Kit StripwoodOn page 1 of the instructions, the very first thing you see is “[ ] Stain ALL stripwood at this time and allow to totally dry before proceeding“. Looking at the test staining I did, I think I like the Silverwood stained wood with streaks from pure Rit dye. The other test strips to me would be more like newer wood. I think I may try some thin streaks of the diluted Rit followed by the Silverwood just to kick it up a bit. I can come back with streaks of pure Rit after the initial dye dries. |
 I used sandpaper to sand off the burn marks from the side of the stripwood and pulled the stripwood through steel wool.
I streaked the stripwood with undiluted Rit dye. When that dried I brushed on Silverwood. once that dried I pulled the stripwood through some steel wool (the dye leaves crystals when dry .. you can see them glint in the light. The steel wool removes that.). I let that dry then used a second coat of Silverwood. Finally .. with the surface still damp from the Silverwood I streaked on some BlackWood. |
 Assembling the structure. I screwed up with one of the “Outside Angle Arm Pieces” .. cutting it too short .. so .. I spliced in a piece. Side note: the “Nail heads” were created using a steel polger. The long piece of stripwood across the top is from my scrapbox .. just in case.
The Angle Arm and the Hoist Angle Supports were built up completely. The Hoist Shaft was only partly built – as Walt says .. the hoist is assembled like a puzzle. |
 I glued the Hoist Shaft together with the two 1 parts and the two 4 parts and the pulley in place. I left off gluing in the 2 and 3 parts for now – the exact length may/will depend on how exactly everything gets glued together.
I then glued up the Angle Arm together so I could glue the angled face to the base of the Hoist shaft.The part of the Hoist Arm that extends past the Angle Arm are the two A pieces and the ends of the two D pieces. The angle of the A pieces fits against the Angle Arm with the Zona Square ensuring the Hoist Arm is square with the Hoist shaft. The square is thin enough it fits under the pulley. The reason I used this sequence is that I should get tighter fits. Once this is solidly glued up I can then fit the B piece between the Hoist shaft and Angle Arm. The reason I did it this way was that this way the Hoist Arm is flush to the Hoist Shaft and at right angles to it. Cutting part B ‘to fit’ makes sent to me. |
 The angled cut on part E matches the angled cut on part D. This forms a slot for the pulley cable. Note part C. Trying to cut or file a piece of stripwood that small is a pain – my solution is that by turning part C so the raw long length is at right angles to part E. Simply glue up and when dry file part C to part E width.
Part B is glued in place on one side against part D stack. The part E/C group will all be glued up and the last part B will be added last. |
 With the C/E/E/C stack glued up and dry (one of the hardest parts for me is waiting for the glue to set up) I could sand the little bits hanging over to square up everything. |
 The C/E/E/C stack is slid into the pocket formed by the B part and the Hoist Shaft. The slot you see is for the pulley cable. I used the small ruler to align everything while the glue dries (love these little General ‘pocket’ rulers).
This is why I did not follow the instructions exactly, leaving the part 2 from the Hoist Shaft glue-up as that is where the ruler is sitting currently in the photo. I also left part 3 off – that will be added last to align with the cable slot. |
 Clamps: A couple of mini-clothespins (two different sizes) flipped around and something I picked up in the sewing section of Walmart.
The problem for me with clamping small items is that all of these clamps pivot/hinge which means the clamp faces are not parallel. I need to come up with some small clamps where the jaws stay parallel – problem there is even small(ish) bar clamps are really too big. |
 Running the cable. One end I attached to the winch spool, part B with super glue and accelerator. Wrapped four times around the spool, then up to the pulley in the Hoist Shaft, through the cable slots, to the pulley (Part C) sitting on the Hoist Arm, to the pulley on the end of the Hoist Arm.
The free end of the cable is pinned to the Angle Arm with a spring clamp to tighten up the cable. I used more super glue (with accelerator) where the cable crossed the various pulleys to secure the cable and keep it tight. |