Still Carving Away

I’m still carving away! I’ve scheduled the cabin raising for Oct. 5. Normally the peak foliage viewing is that weekend so it’s a great time to visit Vt. We’re planning to have an old fashioned “barn raising” style outing. We’ll have potluck dishes and lots of family and friends.

I’m scrambling a bit to make sure everything is ready. This week I carved  the last two major timbers. Now I just have to saw the logs for roof rafters along with some small misc. pieces.  I discovered one error on one post that will require some fixing. I doubt if I’ll be able to make a new one so I’ll just correct it. There will be a visible mortise in the face of the timber but that will just become a conversation topic. ha ha

Here I am double checking one of the corner braces. These things need to be VERY accurate or the building won’t go together. I’m pretty sure these are right. Now I just hope that both the mating post and beam are correct as well!

Here I am tapering the side of one of the braces using a slick. This tool I got for $8 at an antique barn. The handle needed repair but there was nothing else wrong with it. It works great for shaving a surface smooth. In this case I needed to shave the tenon on this piece to 1 1/2 inches thick. The inaccuracies of rough cut timbers makes this a common requirement to have the pieces fit nice and tight.

I’ll post more before the raising!

Namaste