Thursday, August 24, 2006

August 23rd - Adz Ons












Fabian and Susan have taken their large equipment trailer to Telluride to pick up the material handler which gets delivered around lunchtime. Greenbay has provided an old beam saw, which is a very large circular saw capable of making 6” deep cuts. Using various saws the long beams have to be ripped down on one side to provide a flat surface for nailing the 2nd floor flooring to.

The beams are hand-hewn solid oak and flat surfaces of these logs were all done by hand using an adz which is a flat cutting tool with a long handle. You can still see the adz marks on the beams which is what gives them character. These beams came from an old demolished barn in Iowa.

By early afternoon, we have 2 posts up against the old cabin and the gable end of the cabin removed to make room for the horizontal beam. I’ve been cutting and preparing the horizontal beams with the beam saw and my arms ache from holding and running the heavy old saw. Joe and DD have built and erected another short wall at the north end of the stairwell. We have 10 posts to install with 4 longer beams. Once these are up we will be able to build more sections of wall. The idea is that the posts and beams will not only serve as structural support but the old hand hewn beams will also be exposed on the inside and outside.

We made a lot of progress today, but ominous looking clouds to the east are headed our direction at the end of the day and as we are covering up beams with plywood and as we are picking up tools, the skies let loose.

We have a beer at the end of the day and after a huge downpour and hail, there is a break in the weather and everyone heads out. The rain has stopped and I finish by sweeping large amounts of standing water off the floor.

Lynn takes me to dinner at The Enterprise tonite.


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