Okanogan 14x24 by a lurker :)

[OlJarhead]

Managed a 2nd overnighter at the cabin   Love to see the place but hate to only get an overnight stay before leaving again though at least my job does cause me to do that

Interestingly the power seems to be doing fine and held to 24.6vdc overnight and bounced back to 24.7vdc immediately after turning off the inverter before leaving.  At least I have some time before I must get those batteries replaced.  Maybe a few months at least

Meanwhile, I need better reading glasses!  I checked the oil levels in the genset and thought I saw them low so added oil to all three (yes three) fill points until I saw oil on the dipstick -- though I thought it was still low -- then fired up the genny to make sure all was well and it smoked!  Burned oil for several minutes before giving clear exhaust again   hopefully no damage was done but it seems to run fine now...and then I was gone

Next trip I hope to spend some real time there but first I must get the house on the market.

[OlJarhead]

Managed to snap a couple shots before leaving this morning

Spring is definitely here but we're still getting down pretty coll in the am.  My cherry is showing signs of waking up now but the apples are all still asleep


The place looks a mess (ok it IS a mess) but with luck I'll get it cleaned back up soon!

Gotta love the smoke coming out of the chimney   Just something about a cabin warmed by a wood stove...it's in the blood I guess

[nailit69]

Place doesn't look that bad... a few hrs. work should have it looking pretty sharp.  We're heading back up to our place next weekend to finish filling the block w/cement and to start building the floor.  I'd like to have some more dirtwork done too but it can wait if it has to.

I can't wait til there's smoke coming out of our chimney and I can spend a night there indoors and in front of the fire... hopefully by fall

[OlJarhead]

  Oh I know   I just hate seeing it that way but this time of year the grass is just starting to come in and the greenery is only beginning to bud.  In a couple months it will look much nicer

[OlJarhead]

Had a great weekend at the cabin BUT discovered that gophers can kill an orchard in no time flat



Out of 8 trees we have 3 still sstanding and I think one of those is likely toast already (leaves are small and growth is poor but it's still solid in the ground so who knows?


I had no idea gophers could do this!







After 5 years of working and investing in this little orchard I'm pretty depressed specially since the trees came from St. Lawrence Nursary which is now out of business (retired).  It may be hard to replace the trees let alone the years of growing them.

[UK4X4]

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/start-tree-branch-clipping-22190.html

might be of some help, no harm in trying !

[rick91351]

WOW Eric I sure hate to see that....  I never had an attack of that - only one from a rodent.  Tried a root graph that did not work.  If I find any more cold weather trees I will be sure to send them your way.   

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/start-tree-branch-clipping-22190.html

might be of some help, no harm in trying !

That will work - my dad and my grandmother seemed to get anything going like that.....  Me - I have never had much luck.  willows  - poplars - aspen.  But I have heard you can try it. (apples)   But there is a problem doing so with a fruit tree.  Especially the hardy verities - rootstock cultivar.

Literately every apple - peach and pear you eat - you buy in the store or a tree from a nursery does not grow in its own foundation - The starts are whacked and grafted to a specific rootstock cultivar.  My orchard was started ignorant of this.  Our losses were great the first year nearly 25 out of 50 trees.  So then I started making phone calls and asking questions. Sitting up and reading - making more phone calls.   

In our succeeding plantings our mortality went way down.....  Love the root stock that Jarhead found and I think we planted about twenty trees or so from them. So like a quarter of our trees are from that nursery.  They love that spring time black sticky mucky clay soil up here.  They do not mind the summers of very little water other than what we give them during the summers.  Fall they get ready for winter better than most rootstocks that we have.  Then winters is what you buy them for they thumb their noises at 30 and 40 below (F) WOW I guess we are pretty close to that in Celsius as well... I can not say enough about there vigor and doing as advertised.  However the root stock or cultivars were born in Russia and Siberia.    However as he said this year was their last because retirement and no one to take over the reins.         

Rootstocks and cultivars are a science to themselves.  Something on this forum I always am yammering about.  Please if you want a orchard or a apple tree or two up at your camp or cabin do not go into it blind.  PM me or post on my site I can guide you to a nursery or two that has been way way above and beyond when it come to getting people lined up with what you need.

or sit down and read through some of this and a few others besides.....
 
http://ucanr.edu/sites/ctfa/category/Rootstocks/   

[OlJarhead]

I guess the worst part, asside from losing all the trees, is that St Lawrence Nuseries retired the business and they are no longer filling orders.

So hard to replace these trees I think.

[OlJarhead]

So after all that sad news (losing the orchard) we did managed to do some good stuff this weekend though!

We had this big pine right in front of the cabin that was leaning in the wrong direction and making me somewhat nervous so I decided it was time to come down but needed to delimb some of it first.  So along comes Steve   one of my techs

Steve is a pole climber and has been doing this sort of thing for nearly 40 years...and he's good at it


He went up about 50 feet and took down the limbs that were weighing the tree to the wrong side, then he fell the tree while I tugged it in the direction I wanted it to go with a rope and a tractor

We fell it where we wanted it to go and then I began to get to work on it


By late Saturday I had the first log milled into rafters for the deck   With this tree down and another I dropped I've got enough logs to mill all the wood needed to extend the deck and build the roof


I also managed to get the last piece of roofing on the wood shed   It's a mess right now but so nice to have that last section roofed!  No more rain in the wood shed now

[OlJarhead]

Should be heading back tomorrow   Going to try to work from the cabin for a few days and while there hope to do some clean up, milling and maybe a little slash burning.

We move into our new home in a month so I'm trying to get all the cabin time in now that I can

[OlJarhead]

Before finding this instruction set:  http://www.rusticwoodworking.com/uploads/6/7/3/3/6733546/ratchet_strap_clamp_plans_june2014.pdf

I purchased an EZ Log Clamp which I hope to make use of SOON.  My plan is to make my railings for the deck so that I can start putting up my posts.  I need the railings as I plan to put up a post, insert railings into the mortices and then install the next post onto the railing tenons and so on.  This way the railings and posts will be assembled as one unit when done -- I plan to use liquid nails and screws to add some rigidity to the railings also.

[OlJarhead]

So I grabbed my chainsaw this morning and a tape measure and hiked off into the woods in search of a dead Fir about 4 inches in Diameter.  I'd learned previously that this works great when it's damp out.  Just find a dead tree, cut it down, take what you want and use the rest for the fire

Once I'd found my 'post tree' I cut out a nice post and headed back to the cabin to begin making a post for my railing.  Once I had the post peeled (after strapping to the stairs with a ratchet strap) I remembered seeing someone use a grinder to smooth out posts and since I'd recently moved mine I even knew where it was!

It worked like a charm and once I had the post smoothed out I set up my drill press (clamped to the deck) and drilled two 2" mortices (holes) for the tenons that would be the ends of the railings.  Then off I went back into the woods for some more material.  I found a decent pine and another fir (both dead) that I could use for a post and railings and cut them down. 

After dragging those back to the cabin I set about turning them into nicely shaved and sanded pieces for my log railing.  Then I dug out several saplings I'd cut down 4 years earlier and left to 'rot' (nearly) in the wood shed while waiting for just this day, and turned them into stiles.

End result?


Even with just some screws holding the posts to the loft floor it's pretty solid but I'll admit I learned a ton and the next two sections should be MUCH better


Walking up and down the ships ladder stairs is a lot easier now!

Now to enjoy some decent bourbon and a quiet evening at the cabin

After I put away the tools I suppose!

[Gary O]

Man, OJ, You just can't post enough pics of yer place.

Thanks for the show

and, cheers

[rick91351]

Where is the like button?

[OlJarhead]

Thanks guys

Truth is I could have posted more of the operation but decided not to inundate you with al the pics of the 'how to' section of what I did.  I learned a lot though and might actually have the hole 'tenon cutting' thing down now.  In fact I think I do but only just figured out the way to clamp the logs down at the very end.  I'll probably do some pics today of that sort of thing if my sunburn doesn't prevent me from making the 2nd railing

[OlJarhead]

https://youtu.be/njsstFxdiEM
Here I am making a tenon with my 'field expedient' set up

[OlJarhead]

After a very long day I managed to get the 2nd section of railing up.


My day started with me going out and finding some material, bringing it back, hand sawing some of it to size, saying 'to heck with that' and firing up the generator and using my miter saw to cut the rest.  Then, with 38 'logs' for balusters I set about making tenons, stripping the bark and sanding the balusters.  I completed 19 of them and set them aside so I could work on rails.


Once I had the rails sized and ready to drill I marked them and set about drilling them on my drill press.  It worked pretty well despite me having to hold a 7 foot log/rail and 'eyeball' the location of the holes somewhat.


In the end, tired and plum tuckered out I manged to get the rail installed and the mess cleaned up until the next trip out   But I'm liking the progress

[JavaMan]

That tenon "bit" looks like it works quite slick!

Been thinking of getting that kit myself recently - do I need to get a 1/2 drill or will a 3/8 work ok?

[OlJarhead]

That tenon "bit" looks like it works quite slick!

Been thinking of getting that kit myself recently - do I need to get a 1/2 drill or will a 3/8 work ok?

Yes you need the big monster drill   Not sure the RPM's on mine but it's a Rigid from HD so probably similar to the Rigid's sold on Lumberjacktools.com

I like the bits and once you learn how to use them (yes it takes some practice) you can knock out some tenons pretty quickly.  I will admit, though, that a stand with drill guide would be nice!  but for $400 (sale price) the ones Lumber Jack Tools sells is a bit too steep for me so I'll keep doing mine by hand and work harder at getting a good center before starting.

[Pine Cone]

Sorry to see your tree damage.  It may not be gophers, look to see if you have a mountain beaver problem.  http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/mtn_beavers.html

If you do have boomers/mountain beavers you should try and control them or you will continue to lose trees.  On some of the forestry properties the company I work for manages boomers will pretty much kill all the planted trees if we don't trap and kill them. 

Your railings are looking great.  I use a "Hole Hawg" clone from Harbor Freight to make mine.  http://www.harborfreight.com/compact-2-speed-1-2-half-inch-right-angle-drill-97622.html

I have also used the Logman router version of tenon makers which is great for larger tenons (over 1" diameter) http://www.baileysonline.com/Woodworking/Log-Home-Furniture/Tenon-Maker-Accessories/Logman-Log-Furniture-Tenon-Maker.axd

[OlJarhead]

I actually have a logman cutter also but much prefer the Lumber Jack tools tenon makers.  Much much faster and a much nicer tenon IMHO.  Still the logman has its uses too.

[OlJarhead]

We do have beavers in the Okanogan but but they are down damming up the creeks a few miles away.  In this case all the damage is subgrade and lots of mounds nearby.  I treated all the mounds and hope to see some improvement this weekend.  I'll flatten the earth then too and in a week I'll know if I've gotten the buggers.

The plan is to replant next spring after I do some work on the orchard to improve it a little

[Pine Cone]

We do have beavers in the Okanogan but but they are down damming up the creeks a few miles away.  In this case all the damage is subgrade and lots of mounds nearby.  I treated all the mounds and hope to see some improvement this weekend.  I'll flatten the earth then too and in a week I'll know if I've gotten the buggers.

The plan is to replant next spring after I do some work on the orchard to improve it a little

The mountain beaver is not a beaver at all, just shares a common name which is why most foresters and loggers call them boomers instead of beavers.  Totally different creature with different habits.  Check out the link for ways of identifying their damage.  Unlike real beavers which require a special permit to kill or remove, you don't need any permits for killing boomers.

[OlJarhead]

Interesting but we're far from moist in Eastern WA and the evidence I have is something smaller (coke can sized holes).  I think it's gophers but I'll keep my eyes open in case some boomers decided to move to the dry country

[rick91351]

The mountain beaver is not a beaver at all, just shares a common name which is why most foresters and loggers call them boomers instead of beavers.  Totally different creature with different habits.  Check out the link for ways of identifying their damage.  Unlike real beavers which require a special permit to kill or remove, you don't need any permits for killing boomers.

  I am not seeing any links.....  I did not know of such a critter.....

However I have been around pocket gophers all my life and never seen them do that type of damage.  These however I am familiar with are all in the irrigated Boise Valley.