timberframe
Timberrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Top of the self-sufficiency challenge list is replacing the caved in roof. My plan is to rebuild using the timberframe construction technique. This is basically done using large squared off timbers, usually six to eight inches square, connected together by some form of mortise and tenon joinery and wooden pegs. Not satisfied with the attempt to wrestle large timbers into place to form a solid frame for the building, I have also decided to mill my own timbers from logs I harvested from the property. Call me crazy on any given day and you won't get any argument from me. Milling logs into the timbers the way I'm doing it is one of the crazier projects I have attempted since we got here.
Wild Thing
I have a love/hate relationship with the chainsaw. My first saw I inherited when I bought a piece of property many years ago and it was a Massey-Ferguson chainsaw, if you can believe it. Massey is known for their tractors, at least here in Canada, but nobody I ever knew had heard of a Massey chainsaw. I think I must have owned one of the three they built. It was easy to see why there weren't many around; it was the worst excuse for a chainsaw imaginable. It was hard to start, hard to stop, had no safety brake of any kind and I'm sure the hearing loss in my right ear is a direct result of its pathetic attempt at a muffler.
Chainsaws are the junk yard dogs of the outdoor tool kit. You have to treat them with respect because they can turn on you in a hurry. The scar on my chest is pretty much gone now but it served as a reminder about how nasty these things can be.
Stackwall and Timberframe
In addition to fixing the roof that caved in on us...well, not on us since we weren't there at the time...we plan to do some other renovations and eventually an addition to our hunt camp home. Since we are on a budget of $5000.