Stick Buildin'

Today was another sun-up to sun-down work day on the office.

It was good to insulate and seal the floor deck with plywood. I was able to toss up three of the four walls today.

Just too tired to think of anything else to write. Oh, the mosquitoes are emerging from the woodland pools. They fly around a bit in the evening and land on my arm, but aren't sure what to do yet.

Bracin', Myself

Today was mostly dedicated to bracing the post and beam structure of the office with 6x6s. I could sway it side to side with a push yesterday.

With two passes of a circular saw and a handsaw finish, so the braces were formed. Now it solid like rock. Or just a really really solid big thing. With six legs. And braces.

Redneck Deck

Without the sunblock, today's sun and 24 Celsius was nice until the 40 km/h gusts of wind.

The day was spent securing the post and beam under structure of the forest management office. I still need to put braces in to firm it up.

Then I constructed the office floor from 2x8s. Had to cut all fifteen of them with the handsaw. Cutting 2x board is a lot easier than 6x post.

But all day was spent hammering every nail. This increases the labour hours 3x. Think I'll try to use the cordless drill to pre-drill and drive in the lag bolts for the post and beam....

I've decided to turn the underside of the office into my screened-in wildlife blind (eventually). Lying or sitting on the rock under the office provides shade and a nice mossy rock to 360 survey the surrounding area. In winter it could serve as a covered firewood shed if I installed a small wood stove for cold weather work.

Time to saw.


I actually get a little sleep, sawing wood.


Marking nailing lines under the office.


The deck is nailed up. Later I covered it in plastic sheeting
as there's rain in the forecast.

Barfing Materials

Sometimes I make abstract photo art.

After a long, hard, wet day I'm just gonna blammo ya some highlights.

• Digital camera monitor smashed. Cool new abstract monitor image. Shooting blind.
• Building materials delivered to site.
• Corduroy trail is a mud pit.
• 6x6 office piers cut to level height.
• One pier includes three small posts stack. Will connect with hurricane straps as a reference to the metal in my leg.
• Had a nice visit from Lynn and Bob to the office site. Good to see mom's friends come by to visit. They've helped mom cut wood for her winter fuelwood needs in the past.
• Realized the office is not a building, but really a housesled. Y'know, like a houseboat, only it slides on snow runners formerly known as beams. It could also be a houseboat as it would float. And with the entry ladder, it'll be ready for when the icecaps melt. Oh, and has creative playground and one room chapel elements too. You'll see.
  

I passed along a weblink to Bob and Lynn in the hope that they're interested in the new forestry ideas I'm applying at Deerwood. The 'Ontario Tree Marking Guide' serves as the basic policy document of the forest management system I've begun so far. It's the Ministry of Natural Resourses' (MNR) brain dump of all the best sustainable forestry practices and a real 279 page turner. The MNR and local non-profit organizations like Westwind Forest Stewardship are truly at the cutting edge of New Forestry and I'm grateful that we all have access to this world class knowledge resource.

It was hardcore loadin' with an eight plywood sheet delivery.

Then onto the lumber hauls. The Foreman rocks but don't roll.

And the building materials are delivered!

The first sawcut. After a bad start, I slowly
remembered how to saw.

My humiliation makes me want to improve my craftsmanship.

One set of piers are cut...

...and the other is fitted in twilight. Hurrah!

Haulin' Lumber

Today was for the buying of construction materials, and hauling them to the office building site.

I haven't quite finished the moving job. Hope to finish the move tomorrow and start setting 6x6 posts on the metal saddles.

Yea! Some photos of a thunderstorm moving day...

I tried to sort of skid the lumber in.
Didn't work too well.

Then I tried side-saddle ATV lumber jousting.
Nope.


Moving a 2" x 10" x 16' the old-fashioned way.


Then the first of many thunderstorms.
We waited it out under a hemlock tree.


A-ha! Why not try eight sheets of plywood
strapped to the wagon?!
That should be easy!

A tight fit.

Along the way I'd stop, feeling like I could carry them the rest of the distance. After walking a sheet of plywood to the office site, I figured I could try to ATV closer.

Just before the unstable corduroy trail section.

We made it all the way through - sorta.

After a very close call the Foreman (aka The Dream Machine)

actually makes it to the office site with 5 sheets of plywood.

The construction site grows.

O, to Pour the Cement

Yesterday was a nutty one of cutting builder's tube bases to levely fit the contours of the granite outcropping on which the office will stand. Then pouring cement mixed with pondwater and mosquito larvae.

There's some mosquitoes who won't be sucking my blood.

Some photos from the day....

Cutting and leveling the tubes' bottoms with a handsaw
was a slight challenge.

A builder's tube is fitted over pier support pins.

A post saddle is set into drying cement.

By tradition, the mason stays with the drying cement.

The cement cures into concrete.

Broken Pickaxe

Mom wanted me to pry a large rock which rose out of the asphalt some Hamilton crook installed a few years ago.

Anyway, I went at it yesterday with the pickaxe and managed to snap the hickory handle.

The scene of the crime.

So, with the help of a bench vise, a 7/8" spade drill bit, and a chisel I got the end out of the pick and will now buy a new handle.

Two holes drilled opens a big enough hole.

Hurrah! The broken handle end is out.

I think maybe the rock needs a long metal bar to pull it out. It will come in handy for other trail rock removal jobs coming up.

Now, how much do pickaxe handles cost?...

Trail Design

I try to find a drier trail route in Deerwood.

I've come to believe that forest trail design is very important.

Logging trails are cut for the purpose of machine (or draft animal) access to cut timber. They are quick, to the purpose and often an environmental disaster area.

Forest estate trails, on the other hand, serve to display the beauty and varied points of interest throughout the complex habitat. These very special trails should be carefully placed and refined through thoughtful study of the topography and species distribution to afford the most enjoyable sensory experience and the least impact on the environment.

Here's a few of my growing Trail Design Principles....

• Stay high and dry (provides a broader view and avoids wet feet).
• Gradual trail transitions.
• Access Points of Interest (POI) such as wildlife blind locations.
  
• Include natural rest areas.
• Combine formal trails (wide) for utility access, with winding (narrow) footpaths.

Adios, Death Machine

With the 260 back from the shop, the 08 is off, down south for cutting fuelwood.

I went into the Muskoka Rent All last week and saw an 08 up on their chainsaw museum shelf.

"Hey, you got my chainsaw up there!" I howled. Well, some 08 can still get the job done, right Death Machine?

Gotterdone.

I'm gonna miss that saw....

Logger Lingo

Came across a bunch of definitions at Rural Heritage.

Here's a couple...

escape path—Predetermined route, preferably at a 45 degree angle away from a falling tree, a cutter uses to get away from the falling tree.

hardware—Hidden metal debris inside a tree or log that, as all loggers know, has a magnetic field that draws sawchains into it.

jail bird—Logger who cuts over the property line.

mountain—Any hill steeper than a wheelchair ramp.

muzzle loader—Logging camp bunks so close together they must be entered from the end.

photo source

The Pine Logs Issue 3: Wet & Weary

8 am I cleared, split, and stacked the garden bed maple (cut on the 15th) in the Deerwood woodshed.

Then I sawed at the pine log issues until 1 pm to help stabilize the load.

Feeling lucky, punk?

On the 15th I went out and staked some orange flagging around the load to alert passersby of the hazard.

Before.

After.

I got the new Stihl MS 260 chainsaw back from the shop and worked it today. As I a gave a pull on the old cant hook to roll off a cut section, three logs shifted under my feet.

Then the load shifted on me.

For a moment there, I didn't know what was gonna happen next. There's no doubt this is dangerous work - and I know my chainsaw limitations. Maybe it's just plain unsafe. I think the rest of the logs will have to be winched down from the pile, then up from the downslope and onto the trail. If only I had a winch....

Whipped.

It's Gewd

Much good times and country humour while over in Burk's Falls reshingling Karen and Dave's cottage roof. In true country fashion, I laid on top of the bed load to keep a tarp from blowing off while on the back roads.


The hardest part was dumping the old shingles out of Dave's pickup truck at the dump.

Where does the truck bed end and the dump begin?

Yawp...it was gewd.

Spirit Bear 2009

While I was in Burk's Falls, it was nice to take a few photos of the 'spirit bear' sculpture I made for Karen in 2006. It's a winged white bear with a wood armature and canvas skin.

'Spirit Bear' (2006) by Bill Pocock (circa 2009)

The idea was to leave it in an outside environment and the canvas skin would slowly rot away from exposure to the elements, echoing the decay of an actual bear's skin to reveal the wooden skeleton underneath. The wood skeleton (spruce and white cedar) of the sculpture would then also decay, turning to soil.

I hope to continue to photograph this sculpture as it decays into soil over time. I like its location on top of a mossy rock. The spirit bear looks down over a sloping ridge to a beautiful lake below.

Another angle of 'Spirit Bear'

Timber!

Deerwood owner - mom - asked me to fall (cut down) a maple tree which had recently lost a large limb and was a hazard to her house. The tree's Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) was 17". I believe that's just over 1,000 board feet of wood.

I had some time on the morning of the 15th to fall and cut most of the tree before heading out to help reshingle Dave and Karen's roof in Burk's Falls.

Here's a series of photos showing the falling and cutting of the tree and limbs for winter fuelwood.

The Stihl 08 was used.

A lucky fall - right where I wanted it.