Tuesday 29 July 2008

Shelter frame finished!

Today we went up to the wood to continue with the shelter, fixing poles across what will be the roof once it's the right way up: We used a draw knife to flatten the end of each pole on both sides to help it to sit onto the beam:
Once all the poles were on, Tracy thought it look like a prison:Then came what I thought might be the hard bit - turning it back the right way up! We set the winch up on one side to give a bit of a pull to get us started:
and then with a bit of a heave, and Tracy controlling a rope to prevent it moving too fast, we got it turned over. Much easier than I thought it would be!
Two finishing touches were then made: another diagonal beam across the back to keep it all square
and setting each corner on a brick to keep the logs off the ground to some extent, hopefully preserving them from rot, although chestnut is pretty tough stuff anyway.
Next is fixing the tarpaulin over it, moving everything across from the old shelter, and then taking the old shelter down.

We did have a small audience for all this, including this Meadow Brown:
and this ladybird, which I think is a 2-spot (in black, of course):
Mike

UPDATE: links to posts on building the shelter:
http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/07/shelter-building-and-nuthatch.html
http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/07/more-shelter-building.html
http://peplers.blogspot.com/2008/07/shelter-complete.html

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi

I think the shelter is a great project and I particularly like the joints you did with the chainsaw.

My one comment on that is that you used nails to secure the tennons. I would have liked to see Oak or Chestnut pegs. Shaker-style wedges would have been over the top, but another non-metal option. I like these because you know that one day the forest will reclaim and benefit when the wood eventually breaks down.

Thanks
Bernhard

Mike Pepler said...

Yeah, we'd considered using pegs too, but the trouble is there are so may things we're trying to learn that we can't always get through them in time for projects that have a deadline...

I think the tools for shaping pegs and drilling holes to match are something I should purchase soon...

Cheers, Mike