(April 2021)
This video is a bit more sluggish and maybe a bit more disjointed. I apologize, It pretty much fit the mood of this leg of the build.
For one thing, it took way longer than I had anticipated. I thought I was going to have it done in one long weekend. (I usually have Fridays off so I have three days in a row free.) But I was wrong. Everything in this part took longer than expected and there were a couple of details I had not factored in. In the end, it took 2 long weekends plus a couple of hours after work.
The first day it rained. Worse, I had gone out, set the beams in place, and was ready to start....and THEN it rained! Pack it all up and head back inside. The only upside to that rain was that I had forgotten I was going to need 16 pegs. I guess I thought I would make them as I went? Anyway, I gathered some small wood and whittled away. It took a couple of hours and I made a huge mess in the living room of the house. At least I was warm by the fire. Some of the other drizzly days didn't seem to have any upsides.
Then, well, stuff just sort of went wrong.
I had one beam that I knew was a little soft but it didn't seem too deep, it was fairly large and still sturdy, and it was in a place where it would be supported so I thought it would be fine. It wasn't fine. When it was time to notch the end, that end just sort of crumbled. It had rotted quite a bit more in the couple of weeks since I had prepped them. So, a whole new log had to be found, cut, and peeled to take its place. And I broke a peg along the way and had to make another of those too.
Part of the slowdown was that I had gotten a bit sidetracked by a small side project. Hubby's friend Jim had given me 20 large old firebricks. Another acquaintance donated a couple of flue liners. I was trying to create a fireplace/cooking area with them. I have not yet come up with a configuration that works. But that is a story for another day.
Do you have any idea long it takes to auger just one hole? Well I know it takes me at least a half an hour or more. By the time it's drilled, sawdust cleared out, and a peg pounded in and sawn-off flush...about an hour. There were 16 of them to do!
And the palms of my poor hands! They were so tired. Breaks were required regularly. Which is how I got waylaid on the aforementioned fire project.
To top it off, the two angled pieces sat funny on their posts and had to be notched out a little at a time until they fit in their spots. Another slow process.
Many times I was frustrated, disappointed, and wondering why I was even doing this. But this leg is done and it is time to move on. Hopefully the next step will go more smoothly.
But the bugs have awoken....