Dogtrot at Hightop

[ChuckinVa]

They look good John. I wonder how the girls are going to see the musicians when they are sitting on the steps watching. LOL You might need to build some booster seats to set on the steps !

[Redoverfarm]

NavyDave  there are several factors you want to consider and apply when making the stair railings.  Pick the straightest rail poles, layout the rail poles up the stairs with the correct rail spacing (4") from the floor and what heigth you want from floor to top rail.  Make sure that the heigth of the rails give you uniform picket length.  Layout of the picket holes is crucial that they lay dead center in the top and bottom rails with the required or recommended 4" spacing of the pickets.  Determine the angle of the pickets using a sliding bevel square.  You need to transfer this to a guide block to make sure that all the pickets will be uniform plumb.  With mine being 11 feet long I had to free hand the picket holes and despite my best efforts some got a little off. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have developed a better drilling jig.  Maybe a 4"X4" with a angled picket hole that could be set on the rail and the drill bit passing through that to the rails.  But that only works for a short period of time until the cutter head of the forstner bit passes through the guide block.  I am sure you can come up with something similar. 

If you purchase a tenon cutter it is best to get a beveled tenon cutter for the stairs.  The 90 deg shoulder ones will not allow any adjustment as the shoulder will hit on the rails with a stair angle.  With the tenon cutter I had it gave me a 2" tenon but even then the angle of the stairs took the majority of that tenion to secure the picket to the rail with very little of the tenon being visible.  Straight landing railings should be rather simple and straight forward.

As far as the layout and assembly  Once you determine the length of the pickets (some may vary) I cut the pickets and used a level to place them at plumb and spaced (4" ) apart and marked that location on the rails for the picket holes. I marked the ends (numerical) from top to bottom to insure which pickets went where because they are different diameters.  Assembly is best to place one picket in the end and work the pickets into the holes one at a time to the other end.  That will let you gradually lower the top rail over the pickets enough to hold in position.  Working by myself there was no way I could set the rail over the 16 pickets at once.  I secured some of the pickets to the rails by angling a few 2" deck screws through the tenon and rail.  I found that passby attachment of the rail to the newell post is alot easier than trying to accurately tenon the rails to the newell post.

ChuckinVa  yeah it will narrow down the additional seating some.  With the loft railings it will be even more spectator space absorbed.  Maybe I will have to set some more chairs up on the porch and deck and let them peak through the windows. . 

[NavyDave]

Red, Thanks for the railing tutorial. It's a ways off for me yet since my rails have yet to be cut but you broke it down pretty well. I'm sure i'll have a few more questions when that time comes.

[Redoverfarm]

Well I finished the railings today. I thinks it is just as hard to clean up as it was to install them.     I had the two loft sections on both sides of the fireplace.  What I thought would be straight forward wasn't so much.  But in an effort to make it more appealing I dropped a section of the post below the floor level.  That just complicated the install.  Anyway that's finished.  I couldn't get back far enough with my camera to get both sections in one picture. 

[ben2go]

Looks great.Real rustic looking.I'm think 1700's frontier house.

[MountainDon]

Very cool John!!   

[Redoverfarm]

Well I made it back.  Well partly anyway.  Probably wasn't missed as much as I missed seeing the progress others have been making.  The storm hit this area pretty hard.  But I must count my blessings.  We arrived home late Friday June 29th to find this which was just the tip that I could see inthe dark.



I think I mentioned my friend that passed away in December that had a cabin on the mountain pass mine.  Anyway his wife and family had driven 4 hours to spend a week at his cabin only to find that the road was blocked by a tree.  So they let themselves into the house all 8 and sacked out on the floor and couches.  I told her that there were probably a few more down and that me and Steven would cut the road open inthe AM.  So the next morning we set off and begin cutting. Little did we know that the complete 6 mile road was littered with down trees.  They ranged from 6" to 24".  Well approximately 2/3 of the distance we got re-enforcements.  A volunteer fire department joined our struggle and after 8 hours of removing approximately 70 trees were made it to the top.  Thank goodness that all the trees that fell along the route did not land on the road.  The forest was war zone. 









When we returned home our task was not complete,  I had a large hickory that fell over the cattle fence which had to be cut and the fence repaired as well as a downed Cherry trees which had to be removed before the cattle could eat the toixic wilted leaves.  Oh well the standby Generator did it's part and has been running intermittently for the last 7 days.  We are still without power and according to all reports will be until at least Sunday.   Hope everyone is well and weathered the storm on.

[Don_P]

Hey John,
I was wondering how y'all weathered the storms, it sounds like you got hit harder than us. I started a thread titled "High wind" on the general board ,I think, last Sat before we winked out. Spent the night on the porch at work after trees blocked the road, wow what a nightime game trail . We got power back Thursday night, friends down the road phoned last night that they were lined up for showers and enjoying fresh water. Devildog up in C-burg checked in yesterday. I don't think I've seen Chuck on yet. We lost a few trees but in better shape than many. I'm starting to find some fried electronics, we must have gone out with a pop. I guess it might be time to update the stereo/ phonograph/cassette deck  Darn, now what to play "Old and in the way" on.

Edit;
Cool, this computer is back up, I wrote the above on the offline business machine, this one was acting up. We seem to be getting lines uncrossed. They say we'll get a break in the weather midweek.

[Redoverfarm]

Don we are making it as most in this area.  Still a lot of outages.  As of today Sat/PM we still do not have power.  Thank goodness for the generator.  Now if I could just put it on a diet.  So far in the last 8 days I have burned about 125 gal's of propane.  That is intermitently not even solid running.  Seems that these long outages happen at the worst of times.  Either in the dead of winter with snow up to your waist or the hottest days in summer lingering around 100 all week.  I am having more problems from the heat than the outage.  Get in about 5-6 hours in the early AM and then it gets so hot that you can't seem to get anything done.  They anticipate the power to be restored on Monday.  If that is the case it will be one day longer than the last major outage of 9 days.

I talked to Chuck a couple days after the storm and he said the power outage was their biggest problem in conjunction with the high temperature's. 

Yes we have plenty of firewood down.   Some that required immediate attention I got taken care of and the rest will just have to wait a while.  As far as the electronics even with a compatable power source it is not constant with a generator and they struggle as well.  Just hoping that the frig doesn't decide to commit suicide.

[glenn kangiser]

Wow... looks like you guys really got it out east, John.  Hope all goes well as it can considering. 

[Pine Cone]

Looks like at lot of work, but at least you were prepared.  So much for relaxing holiday weekend...  Glad everyone is OK and damage isn't too bad.

[Redoverfarm]

Back to normal at the house.  Well the best normal can be under the circumstances.  We got our power on last night at 9PM.  So if you were counting it was 9 day and 1 hour since it went out.  I'm not sure which is the worst, the storm or the clean up afterwards.  I have managed to get most of the trees out of the pasture and hayfield.  There is still a lot to clean up but there is not an urgency.

The wife took a couple of extra days off work following the 4th.  I made good use of her on Thursday cutting up and splitting the cherry tree off the barn roof.  She stacked while I split.  So that job is done and I guess you could say we killed two birds with one stone by getting in the firewood for next year and working up the tree off the barn and out of the yard.  It wasn't really her idea of a vacation but she never complained. 

Dogtrot faired really well during the storm.  A lot of limb/leaf tips over the yard but most of the tree's held their ground.  I did have one large semi-rotten Chestnut Oak about 18" dia fall at the corner of the yard but it went into Virginia when it went.  That one I will not have to clean up with about a 16/12  slope.   

With the hot weather the grass has really did well on the new road at the house.  I had a couple trees fall over the road but got them off this morning.  A couple more on top but the sky looked sort of black with thunder/lightning so I figure why push my luck. 

[Sassy]

Glad everything's getting back to normal Red,  guess you didn't need all the extra work, but hey, you & the wife got to work together gettin the firewood in 

[MountainDon]

I'm glad to hear that you received no serious damage, John. 

[Redoverfarm]

I'm glad to hear that you received no serious damage, John.

Yes Don it could have been a lot worse.  Some in the vicinity were not as lucky.







The tree damage was severe enough but add the unusual heat and lack of electricity made things a little uncomfortable.  I did sustain a broken little toe when a chunk of wood fell on my foot but that like everything else will heal in time.  It will take years to get everything cleaned up that is down in the woods and maybe I will never get to it all.  I spoke to the National Forest Ranger in charge of this region and she is offering free firewood permits in an attempt to clean up the roads managed by them.  Maybe even open some closed areas for clean up. 

[Don_P]

I hope they do open it up, wish it were for a little longer lengths. I'm driving by a tangle of good timber on the one side of the road and a disabled woman's driveway who will never be able to afford a house on the other side

If it was the big toe at the ball on the foot, I don't know if they can do anything but it might be worth getting it looked at. It does more to your walk than you would think.

[Redoverfarm]

Enjoying the fruits of my labor.  Saturday evening Dogtrot hosted my wife's Birthday Party.  Weather was unpredictable for using the deck so thank goodness for the 8' covered porch.  Made outside grilling a little easier than holding an umbrella.   Anyway my 10 year old daughter has been put in charge of the menu posting on the cabin events.  The slate is a portion of blackboard from my mothers high school where she graduated in 1950.  The school was torn down many years ago but I picked it up at an auction near where it once stood in Green Bank.  The frame is a hay hook used in a barn loft when they used to store bulk hay in the loft. 

As always everyone had a good time.

[ChuckinVa]

I'm startin to see a pattern on the drink menu...

[Redoverfarm]

I'm startin to see a pattern on the drink menu...

Yep I always try to keep water on hand at the cabin.

[ChuckinVa]

Yep I always try to keep water on hand at the cabin.

I was referring to the pop.

[Hillbilly9691]

GREAT PICS!! Hope to see more soon!   

[Redoverfarm]

Not much going on at Dogtrot.  I am now working on various projects around the house that I have neglected during the Dogtrot cabin construction.  I managed to lay 4 more feet of stone on the fireplace flue.  I had extra stone from the initial installation.  I had to order additional stone to match what I originally purchased and it will be a week or so until I receive it via motor freight.  I probably had enough of small stone to do the rest but it would have not looked right adjoining the lower 2/3.  I drew up a set of plans for a ladder bracket and gave it to my friend who is a welder.  He is going to fabricate the brackets out of aluminum for me.  I am going to affix them to the back of the flue atop the shed roof.  This will enable me to use a step ladder to the shed roof and then walk behind the flue and climb up the permanent installed extension ladder to clean out the flue periodically.  It will not be seen from any direction except on the roof.  I just can't manuver the 40' extension ladder myself anymore.



This past weekend the family took a little mini-vacation and went to a music festival at Washington Carver State Park, Clifftop,WV.  There were probably 4,000 people of which I would say 3,000 were overnight campers.  Yes we were among them.  Great music .  In the evenings there were smaller sessions throughout the campsites and Steven was right in there but mostly with the musicians that he normally plays with.  Well after roughing it ( I had forgot what that meant) in a tent and sleeping bag for two nights (doubtful that my back will ever forgive me) I decided enough was enough. I just happened to take a look at some campers on Craigslist.  Low and behold there was something that fit the bill and was reasonably priced.  I found a 2003 Starcraft which was in mint condition.  It had only been used one time.  The AC, frig and furnace had never been used. Actually it looked brand new on the interior.   So after the 45 mile trip I am the proud owner of a Pop-up camper.  AT 2K($) I don't think I got hurt too bad.  I told the wife that we could probably use it as overflow housing at the cabin if needed.

[Redoverfarm]

Still chipping away at my projects at Redoverfarm.  Trying to beat the winter.    I received my stone shipment on Friday.  The company no longer sells direct to the customer as they had in the past.  So this means I had to pay retail in comparison to what I purchased before direct from the factory.  Ouch!.  I paid about 2/3 for this small shipment (120 sq ft) as I had on my original purchase.

Anyway that's life (I guess) .  My ladder brackets are finished and waiting for my shipment of  wedge bolts needed for mounting the ladder. Originally I wanted to put stainless steel wedge bolts but at a price of $32 each I quickly decided on galvanized at $8 each.   I managed to get about 1/2 of the stone laid on the flue extension in the last couple of days.  Time consuming in that there is a lot of climbing up/down the scaffolding.  Thank goodness for the tractor in that I was able to lift the mortar and stone the majority of the heigth.

[Redoverfarm]

One more project marked off my list.  This one has lingered since October, 2007.  Finished the stone work on the extended flue.  In addition I added the ladder on the back side to make it easier to clean the flue out.  As you can see it is not really that noticable except from the roof.  So the only person that will see it will be Santa Claus.   





The ladder mounted to the flue.



Mounting bracket.  There are two of these. One on the bottom rung and the other on the top rung.  Stainless "U" bolts affix the rung to the bracket.

[ColchesterCabin]

now thats just clever out of sight but very practical, props.