Tractor time - May 21

Thursday was a day for moving the timbers. One by one, little 2755 John Deere moved 7 finished rafter pieces from the DONE pile inside the barn, around the windbreak and added them to the pile in the middle of the lawn. Next, 6 rough cut timbers were moved from the pile on the edge of the lawn and put at the end of the barn where they will be wrestled into the building one at a time for jointing.

Then there was an aside: either eagerness to see the whole frame, the need for a little encouragement. or the need to physically confirm that things are going to fit when we start assembling. A west rafter and an east rafter are fitted here. A moment to pause, admire the work, and photograph before these go under the big tarp too.

With all the wood moved around, it was back to working out how to get the second big log milled down to 10x12 without bark on the corners.

Using the Sawmill - May 19

For the record, our house frame is made up of 146 pieces of wood. Last weekend #106 was finished. Most of the pieces left have very simple or fewer joints to cut, so they are going faster. On a good day, Dennis has gotten 2 rafters cut, sanded and varnished twice.

It seems the main rule of this project is that when you think you are making good progress, something comes up to change that. This week we've had...well, not a delay...a change of pace. We stopped counting members cut, and turned to making beams. The bed on the sawmill needed to be lengthened to cut up the 4 tree trunks we got with the second shipment of wood. In our part of the world, trees don't get this big. Where this came from, the mill we dealt with didn't have the ability to cut something this big.

Cutting the first beam turned into a 2-day project. It was early evening yesterday before the modifications were done and a log was loaded onto the bed. Dennis put the last of the blades onto the mill, knowing that he'd seen a crack in the blade when he picked it up from sharpening and he'd ordered more. At the end of the second cut, the blade snapped, putting an end to the workday.

Today's workday started with a trip to pick up the 3 new blades. A neighbor stopped by (thanks Peter!) to see the mill at work and watch the progress. He's handy with a tractor bale fork too, so things went well today. Before Dennis had to go back to his "real job, the one that pays", they'd found a nice 10x12"x31' beam in the smallest log.

A Quick Shopping Trip - April 27, 2010

Today we bought 1x6" pine tongue & groove for the loft subfloor/ ceiling of the main floor AND laminate flooring for the whole house. Okay, so we're a little ahead of schedule buying flooring now, but the sale was very good. The laminate is a wonderful color. I realized that making even one finishing & decorating decision is shaping the rest of the decisions to come, and making them a little less overwhelming.



Yesterday we finished a 4-day email conversation with the friendly staff at http://www.pegs.us/  . All the oak pegs to secure the frame pieces together are on on the way here via FedEx!


So much good news this week and it's only Tuesday!!

Previously (part 2) ...

Christmas Day, 2009 -  Dennis can report that he has started the part of this house project he was looking forward to the most: cutting the timbers.  "A start" means 4 of the 48 braces, but it's an exciting step

. 

Here about 2/3 of the braces are done and stacked, awaiting final sanding and varnish.

Winter 2009-2010 - In hindsight, this was a season of "little by little"; counting up how many pieces are cut.  It's a time-consuming process.  The tractor doesn't fit into the barn, so every piece of 8x8, 8x10, 10x10 or 10x12" has to be wrestled into the barn and onto the planer by various creative man-powered methods.  Then plane all 4 sides twice over, lift it up onto the sawhorses, measure and mark the layout, triple check that,

and finally cut the mortises, tenons and pockets needed.  All sides that will be visible are sanded with 3 different grits of sandpaper.  Finally the end-grain sealer is applied to all the cross-grain cuts, and 2 coats of varnish are applied before the timber is moved onto the finished pile in the barn.  After about 6 pieces are done, most of the available hours one day are spent moving the done timbers onto a growing pile on the lawn and getting 6 more rough-cut timbers piled up outside the barn. 

This post and braces will stand between the kitchen and dining room.  The occasional glimpse of the bigger picture keeps us going.

...And this one is a Queen Post assembly.  It goes on the upper level, supports the rafters, and will help define rooms.