thehandcraftedlife.com
Joisting | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/04/25/joisting
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. April 25, 2015. April 30, 2015. Straddling two ladders, 80 kg of Douglas Fir on my shoulder, I lowered the timber onto a flat spot chiselled on the round beam. A satisfying thunk onto its mark 1 inch (25mm) below the string line, the bones of the upper floor complete. The 6X12 inch joists run perpendicular to the three parallel rows of round wood beams running through the house. I recommend lifting timbers with your shoulder. It’s the antid...
thehandcraftedlife.com
September | 2014 | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2014/09
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. September 19, 2014. September 19, 2014. John and The First Post. Six months ago, the Douglas fir came crashing down. Today we started putting it back up again. The cultural historian in me reflecting on the unfolding story of the fall and redemption. The builder in me sharpening my chisels and wondering how to move a 120 kg post. With a builder’s level, string lines put up with the help of a sick Kiwi, and a plumb bob. At scale, producing proba...
thehandcraftedlife.com
April | 2015 | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/04
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. April 25, 2015. April 30, 2015. Straddling two ladders, 80 kg of Douglas Fir on my shoulder, I lowered the timber onto a flat spot chiselled on the round beam. A satisfying thunk onto its mark 1 inch (25mm) below the string line, the bones of the upper floor complete. The 6X12 inch joists run perpendicular to the three parallel rows of round wood beams running through the house. I recommend lifting timbers with your shoulder. It’s the antid...
thehandcraftedlife.com
the handcrafted life | On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island | Page 2
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/page/2
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. The Future of Fruit is Now. March 28, 2015. March 29, 2015. Karen and Jen and the blue lovelies. It’ll be a berry yummy place in a few years. In the aftermath of ‘The Big Mess’ late-winter-hugelkultur project. Great strides have been made in our quest for a fruitful future. From Denman Island Heritage Apples. To be one in a handful of apples favoured by the Romans. The final perennial project of the early spring was a raspberry bed that Karen d...
thehandcraftedlife.com
January | 2015 | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/01
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. January 23, 2015. January 23, 2015. Earlier this week, my neighbour John worked his excavator magic and we slotted the last interior beam into the NW corner of the house. One end is bolted to a 3/8 thick flitch plate, cut on a water jet table in Nanaimo by Unlimited Fabrication. The other end rests on a ladder until this coming weekend when I’ll add a built-up post of four 2X6s that will ultimately be housed inside an 18-inch thick wall. Last S...
thehandcraftedlife.com
February | 2015 | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/02
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. Hugelkultur or how to bury a big mess the permaculture way. February 6, 2015. February 6, 2015. Karen buries the evidence…err builds a hugel bed. Moat-like and bramble-choked, a drainage ditch dug long ago surrounds our garden. The most valuable asset in our quest for food self-sufficiency. Who dug the ditch and when is unknown, but over the past few decades parts of it have succumbed to the relentless creep of the surrounding red alder. John e...
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Have portable mill, will travel | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2014/05/25/have-portable-mill-will-travel
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. Have portable mill, will travel. May 25, 2014. May 26, 2014. So, do you have much experience milling timber? I asked Nate the sawmill man. He just looked at me. Yeah, I’ve probably milled about two. Board feet’ he replied, eyes coolly fixed. So three days later we had 9,500 board feet of site cut lumber from our downed trees. Nate working on board feet 2,009,500. The off cut pile. Our Forest Versus Thor. Roundwood and Light Clay Straw →. You ar...
thehandcraftedlife.com
November | 2014 | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2014/11
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. November 12, 2014. November 12, 2014. Drilling the first beam. The moment of truth. Standing on a plywood platform held up by an excavator drilling a hole through our first Douglas fir beam. The high-torque drill precariously balanced between sucking the auger into the timber, snapping the shaft and jamming it forever or breaking my wrist and flinging me onto the rocks below. And it all came down to this moment. We have achieved beamdon! I chis...
thehandcraftedlife.com
The Last Post(s, Beam and Joist) | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/06/03/the-last-posts-beam-and-joist
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. The Last Post(s, Beam and Joist). June 3, 2015. June 4, 2015. 8216;The gap’ mocking my 9 months of labour. 11 mm of wood between me and the completion of our heavy timber frame. A yawning micro gap mocking me on the Hillary Step of nine months of hard post-and-beam graft from above the fourth of five posts over which sat our last and longest beam. A beastly 27’ 7 (8.5m) chunk of Douglas fir felled by Thor. Perplexing that 11 mm. A snowstorm of ...
thehandcraftedlife.com
Beaming Part II | the handcrafted life
https://thehandcraftedlife.com/2015/01/23/beaming-part-ii
On building, beer, bread and big ideas on a wee Gulf Island. January 23, 2015. January 23, 2015. Earlier this week, my neighbour John worked his excavator magic and we slotted the last interior beam into the NW corner of the house. One end is bolted to a 3/8 thick flitch plate, cut on a water jet table in Nanaimo by Unlimited Fabrication. The other end rests on a ladder until this coming weekend when I’ll add a built-up post of four 2X6s that will ultimately be housed inside an 18-inch thick wall. Last S...