Dogtrot at Hightop

[Redoverfarm]

A guest came to see the cabin today.  I don't think I will ever be able to get rid of him.  The problem is that I am not sure what to call him.  Looking for Suggestions?



Since storage is at a premium at the cabin I thought I would use the table leaf for a shelf in the klitchen. 

[NavyDave]

He looks like a Bob to me....or possibly a Robert?  Great idea on the shelf! 

[Bob S.]

I woud just call him Kitty.

[Pritch]

"Bob"

[Don_P]

I seem to recall a story about cousin Marcel tangling with one of those wild eyed pussy cats up in a tree while coon hunting. "Just shoot up here amongst us, one of us is bound to get some relief." I bounced a fawn yesterday while mowing, cute little thing I didn't see it till I was on top of it and it finally spooked. Our 110 lb dog thought that looked like something fun to chase. Had to put him away, Mama doe was about to take that big dog out  .

Who is in the picture on the wall?

[Redoverfarm]

Been a while since I posted on Dogtrot.  So I thought I would catch you up on the happenings.  I decided to name the cat "Miss Kitty".  Sort of goes with the Old Time theme of log houses and Gunsmoke.   So now instead of saying that I am going to the Mountain or the Cabin I just say I am going to see Miss Kitty.

Don_P the picture is a relative of my wifes from years ago I think.  Not real sure but all of her relations say's it Cousin "Issac" from the community of Trout,WV

Started off the 2012 season at the cabin with a music weekend.  Great time as usual.  The evening began on the deck by the outside fireplace.  The weather changes once the sun goes down and the cold and humidity started to affect the instrument strings and the elderly player.  So inside we went.  The fireplace was more than enough to make it comfortable. 

We were priviliged to have the Bing Brothers (This years recepient of the Vandalia award http://www.statejournal.com/story/18581686/bing-brothers-receive-west-virginias-highest-folk-life-honor?clienttype=printable) and Jake Krack , members of Mud Hole Control and a secret Country Plans Member from our sister State as our guest.



Food was nothing special and sort of like the music it was traditional with Chilli, Cornbread, Pinto beans, French Bread, deserts and liquid refreshments   

My daughter wanted to make her contribution to the event so in the afternoon she and I took a short walk and gathered a flower arraignment of wild flowers to garnish the table.



And here she is with her favorite duties.  You probably remember the little one from last year.



The Mystery Guest.  I am not sure whether he was an undercover scout from Nashville, food critic from the Food Channel or guest services scout  from Travelocity. But he had talent on the guitar and mandolin so he fit right in.



Oh Yeah Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iZF8Etn51o&list=UUeTi-PMcRDvERThoKSowv4w&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esQSGlOP_aI&feature=channel&list=UL

I have another good one that I am in the process of down loading which will be added a little later.

The festivities concluded on Sunday with your's truely fixing breakfast ( not too early mind you) of Eggs, fried potato's, sausage gravey, buiscuits,

This weekend will be a spectacular one as well.  We travel to Charleston to the State Capitol for the 36th Annual Vandalia Festival where Steven is playing in a concert Friday night at the Cultural Center as a student to http://www.alleghenyechoes.com/index.html which was founded by Mike Bing our good friend.  Then Saturday he is playing two square dances at the Festival with his favorite band "Mud Hole Control". 

 

[Sassy]

Wow, great music!  Looks like fun - now how do I push the "like" button?  Tell you daughter the flower arrangement is beautiful...  and the little guy is a cutie    And of course, your place is spectacular as usual!

You must be really proud of your son 

[Don_P]

Looks like you all had a fine time  Hope to get up that way for some toe tapping sometime. Made the right call, it hit again yesterday. Good luck in the big city, sounds like quite an event. I'm curious, both flowers in your daughter's arrangement go by a couple of names here. Flame azalea is also called honeysuckle by the old timers and the mountain laurel also goes by ivy, do you hear them called both, or other names? Looks like you have the same maidenhair and Christmas ferns we do. We have another beauty, catawba rhododendron, that was fading by last weekend that has been making the woods pretty.
We went home by another way about a week ago.

[Redoverfarm]

You are right on all counts Don.  We have some rhododendron but mostly laurel.  When I lived near the New River Gorge it was just the opposite.  It is our State Flower.

Hope you get on the mind soon.  You are missing out. .  But we will catch you good times later.

Yes this is a busy time of the year for us.  Alot going on all the time.  But before long it will be white and cold again so as they say " make hay while the sunshines".

BTW I got one wall done at the cabin w/solubor.  Managed to get 6 applications on the same logs and then the heavens broke loose.  Gully washer here.  I did think ahead a little and did the front where it was covered by the porch.  They were calling for T.Storms today.

[rick91351]

Sounds like great music, great times and lots of fun....

Don_P's photo is almost as pretty as your daughter! 

[ChuckinVa]

Wow. Good video. Glad you posted. That mystery guest really had a good time! Oops. Might have given that away.

[Redoverfarm]

Sassy and Rick thanks for the kind words.  Yes we all had a good time. I really don't see how we couldn't.  The best part is that we all came together as friends and when they left we were still friends.   The little one is a girl from Irish decent. I think the hair gives her away.     She is always surrounded by music and enjoys it as well as the adults. 

Yes Steven has come a long way in a short time.  He has already accomplished more in his youth than the old man has in a lifetime.  I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

Here is another Video taken that night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33YIJl09hLY&list=UUeTi-PMcRDvERThoKSowv4w&index=1&feature=plcp

[Redoverfarm]

Now that the festivities are over for the time being I took the oppurtunity to treat the exterior of the cabin for infestation.  I noticed a couple of places that the elusive "powder post beatle's" have found a temporary home by the presence of their dust trails.     I originally treated the logs at the onset of construction in 2006-2007.  You would think that logs over some 100 years in age would not hold any nutritional value but apparently they do.

I used Solubor which Don_P recommended.  Easy to apply with a compressed garden sprayer.  I omitted the anti-freeze from his formula as I was afraid of the discoloration that might occur on the chinking.  The mix was 1-1/2# of solubor @ 1 gallon of water.  I managed to apply approximately 6-8 coatings.  I used approximately 20# of the solubor for a coverage of approximately 800 sq. ft.  The applications were judged by the saturation rate.  If the spray began to run I would wait a few minutes to reapply giving time for it to soak into the wood.  This took approximately 12 hours all together for the treatment.

I recently received the tenon cutter that I had order to make the 90 some ln ft  of rustic railings    .  As soon as I get some other projects out of the way    I hope to get started on them. 

[Redoverfarm]

A little time to play as I wait for things to dry up to finish my outside projects. I mentioned the Tenon Cutter that I ordered so I decided to put it to the test.  I am not quite ready to jump into the railings with both feet but I was curious.  Seems to work pretty good considering the cost of it in comparison to some more expensive models.  I only noticed two downside features.  One being it takes a good amount of horizontal force to push the cutter onto the picket end.  Second being that the there is no individual adjustment of tenon size vs. log diameter.  It is capable of cutting a 4" log (picket) but you end up with a 2" tenon.  Since the majority of the pickets vary from 3-1/2" to 4"  I will be using the 1-1/2" tenon.  I will just drawknife the diameter to accept the cutter width of 4".

There is a 3/8" pilot hole drilled into the picket end to accept the steel tenon cutter guide shaft.  I secured the picket onto a set of saw horses(1) and used a 6"X8"X6' post as weight on the set of homemade horse. Using an adjustable ratchet strap it help it secure enough. 

It took only 25 seconds to cut the 3-5/8" picket.  But I am sure that the feed rate will be much slower with repetition. With some nearly 90 feet of railings to make that is almost guarenteed.  Oh BTW the picket weight has nearly decreased by some 50% from when I peeled them. 

[ChuckinVa]

I think I'm going to miss the openness of the front porch once you put the railings on....

[Redoverfarm]

I think I'm going to miss the openness of the front porch once you put the railings on....

Chuck I have been debating that decision as well.  I am going to concentrate on the stair and loft railings first.  Maybe that will give me more time to decide. 

[Redoverfarm]

Spent the majority of the day laying out the railings on the stairs.  Not an easy task.  Finally got the newell post scribed and in place.  Generally I usually don't have a problem scribing but with the angle of the stair stringer it just didn't want to come together. Finally got a decent fit.  Working with logs on angles and varing demensions is a learning process.  The railings varied from 3-1/2 to 4-1/2" and the pickets were mainly 3 and 3-1/2".  Not the straightest pieces but what do you expect gathering up along the roadside during a highway improvement project.  But they were free.  Another problem was finding center on the rails to drill the angled tenion pockets.  By the time I get the inside done I might forgo the porch railings. We'll see.  Unlike conventional lumber trying to get square and plumb is a real chore.  Now I will sand, stain, finish and then assemble.  But that will have to wait.  It's drying out here so back outside until a rainy day.

[Redoverfarm]

The last several days have been without rain and sunny.  I took advantage and started seeding the landings and road up to the top of the mountain behind the house.  So far I have both landings and 500 feet of road seeded and mulched down.  I only have another 1,000 feet or so left to do.    The roadway inclusive of the sloped embankment, road and overburden area is about 25-30' wide.  I am using 800-1,000 # round haybales for mulch.  So far I have went through 6 bales or approximately 4.800-6,000 pounds of hay.  Don't have any problems unrolling them just headem down hill and give them a push.      No not really.  I use the tractor forks to hold them back. Once the roll is completely rolled out I use a pitch fork and hands to distribute the hay.

The seed that I am using is a formulation developed for West Vaco Pulp and Paper company for reseeding harvested land.  It contains about 8-10 different varieties of seed which have proven to have the best soil retention qualities.  We'll see.

[NavyDave]

Red, how long did you let the logs for your railings season for? I'm thinking about making my own also. I really like that rustic look and I have large stand of pines that need thinning at my place. They make some really nice railing at a local lumber yard for $10 a linear foot  but I figured since I need to do some thinning anyway I might as well save some money by killing 2 birds with one stone.

[Redoverfarm]

Red, how long did you let the logs for your railings season for? I'm thinking about making my own also. I really like that rustic look and I have large stand of pines that need thinning at my place. They make some really nice railing at a local lumber yard for $10 a linear foot  but I figured since I need to do some thinning anyway I might as well save some money by killing 2 birds with one stone.

Dave the railings is a dirty word to me today.  I have been struggling to put up the stair railings today.  All day and still not there.  So many variables to them that things are not working out correctly. I guess using less than completely straight and uniform diameters doesn't help.  The straight sections of the railing should be a snap compared to these. But then again I have to get a little inventitive as they butt up to my stone fireplace flu.  I love a challange

To your original question now that I have vented.  I peeled the logs in March 2011 where they have air dried covered since then.  I started using them around the first of the month and they appeared to be dry.  They probably had lost 1/3-1/2 of their original weight.  Really light in comparison to when I peeled them.  So basicly 12 months .  They varied from 3-6" diameter.  They will check but that is OK with me as it adds a little character and does not effect their strength.  There is a lot of work involved to get them to the competed stage.  So if time is money you might be better off buying the pre-made ones.  But if you want to make a go of it and have something to do on the rainy days you might try.  I am often accused of being cheap but I like to refer to it as being frugal.

[OlJarhead]

Very nice tenon!  I'm having a VERY tough time with the Logman Tenon cutter.  It works but I cannot get a decent tenon on my balusters.  Seems the fact that they are not perfectly straight could be the issue but the cutter tends to turn them into 'screws' almost.

Perhaps cranking up the router speed will work??

[Redoverfarm]

Very nice tenon!  I'm having a VERY tough time with the Logman Tenon cutter.  It works but I cannot get a decent tenon on my balusters.  Seems the fact that they are not perfectly straight could be the issue but the cutter tends to turn them into 'screws' almost.

Perhaps cranking up the router speed will work??

The key might be one of two things or a combination.  If it has a guide made sure that the pilot hole is dead center and the piece is kept level while feeding.  The other may be the feed rate.   Even with my patience    some of mine are not exactly straight either and I would probably attribute it to poor centering.  Hope you are not making stair railings.

I was pleasently surprised at the tenon cutter.  For the price it worked exceptional.  Only drawback is that it takes a lot of horizontal force at times.

[Pine Cone]

Very nice tenon!  I'm having a VERY tough time with the Logman Tenon cutter.  It works but I cannot get a decent tenon on my balusters.  Seems the fact that they are not perfectly straight could be the issue but the cutter tends to turn them into 'screws' almost.

Perhaps cranking up the router speed will work??

I found the Logman tenon cutter worked best if I used a very slow feed speed.  I also ended up using a guide block attached about 2 feet in front of the tenon cutter to help me keep the sticks somewhat straight.  If you keep a consistent height above the guide block you end up with decent tenons.  The pencil-sharpener type sold by Lee Valley is easier to control, but the Logman works OK with a guide block.

[Redoverfarm]

Well the stair ralings are finished and installed.  Not some of my better work.  I learned alot about stair railings which didn't enter into the making until I went to assemble them.  Part of the problems was that all the pickets were cut the same length.  The railing handrails were not straight.  So some had bottomed out and others had not. This did not alloow me to fine tune the plumb of the pickets.  I could have also taken more time to percisely drill the handrail holes to accept the tenons on exact verticle.  I thought I had but freehanding stair railings there are too much room for error.  Nothing I could do other than re-make them custom to the measurement.  Then I said hey  " it's a log cabin".  Still have the landing railings to do but they are level so I don't anticipate any problems other than having time to do them. 

Had a visitor at the cabin before I got there this morning.  I met him coming off the hill of the cabin but not before he left his calling card in the driveway.  So what they say about " bears in the woods" is not true they also use the driveway.   He wouldn't pose for a photograph.   I would say he was last years cub weighing in at about 150#

[NavyDave]

Red
those railings really look great. Would you say that if you cut every one as you installed them that it would have went smoother for you? I really like that look and would like to give it a go on my porches and lofts/stairs also.