Hardwood Heartache

Ey up my faithful blogworms, did you miss me ?. Been working away and on my jollies so not had chance to spout forth my usual words of wisdom.

It's time for a rant again ! ... Hardwood worktops. I am still hearing tales of woe and horror stories about folk having bad experiences with hardwood worktops  ..  and why  ..  I'll tell you why. It because there are a load of so called joiners out there pretending they know what they're doing with expensive hardwood tops and ruining them by lack of knowledge.




This breaks my heart and does my head in !! It makes me so angry !!


Here's why, there's only one way to fit hardwood tops ...AND THAT'S PROPERLY.

Don't buy rubbish in the first place and make sure your fitter has done this before and successfully.


Here's what to look for:

1. When a fitter is installing these tops for you, make sure that all the sections of worktop are fully machined to shape, any cut-outs put in, any edge profiling done. Sand to 120 grit finish ( and no higher !, I don't care what anyone else says ) to start with

2. All the pieces should them be turned over and given 3 GOOD COATS  of a good quality danish oil. In my opinion there is only one oil in the UK that gives a good finish, good coverage, good durability and lasts for ages and that's Rustins Danish oil. However I'm aware that there are probably oils in other countries that are just as good.

3. Do not skimp on this stage ! Oiling the underside is the start of creating a humidity balance in the timber essential to keeping movement to a minimum during it's life in your kitchen.

4. Once dry, assemble the sections onto the kitchen units and fix together. Do not fit hobs or sinks yet . REPEAT step 2 and give 3 GOOD COATS of oil to the topside aswell. Allow to dry thoroughly between a coats. Only once dry are you ready to put the appliances in and finish off.

Follow this simple procedure and your worktops should last you a lifetime

Right .. that's got the fitting sorted out, now to you looking after them.

Let's state the screamingly obvious.. these worktops are wood ! .. therefore you are going to knock, bump and scrape them but let's face it, if you didn't know that then you shouldn't have bought them in the first place.
If any of the above happens .. don't panic .. you can always sand them up and go again. DO NOT USE OILS WITH WAX IN THEM .. ( see my earlier blog, jam & wax )

Periodically you will need to re-oil your tops, this is essential, don't think you can fit them and forget them, not going to happen ! Also don't believe all the stupid old wives tales about oiling them every week or month. Let you tops tell you when they need feeding.
When water starts to sink in and not bead up on the surface, that's when they need re-doing.
Clean them off, use a little white spirit on a lint free cloth to clean them and then re-oil using a 2" paint brush stroking the oil in with the grain, leave overnight and you're good to go the next morning, and that's all it takes. See, not hard is it but it needs doing promptly and not leaving till they go black when it a hell of a lot more work to sand them back and start again.

Simple top tips:

1. Don't leave greasy pans on the your tops overnight
2. Do give excess water etc a good wipe off when it's spilt
3. Don't put really hot pans straight onto the surface, you'll scorch it !
4. There is no need to use these stupid "antibacterial wipes" that don't work, as hardwood has natural antibacterial enzymes within its structure anyway. Millions of butchers chopping blocks can't be wrong.
4. Don't worry if any of the above cause problems as you can sand your tops back and go again.

Following these simple rules will give you fabulous natural worktops for many many years to come.

Follow your desires on this and don't listen to negative people on the subject of hardwood worktops as they're wrong anyway. !!

Good hunting ! Jules

Hard water but not Hard luck !

 Ey up my faithful blogworms, I have some questions to ask you all today:

Scalemaster inline limescale inhibitors

Do you live in a hard water area ...... ?

Are you spending  a lot of money replacing kettles ..... ?

Do you spend way too much on unnecessary Calgon tablets ...... ?

Are you sick of getting tradesmen out to
repair your Boiler / Dishwasher / Washing
 machine due to limescale damage ..... ?

Are you daft enough to have bought a Brita filter jug when you can have filtered water on draught ..... ?

Do you spend a load of hard earned cash on bottled water ..... ?

Then I've got to ask ...... WHY ? ..... Are you totally bonkers ? There are other, better answers !!

15mm inline isolating lever valve

Water filter kit

The stuff shown in the pics provide you with all the solutions to your problems ...... !

Hard Water ... Not a problem ! Using the the Scalemaster inline inhibitors fitted either local to each of your appliances or on your incoming cold water main, after your stopcock, will break down and change the chemical make up of the limescale and render it harmless to the workings of your machines. That's going save you stress and money and save you using environment damaging chemicals to tackle the symptoms instead of the problem.
OK, you will need someone to fit them first but if the pipework is set up properly, you can change the cartridges as and when necessary yourself, they last for ages and are cheap enough to replace.  Fit the 15mm isolating valves before and after the unit so you can stop the water going through it and change it your self ..... it's easy, trust me !

Bottled water on draught  Once you've fitted the limescale inhibitor to sort that bit out, back it up by fitting a water filter kit to give you water every bit as pure as the stuff you're wasting money on by buying it in bottles. Top your bottles up when ever you want to as you now have your bottled water on draught ... Simples !. The water filter kit I've shown takes about 15 minutes to fit if you're a bit DIY minded and it's easy and it will pay for itself many times over with all the money you're going to save. Fill a bottle with your freshly poured bottled water and give it to your friends to try ..... I bet they can't tell the difference either.

In fact, even if you live in a soft water area like we do, you can still fit a water filter and benefit from not spending shed loads of money on bottled water.

There are many other products out there but I've used these, they work and they're NOT expensive.

I am absolutely staggered that the products I've shown you above are still some of the UK's best kept secrets, so stop wasting money and chucking chemicals at everything. Do yourselves and the environment a favour and look seriously at the stuff I've brought to your attention.

For the cynical amongst you, NO ...  I don't have any connections to Scalemaster and .. NO ... I'm not working on comission ... I just believe in their products any would recommend them to anybody. So I thought I would share this with you and hopefully convert of few of you.

Don't think about it ..... Do it ..... it really is a no-brainer !

Always trying to help ! ... Jules.

Reclaimed Madness: The Full Story

Ey up, my faithful blogworms, as promised here's the full story of another milestone for Milestone: the fantastic adventure that was our Reclaimed Madness kitchen

Pop over to Pinterest to see all the glorious details  http://pinterest.com/milestone01/milestone-reclaimed-madness-kitchen/

One small snag: It's the first time I've used Pinterest and I've loaded the pictures in the wrong order, so you'll have to start at the bottom of the board and work up to watch the progress, Sorry, I'll know next time !

 ......    but here's a taster to set the mood

Our starting point

Even the floors had to go 

We took a load of this

Added a few  of our lovely Eco cabinets

And turned it all into something like this

That looks absolutely gorgeous and so Eco friendly, it's perfect !

Out there in the bloggoshpere, you all seem reluctant to pass any comments or even contact us at all, this time be a devil, we would really, really like to hear what you think !!

In fact, we would really enjoy the chance to repeat this great Eco Adventure in a house near you sometime soon.

Jules: Logger, Blogger, Wino & Worker of Wood

Roadstone Plaques .. Everyones a winner really !

Ey up my faithful blogworms, here are the results of the Roadstone jury !!, oh dear !, that's sounds a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, still never mind, welcome to all our readers from all over Europe and the U.S.
These are the lucky recipients of our wonderful free roadstone plaques in response to our appeal for photo's to use in our marketing.

If you're new to seeing these plaques for the first time, have a look back at my earlier blogs for more details.
These guys took possesion of their brand new roadstone plaques at Burley Classic Car Show last Sunday and the response was fantastic !!

The concept of the plaques being made from the very roadstone and tarmac that you drive them on is quite unique and appropriate (and very desirable) but I should point out that this product is way more versatile than just making car plaques, it can be used a various ways around your home with absolutely stunning, original results.

The very same mix can be used to make;

Kitchen feature splashbacks in sizes to suit all cooker / hob configurations in stock images or your own photo of whatever subject you feel would inspire your cooking to new levels.

Sink splashbacks in stock images or you can have your favourite landscape scene featured on it. You could imagine yourself looking out over a stunning mountain landscape or glorious exotic beach while actually stood in front of your sink. That's got to make washing up a more pleasant task ??

Waterproof bathroom wall panels are another use, whether for lining your bathroom walls, framing your bath or even featuring in your shower cubicle itself. Just imagine you're standing in the middle of a fabulous waterfall with water cascading over you, it would almost feel like an fantastic open air shower.

If you wanted a stunning, focal centrepoint for your garden featuring exotic plants that there's no way you could grow, have them displayed on an outdoor plaque in your garden with other planting nestling up to it, a gardeners dream !


There are many, many unique and inspiring ways in which these plaques can be used and in many different sizes to suit all sorts of different applications.

If you can see the potential for bringing something rather special into your life and have an idea, give us a ring, email, send us a sketch idea and we'd be extremely glad to have a look at it for you.

Car Plaques, while something quite special, are only the tip of the iceberg !!

Until next time . Jules.

A Great Reclaimed Adventure

Ey up my faithful blogworms, the project that was "reclaimed madness" turned into  "A Great Reclaimed Adventure"

We knew we were just the right side of bonkers to take on building a kitchen using reclaimed timber completely from scratch in a clients home but, do you know,

It was absolutely brilliant !!, Here are some quick pics of some parts of the kitchen to whet your appetite.

We are going to get the full story in picture form from the pics taken by our client on her I pad and post them somewhere for you to have a look at, starting from a random pile of timber offloaded from our van to the results you see here.

I kid you not, the whole thing was built using the entire (portable) contents of my workshop transported to site and all the individual pieces of timber selected and cut to make each door and panel by our client herself !!

She had a ball !

The kitchen was made from the Victorian factory beam timber and the salvaged Engine shed floor became the new kitchen floor, with the whole lot being treated to three good coats of tree resin based oils to really bring the wood to life.

And for you following my blogs, there wasn't a trace of wax anywhere near the oils we used !!

I have one admission to make ...... the only part of the tick list from my earlier blog that we didn't achieve was to make the kitchen "handleless". However, we ticked all the other boxes, so I don't think we did too badly.






In conclusion for this blog, I must say that for pure gorgeousness and creative satisfaction, this project is up there with the best of 'em.

To be fair, we all had a ball !!

Keep watching for the full story as soon as I can get it sorted.

Jules: Logger, Blogger and worker of Wood

If this was a curry, it would be a Vindaloo !

Ey up, blogworms,  we're experiencing some technical probs with our website that I don't even begin to understand, so at the moment, I hoping you still manage to find this weeks blog.  

'Cos you don't want miss this one !

Introducing a Scorching Summer Deal on EcoKitchens 

"EcoKitchens" is a new range priced at an equivalent to a massive 30% less than current prices on our existing entry level EcoSelect kitchens !

Stone Grey & Oak kitchen  

    A Kitchen Starter Kit 

    only £499 inc.vat.

   

    Free delivery to the local 

    area.

    Delivery absolutely 

    anywhere in the UK can 

    be arranged

    Free upgrade to soft close 

    doors

Coco Bolo woodgrain kitchen

                   

        10 Stylish Contemporary finishes

         Comprehensive unit list to build 

         your starter pack into your dream 

         kitchen

         Delivered to install yourself or we 

         can give you a cost for us to install

         A great variety of Eco laminate 

         worktops to complement your units

All the units are top spec with quality German Blum hinges and soft close drawer boxes, 18mm flat pack carcases, adjustable legs and continuous plinths. 

To help you further, we can also supply at competitive prices: sinks, taps, appliances & tiles to make it truly a "one stop shop" and cut out all the stress of buying loads of individual parts from loads of other companies and then spending the next few weeks wondering if it will all turn up on time, complete and the right colour.

You have our "cast iron" guarantee is that everything you order will arrive complete, intact and in one load ready to rock 'n' roll !

Don't delay, contact us today for more details on this fantastic offer, there's never been a better time to plan your new Eco kitchen. These prices cannot last forever !!

         

Plaque is only a problem at your dentist !!

Ey up my faithful blogworms,

Checked out the Cumbria Wood Festival, as promised, good show but nothing significant to report that helps our quest to be more Eco friendly. More aimed at Loggers, Biomass producers and renewable heat incentives, more of a business to business show really. Hints and tips for helping the general public think a bit more about eco issues were sadly lacking. Still there's always next year !

We do however, have the winners of our free Roadstone Plaques following our newpaper appeal, here's their entries, I'll show you the pics of the plaques as soon as we get them made !

Great action shot from Yorkshire Trike Tours showing our local Ilkley landmark
 "The Cow & Calf Rocks"

A fabulous & very rare Austin A30 pick up, one of only about 100 made

Nice to see the old guys represented in the form of a 1932 Morris

And a shot of an early Mini from a guy who clearly believes that Minis weren't short enough to begin with and who needs a roof anyway !

A pretty diverse bunch I'm sure you'll agree and destined for fame by featuring on our first comprehensive leaflet promoting Roadstone Car Plaques, set to become the hottest ticket in town for classic vehicle enthusiasts. 

To see these vehicles in the flesh and receive their Fantastic Free Roadstone Plaques, you need to get down to the Burley-in-Wharfedale Classic Car Show on Sunday August 18th. Google Burley Summer Festival to get details on location. It would be great to see you there.

Obviously, for our followers from the corners of the globe, it's one hell of a commute just to see a classic car show but I'll make sure I get loads of pics at the event and post a selection of them here for you to have a peep at !

And just think, if you like what you see, then don't miss out & be among the first to own one. These amazing plaques can be yours  by contacting me at: julian@milestone.uk.net  

Use the reference: Car Plaque Blog to claim a 10% discount for my faithful followers

It really doesn't matter where you are in the world, I know we can get one to your doorstep.

See you there ! Jules.

The Wonderful World of Wood

Now then, my faithful blogworms.

In the interests of all things eco and sustainable, it has come to my attention about a, hopefully, great inaugural show being held tomorrow up at Hutton in the Forest in the Penrith area. Free to get in, free to park and the promise of a great informative family day out. It's junction 41 off the M6 and signposted on the B5305.

Forestry Festival, at Hutton-in-the-Forest Estate, Penrith

Sunday 21 July 2013

Sponsored by The Forestry Commission themselves it's a show about all things timber, sustainable forestry, green crafts and eco issues surrounding the best efficient use of our natural timber resources, so yours truly is going up the check it out and find out what can be learned from the people in the know.

There are 56 seperate stallholders planned with topics such as using wood fuel effeciently, eco living tips, Biomass heating, Green fuels, landscaping to help nature, basket making, logging, forestry concerns and entertainment for the kids.

If you're free tomorrow and at a loose end, go up and check it out yourselves, look for our campervan Pandora and come and say Hi!. We'd love to meet you.

If you don't make it, I appreciate it's short notice, I'll be posting hints and tips gleaned from the people I meet on next weeks blog. Follow the link below to find out more.

See you next week. Jules.

http://www.cumbriawoodlands.co.uk/courses-events/2013/7/forestry-festival-at-hutton-in-the-forest-estate-penrith.aspx

A snippet of what's on offer:

Entertainment and exhibits

Entertainment includes our logging competition, a shooting range, a local folk band and forest storytellers.

Exhibits will include: forestry contractors, equipment providers, biomass producers and greenwood workers. We're also not charging exhibitors a fee for their stands, and are planning lots of opportunities for live demonstrations of their work.

Festival aims

The Festival’s aims include raising awareness within the forestry sector of a variety of equipment, techniques, innovation and networks, as well as educating the general public about the sustainability of locally produced timber products, woodfuel, woodland management and the benefits well managed woodland can bring.

If you’re new to wood fuel

Considering switching to wood fuel no doubt raises lots of questions. Take your time to read about why you should burn wood in order to understand if it’s right for you. If you decide that it is, find out about Funding and Grants available to you, and take a look at Burning Wood Well to make sure you get the most from your wood.

If you already use wood fuel

There are lots of further options to consider and tips to improve your efficiency and save resources and money. The information and videos about Burning Wood Well will help you ensure that your wood fuel use is as economical as possible, and our Wood Fuel Advisory Service can help you find ways to become even more self-sufficient.

Jam & Wax, an odd combination !

Ey up my faithful blogworms, lots been happening since my last blog.

Camper Jam went extremely well, my VW crossword was well received with lots of entries, someone very soon will be getting a fabulous FREE roadstone plaque of the ride of choice. Weather was scorching, higher than in Spain over the weekend, lots of folk doing the crossword to keep out of the sun.

 If you're reading this as a VDub fan and going to Harewood VW Fest in August, there's another opportunity to have a go and win a plaque AND we've even got another chance as Malvern Bus Fest have taken a third VW Crossword to go in their show programme in September.

Our 'Reclaimed Madness' kitchen project is going particularly well ( see earlier blog for details ) with all the doors & panels etc now finished, just waiting for the cabinets to arrive on Monday and off we go again towards the finishing line. Going over on Monday to lay the new floor, made from timber salvaged from an old Victorian Engine Shed, it's all prepped and cut to length so hopefully it should be a doddle to lay.
As a detail thing, I'm even going to use old victorian floor nails to lay it that I've salvaged myself from old floors I've removed over the years. You can't beat authenticity !!
The timber is very old and gnarled and I want to preserve that, so instead of sanding and lacquering I'm going to use a good brand eco friendly floor oil to treat it with and to give good long term durability.

Massively Important Top Tip:

Definitely worth mentioning here about oil finishing timber floors. If you're looking to do this yourself at any time, when you select your oil LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS on the side of the tin, many floor finishing oils contain a wax of some sort as part of their formulation and they're not very eco friendly !!

DO NOT BUY THESE OILS !..They will give you loads of problems when you come to refinish your floor in the future. If your floor needs a good sanding back during refinishing, trying to sand a floor that's been treated with wax content oils will clog up your sander for fun !!.... Except it's no fun, trust me !..... It will take far longer than it should  and you WILL have to scrub it all with a brush and white spirit to get the wax out and use a hell of a lot of sandings discs, I know because I've done it on floors finished by other people using wax oils.

You can, of course, leave your floor as it is and re-apply more oil over the top .... Don't ..... when the Victorians etc. had waxed floors, they had staff to continually buff it up and polish it and keep it looking nice and I wouldn't mind betting ....... you haven't ! ..... so don't go there unless you plan on selling you house and leaving the problem for someone else, which is a bit of a dirty trick ! You never know it might be me that has to sort it out.

When this job is finished I will be posting the story of the kitchen in photo's for you to have a look at and hopefully gain some knowledge of it if you were thinking of trying this style yourselves. It really is going to look fantastic. Our client is so blown away with what she's seen already that I do think the odd tear may be shed when she sees it completely finished.

That's all for this folks !

Jules.

Reclaimed Madness

Ey up, my faithful blogworms, this weeks blog is all about rubbish, stuff that other folk throw away when they pull buildings down.

Everyone is familiar with salvaging these days, salvage yards are the some of cool and trendiest places to shop for stuff for your home, so this week we're doing the same but with a twist.

Not afraid to tackle anything Eco, Recycled, Reclaimed, Whatever !! we're now having a crack at a first for Milestone ........ and all without the aid of a safety net ..... there is no PLAN 'B' !

 A first because we're building a complete kitchen, on site, in a clients home using our already established Eco cabinets with Eco worktops and a bloody great pile of salvaged timber from an Engine shed floor and roof beams from a Victorian factory, rip cut into planks!

A first because we're going to make all the unit doors ledged & braced, ( like an old farmhouse door but smaller ) which as far as I'm aware has never been done before !

A first because our client has asked for all the doors & drawer fronts to be "handleless"...Hmm, tricky !

A first because we will be making every individual unit door, drawer front & panel, by hand,  in the kitchen while we're building it.

There, I've done it now, I've told the whole world that we are positively bonkers in even attempting this BUT we are totally confident that we can pull it off successfully.

Our client is a fantastic lady who's just the right side of bonkers herself, a very creative thinker and completely into reclaiming and recycling. Right up our street, in fact.
She wants all the old cuts, notches, bolt holes, tenons etc leaving in, where possible, to make the kitchen look like exactly what it's made from ...... Very Old Timber
It's not everyones cup of tea, I know,  but we are going to have a fantastic time working with our client to make this happen and thoroughly enjoy ourselves building it.

As this progresses, we will be keeping a photographic record so when we're finished, we will be able to share it with you all, so stay tuned for the next gripping instalments.

As it says on my personal twitter account: @pandorasdad71, .... Logger, Blogger & Worker of wood ..This is probably my ultimate test

Jules.