My timber frame build

[caveman]

I look forward to reading your cabin updates and seeing the pictures.

I retired a little less than a year ago.  Yesterday I unclogged a drain, sprayed for bugs, swept several spider webs out of the garage and then painted the ceiling and walls of the garage.  Today, I helped a friend install trusses and purlins on 3/4 of a barn (36x48 I think).  I work my part-time job on Friday.  Tomorrow I'll probably do the trim painting in the garage, repair the mower, mow and probably something else.  

I recommend retirement for anyone who has plenty to do.  Some folks' social life and who they are is their job-those folks are probably better off to stay working.  I am adapting to retirement pretty well.

[thecfarm]

I will have to work a day or two to buy gas and diesel when I retire.   
I will be home more and working around The Farm more,using my tractor and chainsaw

[aigheadish]

I'd love to retire to do stuff I'd like, the funds say no.

Ramon- Tahoe is really lovely. The water is strange and the landscape is beautiful. From what I recall the gondola rides John speaks of, specifically in an area called Heavenly, which looks to be in the town called Stateline, was surprisingly expensive! https://www.skiheavenly.com/ It's a neat little area with decent shopping and a bunch of stuff to do. We only stopped there for a couple hours as we were on a week and a half road trip, but it was neat. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 6/17/2025.

Happy Birthday to my sister!

I spent Tuesday afternoon slicing up a 29" x 25' ponderosa pine into mostly 2x8s. Got a couple 2x6s. I had 2 slabs to edge that yielded 3 more boards. I think the tally was 23 2x8s and 4 2x6s. 867 bd-ft from 1 log.

There are lots of large, tight knots, not suitable for structural but should make some nice flooring/ceiling material.

I decided to take a break and have some fun time on my tractor. If you remember last year I had a CalTrans contractor deliver 6 loads of dirt that morphed into 16 loads with some big rock. I did bury some but was left with quite a lot.

I plan on extending by driveway area south from the cabin to alow for more parking and turn around. That will mean digging into the hillside. I was contemplating getting more retaining wall blocks, but after talking with my son, we decided rock would look better. But, where to get some...

This area were the "little" rock are left had a lot of big ones I moved to a stock pile



I may scoop up the little ones, too. Waiting for the contractor to let me know when they have more to bring.

Time to load up another log.

[thecfarm]

ME to CA with 
I wonder........ 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Dang, Ray beat me to it!

[aigheadish]

You guys and your rocks! I love it!

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 6/29/2025

No pictures from today but processed the final pallet (bottom right) of last fall's ponderosa 2x8s shown in this picture from 6/13 on Saturday.


Today we processed two pallets of 40 each fir 2x10s for the main floor boards. These were milled probably 8 years ago? I had culled and trimmed split ends so, although short 10'rs, they were perfectly straight and processed quickly. About 4.5 hours.

There were a few ponderosa pine boards in each pallet. There are 4 more pallets to go. If there are enough ponderosa boards, I may do the kitchen or bathroom with them. Or I may use them in the loft where I'm using 2x8 ponderosa exclusively.

[doc henderson]

It all looks good John.  What does it mean to "process" these boards?

[Ljohnsaw]

I learned pretty quickly:

I'm no Yellowhammer. My boards are not perfect.

1. Rip all the boards to the same width. The MP200 can only take 1/4" off in width and thickness.

2. Any bad bow, cut it off.

3. Cut long boards in to smaller lengths to eliminate excessive bow. Better to have two good shorter boards than one bad.

4. Plane one face and groove one edge.

5. Flip and plane the other face and tongue the other edge.

[Magicman]

You are busy!!  

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 7/1/2025

I had a few things to do today on the MP200 to get the dust collection hoses to stay on but still be removable. I think it all good now. 

I installed my new 12v to 5v regulator for my bandmill's laser. It worked briefly and quit. I don't have my multimeter with me so no checking today. A couple of the connections in my control box broke while working so I had to fix those.

Kind of a lazy day. I'm running out of room to store processed wood so I decided to move the pallets of 2x10 fir boards up to the first floor where they'll be used. Fourty 8' and fourty 10'. There was seven 10' and eight or nine 8' boards that were ponderosa. They are at the left side.



Clouds are gathering and it's starting to rumble to the east of me. Might get a little shower soon.

[fluidpowerpro]

I look forward to learning more about the laser. I have looked at a few but none shown at all in sunlight.

[GRANITEstateMP]

John how has the weather been treating you so far this season?  

Do you feel like your pretty on track as far as getting items crossed off the list you posted earlier this year?  I know that no matter how thought out my list is, I still get surprise things that pop up and take priority!

[Ljohnsaw]

Weather has been great. My list was a work 7 days a week schedule (unrealistic) so it's slipping a bit but pretty much on track while getting other stuff done. Yeah, "things" happen that need to be dealt with. See below...

I started another thread looking for sources of screws to put the floor down. My engineer spec'd 16d nails but I want screws. Also, my old air nailer and the new one I had to purchase last fall, are not capable of shooting 16d nails. I had purchased at auction a lot of #9 screws but he said too thin. Also said #10 would be too thin so I was on a Google quest over the weekend for #12 x 3.5". Not a lot of options and real pricey, considering I need 4,000.

Monday (today) comes along and my engineer says that, as it turns out, #10 will suffice. So I visit HD Pro desk to order them in 1,000 screw cases instead of 60 screw boxes, saving $200+. Should arrive in a few days.

Once again this past weekend, 7/5-7/6, I had help from Justin and Wayne. Saturday we processed a pallet of 40 and a second of 24 or 28 2x10s. We ripped the next pallet of 44 2x10s and emptied the shavings trailer before calling it a day.

Sunday we got going at 9 (let the cabin owners sleep in where I'm borrowing power) and finished up T&Ging the 44. Brought over the last pallet of 28 and broke for lunch. Afterwards, we ripped them down and processed one edge on about 20 when I couldn't raise or lower the bed on the MP200. It is really bound up. Messed with it for about an hour before calling it a day at 4. I'm heading back up tomorrow to really dig into a real simple setup to hopefully find something stupid.

Despite this setback, we made smoking progress. I'm very happy with what we got done and the product we produced. Hoping to lay floor either starting the end of this week or beginning of next.

[teakwood]

if there is no photo it didn't happen, you know the rules!

[Ljohnsaw]

Ok, photos.

I was able to get the planer working again. I think the issue was either the chain had stretched a little or wasn't adjusted tight enough from the factory. It popped once and I assumed it was a stick the fell down in the loop. Then it popped again. When a slightly wedge shaped 2x8 finally jambed in there, there (Tom) was no budging it. It looked like opposite corners were lifting while the others were fighting. All good for now.

Cabin flooring kit, some assembly required. (The stuff in the background)

At the end of yesterday, I ran all the stair treads through the MP200 to make them all uniform. Go big or go home!



I'm going to have a bit of wain/live edge on the bottom of the front edge of most of the treads. I still need to round over the top edge and rip to width.

[aigheadish]

Big, chunky steps! I love it and they look like they'll be real pretty!

Man, now you've just made me think about uncarpeting my steps and turning them into big, chunky pieces of wood... 

[doc henderson]

Beautiful gray stain steps.

[jeeper9574]

Love the look of those stair treads and all the progress being made. Thanks for bringing us along!

[Resonator]

Like the steps, the blue stain will make them stand out!   

[TimW]

I love blue stain in my wood!

[Ljohnsaw]

I was having a little trouble clearing the sawdust. I removed all this random piping from my dust collectors I'm using with the MP200.

Now it has less and clear pipe so I can see clogs as the start.
  Spent a few hours Wednesday night and all day today laying floor boards. I had estimated 5 days to install the main floor. I put in about 15 hours and only got this far. It's pretty fiddly cutting around the posts and braces.

[Wlmedley]

I've always been told. Quality work takes quality time. 

[doc henderson]

Wow, I know it is a huge, nice build, but you also got some nice equipment.