What I did Next summer.

bandmiller2 · February 15, 2012, 06:14:52 AM

Sprucegum,thanks for the documentry,sometimes when I mill around snowstorms I discover it the next summer moving sawdust.A fireplace screen is a good guard for saw flack.Any plexi type material soon gets scratched and covered with pitch and dust. Frank C.

Sprucegum · May 07, 2012, 10:46:12 PM

Suddenly another couple months have slipped by! I have got to catch up before I forget what I have done; good thing I took a few pictures along the way

I put up a screen, plexiglass because it was free, and started sawing as soon as the snow melted. What a gong show! The saw was diving into the log or out of the log on every pass. I never knew what was going to happen next. Run through the simple fixes first; sharpen the saw, reset the lead, straighten the track, and still a 6x6 was coming out 5x7 at the other end (well almost that bad).

I finally figured out I had two problems.
One - the hydraulic drive was bogging down the tractor motor and causing the saw to loose RPM's so I pushed the throttle wide open to get the revs back up. The when the oil warmed up, which took an hour on those cool mornings, I was revving too fast.
Two- those @#%$%&^$ Dang spruce I drug out of that blow-down were full of stress and twisted and turned every which way as soon as I cut into them.

But I got'er done. I have all the posts and beams and planks I need to get started. I even have half of the rafter material cut. I put this skid together to bring them all down to the camp at once.

Next weekend the "young and strong" will be coming out to help set the posts and raise the beams. I hope my new post hole auger works 8)

Magicman · May 08, 2012, 08:11:19 AM

It's good to see you still making good progress.

Misfit · May 08, 2012, 08:59:45 AM

A very enjoyable write-up. Please keep the updates coming.

Sprucegum · May 15, 2012, 09:00:30 AM

Five keen young men and their families came to play, its only work if you get paid to do it, and we got right to it. The old teepee and cooking tripod were removed so we could plot the post locations. We eventually had to move the fire pit out of the way as well.

Each post was notched for the inner and outer beam before it was raised. We used a water tube level to adjust the height of each post; adding or removing gravel from the hole as required. The water tube was a trick I had read about but never tried before. It was an interesting education for all of us and worked very well. Just don't step on the hose or the level bobs up and down for a minute or more.

After that it was aerial work lag bolting the beams to the posts.

I am short one 3 x 8 beam, a week after sawing it is warped so bad its unusable. Next weekend I will find a nice straight tree and cut out another beam along with some rafters.

Raider Bill · May 15, 2012, 09:14:29 AM

Not sure how I missed this Great read!
I'm jealous, sure do wish I was playing in my woods.

54Dutchman · May 15, 2012, 09:33:49 AM

Very good thread 8) keep it coming!!

clww · May 17, 2012, 06:32:34 PM

Quote from: 54Dutchman on May 15, 2012, 09:33:49 AM
Very good thread 8) keep it coming!!

+1
Keep posting updates for us.

Sprucegum · May 22, 2012, 10:10:34 PM

My Son made a video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l88iEtVR9xs&feature=plcp

And believe he has finally trained me how to copy and paste! 8) :

This weekend there were a couple new faces to replace a couple that were missing so we still had a full enthusiastic crew. The wife and I went up Thursday night so we could get an early start. At the crack of dawn I headed out to fall a tree for that last 3x8 beam we need while she organized the displaced firepit/cooking facilities. When I returned with the beam she mentioned she had been yawning a lot and felt like taking a nap before lunch. Then we checked our clock and found it was still only 8:00 AM !! :D

Most of the guys didn't get here until late Friday so I didn't start the chainsaw (my favorite wake-up call) until 6:00 AM. We made the center trusses first, and stacked them out of the way, then cut and placed the lean to rafters.

I scarfed a whack of 3x3 salvaged dunnage for the purlins. Having the purlins in a straight line will make it a lot easier to predrill the tin before raising it.

By Sunday evening I was amazed and delighted by the amount we had accomplished. When I plan a project of any size I go on the assumption I will be doing it all myself because I usually work alone and am not in the habit of asking for help. Then when half a dozen guys show up and get a month's work done in a day it just blows my mind! 8)

Norm · May 23, 2012, 07:10:41 AM

Looks awesome!

Sprucegum · June 05, 2012, 08:51:32 AM

Loretta and I took Friday off and raced to the site with our load of tin. It was an all-day job for the two of us; she was the ground crew and I was the squirrel.

Saturday morning we put the firepit in place and did a test burn.

The smoke behaved in a most pleasing manner 8) We also had a light shower in the afternoon and stayed perfectly dry 8) I still have to put a few boards around the walls above head height to keep out the rains that come in at a slant. And there is still the firepit grill to work on.....

Sprucegum · June 17, 2012, 05:10:51 PM

ITS DONE!

Of course it's never really done, there are always little finishing touches to add, but its done to the point where we use it for our party even if nothing else gets done.

Here is a better picture of our sign. We call our woodlot the "Patch" because it has blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, saskatoons, and a few berries growing in little patches.

Finally we are starting to get around to food ;) I have the firepit centered and leveled and hung a new (huge) cooking grate over it. The grate is raised or lowered by a boat winch on a post with a series of pulleys and cables. It took a lot of fiddling with the cables to get the grate to stay level as it rises. There is some higher mathematics going on up there as the cables act as changing hypotenuses / hypoteni / hypotenotipusy of some imaginary triangles that are not constant. And that's the truth as I see it :

:P

When the grate is lifted up out of the way I have steel posts that fit in each end of the fire pit to support a spit for roasting. The pig has already been ordered for August Long Weekend; about a 40-pounder, to feed 30 or 40 people. What's the occasion? It's our 40th anniversary so we are gathering all the clansmen and their fair ladies to do homage to the pig 8) I may move over to the food board to get some opinions on pig....