The journey of building our new home!: September 2023

Saturday, September 30, 2023

9.30.2023

Jim gave up his running two days this week to work on the pavilion and get the furnace back working, so he planned to do loose ends and then get on the treadmill before church.

He worked more on sharpening the chipper blades...

Each blade has two sides and there are 8 blades - he has 7 of them done now...

He's still waiting for the gasket to come for the carburetor on the chipper, so he's in a holding pattern there. He wanted to get his 4Runner back in the auto bay, so he had to do some rearranging today. He moved the Tiger Cub into the lean to - it barely fit with the wood stored in there, but it fit! Then he moved the chipper into the pole barn and got his car back inside.

High 71/Low 54.2 - beautiful!

Friday, September 29, 2023

9.29.2023

It was forecast to be an on/off drizzly kind of day, so Jim planned for inside work. In the morning, he did computer work and then headed downstairs to work on the chipper a bit. Blades are in the vise and ready to be sharpened...

Then in the afternoon, he started on the furnace part of the boiler maintenance project. This is the scariest part - he has to open up the gas line.

Starting to take off parts - you can see that this connection wasn't in the best of shape...

Lots of parts off now...

This is the old vs new ignitor - quite a difference!

All buttoned back up - he still has work to do but has replaced quite a few parts and sensors. Then he tested it and it heated up well, so very happy news!

High 59.4/Low 53.4 - little drizzly

Thursday, September 28, 2023

9.28.2023

Jim did some work on the chipper this morning - he ordered a new fan; the old one was cracked and very worn...

In the afternoon, it was back to pavilion work. He had to carve the end of the middle main rafter...

Done and testing with the jig...

He brought the rafter over to mate it for a test fit - perfect!

Time to carve the shoulders for this rafter pair...

This rafter is different because it comes down on the intersection of a main beam. Jim didn't want to use as deep of a shoulder pocket cut and compromise the strength of the beam. So he measured and marked where he wanted to make a smaller cut...

Starting to cut....

Then chisel...

Testing with his jig...

Cutting the shoulder pocket on the opposite side...

Because he made the shoulder pocket smaller, he has to modify the shoulder on the rafters. Starting to cut...

And chisel...

The newly modified shoulder...

Just to make sure, he brought up the rafter and tested its fit into the pocket - perfect! In the background you can see that he took down the brace he was using and put it between the two existing rafters. He will use that to hold the middle rafter in place...

Now that he knows his modification works, time to replicate it on the other rafter shoulder....

Bringing the rafter up...

He assembled the rafter pair and then started lifting it into place...

Perfection!

The structure is looking fabulous!

Because the shoulder is narrower, Jim did tandem pegs in this rafter. He got both ends pegged before cleaning up his equipment and tools, gathering up the old wood we've collected, and took that down to the trash for pickup tomorrow.

High 70.6/Low 42.2 - beautiful!

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

9.27.2023

Jim worked on the computer in the morning and then got all the tools and equipment up to the pavilion. Once out there, he started carving the shoulder pocket for the other side rafter...

Testing it out with his jig...

Bringing up the rafter...

Setting it into place - another perfect fit!

Then it was time for pegging - using the auger bit to drill the hole...

Because these holes are at an angle, Jim has to drill all the way through, as opposed to going from both sides. That caused the wood on the inside to splinter some around the holes when the drill popped through. Jim decided to put a piece of wood there and see if that helped...

Pounding the pegs in...

Wow - the wood made the holes turn out perfectly!

I left at this point to go get some diesel fuel - the Bobcat was running on fumes. When I got back, Jim had put the pegs in the front rafter and was cutting off the excess pegs...

Then he moved around back...

The wood behind when Jim is drilling works perfectly - all these holes look picture perfect!

To to do the top connection - Jim had to bring up another rafter to stand on so he could be at the right angle...

Putting in the peg...

This is one of the first days in my memory that Jim took a day off from running. It was such a beautiful day and he wanted some more quality time outside.

High 66.8/Low 44.3 - beautiful!

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

9.26.2023

After Jim's computer work this morning, he got everything ready so he could start working outside right after lunch. Today's task was pegging the rafter joints that are in place - so he's using the auger bit to drill the holes on the side rafter joint...