Coffee Stirrers

[Steve]

Just finished my first building in Coffee Stirrers.
and at just £8 for 2000 from Ebay - that's a lot of 4"x 1"x 10' planks

Cuts easily with scissors,
glues fast with a good weatherproof PVA - Everbuild 502
Laminates to make strong 4" x 2" or 4" x 3" or even 4" x 4" main Timbers.

Using 5mm foam Board as a base cladding gives a quick finish.

[Big Jim]

Looks good. What did you use for the roof slates?

[LNR]

That's a beautifully constructed building Steve, you've spent a fair bit of time spacing out all those boards so evenly. Would that be something you would leave outside?
Grant.

[tuppenced]

Nice!

What percentage of stirrers do you find useable please? - it's about a quarter for mine. David

[Steve]

Jim
Would you believe that slate roof is a slate roof.
I use Wickes slate floor tiles - the better ones in packs of 5.
Cut into 20mm strips with a tiles saw
Cut into 30mm long chunks
I then have lots of tiles 1'3" x 1'10", on the larger size for roof tiles but just what the Lines Architect ordered.
Only problem the tiles are 7" (10mm) thick.
Leave in a bucket of water several days, then Split them with a thick bladed Long Kitchen Knife (not very sharp). Wear Gloves and make sure they are Cut Resistant 3 or 5 builders type.
Flat piece of hard wood (Old window sill) with a stopper
put the tile up to the stop- hold the knife on the tile with the grain and tap the back of the knife. The tiles will split. Then split again and again, until you have 5-7 pieces of tiles around 1" thick.
Keep practicing, you will get better
DON'T forget the CUT RESISTANT GLOVES

[Steve]

Grant
Leave outside - No
although the roof is waterproof
The glue is waterproof
The wood has been sprayed with a Lacquer so hopefully waterproof.

[Steve]

David

I use about 98% yes some are a bit bent and so is only usable as short parts.
Maybe some makes are better other?

[tuppenced]

Wow! Thanks, Steve. Any tips for a good brand or supplier, please?

I've just laminated-up two 10" long beams, but my stirrers were so variable that I measured up three times as many stirrers as I needed, writing the widths and thicknesses on each one, then lined them up in size-order to choose two sets of near-enough ones. (Very laborious, but done for a good reason.)

Good to be cautious with water. Even if your structure has a waterproof lacquer 'skin', big changes in humidity will cause wood movement that will crack it and let water in.
    Making test walls to leave outside will show what works and what doesn't.

When splitting roofing slates, the Welsh would halve and halve and halve again to get down to thickness. But sometimes in 16mm I've got away with taking repeated slices off one 'end', like slicing a loaf.

David

[Steve]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2000-WOODEN-S ... 3EvV10OQJg

Double checked and this was what I ordered
£11 for 2000 (2 boxes)

[tuppenced]

I've ordered a box immediately! Thanks, Steve. David

[ge_rik]

Very nicely done! The slate roof is a master-stroke. Reminds me, my stocks of stirrers is running short. I find them really useful for all sorts of things (including stirring paint etc.)

Rik

[MDLR]

I take the view that bent / warped / otherwise unsuitable for construction sticks go for stirring paint and mixing epoxy resin glue.................

[Steve]

depends which way they are bent.
2 glued together in the opposite bend cancel each other out.
The bad bend often can be cut to make a small piece.
very few are unusable.
timber in the real world is often bent or even twisted.

[philipy]

Steve,
Very nice building, and thanks for all the construction tips.

[Steve]

Anyone else have building from Stirrers to show?

[merlin2]

Very impressive indeed; and as already said, thanks for the tips especially regarding the tile manufacture.

[jim@NAL]

fantastic job looks very good and they are super straight coffee strainers

[KjellAn]

Anyone else have building from Stirrers to show?

Here is my little station building on my PHRy (the Pine Hill Railway).

 

The station was built of 4mm ply glued together with PVA. The coffeestirrers was then glued to the ply like your building. As you can see it was outside in wet and cold weather, and this wasn't good for the ply after some time. The humid weather maked the ply splitt in some places, mostly on the base and lower parts of the walls.

I have now restored the station by some woodenscrews and PVA. And have made a new roof made of acrylate sheets and roof tiles from Plasticards (US).

Now I keep the building stored in my garage when not having a steamup.

[Steve]

Very nice Kjell

A great photo taken in a beautiful country. I am visiting again in August.  

I like the boards at the end of the roof. I hope you don't mind me stealing that idea, stirrers already being cut up.

I will see if I can get a snow photo this coming winter.



Steve

[SapperAnt]

Cracking job!! I feel the muse fluttering around me....