An english boy's home is his castle

[Dan Curtis]

As you may have seen in another thread I've recently gained a few lumps of redwood. Some will go for milling but the butt log came up a little short so I've had another idea.

 

I'm (hopefully) going to end up with a castle for my nephews. Work only started today and it'll probably happen in dribs and drabs but I'll keep adding pictures as it comes along.

 

The finished piece will be one solid lump, to include a spiral staircase and drawbridge. There may also end up being an additional tower/ battlements if I can get my head around making them!

 

Hopefully I'll end up with something worthwhile, it's sort of a one chance piece. Either that or it will be the most labour intensive firewood ever made!

 

Any suggestions/pointers on design are more than welcome!

[Steve Bullman]

Nice one Dan, look forward to seeing how it turns out

[David Humphries]

Great idea.

 

Yeah, looking forward to seeing the result also

 

 

Saw this trawling through some Images, not quite what your aiming at but might inspire an idea or two.

 

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[Ross Winchester]

looking good so far ,cant wait to see it finished.

[Dan Curtis]

Great idea.

 

Yeah, looking forward to seeing the result also

 

 

Saw this trawling through some Images, not quite what your aiming at but might inspire an idea or two.

 

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Flipping heck! For some reason I hadn't seen that you posted that. Nice work whoever did it. Thanks for sharing

[Dan Curtis]

Got some spare time today to crack on with the project. I've managed to get most of the inside hollowed out. That took some thought. I was planning on leaving the bottom in until it was in its final destination for strength reasons, but ended up having to cut it out and turn it upside down to get the saw in on one side. The original blue chalk door outline was a bit too big so has become irrelevant now. If I'd have followed that I'd have lost the main pillar on the stair side.

 

I've added a window, which helped let some of the exhaust fumes out when I was inside. There's also a wee peephole through to the stairs. In the bottom at the back you'll see a rectangle marked out, that's going to be a little hidy-hole type thing.

 

Everything so far is just rough sawn, once I've got everything in place that I want, I'll tidy the whole lot up. Just being cautious not to cut too much out yet!

 

The drawbridge is all figured out in my head, next time I've got the post-o-matic out, I'll start making that up too

 

Now to figure out how to install battlements......

[silky fox]

Great project Dan...look forward to the finnished product:thumbup:

[Mr Ming]

That looks great Dan, it's going to be one smart castle when your finished.

 

Your nephew will love it, how many other children can say they have their own castle.

[Dan Curtis]

That looks great Dan, it's going to be one smart castle when your finished.

 

Your nephew will love it, how many other children can say they have their own castle.

 

I hope so. Might take a while to get to the finished product, but no bother, one of them is yet to be born. Due late Feb. The other is nearly four and I keep getting suspicious looks when I measure him up to make sure he'll get inside it:lol:

[Dan Curtis]

So, it's been a few months since I had a chance to crack on with the castle. Nephew number two is now born and rapidly growing.

 

I had a job postponed for today and thought I'd take advantage of the glorious weather and see how far I could get. Today I've taken a ring of the top to flatten it back out, shaped up the window (though I'm not entirely happy with it yet), sorted the steps out a bit and cut faux blockwork on the outside. Gave it a quick wash down after I'd finished as the sawdust was accumulating on the uneven surfaces. The blockwork went a bit wrong where the steps are, mainly due to the lines left from overcutting when I put the steps in. Bear in mind pretty much the whole thing has been done freehand and by eye, very little chalking out has been done.

 

The little hole in the stairs will be an access point to raise and lower the drawbridge externally.

 

Next steps; clad the inside back wall, fit drawbridge, continue to ponder how to install battlements, debate the pros and cons of a zipline from the top, consider making another tower/turret to sit alongside.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Dan Curtis