5 minutes and never a title

It's been awhile now (this sort of introduction to my blog is quickly becoming a cliche now...) that I've written here.

So far work has been great - in the sense that when you work at a three man (now reduced to just two) office there's no a lot of politics (not that it was a problem before mind you) going around. I mean you just have two guys doing their work - how fucked up can things get?

Anyways recently I managed to build my daughter a slide for her to play with. Well it was originally intended as a playhouse with slides, but I'm feeling rather lazy at the moment and could probably decide to not add in the walls just yet. We'll just have to see about it tomorrow (it's a Saturday).

This rather sudden (well I think it was rather sudden) interest into woodwork is attributed to this website - Ana White. I'm sure pretty much all of us are into building things ourselves to suit our liking and all that - and I think the thing that we lack the most is actually just direction and guidance. So to actually find a website that gives you a step by step tutorial on how to build your own stuff (in my case a playhouse) is just really amazing (Ana White Playhouse (Deck)). You'll be amazed at the vast arrays of website that seemingly shows you how to do things - but don't really stoop down to the beginner level and explain things in detail on how things actually come together. (I really like the way she google sketched all her projects).

The thing about these articles coming from a US-folk is well...they're intended for Americans mostly. The lumber there are rather cheap, and so does their power tools. So sometimes it's not that easy to follow all those instructions to the letter.

That's where both of my dads come in.

For the past few weeks I've been doing a lot of research on types of wood, joinery, finishing, etc..and having Evernote around on a tablet really helps get things in order. Here's what I have so far on my notes on things, Safiyya playhouse n slide. But don't take it too seriously though - it's supposed to be my notes, not a how-to guide.

Overall it took me around RM600 to be able to get from this stage...

..to this stage

Below are some wood price list (that I've compiled) for beginners like myself who finds it really hard to get these number off of the Net. You'd think that some businessman somewhere would be interested in posting around these figures to attract customers.

Jenis Kayu/Type of Wood	Saiz/Size (in inches)	Harga/Price (RM)
Balau (ketam/planed) (sekaki/foot)	4x4 ''	12.50
	2x6 ''	10.00
	2x4 ''	5.20
	1x3 ''	1.60
	1x4 ''	2.70
	1x2 ''	0.90
Meranti (ketam/planed) (sekaki/foot)	2x4 ''	2.50
	1x2 ''	0.65
Kempas	2x4 '' (treated) (tak ketam/not planed)	1.80
	1x2 '' (treated)	0.45

I get my lumbers from Yisheng Hardware & Timber near where I live (in Kg Subang) - and to save you the additional trouble of trying to find what sort of wood is available with their prices, here's their number :03-78461590. Note: I don't really get anything out of this. I probably should though. They probably haven't heard about the internet yet.

I normally would just call them during office hours and ask them for so-so size of wood, what's the price for a feet? Or if you're really new to woodwork - just tell them what you're trying to build and they could probably suggest to you the kind of wood you should be working with (I don't really follow up on their advises though. Do your own research.)

Some other website that I consider to be useful would include Malaysia Timber Council Wood Wizard App. The tool there helps you determine the suitable choice of wood for various application.

There's actually a lot of stuff I've been meaning to write down about different aspects of the project - due to my love of documenting and also the fact that I like to be reminded from time to time. But it's getting really late now and I should really be heading back to bed (blogging is a luxury only an owl could afford now that Safiyya's around).