that baby since my salvaging days in Texas. It is for the times when a hammer will just not remove a nail, along with any demolition tasks you may have pending.

The great news? Son J purchased a Suizan Japanese pull saw hand saw, which he taught me how to use. I was laboriously sawing the slanted edge off the railing post to install the solar light cap and he came to see what I was doing. Most saws in use here are European saws, which are called “push saws.” The cutting action requires you to push the saw forward. The “pull saw” is lighter in weight, structured differently, and cuts by pulling it back toward you. The result is not only less laborious, but results in a smoother, cleaner edge. I did not even have to sand the post smooth–it was that smoothly and cleanly cut! It took me about a minute to place the piece of 2×4 in the clamp and another minute to almost effortlessly saw off the excess inch.

Bey, Jayzeeb, and Scruff all had a turn at lap sitting while I enjoyed the first fire in over a week. It was a nice ending to the week with another mission accomplished!