Poppy's 16x16 timber frame cabin

[harry51]

The black walnut lumber is great to have, especially if you're going to build any  furniture. Sounds like you bought the stack of TJI's for about the price of two linear feet at the lumberyard. Way to go!

[Don_P]

For a general purpose treatment I like to use a borate dip. I get a 50 lb sack of Solubor from the farm supply and mix it 1 lb/gallon of water. I made a dip tank out of scrap ply and lumber, subfloor glue, a million nails and some junk paint. It's 16' longx 16"widex~8" deep holds around 30 gallons and 3-4 boards weighted down. The longer you leave em in the better. A few gallons of antifreeze or any glycol will help penetration by slowing drying. This can be brushed or sprayed on too but doesn't get in as deep. It goes in best on very green wood, right off the mill. Its an insecticide/fungicide with very low mamalian toxicity. That is the chemically identical recipe to Timbor if you want to google it's MSDS. With antifreeze google Boracare. This runs a fraction of the cost, everything is the same but the color of the bag.

I'm not sure if it would work unless you can pop off your fenders easily, I run locally without. With large logs I parbuckle them over the side. I pull up alongside the length of the log, set up 2 ramps, hook come alongs and chains from the far side of the trailer, under the log and back to the far side of the trailer. Winch in the comealongs and it rolls the log up the ramps, over the tires and onto the bed. I take several comealongs and clip in a fresh unstrung one when the one I'm using is winched in. I've loaded 32"x14' logs solo this way.

One of my early log skidding experiences, I delimbed a large oak up on the mountainside along the road and hooked my 100' cable to it. I drove down the road watching the log snake down the hill nicely and turn onto the road, roll across the road and on down the other side. This moment in time is what a friend of mine calls an ignosecond, the mass is in motion and your just along for the ride. Some real quick ciphering goes through my noggin, the cable's good for 13,000 lbs, the log weighs 5 or 6 and the truck weighs about 3,,, uh oh. I'm bracing for a backwards ride down the mountain when somehow the cable snaps. I'm thinking life is good, then notice in the rearview that the cable is approaching the back window at about a zillion miles an hour. I decide the seat is looking good and dive down as the cable lobs itself over the roof. Happily he looks out for fools and small children. Anyway over the next 2 days I learned an awful lot about parbuckling a really sweet log up a mountain   . Its part of our kitchen.

Not sure if you've seen it, this shows one of my lifting contraptions tipping up a timberframe bent;
http://windyhilllogworks.com/shop.htm

[Redoverfarm]

Neat P&B Don.  I also like the restoration of  The Thomas/Padgett Home. Reminds me of a lot.  Nice work by the way.  Have you ever heard of a guy named Miller near Pigeon Forge?  He makes jigs for log joints. 

[Don_P]

Ed Miller, yes we've chatted online a few times, sharp guy 
Thanks for the kind words, That restoration brings back memories of bringing back 28' logs on a 14' trailer 

[poppy]

The black walnut lumber is great to have, especially if you're going to build any  furniture

I agree, but don't have any current plans for furniture.(have done a little furniture work with walnut in the past)

I may use some of the 1" quartersawn for flooring along with the cherry I already have and may throw in some maple from a tree I just cut.

I will probably set aside some of the quartersawn for some future project, but the tree didn't yield quite as much as I had hoped. 

As you can see from the photos, the tree was crazy with wane and knots.  It was a stand alone tree in a back yard, so had low branches and not much of a straight clear trunk.

At least there will be black walnut in the cabin without having to cut one of my good trees.

[poppy]

Wow!  Don, you continue to amaze with your knowledge and resources.

Will certainly look into the borate dip tank idea. 

On another vein, I had been thinking about making a dip tank to pretreat the rough sawn cedar planned for the siding.  Not for varmits, but for stain.  I'm not really crazy about the grey hue produced from naturally weathering cedar.

Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone, as far as the tank is concerned?

Thanks for the pointers on loading logs.  The trailer fenders are welded on, so not sure if I can load from the side.  But I'm always interested in alternative ways to do things safely by myself. 

That is one scary story about the log down the mountain.   You really dodged a bullet, so to speak.

I have a pretty big maple log that will go to the Amish mill at some point and may have to take some of the oak also, if I can't get the chain saw mill back in operation.

One of the biggest challenges coming up is how to halve the huge oak for the cruck frame.  My largest chain saw has not been repaired yet and it will be a stretch to make it work with the Alaskan mill on this tree.

I'll probably try to find a larger Stihl to rent.

And many thanks for the link to the frame raising.  I had not yet seen that.  The cabin frame raising phase is not planned out yet, but the jib pole idea has been in the mix.

This build is solo up to a point.  A frame raising party with family and friends is on the agenda.

[poppy]

I finally put together several photos of potential cruck frame trees.  First a little background.  Several years ago, before buying the farm,  I picked up a book at HALF PRICED BOOKS puplished by Fine Homebuilding in their GREAT HOUSES series titled Timber-Frame Houses.

I can't remember when I first got interested in timber framing, but it was many years ago and this book caught my attention.  One of the featured houses was a Cruck House by Jack Sobon.  This image and others were in my mind as I first scouted out what was to become the property for my cabin.

Solon made 3 cruck frames for this cabin that were 16' wide at the base and 16' high.



This was the first unusual tree that caught my attention, but as you can see from the next photo it was not practical for a cruck.




Just a little skinny at a critical knee joint.




The second tree to get my attention, but it has twists and turns in too many directions.



The third tree I discovered and the one that convinced me that a cruck frame was possible.



This one is the final selection and the one that I had previously posted but the photo was a little dark.  This large white oak tree has a perfect cruck shape (Ogee to be exact) and is pretty straight in the plane parallel to the cruck shape. 

The pic. doesn't do it justice because it's hard to get the full height in one shot where you can see the full Ogee shape

So there you have one of the reasons for buying this wooded property.

[Beavers]

So the cruck frame will be at the mid point of the house, or do you have to find another perfect tree for the other end?

Any other timber framing book suggestions?  Your build and the pics that Whitlock posted of his awesome cabin have really got me interested in timber framing, might have try a timber frame porch on my house. 

[NM_Shooter]

OK.. now I have to google cruck framed houses.

[poppy]

NM quote

OK.. now I have to google cruck framed houses

Unfortunately there is not a great deal of detail out there for the cruck frame.  The article by Jack Sobon that I mentioned has about as much detail that you can find on the actual construction methods, as far as a small cabin is concerned.

Let me know if I can help.

[secordpd]

Wow Poppy, thats quite an endeavor, the cruck timber frame, I can't wait to see which tree you use....

I just bought Rob Roys 'Timberframing for the rest of us', but the Jack Sobon looks pretty interesting, but beyond my skill level...

I love reading your posts, you always come up with cool ideas.....and I envy you for all your great finds...

If you have problems with carpenter ants, I just bought some liquid Terro ant bait at LOWES and with in one day they were gone... I had some fire wood stored by my old porch that I ripped down and am replacing, and noticed they were wondering around looking for a place to hang, well, I hope they brought it back to their nest...  I haven't seen any for a few days now... it has borax as the main ingredient.  I have some rough lumber covered & stored and put some of the bait around the piles,  I'll let ya know how it works...

[poppy]

Beavers, There will be only one cruck frame on the south wall and a more conventional timber frame on the north wall; just 2 main frames.

Here are the books I have in the order of importance to me:

1.  Build a Classic Timber-Framed House by Jack A. Sobon

2.  Building the Timber Frame House by Tedd Benson

3.  A Timber Framer's Workshop by Steve Chappell

And these books gave me general inspiration and ideas:

1.  Homing Instinct by John Connell, founder of Yestermorrow design/build school

2.  Creative Country Construction by Robert Inwood & Christian Bruyere

3.  Living Homes by Thomas J. Elpel

And then there's the article about simplified timber frame design in the Feb/Mar issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Hope this helps

[poppy]

secord

but beyond my skill level

If you are building your own house then you have the skill level.  I have never built a timber frame of any size; I am learning as I go.

Of course, I don't have a time deadline so I can take what time it takes. 

Thanks for the kind words and yes I have scored on some good finds, but keep in mind that I have been at this for 2 years and 10 months so far.

Plus someone once taught that the harder your work the luckier you get.

I love reading your posts, you always come up with cool ideas

Again, thanks for the kind words, and I hope some of the things I'm attempting are cool.  Some of these ideas have been perculating for many years.

I designed my first house (built by my sister-in-law) over 40 years ago and haven't designed anything that's been built since.

And thanks for the tip on the carpenter ants.

[NM_Shooter]

Ahhhh... here we go...

http://www.crucks.eclipse.co.uk/crucks1024/index.html

[poppy]

Here's a general interest set of photos:


The gate design by the old house.



Gate design for the new driveway to the cabin site.



The black walnut grove already weighed down with some developing nuts.



Black berry patch by the barn.



An apple tree on the neighbor across the road.  I think I mentioned before that his 1 acre used to be a part of my land before I bought it.



OK, today's test is to name that fruit (also on the neighbor across the road)



And the second test to name that fruit on one of my trees behind the barn.  This was one of those surprise finds just this summer. 

Until next time.

[poppy]

More craigslist stuff and some more tree harvesting:


Fairly cheap lumber source found on craigslist.  And the swing was free from craigslist.  The frame will be useful for some of my log lifting needs.



Getting ready to offload the lumber at the job site.  The log is a future oak (I think) 8x8 post for the conventional timber frame on the north wall.  It was the second standing dead tree that was harvested.



The end grain on one of the real 2x4's that was reclaimed.



The first standing dead sugar maple to be harvested.



I ended up with about an 18' log that will be going to the Amish saw mill at some point.



The maple stump.  Even though this tree was only dead for a little over a year, it snapped off like a twig with 6" of tree left to cut.  The bottom shows where the first wedge cut was made.  The top is the final cut and the middle is a 6" wide section that snapped off.  I knew maple had some brittle characteristics, but I didn't expect this.   No beams will be cut from this log.

[chaddhamilton]

Looks like a nice place you have there, Poppy.   I grew up in Gallia County Ohio and my fam ran an orchard for many years.   The 1st pic look like unripe peaches(maybe plum) and the 2nd might be Paw Paw.   How close am I?


Chadd

[poppy]

Chadd, thanks.

You are correct on the peaches, but not on the second one.  I posted a paw paw pic. a while back.

[poppy]

A couple more general interests pics.


I was surprised to find this maple leaf that still held its color this late and the camera doesn't do it justice.



Just some of the wild flowers on the pond bank.



A sumac grove at the end of the pond.  Not sure if it is the poison type.



And here is a teaser for the upcoming pier detail.

The story is now up to date, but not sure how soon a new update will be coming.  Have had some delays because of family issues.

[Don_P]

The sumac is not poison sumac, gets called shoemake by some. It can be used for whistles.
The maple is sporting some nice spalt, have them saw it for panelling unless you have some woodturner buddies. The black lines are the spalt rot. It might have died a year ago but the heart was rotting long before that. Those trees can be widowmakers. Are you familiar with using a bore cut to fell?

[Beavers]

Plus someone once taught that the harder your work the luckier you get.

Yep...work hard enough and you can do anything!


Thanks for the book suggestions, I'll check them out.

[poppy]

Don, I'm sure you are correct on the sumac.  The leaves are just too narrow to be the poison variety.  I just seem to recall from childhood that we should stay away from the sumac.  There is some poison sumac in parts of Ohio, but probably not as far south as I am.

On the maple; I don't think any mill around here can do a paneling cut; besides I have other uses for it.
I don't have any turning buddies, but I did turn some goblets out of old maple bowling pins in HS shop class.  Unfortunately the bowling pins I got after getting my own lathe were laminated and hollow.

Yea, I knew the maple was starting to die long before it lost all of it's leaves for good.  There was a hollow place in the base as well as a hollow spot about 10' up.  Actually I was pleasantly surprised that there wasn't more rot.  It seems to be concentrated along one side.  That will be the first cut that I ask the mill to do, that is to saw off the rot.

No, I am not familiar with a bore cut.  I surely need to find out more about that.


Besides paneling or turning stock, do you have any more recommendations on what kind of lumber I should cut it for?  I was figuring that I  would get some quartersawn 1" stuff, and maybe some 4x4 to be used as interior posts with light loads, but it sounds like I need to cut to maximize the spalt pattern.

[poppy]

Just did a little research on bore cutting for felling trees and some of it makes sense.  Will need to do a little more research, since I have 4 or 5 more standing dead to harvest (none of them are maple though).

Also did a little searching on spalting maple and it looks as though cross-cutting and flat grain cutting is the way to go rather than quartersawn.

I am always open for suggestions on what to do with this maple, so long as it relates to some use inside the cabin.

[Don_P]

First thing to remember when felling any tree is to look up, and actually anytime we walk in the woods it's a good idea to look up, there can be a timber supported by tired angels flapping up there. My wife has a 14 stitch scar in her scalp to attest to it. Aside from shedding limbs, dead trees are very unpredictable, we just don't know how strong the wood is, so they can let go at almost any point. That is also why it is generally a good idea to pass on any wood with decay for structural parts, the strength is just too unpredictable. There is no good way of determining the strength loss and it can be well over 50% before obvious signs of rot show themselves. I use wood with any spalting, or "incipient decay" (another good one to google), for non structural or heating. Spalt is the polite term for incipient decay, sort of like calling that maple "overmature"  .
A sawmill can make 4/4, or 1" thick, boards out of "character" wood that you can then dry and use for non structural use. I turn some of this into panelling with a planer and then tongue and groove bits on a router table. Spalted wood makes nice trim, cabinets, furniture, etc.

I did a google and there do seem to be a number of videos and hits on bore cutting. I don't know how experienced you are with a saw so don't try anything you are not totally understanding. Nose work with a chainsaw is the main way to cause a kickback. If the upper quadrant of the nose contacts wood it is going to try to throw the nose around. So a bore cut is started on the lower quadrant of the nose until you can slip the nose into the tree. This is the dangerous time of a bore cut. Once the bar is in the tree and boring that risk is over, the saw may try to back out if you start cutting on the top but it can't kickback when inside the tree. Short of that this is the safest way to fell any tree and the method I use almost exclusively. You can do your openface notch and bore the tree and walk away, it won't fall, there's no rush. Tap the remaining backstrap and she comes down. There is none of that frantically hurrying the backcut in hopes that the tree doesn't split and high chair on you. With a dead tree it is a judgement call on how much backstrap to leave and it is a judgement call on when to walk away from a tree. I've got a large maple on the back line that will either rot there or if a dozer is here I'll let him pull it down with a cable, but it simply isn't worth the risk for a pile of lumber. I hope that doesn't sound like a lecture, just be safe out there, we ain't worth a thing hurt 

[poppy]

Thanks Don again for your thoughtful and detailed response.  It didn't sound like a lecture to me and I appreciate the wisdom.

I am no chainsaw expert but know how to follow sound advice and be safe.  Fortunately I don't have any more dead maples to tempt me.

I misunderstood your comment originally on paneling; I wasn't thinking 4/4, but something much thinner.  Some T&G stuff from that maple might just be the ticket for some kitchen cabinets.

Thanks again, and isn't there someone out there who can take a stab at what kind of fruit I posted earilier??