My timber frame build

[Sedgehammer]

It's amazing (or not) how good of shape you can be in at sea level or so and just how bad of shape you're in at 5,000'+ all at the same time....... 

[Ljohnsaw]

It's amazing (or not) how good of shape you can be in at sea level or so and just how bad of shape you're in at 5,000'+ all at the same time.......  

At first I read this as being about the weather, then realized you meant fitness.  Both are true!  When I work up there over the summer I get acclimated.  When someone comes to help, I have to remember to slow down for them ;)

[Darrel]

I live at 4,600 feet and have for the last 10 years. I do pretty well here because I'm well acclimated. Then when I go down to around sea level it takes a whole lot to get me winded, there's so much oxygen down there!

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 12/26/2019:

Went up to visit friends after Christmas.  Sat around the fire, talking and having some good food.  Did a little sledding and a group decided to make a snowman to warn the people who like to trespass in the winter for snow fun. ;)


 
We had about 2-3" of snow at the top and 8-10" at the bottom of the hill so sledding was good and walking back up the hill wasn't too hard. (east facing hill)

Took a walk over to my property (north facing hill) and there was a bit more - 12-16".  Found a wandering track in the snow from last week.  Looked like a pretty good sized bear.  It was getting dark so hard to see it - but bigger than my son's big hands!


 

The well house held up quite nicely.  we had high winds last week clocked at over 100mph on the ridge tops.


 
Interesting how there is still snow stuck to that steep of a metal roof (both sides).  And some snow up on the floor joists.




When it was time to leave, my truck could not make it out of their driveway due to ice.  So I have a set of 6 of these.  I just put one on each rear drive wheel and it worked great.  Out their drive and down about ½ a mile to the clear pavement.  Easy on, easy off.   I drove just a few yards on the dry pavement just to see what they feel like (bumpy).  That marked up the steel studs just a bit and nothing on the plastic.  Not bad for the $6.00 investment!

[Don P]

Your snow stuck to that steep wellhouse roof reminded me of a house we built up on Terry Peak in the Black Hills. It had a 12/12 pitch metal roof, framed on 12" centers that I had thought was overkill. I got a call, there was 3' of consolidated snow/ice stuck to it up there. I never take those roof snow load deductions for steep or slippery surfaces for that reason. If conditions are right it can grab and begin to pile up.

[Dakota]

My cabin is 16 miles south of Terry Peak.  You are so right about roofs and snow.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 2/8/2020:

Nothing to up date from the cabin site.  Haven't ventured up the hill since my last post.  Not sure if it was in this thread or some other cabin thread but there was talk about winterizing plumbing.  I'd rather push or blow the water out of the sink/shower traps and the toilet trap.  But then I would be subject to the sewer gases come into the cabin.  Someone mentioned a shutoff valve on the sewer line (to be installed after final).  Ran across this 4" (new) valve for $6.


 
That should do the trick!  I think I would install it just above the slab, 10' below the drains upstairs, with a clean-out just above it..

[Darrel]

Great idea!  I really like the $6 part!

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 3/1/2020:

We had a couple weeks of 70-78 F weather down here which would mean snow would be melting up on the cabin property.  The traffic cams above my property still showed a little snow on the sides of the road, so I was hopeful.  Then the persistent high pressure ridge gave way and a cold blast of air moved down with some moisture.  This is the grade leading up to my property (800' lower elevation):



Guess I'll be sitting tight for another few weeks since this means I got a foot and it takes forever to melt on my shady side of the hill.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 3/15/2020:
Here is the same camera but rotated to look west instead of east on this stretch of I-80 below my cabin project:


 
Snow predicted to continue through at least Monday night accumulating 48-60".  So that pushes the start-work-window out another 4 weeks or so...  Give me more time down here to finish projects.

[Magicman]

I am anxious for both you and @fishfighter to begin your building activities.  8)

[Muskydawg]

Have you thought about using RV antifreeze in your sewer traps? That's what I use up here in Canada. Gets to -40 and we don't have any trouble. I pour it in the sink and shower traps. For the toilet I usually sponge the water out of the bowl first and then put the anti freeze in. I like to put a little in the bottom of the tank also. And, lift the float in the toilet up a couple times. Sometimes water gets hung up in there and cracks the plastic. I own a camp up here and winterize a bunch of cabins and buildings every winter. 

From my experience, I don't like putting anything mechanical in the sewer lines. The fewer places for paper etc to get hung up the better!

[Ljohnsaw]

Have you thought about using RV antifreeze in your sewer traps?

Sure.  I was just planning on blowing/plunging most of the water out and putting very little AF down the drain.  Might not be enough to fill the trap to prevent gas from escaping, so the valve would be the secondary for that.  Trying to minimize both the expense and adding chemicals to my septic.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 5/28/2020:

I finally got some time to head up today and "de-winterize" and get ready to start milling again when I get some logs (another story).  Things were pretty much going my way today.  First, the SkyTrac tires were still full of air (the last 2 springs, IIRC, I had a flat) and it started right up with only a few seconds of cranking.  Next, I used it to move my mill head from my trailer (store it at home in the winter now) and set it on the rails - got it on the first try!  Next up was to install some cable and try out my new power drive.  A little adjustment and it works great.  Powerful enough to drag me!

I had already installed the two switches on the right - run/stop and a forward/reverse - when I built this box for the raise/lower motor.  I purchased the controller off of eBay.  I didn't use their rocker switch but mounted the rheostat for the speed control (also is the power switch for the unit).  The 3-digit led display is for the % of power supplied.  I still need to mount it somehow.  There are no ears to mount it, might just use some double stick foam tape.  The volt meter below I just got last year and it has failed already :(


 
This is another one of the 24v wheel chair motors.  The vinyl coated cable comes from the back end of the mill, through the UHMW bushing mounted in a eye-bolt, goes around the black pulley and does a figure 8 around the silver drive pulley, back around the black pulley and through an unseen UHMW bushing to the front end of the mill where a turnbuckle is used to tension it all up.




I'm only running 12v so "full speed" is not too fast - like a quick walk.  Works great for returning the head.  Can't wait to get some logs to try it out.


Next, but no picture, I installed a new LCB (linear current booster) on my well pump.  Nice to work under the new well cover in the shade.  It was over 100° down in Sacramento and about 85° up there, but the sun was scorching!  Anyhow, had enough wire to get the job done and it works.  It doesn't run as fast as the old one that died so we'll see how this goes.  It did shut down when a tree had a little bit of shadow on the solar panel.  The old one would continue to run real slow.


I have this pile of sawdust to get rid of.  There is a good 20" piled along side the mill.  This was the before picture but didn't bother with an after.  I had picked up a single stage 40v electric snow blower in hopes of cleaning this up.  That was the only dismal failure of the day.
 

Logs - I had a good lead on some log and was waiting patiently for a call back.  Turns out he is too busy with another job on the coast and can't know for sure if or when he could get to me.

[Magicman]

It's good to see you opening-er back up to resume your project.  8)

[fishfighter]

Myself, Looking for some updates. ;D

[Ljohnsaw]

I went up on Wednesday and, with the help of my sister, moved out some dried cedar (~1,600 bd-ft) and other wood to the dry stack area to make room to mill more.

But I am in need of logs.  I had a "good" lead on getting some logs but that fell through.  Talked with a couple loggers (fellers), but nothing to be had.  Called a bunch more locals, but no call backs.  Yesterday called 8 foresters (RPF) that work in my area (within 100 miles).  Talked to two real people to relay messages and talked to 6 machines.  Waiting for response(s).  The issue local is nearly all the land is owned by Sierra Pacific and most of the private land is under contract.  The haulers don't want to jeopardize their gigs by bringing me a load or two.

Yesterday my neighbor up there called and said she was coming back through the campground and they had a "big" pile of logs sitting.  I emailed the district manager and I'm meeting him at noon today.  Fingers crossed that they are decent, usable logs and I can get cutting again.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 6/18/2020:

So this was the pile of logs:


 
A lot of logs with a lot of them past their prime.  Of course, the better logs were on the bottom...  Part of the deal was to get a couple cedars that were being used as a barricade:


 (the larger butt log)
and replace them with some junk logs:


 
Between the two logs I made one 6x12x12' to replace a sill that decided to split a little, five 4x10x12':


 
From the curved end of the of the above butt log, a few live edge slabs (8/4 to 12/4) along with some 8/4 bench slabs:


 
and four 1x boards:


 
These cedars logs were a bit on the square side so there wasn't a lot of waste.

Out of the huge pile of logs, I salvaged 16 - stay tuned...

[firefighter ontheside]

Looking good.  Are you gonna be doing some construction soon.

[Ljohnsaw]

Hope to have the frame up and roofed this year.  All the logs I collected I'm going to saw up mostly for roof sheathing.  A couple will be posts.  Still need a load of Ponderosa to finish up the rafters (28@28') and the main cross beams (5@26').

[Magicman]

This is getting exciting.  8)

[Nebraska]

Agree

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 6/25/2020:

Spent 6/23-6/25 cutting lumber.  Tuesday morning I had to move some dry wood out of the way and was able to slice up 2 logs and get fourteen 16' 2x10s and one 2x4 (Sorry for the glare)  Also a stack of 2x2s from trimming down to 10s. 437 bd-ft:


 
Wednesday was a pair of 14' logs including this big guy:


It was 30" wide and really taxed my mill.  I got fourteen 14' 2x10s from just this log along with a 12' one. 608 bd-ft

 And today, 2 more logs, 16' yeilded another eighteen 2x10s,  four 2x8s and one 12' 2x10. 585 bd-ft.

 Total for the 3 days of 1,630 bd-ft.  Something MM would do before lunch ;)  Tossing those wet boards up on top of a 7' stack is a great workout!

[Magicman]

No, something that I admire you for doing because it's the stickered lumber that counts, especially when it is your lumber.  ;D

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 6/30 - 7/2/2020:

Spent another 3 days up there.  Tuesday was consumed with swapping out my lift from my chain and sprocket original design to a 20:1 gear box.  It went well except the third wheelchair motor I had on hand was flaky.  It worked for a little bit then stopped.  If I smacked it, it would start running again.  Bad brushes?  I was trying to preserve the old chain lift in case I needed to fall back but I had to take that motor for the new lift.  Except it was from the opposite side of the wheelchair so the mount holes were different...

So in the evening, I decided to add back rests to some log benches that I made a couple years ago for my neighbor:


 
Wednesday morning I put the new lift gearing in place and milled up 3 logs.  New lift is nice and quiet - no pops and groans, a little bit faster, too.  Ended the day stacking up the pile of 2x10 - 6@16' and 12@12'.  Now the stack tops out at 8½'.  I think this stack is done.


 
Thursday I loaded up a really nice looking log.  The bark was tight so I skipped trying to peel it - just checked for rocks and dirt.  Made a opening cut and the first slab to edge into a 2x10.  When I took it to the ground, it split diagonally:


 
Looking closely at the log, it was cracked from when they dropped it :-\  I put it aside, very disappointing.  If I need a lot of 6' boards, I may mill it later.  Put another log on and got another dozen 12' 2x10s, one 10' and three 16' 2x8s.  I did some other work that needed doing and called it a day at 3:30 to head home.