Okanogan 14x24 by a lurker :)

[rniles]

That looks gorgeous! Great job!

[OlJarhead]

Looks great!  Is that a 6" then 4" pattern?  I think that would also look good in a wainscot running them vertical.  Doing it over would you stick to the T&G or go with ship-lap?  I see advantages of both.  Your routed T&G patterned seems to have matched up very well.  It sure does not hurt that you did not run up a huge lumber bill either!  Prorating the router and planer into the project all tools you will have for years to come.  Your out lay will diminish with each project and phase you complete.       

Yes we actually did a 6"/5"/4" pattern....why?  Because it was easiest to make the boards that size and have some uniformity.  In truth we learned that after the first three walls where we had some 4" and 4 1/2" boards and tried to make them work.  It worked ok but it occurred to me fairly quickly that we had to standardize on something and settled on even sizes 4 to 6 inches.  I wanted to go as big as 6 or 7 inches to utilize boards milled to those sizes without having to go to 3" T&G which would take to long to install etc...but I didn't want to go larger for fear of 'cupping' in the wood when drying as inexperience made me think this would be more of an issue -- today however I have some very nice 12"x5/8" wood that is flat and dry and could easily be used to make paneling....truth is I'm tempted to use one row of it JUST BECAUSE!  After all, how cool would it be to have a row of 12" T&G stuck in there?

[OlJarhead]

Man that looks really great, and even better since you produced it. I had alot of pines on my other piece of property I sold I could have used because they were everywhere. Now I just have alot of Oaks and Cedar Elms. Some of the Elms need to come down. Anyone know if this is a good Cedar to use for panelling? If so I may end up getting a sawmill and planer too. I like the idea of owner produced lumber. Gives something else to talk about in addition to "es I built this cabin by myself and no it wasnt a kit" 

I love Cedar but am not familiar with Cedar Elms??  The oak would make nice trim though!  And flooring!

[OlJarhead]

Man that looks really great, and even better since you produced it. I had alot of pines on my other piece of property I sold I could have used because they were everywhere. Now I just have alot of Oaks and Cedar Elms. Some of the Elms need to come down. Anyone know if this is a good Cedar to use for panelling? If so I may end up getting a sawmill and planer too. I like the idea of owner produced lumber. Gives something else to talk about in addition to "es I built this cabin by myself and no it wasnt a kit" 

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/cedar-elm/
Hmmm... it is useable actually and if it is stained it might be very nice.  However it sounds tough to work with but I've learned not to beleive or trust everything I've heard or read...for me?  I'd mill it and dry it and see what I could do with it

[OlJarhead]

That looks gorgeous! Great job!

Thanks   Can't wait to get back!

[OlJarhead]

I've just posted a new a new thread in the plans help section for those interested in answering there but here it is also:

In this rough drawing I've shown approximately what I have to fix in my loft.  I have 2x6 walls and 2x6 rafters with a birds-mouth cut out in the rafters.  The issue is that the rafter's birds-mouth doesn't make the raft sit all the way across the top of the wall leaving a slight 'shelf' or 'ledge' there.  I've been contemplating how to correct this for mostly cosmetic reasons and have been thinking about installing a 2x cripple from the top of the wall to the bottom of the rafter like this:


I could either screw or nail these on which would then give me nailers for the T&G pine paneling that I plan to install.  It would also mean that I could have the insulation pulled slight away from the bird blocking / venting at the eves giving it a larger area to enter the vent gap in the roof (if that matters at all)....

Thoughts?
Thanks!

[OlJarhead]

Looks great!  Is that a 6" then 4" pattern?  I think that would also look good in a wainscot running them vertical.  Doing it over would you stick to the T&G or go with ship-lap?  I see advantages of both.  Your routed T&G patterned seems to have matched up very well.  It sure does not hurt that you did not run up a huge lumber bill either!  Prorating the router and planer into the project all tools you will have for years to come.  Your out lay will diminish with each project and phase you complete.       

I think I forgot to answer:  shiplap would probably be easier to install but harder to make.  However, I prefer both the fit and look of the T&G stuff.  I'll stick with it   Specially not that I have an amana bit that seems to really eat up the work  

[rick91351]

Like I say it looks very good, and I think the T&G is a real plus here because it holds things a lot better.

Many many years ago when I worked around planer mills there was a huge call for veed edge center match.  It was T&G but each edge had a part of the vee.  Slide them together and you had the vee.  We did many millions of feet of that mostly in white fir and mostly in 2X6.  2X8 and 10's we ran veed edge center vee.  The vee was only on one side of the board so if a home or cabin builder needed to have a flat surface for like a loft floor you installed it with the vee down.  I thought it was a very practical product.  Other than white fir on a floor is way way to soft.  

 

[OlJarhead]

Like I say it looks very good, and I think the T&G is a real plus here because it holds things a lot better.

Many many years ago when I worked around planer mills there was a huge call for veed edge center match.  It was T&G but each edge had a part of the vee.  Slide them together and you had the vee.  We did many millions of feet of that mostly in white fir and mostly in 2X6.  2X8 and 10's we ran veed edge center vee.  The vee was only on one side of the board so if a home or cabin builder needed to have a flat surface for like a loft floor you installed it with the vee down.  I thought it was a very practical product.  Other than white fir on a floor is way way to soft. 

 

I was going to try to make that but the bits were all for 5/8" or thicker wood so went with straight T&G instead.  I actually like the V-Groove look though.

I imagine Ponderosa will be too soft for a floor too but I hope (d) that a thick coat of poly will solve that....if not I may have to use Fir instead...or Tamarack.....

[OlJarhead]

Ya I think these are going above the door at the cabin   My Puma Model 92 .454Casull should fit nicely there


Found them at Cabela's for $21!

[OlJarhead]

Dropped in to say hi today as I was missing my cabin and work on it and noticed that you could sort the posts in here by replies....I must reply more in my cabin thread then anyway!  We're 3rd highest on the list

Anyway, popped in because I'm so darn excited!!!!!  We've (actually my boys) planed 47 (ish) boards for milling into T&G which puts us on par with the last trip   These 47 are mostly in the 8-10" range so in reality will make about 90 finished T&G boards...it takes about 70 to cover 19'x5' (based on the last section we did) so that means we've probably got enough now to finish half of the ceiling, but we're not done yet!

Hopefully before this weekend we will have close to twice that ready to cut into T&G and then this weekend we'll get them all done.  With luck we will be able to finish the interior paneling and bring back the Blue Stained pine I plan to use for window trim etc...and we're also working on the ships ladder

So ya, I'm basically stoked and can't wait to get back to the cabin and get to work!

[TheWire]

Most people who get cabin fever are looking to get out more.  I think cabin fever for most of us here means getting to the cabin more.

[Redoverfarm]

Here it is getting stranded indoors when you are getting 30-36" of snow at one time to add to what you already have.  Can't go anywhere.  But we usually find a away.

[OlJarhead]

Well we've planed all the 1/2" stock we brought home and ripped it all into even sizes (4,5,6&7" widths) and ended up with 99 total boards

Next we ran them all through the router table to get the grooves cut in them which was easier since we installed a stop nut on the router -- it had the threaded rod but no nut (was a craig's list buy).  With the nut in place we're able to lock the router tightly in place and not worry so much about knocking it loose or having it fall a little (it's moved before on us).

Also, with the new RIGID Shop-Vac we've found the router table set up works much better and we're able to really run the boards through!  We were really 'groovin' today 

Anyway, tomorrow we plan to get the 99 boards finished off so we can head to the cabin with them next weekend

[Don_P]

I was reading a page back, you were asking about sharpening the router bits. If you have a diamond stone rub the flat face on it stone to sharpen them... not the outer "cutting circle" but the face that builds up pitch and runs from the center to the rim. They are sharpened by removing thickness from the carbide, the pattern is then not changed.  Generally a few minutes of touch up will extend the bit for quite awhile between trip to the sawshop. Carbide is "dull" when you look down the cutting edge in strong light and see a white line on the edge... well that's true for any edge tool, a sharp edge splits the light, a dull edge has a land that reflects the light back at you. You can extend the planer knives by sharpening the edge with the diamond. Running dull knives in a planer can be real tough on the motor.

As far as sawing odd species that the texts dismiss, just be prepared for high waste. What makes it can be neat conversation pieces and the rest I call dimensional firewood. I've got some dogwood, beech, ailanthus, hophornbeam, slippery elm, sassafrass, black gum, and apple drying that will have very high waste but there are a few nice boards and you'll never see them coming out of Home Depot. Go over to the "my favorite recipes" thread... another use for some types of dimensional firewood is to plane ~ 1/4" thick and throw a  fish on em. Beech, cherry, maple, apple, hickory...

[OlJarhead]

Thanks DonP -- I appreciate your posts!

[OlJarhead]

Sweet 

We've finished all 99 of our T&G pine paneling for the cabin   This will give us almost enough paneling to complete the interior I think and is almost all that we have left from milling last fall and spring.

So, once this trip is done we'll have to mill up the last of the logs we have waiting, let them dry and then repeat the process of making the paneling -- that means it will be late winter for those but that's ok

As it stands now we've got plenty to do and I plan to do some cabin enjoying this winter   So once this paneling is on the walls then the trips get cut down to about once a month at which time we'll burn slash and just hang out

And maybe mill some trees up and cut firewood etc

I can't wait for next weekend!!!

[JavaMan]

I am reminded of a song ...

99 board of T&G on the wall, 99 boards of T&G ...

nah, doesn't work...

But you've given me an idea for a Christmas present (or three!)

[OlJarhead]

Should have about 120 boards of T&G with the stuff left over at the cabin

So what presents are you looking to get from yours?   Tent shed, planer, gun racks?

[Kris]

thats a really nice tub,,a couple pages back....

[OlJarhead]

thats a really nice tub,,a couple pages back....

Thanks Kris -- I can't wait to get it up there and installed!

[JavaMan]

Should have about 120 boards of T&G with the stuff left over at the cabin

So what presents are you looking to get from yours?   Tent shed, planer, gun racks?

Well, a short list of what's on my Amazon wish list for Christmas ... Planer (brought to mind by this thread), Sawmill (yeah, as if that's likely), fish cleaning glove (yep, I'm all over the place), and a few books and other odds and ends.

I think the planer and the mill might be a bit spendy for this year.

"Free" things that are on my list are a guaranteed number of weekends to get up to the property and either finish, or restart the project.  I got an award at the new job which included an extra day off "pass", so that will come in handy when I want to go up for a long weekend

[OlJarhead]

Glad to hear the new job is working out!  And getting an extra day off is, well, BONUS! 

The planer I'm using is the Ryobi 13" that you can get at HD for about $200 -- It's worth every penny too!

The Mill is spendy ($3k) but when you factor in T&G pine for the interior (for me that would run about $3.5k-$5k) and the added benefit of having plenty of lumber and the ability to make more and well...it just can't be beat!

Fish glove?  Not sure what you'd need one of those for   I just always used my hand! lol

Books are good   I have so many now that I'm beginning to think I'm building a college library (my books are about 90% history).

Anyway, keep the faith!  You'll get back at it and perhaps even begin to get more time there

[JavaMan]

Glad to hear the new job is working out!  And getting an extra day off is, well, BONUS! 

The planer I'm using is the Ryobi 13" that you can get at HD for about $200 -- It's worth every penny too!

The Mill is spendy ($3k) but when you factor in T&G pine for the interior (for me that would run about $3.5k-$5k) and the added benefit of having plenty of lumber and the ability to make more and well...it just can't be beat!

Fish glove?  Not sure what you'd need one of those for   I just always used my hand! lol

Books are good   I have so many now that I'm beginning to think I'm building a college library (my books are about 90% history).

Anyway, keep the faith!  You'll get back at it and perhaps even begin to get more time there

Typical story - when I have time, I have no $$ when I have $$ I have no time... it'll come tho - once I get enough time in at the new job to actually get vacation (which I'll be eligible for 1 week at the end of Dec  )  And another in June-ish ... so the extra day(s) will come in handy if I can get more of them.

Yours is looking mighty fine there, tho.  Makes me a bit envious.  It will happen tho.  Then I need to save for a well.

[OlJarhead]

We arrived around 10:30pm Thursday night and while Josh began to unload the truck I got to setting a fire in the wood stove.  It was about 22 degrees outside (3 degrees warmer then 600 feet below us strangely enough) and the cabin was pretty cold.

I kicked on the power too which was nice and charged for us -- it wouldn't stay that way though!

It didn't take too long to get the cabin to about 48 degrees and that's when we hit the hay.  Throughout the night though, I got up and stoked the stove -- burning pine really sucks in that regard I think!  I HAVE to cut some better firewood soon.


Friday we got busy early (I got up late because I went to bed late only to discover that my GPS enabled watch had reset the time off daylight savings for some reason -- so in reality I got up an hour earlier -- figure that out).  I ran to the builders place and picked up a few things to finish off the catwalk and Josh got to work on wiring and insulation.

By 9pm in the evening we were beat but the east wall in the loft was done!  You'll notice the slanted pattern...that was actually a solution to a problem -- the problem being that there was nothing to nail to at the top of the stud bays!  I guess when framing them I never considered that so Josh suggested slanting the boards and viola   Looks cool anyway!

On my way out the door I discovered SNOW!!!  This pic was taken the next day:

Of course at 9pm I wasn't happy because it meant a lot of work to protect all the wood that was on the trailer (and under a tarp) and what followed was a 1 hour rush to tidy up, chop wood, cover things etc etc.  I also noticed that running the lights inside the cabin ALL DAY had cost us on power and the controller was telling me we were around 80% already!  I told Josh not to read too late.

Next day we had about 2-3 inches of snow and it looked most likely that we'd get more...but we weren't working outside anyway!  We got busy on the loft catwalk and made a decision to make it 80" deep instead of 48 since we had the material and we'd been thinking about it for months.


It didn't take long to get it installed and once done we were glad we did it!  So awesome to have so much space up there now!


Walking between the 'lofts' is now really just walking around THE loft.  Josh likes it a lot and we think we can sleep at least 6 comfortably up there now


Biggest issue with working and staying in the cabin is where to put stuff....Josh made a 'cave' around his end of the cabin so he wouldn't have to move stuff too much when we get back next trip...he'll just climb into bed and crash and the next day his 'room' won't be in the way or used as part of the 'workshop'


Another aspect of the catwalk being done is that it provides a ceiling for the kitchen and a place to put a much needed light


The snow had totally shut down the solar power on us Friday and Saturday and while we made it through Friday OK and well into Saturday but I was a bit worried about running the batteries down below the 80% mark and the fridge while not running much, was running, so I hooked up the iota charger and watched the power come back   WE HAVE THE POWER! 

I love having solar power with a generator back up!

The place is still a mess, of course, but we're getting there.

More later.