NO, I'm not talking about Kate! I'm talking Disney... I'm thinking of constructing a one of a kind Princess's Castle. NOTE*** I've lost my mind*** But the girls (grand-daughters) seem to be well into the doll phase.I'm thinking "like a doll house" back open. Maybe ~36" wide, narrow enough to go on a shelf... so maybe ~12" deep.Needs a plywood base board under it all.I'm thinking largely cardboard & luan plywood. Spray paint. I'm concerned about sharp screws & combined with kids, so planning to use a lot of glue, screws might be temporary until the glue sets. Anybody ever built such a thing?Anybody with ideas?Pictures?? (post or email to me) Russ

I made an end table with 2 sides and a middle shelf out of nothing but dovetails and glue. The middle shelf has dowels on it. I wouldn't be scared to put an engine block on it. It's 7/8" hard maple or something. So making it without nails/screws is very doable. I think you would have to use hard wood or something, not plywood though particle board mighttt be doable. Maybe I have my terminology screwed up. Particle board seems like it would work very well. Put dowels all over it and use lots of glue and voila. I have read glue applied correctly is actually stronger than the wood itself, so if you did put something heavy on it, it would break anywhere but the joint. Very neat stuff.

I've been a carpenter since 77 and using lots of glue does work well. I apply both mating surfaces and work it into the wood going back and forth like adding a primer. Then add just a little more after it sort of soaks into the wood.A hot glue gun may work well too, but not sure about long term durability.

two words, Russ: LIQUID NAILSI've built speaker enclosures (12"x12"x12") and glued them together with liquid nails, and used 1" drywall screws (pre-drilled) to cobble it together until it dried.. then took the screws out, and threw it across the parking lot to break it, to which it did break apart.. but not at the glued joints..When I did mobile audio/video installation for a living, I always used LN. Most of my enclosures for woofer cabinets were made from 1/2, 3/4, or 1" MDF. Always pre-drill and counter-sink your screws to flush the head.

Haven't thought of this in years since my daughter was in that stage of life in the early '80's.. When she was a child I built one with 'Balsa Wood'. Don't know if there is a supply out there, but back then they has small sheets and stock of different sizes. Glue ... heck yea, it worked well. Made it where you could turn it around and it was like looking into the rooms from the other side of the house. It can be done without nails and screws. Sorry, so long ago, never thought of pictures or plans. But I remember the plans I found were from the local library, today they should be on the net.

Russ, go over to Google and type in Doll Houses.....you'll find pages and pages of magical plans for your granddaughters. You made me think back to the one my dad built for me...and I loved it. Simple, sweet and hours of pretending. Maybe you can help me with my project. Mike and I want to build an outdoor stove and oven. I want a colonial, rustic, serviceable, functioning cooking center using the rocks from my mountains. You know all those cast iron pots we use for camping cookouts? Well the idea is to us them all year round and an oven to bake bread outside...not just a pizza oven either. I need to enclose the fire area for safety reasons, but I can't think of anything better than to be able to cook outside while I doing the outdoor tasks. I keep thinking of those big colonial fireplaces with all the pot and pans hanging in it...but where did they put the oven? Got any suggestions,clues, info, idea? Give my love to Shelia...we think of you both so often and in prayers. Mopar Mom

Hi Mom! Thanks for the ideas. I got as far as discovering that Barbie is 11.5" tall so rooms must be at least that tall. I'm thinking sonotubes (used for concrete footings & available in different diameters) would make raw material for castle towers. Colonial homes cooking was done "over" the fire on wrought iron cranes, also "on the hearth" on trivets where coals were taken fron the main fire to place both under a pan and over & under a dutch oven with legs. Earliest fireplaces had a "beehive" bake oven in the back wall of the fireplace... a fire was built in the oven to preheat it, then the ash raked out into the main fireplace, then baked goods placed in the oven & the opening closed with a wood door. The ovens in the back ofthe fireplace were very dangerous & many women died when their skirts caught fire. A friend restored such a home & reportedly the original owner died as a result of such an accident. This design one must reach over the fire in front. Here's a photo of historic Smith's Castle http://www.smithscastle.org/whats_new/castle_chron_f02.pdf (1678) Although the variations overlap in era, the mid-range ovens were moved to the side of the fireplace but still inside. The most modern has the oven outside beside the hearth. My family farm has this style bought by my grandfather in 1899. My sister & her husband own a historic stone end home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania... which features a "Summer Kitchen" which is an outbuilding a few feet from the back door. It has a duplicate hearth in the summer kitchen, so that in Summer the cooking fire would not heat up the rest of the house. Any hearth can use a reflector oven. Originals were made of tin... my friends had one made of "bright tin" (stainless steel). They've cooked chickens, turkeys & roasts in camp. I don't know if any of this helps you. if you Google some of the terms I've thrown about, you might get ideas (sorry Mike, might have made you a project!) I have seen wood fired bake ovens built on trailers.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are soooooo SMART! The key words were 'summer kitchen" which I had never heard of before. What do you expect from a western cowgirl? Researching summer kitchens has sent me down a big rabbit hole filled with info and facts about the colonial times and the Amish. Super ideas and Smiths Castle is a beautiful video tour. I have a lot of studying to do in this regard but a free standing fire stove and oven seems doable today. Yesterday I really had my doubts. It is amazing that a way of life in the 18-1900 could be so timely today. What a precious history we have and it is repeating itself. Let me go back down the rabbit hole and I'll let you know what I come up with. Good luck on your castle. With Barbie being ll.5" you've got your own floor plans to work on. Again, thank you. Mopar Mom

Inlaws rotissery. 3 beasts roasting, or 3 turkeys, or 1 piggy. Bearings lubed with veggie oil so as to not contaminate the food.

The drive... washing machine motor. Needed a heat shield, fire would trip thermal disconnect on motor.

Ignore my previous self... a trail meal over a hunter's fire between 2 logs. Some meat on long skewers made by my friendly neighborhood blacksmith 1/4" stock pointed & a fancy ring on the opposite end, extra long to keep hands out of the fire. Grease the skewers & let them season like cast iron.

Our daughter cooking over the fire. The grate is made of flat pieces... eye on one end, threaded through a long bar. Opposite end rests over another bar. These bars are supported by forked pieces driven in the ground... tapped in until they are level. See that the grate can be flipped out of the way to tend the fire.

When making a fire pit the idea is to cut the sod on 3 sides & to go in with a spade & hinge the pieces up & out forming a dirt barrier for safety. After the encampment, the sod can be restored easily.

If we use a dutch oven (with legs) in camp, we dig a key hole pit off the main fire, coals in the bottom, dutch oven, more coals on the top. (Needs more heat from top than under as heat rises.) The ladies get very skilled at judging temperature by holding the hand at the mouth of the open oven. We've done bisquets, pies, stews in the dutch oven.

edit:

I'm laying out the castle towers on 10" x 48" sonotubes.

Sheila (with her parlor gituar) & the ladies who play Dulcimers participated in Christmas at the (Smith's) Castle last weekend... playing period songs.Meanwhile, I've gotten back to the Princess's Castle. I started with the Home Depot 'towers'... 4 foot cardboard sonotubes. I found our dining table level enough, used a chalk line to get my initial verticle line, measured over & made a second line. Went over the lines with a straight edge clamped in place & an indelible marker. With that, I used my trusty jig saw to cut the rear access. I found trying to hold these round shapes resembled a greased eel... but a big clamp hung on the bottom tended to make it self righting & a big help. Repeat on second tube.

I thought all Princess's lived in castles...

Sonotubes used for pouring concrete footings...

become castle towers... don't you see it?

A pine board...

Outside for more spray paint Christmas Eve Day

Doors installed... Wet paint Christmas Eve

to be continued...

The Princess's Castle is 4+ feet tall... Some of the dolls are 12". The tops of the towers are set down 5", so there are 4 levels of shelves.

For having MS, you sure do nice work! I don't know anyone with MS but you make it sound bad so to still do stuff that most people can't do is pretty amazing. I think you have a lot of drive in you. Keep up the good work!

Glad you like the Castle project. MS is highly individual... I'm blessed that I can still drive & walk a little with something to lean on. I guess I'm in denial quite a bit. I get ideas & want to do them. Everything takes a lot longer because I must figure ways to work around my limitation which often requires extra steps. There were a lot of dropped screws & bad words that I'm glad little ears didn't hear.