2/5 Pairs of Rafters Ready to Go....

Well, I spent a few minutes this morning looking a distant neighbors blog on the subject of building a cabin and thought that I should add an update...  I have been working on (milling) what I am now calling the 'tool shed' and 'temporary tractor shed' this summer and just finished cutting two of five rafter pairs.

I got the logs from a rental property that was doing some clean up and, unfortunately, the timing is was pretty poor.   Cutting in the summer with all the sap in the trees is less than ideal but I had to take advantage of the readily available wood.

The problem I am seeing with the very wet wood is mold/fungus.  The big pine that I took (9 - 4x10 beams :-) had some serious discoloration and growth.  Not sure if it was the best idea but I thought that perhaps a little bleach would be a good way to knock it back.   Seems to have worked, will have to find out later if it messes my finish up.   I figure that I'll rinse all the pieces off good after they dry.

Tool Shed Plan.

Put on the big bar.

Makes for a pretty impressive saw :-)

Buck the log, took the 'small end'.

36" cut was almost not enough!

Too big for the mill, so invert to get it down to manageable sizes.

Second cut...

... and another view.

Result: 4" x 34" 'board'.

Quartered.

All that's needed are some basic tools.

And a plan.

Here are the first four rafters.

Stitched Time Lapse....

So, took two more 'sessions' to complete the joint.  Patched them together and laid in some sound (thank you Stefano Vita), a little learning on iMovie.  I wasn't too thrilled at the level of control for viewing each picture, now I see that you can re-time a clip after it's made as a % of the original - problem solved.....

Always little things along the way too.  In the first clip I had the the camera on a small flexible legged tripod sitting on a board connected to one of the shelves in the garage.  It seemed too far away so for the second clip I moved it forward.  Then the tripod wasn't able to bend and point down well.   So I put together a little stand for the camera out of a pile of scraps destined for fireplace kindling.  Worked pretty good, think it's a keeper.

Moving forward again - and first time-lapse :-).   Don't like the view, but I can tweak it next time....

One more little step forward.... Sill 'A' is complete!  Got the joints cut and, now that I know better, put on the Anchor Seal.

Well, another beam done :-).  Short girt this time, one more of them then 4 sills next.

Well.... found out what the problem was with the girt not fitting.  I didn't (don't) understand housings very well.  So, I had to remodel the entire top half of the timber frame shed and take off half an inch. This is a pretty big DIY project after all....

Good case of 'the more I learn the less I know'.  Must need to learn some more, wait, that makes it worse.  Also turns out that some some of the joints that TF Rubies were suppose to be automatically cutting weren't.  Modeled incorrectly, of course ;-).  I now have a much better understanding of how they work and how to set up the joint.

Ever have one of those times when you're looking for the answer, and it's just not coming?  Not in the help file, not in the faq, even Google can't find it.  Oh, that button front and center on the main tool bar exercises the function.  And the icon is oh so obvious.  Won't quickly forget that lesson.

Well, step forward on the shed, finished post #4.  I was pretty excited.  The next timber to cut joint in is the top beam.  Had to mill off 3/4 of an inch, good to get the saw going after several months.  Brought it in the shop then got quite a surprise when I went to mark up the shop drawings.  One of my knee brace joints isn't working :-(.  I'll have to figure out how to take care of it....

Wow, been a while.  Finally got a new lens published.  Do it Yourself Timber Frame.  I would like to see if this one will make it up the list a bit in the search engines.  It's pretty unique content so perhaps....