The first job is to assemble all the parts–ultimately fastened with wooden “trunnels” or tree nails. They’re 7/8″ diameter hand carved oak dowels, 8″ long.
The deck is not fastened–we’ll do that this fall when the lumber shrinks a bit more, then pull out a 6″ and install an 8″ to make up for this shrinkage.
Here’s the whole package. Rafters are in the distance–we’ll put this up on Saturday in about 8 hours, then have a big barn-raising party…..read on!
OK–up we go. Here the first wall is up and the second follows.
Tip up and we’re done.
Each cross-tie is wedge-shaped to keep the walls from spreading. One, two, three, lift!
We align all the joinery. It fits perfectly!
Now the other end. We’ve a square that can’t budge.
A couple more taps and we’re all set.
Here’s the view from the slough. The roof is a 12/12 pitch and fourteen rafter pairs will sit on this frame. Skip sheet and a blue metal roof will complete the building. We’ll let the siding go natural–all yellow cedar.
We’re nearly done–here the rafters are nearly up.
Curved symbols are the north side, straight the south–this is the second span with the third beyond. The ‘trunnels’ are left an inch proud for effect.
Interesting joinery.
Andy is the brains behind this architecture; he builds beautiful wooden boats too! Well done, Andy!
It’s customary to nail a bough at the highest point in the structure–of the trees used in construction–in this case Yellow Cedar and Sitka Spruce. After the skip-sheet and roof, we’ll side the building and build a window package with sliding doors at each end which open wide enough to take in the afternoon sun–what a view! More to come!