Not a lot to report on my barn project. I've got most of the repair work done. Just waiting on the weather to get the bed extension set up so I can start sawing the long, new parts. We got two loads of parts in this week. We now have most of the logs in the yard to fix the frame. The last 7 I think we can find on the property. 5 30', 1 24', and 1 46'. We have yet to get the 9 46', and 3 27' logs we need for the floor, along with the planking and joists.
Small stuff, 12', 14', and 16':
27' to 29':
I'm also working on a schnitzelbank, I'll post some pics of that as it starts to come together.
I've been making a lot of new parts for the barn lately. We've got a lot of other stuff going on besides the barn work, so I'm basically sawing and storing parts for now, although we are running into a weather issue with our pine, so I've got a ton of that to saw this month. We'll be working on the concrete pad for the mill extension this week as well.
The outside aisles on this barn are of unequal length, 12' on the horse side and 10' feet on the ox side. This means the loft and floor joists on the horse side need to be white oak to meet engineering requirements. It was a real ordeal to source enough white oak around here to satisfy the 40 pieces we need for this barn, but we finally got it all.
The floor joists are 7" thick and round on two sides. The bottom side, which will be exposed, will be hewn, and the top will be left sawn for a nice fit with the floor planking.
Sawing and peeling the joists was just about a full day.
I've also got to replace 18 of the 20 wall posts on this barn. The corners are white oak, and the rest are white pine. Two are being repaired. I sawed out the new pine posts a bit oversize, then snapped lines to show where the finished post was going to be and cut the mortise and two tenons before hewing. This way I had a flat surface for the boring machine, and I didn't have to fuss with laying out a hewn timber.
Finished post. The light is really bad in our shop and that really kills the detail.
We've got someone cutting a lot of nice pine for us nearby, and he has started skidding it out. 48'x20" tip EWP.
He has already cut a bunch of gun barrel straight pine for us, which I'll be sawing this week. This will all be 2" and 3" wide floor planking.
Eastern White, which is typical of Dutch barns. They could also be Pitch Pine, which is a Southern Yellow. There seems to be some hardwood, usually in the braces and doorposts. In New Jersey, I think it is more common to see a Dutch barn made of hardwoods.
Yes, the wood is good. We are trying to have fairly clear planking in the barns. You don't want to be distracted from the frame by a bunch of knots.
White pine has some pitch, but nothing like the Southern Yellows. I've resawn some 100+ year old SYP timbers, and the pitch is dry, but you can still smell it, and it gums up my auger bit lead screws.
I've worked with some 100 plus year old Pine, and though it seemed dry, in hot weather it would still come out. Possibly that it was thicker stock that I resawed was a factor, and a heavy pitch pine to begin with. Sticky stuff.
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Hey maybe if I ever get enough money together to build my dream house which Ive been collecting timbers for for years Ill let you know and you can come over and help me raise it ...
Speaking of woodwork, hope Brendon doesn't mind me interjecting some other type pics into his thread. Been getting lots of old work pics together for a portfolio, instead of having them just scattered all over the planet.
Thank you, Stig. That table's wood is kind of an anomaly. I bought the log thinking it was Western Maple from the north of Cali, or possibly Oregon, and it does have the appearance, but the color is very strong, and that cool red line goes through every plank from the log. Never have seen that in Western Maple. It might have just been the location where it grew?
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