Wood Window Screens: Close-ups of Alternate Model 3

This is the last in my series on close-ups of the three alternate models that I initially detailed in this post.

Close-ups of Alternate Model 2 are here. Close-ups of Alternate Model 1 are here. And my original model, the one I follow in my own construction is here.

This post is about Alternate Model 3, which comes in two versions, I'll call Version A and Version B.

This screen looks deceptively simple, but seems to be in fact one of the more complicated constructions The frame is put together with a form of butt joint. The screening is held in with a bit of trim inset into a rabbet in the frame, just like my original model. The joints are held together on the outside with nails and angle irons.

However, the corners of the frame go together in a kind of pinwheel fashion. If you zoom in on the front, you will see that the top and bottom stiles are not symmetrical, but rather, well, I don't have a word for it, the four corners rotate in what I'd call it a pinwheel fashion.  And I've got no idea what is going on the inside of these joints. Let me try to demonstrate with photos.

So, here is the front. If you look closely, you can see that the piece of wood that makes up the top stile is not symmetrical. On the left, it stops short and is framed by the left stile coming all the way up to the top edge. On the right, it goes all the way out to the right edge. Whether or not there is a dowel rod in there, don't know. And, how the rabbet works is not clear, because the inside back of the joint is covered by the angle fastener. So, the inner workings of these joints is a mystery to me.

In any case, here is the back.

Here, from the front is a detail of the front upper right hand corner. You can see the nail on the top edge, holding the joint together.

And, several more close-ups of that corner.

Here is the back view of that same corner:

Now, we'll move around the joint of the frame in clockwise fashion, so here is the front right bottom corner:

And the back of that joint:

Here is the front bottom left corner:

The back of that joint:

And, last, the front top left corner:

And, the back of that joint:

Here is a close-up of the interior of a corner on the back, showing the angle fastener in more detail.

And a view looking down at the front, to give you a better view of the trim that is inset into the rabbet.

All of that was Version A. Version B looks to have had what I call a "bug stop" added sometime later (for more on what I've named the "bug stop", see my post here.) Ingenious, I say, to whoever thought up this addition. So, here is the front, identical to Version A.

And, here is the back, with a bit of shoe molding tacked on to make a bug stop!

And, last, some close-ups of that.

And that's Alternate Model 3.

Again, as with every single one of my other models, there are zero signs of fasteners, and, as I've said on other posts, I feel fairly certain these kinds of screens were secured with turnbuttons. My own take on fasteners is described in detail in this post.

And finally, if someone has photos of a different kind of window screen construction, I'd be very open to a guest blog post on it.

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For the entire series on making wooden window screens, click on the category "How to Make Wood Window Screens Series", in the Topics list along the right-hand side of the home page. There is also now an index tab at the top of the home page, listing all the posts in sequential order, with a link to each one.

Wood Window Screens: Close-ups of Alternate Model 1

Hits on the window screen series are at an all time high, no doubt because of the impending summer. That's a reminder to me to go back and finish my close-ups of alternate models, which I initially detailed in this post.

Close-ups of Alternate Model 2 are here. Close-ups of Alternate Model 3 are COMING. And my original model, the one I follow in my own construction is here.

This post is about Alternate Model 1.

This is the only model I'll be showing you that has no exterior signs of dowels or nails at the joins in the frame. It is made with butt joints, and I think that means the butt joint is secured with two interior dowel rods. This is classic butt joint structure, which Wikepedia gives a simple explanation of here, with a simple line drawing, like so:

In any case, since we can't see the interior of this joint, suffice it to say that the frame of this screen is not nailed together from the outside.

This one is also a bit curious, because I can't figure out for certain which is the outside and which is the inside of this screen. So, here is one side of the screen. This side has the classic screen molding, holding in the screening. I think this is the front, or outside of this screen.

A close-up of the upper right corner shows a detail of the screen molding. It also shows you that this odd version of a bug stop is screwed in with screws. This is one of the mysteries of this particular screen, that I don't know why the bug stop is made this way. All I can think of is that it is made to slip up underneath another half storm or screen. Another alternative is that this is a screen for a small window, and we're actually looking at the back or inside of the screen. I don't know.

Here's another shot from a slightly different angle.

And a shot looking down. You can see the line of the butt joint and no sign of nail or dowel.

And so, here is the other side, what I think is the back, or inside of the screen. 

Here's another view of that odd bug stop in close-up.

And, since the top butt joints are obscured by the other stuff going on in this screen, here is a shot of the bottom of this side, just to show again the line of the butt joint.

And, finally, a shot of the edge. This shot is purely to show some historical paint colors. The top layer of paint on this screen is an off white. Now, it's possible that it was white and yellowed over time, which I understand old paints do. So I don't know if this top coat was originally white or off-white. Its definitely off white now. But underneath is the interesting (to me) color, a deep, dark green.

Here it is in close-up. My own window frames were originally painted this green, as are the windows of the main hall in the Methodist Camp across the street. Maybe that is my impetus to go across the street and take some photos of it.

In any case, this close-up is really just to give you a sense of the historical colors I find in and about here, locally.

And that's Alternate Model 1.

Again, as with every single one of my other models, there are zero signs of fasteners, and as I've said on other posts, I feel fairly certain these kinds of screens were secured with turnbuttons. My own take on fasteners is discussed here. If someone has a different idea, please do comment.

And finally, if someone turns this blog post up and has photos of a different kind of window screen construction, I'd be very open to a guest blog post on it. There seems to be a lot of interest in wooden window screens and I think that's amazing, and to be fostered.

____________________________________________

For the entire series on making wooden window screens, click on the category "How to Make Wood Window Screens Series", in the Topics list along the right-hand side of the home page. There is also now an index tab at the top of the home page, listing all the posts in sequential order, with a link to each one.

State of the North Border: Taming invasive rhizomatic weeds mugwort, poison ivy and miscellaneous vines

If you've been reading about my struggles to tame what I like to call the "north border," these before and after photos will knock your socks off. A few weeks ago I ordered mulch. I had no idea how much to order, so after some back of the envelope calculations, I ordered way more than I originally thought I'd need and way less than the calculations suggested I needed, and just shut my eyes when I pressed "confirm" on the online order form.

In the middle of last week, at the office, I got a nice, demure text from Capel: "mountain of mulch" was all he wrote, with a handy photo illustration (his photos are so much more elegantly composed than mine and his writing so much more succinct!).

I'm sure his first thought was, where are all the people with wheelbarrows to go along with this mulch? ... knowing he's it. 

In any event, just to review, my last post on the project was here. Just because the difference is so spectacular, here are a few of the before shots again ...

Our job? To move this pile of mulch from here ...

to here ...

And this, the result ...

These photos give no indication of the amount of grouching that one slightly put upon husband gave me, in the process of an entire day of wheeling the wheelbarrow from one side of the lawn to the other ... but they do show what an amazing difference it makes. Night and day, one might say.

Still, there are things shooting up all over at this point. It will be an ongoing effort to keep up with the force of nature here, I think. Some indications ...

 Mugwort, nicely cropping up all along the edge of my barricade, to be mowed ...

A pretty pink bush of some sort, about to bloom. I've got no idea what this is. And lurking behind, in its innocuously flaming red spring gown, a giant patch of poison ivy (this one, on the neighbor's side, I'm pleased to see).

Next to it, an andromeda, pretty in early spring ...

and more poison ivy, this one on my side ...

beneath this mountain laurel, which my neighbor Rosie put a ton of work into last summer, removing a huge tangle of vines. But still, a nice lot of weed bushes on my side of the property there ...

along with violets ...

Coincidentally, the daughter of the former owner tells me that the mountain laurel was brought from the Poconos, in Pennsylvania. I am so happy to hear that. I wondered how it got here. A transplant, I think. Like me. I didn't grow up in Pennsylvania, but I spent ten years there before moving to New York, hiking happily, and this bush brings back happy, happy memories of many hikes among the spring laurel in the mountains.

But, back to mundane reality, vines, shooting up out of the smaller rhododendron, which I think is blooming early as a sign of stress ...

last year's dead vines hanging everywhere around it ...

a string of old hosta, wrapped like a charming little necklace around its feet, waiting to be weeded ...

a pretty little azalea next to it, red, I think, with a maple tree growing up through it ...

another azalea, next in line, this one white, also with a weed bush growing up into it ...

and beyond that, older, more established bushes, a red azalea, about to burst ...

and the second andromeda ... also with a maple tree growing straight up its middle ... vines yet to leaf out there ...

much work to be done and I'm thrilled to have a reason to spend hours and hours contentedly hacking away in the dappled shade of the dogwood working on an old, beloved garden that other hands have also tended ... shush ... don't tell anyone!

Planting Lily of the Valley from pips

One of the oldest, to me, of the old-fashioned flowers is Lily of the Valley. Its delicate aroma puts me in mind of old brick houses, cameos and little sun-washed forest glens -- not a typical combination I know!

In any case, in thinking about what perennials to add back into the Pugsley yard, as an early 19th century farmhouse, Lily of the Valley was near the top of my list.

In our area of northern suburban New York city, you see Lily of the Valley naturalized in a shady area of people's gardens. They seem most happy under high shade, nestled at the foot of oaks or sometimes certain old, high pines. But I've also seen them under privet hedges, under flowering ornamental trees, and on the shady side of houses. I don't have a lot of high shade, but back in the back corner of the yard, in front of the compost pile, there is a row of Rose of Sharon bushes. You can see them here, in a row, just to the left of the pine tree. It's an area that does get high shade all summer and sun all winter and the grass doesn't grow well, but violets seem happy. And so after my first year in the house, this seemed to me to be the best possible location for some Lily of the Valley.

They were one of the first things I ordered this winter. You can buy whole potted plants for indoors or what are called pips. Pips were less expensive, and ultimately, I thought, perhaps more likely to naturalize successfully, so pips it was.

They came in a package of six pips in early April and I dutifully looked for a video on YouTube about how to plant them, which I found here. It looked pretty simple, and on one of the days when I suited up in my long johns to attack the north border, I took a half hour to plant them. Here's the spot:

Here are my six holes. Since I'm planting them in and among the roots of the Rose of Sharon, I didn't dig any large holes or try to amend the soil much. I want them to naturalize in the soil I've got. So I just dug six holes, each a little larger than the root ball:

Here's one nestled into its spot:

And another, smaller one:

Then I covered them back up with dirt and then with the leaf mold. I pulled any weeds I saw and watered them, and waited. And waited. And waited.

This weekend they sprouted! So I weeded around them again, and given the advice on YouTube, I will keep them watered this first summer. And hopefully, they'll settle in and naturalize -- voila, Lily of the Valley.