The "Bridge"

We have a spot on the back trail where a seasonal creek makes a giant muck puddle that is virtually impassable during rainy season. 

So with all our lumber and our chainsaw mill we decided to attempt to make a bridge across the icky spot in the trail.

We went back and forth on how to best do it and since hubby was doing the majority of the heavy lifting I let him win.

We (he) placed six similar diameter logs across the creek.

We placed our milled boards (2" thick) across the logs. They touch the logs in most of the spots. But in the spots where there is a gap we've been shimming it with squares of plywood. We are screwing the shims in to the logs and each other, then pounding giant nail/spikes from the top of the boards through the shims to the logs. We have four boards on so far and it feels very solid and sturdy.

When we get all the boards across we will fill in the ends with gravel so there is not a step and the tractor will be able to go across as well.

So that's what we have so far on the bridge! I'll try and remember to post pictures when we get it done.

Wood Shed

We are all about wood burning fireplace/inserts in the house. We love the ambiance of a real fire and the heat is just... warmer. Sure, we use the electric heater at times, like if it's really cold in the morning, just to heat the house up real quick like. 

With the abundance of wood at our property we've been busy stockpiling our wood stores. The place has a wood shed behind the house and up a small hill, but in the winter the little road to get there gets extremely mucky, messy, and gross. So far we've been storing the wood on the inside of the arena along the side walls.  We have oak, maple, and douglas fir in their respective piles.

This is another pile of maple. This is what we've been using so far. The tarp is because the gutter above had a big branch stuck in it and the water was dripping onto the wood. Not ideal. (It's since been removed.)

Since I don't want my arena to become a wood storage facility and we had a bunch of boards saved from the removal of the "office" and "tack room" in the shop, I decided we needed to build a new wood shed. 

I thought the best place would be near the arena and shop/barn. Bill cleared the space as well as he could with the tractor. I came up with a plan I thought would work and got started. I decided to make it as easy on myself as possible, so I started with pier blocks. Probably not to code, but whatever. 

My plan was to make the wood shed 10' X 20". There are no doors or windows, just a 10' opening on the front of the long side. 

These photos were taken over the course of several days (or weeks, as it were). It was supposed to show my day to day progress, but I ended up not working on it every day. Oh well.

I did two views at the end of each work day. The front and from the right side.

Starting to work on the roof.

The cross pieces on the roof are up.

Now we had to make a purchase of the roofing panels. I ordered some solid and a couple of translucent panels so it wouldn't be too dark inside. We got the panels, roofing screws, and delivery through a local building professional's store for a very good price (better than HD or Lowes). Plus the panels were cut to size so I didn't have to overlap from top to bottom. 

Putting the panels up would show how square I got it. I knew it wasn't perfectly square but after moving the blocks, redoing the string thing and using the 3-4-5 method multiple times I figured it was close enough.

And I was right. It was a little off, but not by too much, so I was satisfied. Where I messed up was on the measurement for the length of the panels. I somehow figured about 12" too short! That meant we had to redo the back support boards. It wasn't too bad.

The roof is on. You can see on the downslope side where we had to rework the end. Oops.

Here you can see the light coming through the translucent panels.

Closeup of the inside roof.

Closeup of the fixed mistake on the back side. The roof still hangs over a tad so it's ok. We started lining the inside walls with leftover plywood. This is so we can pile the wood up the wall.

A closeup view of the front.

A view of the inside. We've got some wood already started. The inside is half done.

So all that's left is to finish the inside lining and put siding on the outside. I'll post a picture when that gets done.

Our Alaskan Chainsaw Sawmill

With all the lumber on our property and the extra logs that were not long enough for the real lumber mill we decided to get an "Alaskan chainsaw sawmill". Basically it's a contraption that you fit your chainsaw into and it cuts slabs out of your logs.

You're supposed to measure from the center of the log on both sides and do some calculations on where to place the guide for your first cut.

But we are too lazy to work our brains that hard so we just put the guide on top and cut as little as we can get away with without making the first slab too skinny.

It takes about five or so minutes to get through our 9.5 feet length logs. A more powerful chainsaw (more expensive) could probably do it faster.  After making the first cut the guide is removed and the flat top is then the new "guide".  Nowadays 2"x4" boards are actually 1.5"x 3.5".  We have our boards at the actual 2" mark.

Our very first slab. Notice it still has the "live edges".

In the shop we make a chalk line on the straightest edge and cut with a circular saw.

Then we measure the narrowest part of the board. We make a mark at both ends of the board using that measurement, make a chalk line and cut. Voila! A real board!

 The finished boards are on the left, the unfinished are the two right stacks. 

The boards we are making now are for a small bridge to go over a seasonal creek in the back of the property. That's another head scratcher, but we'll get it figured out.

Clyde