I'm thinking of making a radiator cover/bookcase. Ideally I'd like to use oak, but I've never attempted anything more complicated than a bird box before. Would solid wood be likely to warp in the heat of the radiator? Is oak much any to work with than soft woods would be?
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Penners
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I think I understand your question!Jellyfire said:
Oak has advantages and disadvantages, compared with softwood. If you're using hand tools, then yes, you'll find that working it takes a bit more muscle power. But you can generally achieve a finer, cleaner cut in oak. When you're sawing it, be sure to clamp a piece of scrap wood on to the back of the cut - this will greatly reduce breakout and reduce the amount of sanding that you need to do (which is hard work!).
If you're using power tools on oak - sawing, moulding, drilling, etc - be sure that they're very sharp and that you don't cut too fast or too slowly. Oak develops burn marks easily and it's a b*gger to sand out these black marks. As I said, the marks can happen if you cut too slowly, just as much as if you cut too fast.
As for your question about warping, the answer has to be that something like a radiator cover will be more likely to warp than something that suffers less differential heating/drying. I would definitely use kiln-dried timber for it.
Penners said:
The delights of predictive typing on my phone. It makes some quite bizarre assumptions as to what I'm trying to type sometimes. 'any' should have been 'harder', which hopefully makes more sense!
Thanks for the tips, ill be using a mixture of power and hand tools I imagine, I'll try and find kiln dried oak I think then. I imagine the amount of wood I'll waste on mistakes will probably be more than the cost of a carpenter, but I'll give it a go.
I've made all my doors and window cills out of oak. I love working with it compared to pine as the finish is so much better. I second everything that Penners has said with the addition that it will blunt tools fairly quickly so take that into account.
For a cheap source of oak, try your local builders merchant to see if they have solid oak T&G flooring. The third closest Jewsons to me stocks American White Oak hidden nail T&G flooring 140mm wide, 20mm thick for £4.20 ish a meter. It is T&G so a large area is easy to put together and has slots in the back to help stop warping. I'm not sure if this will be enough to stop problems for a radiator cover but I would give it a go.
For a cheap source of oak, try your local builders merchant to see if they have solid oak T&G flooring. The third closest Jewsons to me stocks American White Oak hidden nail T&G flooring 140mm wide, 20mm thick for £4.20 ish a meter. It is T&G so a large area is easy to put together and has slots in the back to help stop warping. I'm not sure if this will be enough to stop problems for a radiator cover but I would give it a go.
JoceAndChris
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I've come round to that way of thinking Rob. I don't think it makes a vast difference, but it makes some according to the reports - and in a cold house " some" can't be sacrificed.
Sounds pretty though - and maybe the house is snuggly?
Sounds pretty though - and maybe the house is snuggly?
Penners
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That's an interesting point. I suppose, in theory, the rad will continue to deliver the same amount of heat into the room. But the radiator cover will, I imagine, reduce the movement of air, and hence the convected heat, a bit. You can probably minimise this problem by ensuring that the cover is designed to allow plenty of convection.robgil said:
It's probably not a good idea to enclose a thermostatic radiator valve within a cover. The build-up of heat inside the enclosure is likely to cause the TRV to be "satisfied" before the room is properly warmed. Mind you, I suppose you can always ignore the temperature settings on the valve and simply tinker with its setting until it gets the room as warm as you want.
Penners
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For those unfamiliar with the vocabulary of the language known as Girlie, "snuggly" is an adjective that roughly equates to "nice and warm".JoceAndChris said:
In the Girlie language there are only two adjectives that refer to temperature: "snuggly" and "freezing".
Hadn't considered a cast iron one, will have a think about that as an option. At the moment its a new standard white one, with a thermostatic valve. Getting any form of heat was the main priority when we moved in, I didn't even consider more attractive radiators!
The room it's for is pretty small, and could almost be referred to as 'snuggly' when the heating is on. It will also eventually have a wood burner in it (the current one in there has been condemned, but the room was like a furnace when we did use it, so I think a fairly spacious cover, with some Heath Robinson ventilation shouldn't be too much of a problem in terms of heat loss in this case.
The tongue and groove sounds a very good idea, have been trying to find somewhere to get timber, never occurred to us flooring
The room it's for is pretty small, and could almost be referred to as 'snuggly' when the heating is on. It will also eventually have a wood burner in it (the current one in there has been condemned, but the room was like a furnace when we did use it, so I think a fairly spacious cover, with some Heath Robinson ventilation shouldn't be too much of a problem in terms of heat loss in this case.
The tongue and groove sounds a very good idea, have been trying to find somewhere to get timber, never occurred to us flooring
Penners
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It's a duty that I feel I owe to those less linguistically fortunate than I am.Moo said:
JoceAndChris
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
Hope Jellyfire gets to be weely snuggly wuggly wiv noo stovy-wovy and pwetty lovely covery thingy. Ickle lookie at pwettie pwe-loved wadiators wecommended too.
http://www.theoldradiatorcompany.co.uk/rarer-radiators/church-radiators.html
Hope Jellyfire gets to be weely snuggly wuggly wiv noo stovy-wovy and pwetty lovely covery thingy. Ickle lookie at pwettie pwe-loved wadiators wecommended too.
http://www.theoldradiatorcompany.co.uk/rarer-radiators/church-radiators.html
Penners
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I don't feel very well.
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Penners said:
You're lucky she didn't start on about putting curtains across one quite frankly, complete with Anglaise broderie patissiere swirls, elongated pommegranited holdbacks, rusticated trummels and other things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever to the males of the species (with the very honourable exception of Nigel who has clearly cracked this fiendish female code) :lol:
The salvage yard route is much more fun. Then get them sand-blasted and powder-coated in a colour of your choice.
(But be sure to get the ones with feet, though, because people inevitably want to sit on them, and wall-fixings alone may not take the weight of all that cast-iron+water+person).
(But be sure to get the ones with feet, though, because people inevitably want to sit on them, and wall-fixings alone may not take the weight of all that cast-iron+water+person).