What’s you regular job @WarDamnEagle?
The Cook Shed
- Thread starter WarDamnEagle
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Watching your work here reminds me of a friend's shop that he built some years back. He opted for the post-n-beam construction but opted for the 'socket system'. The socket system was pre-fabricated steel joints that we fitted the 8x8s into. This yielded a look similar to post-n-beam framing with no support posts in the middle of the shop, but it was easier ... no layout/cutting of the mortise/tenons. His shop turned out well, great visual that I enjoy every I visit his shop. It is clear to see that your results will be exceptional. Kudos on your vision and craftsmanship
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- #23
Retired.
I was a chemical company executive for the last 20+ years of my career and helped run petrochemical companies around the world. Started out my career in various project, technical, and operations roles. Chemical Engineer undergrad with an MBA. Most importantly though for the Cook Shed project, I grew up on a farm.
I appreciate the compliment. I looked seriously at two different mechanical attachment systems but in the end opted for the traditional approach. I honestly don't think it's that much more difficult. Those mechanical systems can also get pretty expensive. The only real cost of these mortise and tenon joints, besides my time, are the two chisels, the mallet, the two bits, and the pegs ($2 each). You would need the beam saw and some of the other tools regardless of how you made the connections.
Ha! Chemical Engineer myself!Retired.
I was a chemical company executive for the last 20+ years of my career and helped run petrochemical companies around the world. Started out my career in various project, technical, and operations roles. Chemical Engineer undergrad with an MBA. Most importantly though for the Cook Shed project, I grew up on a farm.
I appreciate the compliment. I looked seriously at two different mechanical attachment systems but in the end opted for the traditional approach. I honestly don't think it's that much more difficult. Those mechanical systems can also get pretty expensive. The only real cost of these mortise and tenon joints, besides my time, are the two chisels, the mallet, the two bits, and the pegs ($2 each). You would need the beam saw and some of the other tools regardless of how you made the connections.
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- #25
Nice. We can do anything, right? My better half is a Civil Engineer, Daughter is Chemical married to a Masters in Structural, oldest son is Aerospace, and youngest son is Chemical. All degrees from Auburn except for my Tulane MBA. Wife's parents and all her siblings also went to Auburn. Even my oldest son's wife is an Auburn graduate although not in engineering - we love her anyway.
Right! Applying my ChemE to Civil/Environmental. I know a few things about water/wastewater treatment. 30+yrs. Design large treatment plants. Wife is a swiss army knife (software developer/Montessori teacher/ Academic Advisor/ Real Estate Agent). Have a BS is in ChemE, Ms/PhD is in Civil/Environmental all from Notre Dame.Nice. We can do anything, right? My better half is a Civil Engineer, Daughter is Chemical married to a Masters in Structural, oldest son is Aerospace, and youngest son is Chemical. All degrees from Auburn except for my Tulane MBA. Wife's parents and all her siblings also went to Auburn. Even my oldest son's wife is an Auburn graduate although not in engineering - we love her anyway.
lol I might be in the right neighborhood ...
BS & MS in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering (with a PE license in Mechanical Design ... the Clinton years were very bleak for aerospace so I made sure I was prepared). As you can see, I came up old school before the discipline was identified as Aerospace Engineering
[edit] I forgot to add that I am mid-west farm boy to boot, so I love driving through the country where I can check out the crops and ag technology. i.e., When everyone else in the car is bored with hours of farm fields as the only sight, I am giddy with each new field.
So my bride is clearly a saint because she is stuck with not only an enginerd, but a dual nerd .... enginerd / ag-nerd combo.
However, bride is nontechnical (accounting, business admin and psychology degrees) and none of the kids elected engineering/technical fields (two are MDs and one artist) so we fall short of your examples
BS & MS in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering (with a PE license in Mechanical Design ... the Clinton years were very bleak for aerospace so I made sure I was prepared). As you can see, I came up old school before the discipline was identified as Aerospace Engineering
[edit] I forgot to add that I am mid-west farm boy to boot, so I love driving through the country where I can check out the crops and ag technology. i.e., When everyone else in the car is bored with hours of farm fields as the only sight, I am giddy with each new field.
So my bride is clearly a saint because she is stuck with not only an enginerd, but a dual nerd .... enginerd / ag-nerd combo.
However, bride is nontechnical (accounting, business admin and psychology degrees) and none of the kids elected engineering/technical fields (two are MDs and one artist) so we fall short of your examples
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Sorry for the sidebar!! Back to regular programming. Carry on!
AFLAC!
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- #30
That's our Emden Goose, Goosey. He likes to be in the middle of everything.
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- #31
Finished the first 24' side yesterday. I also cut the houses for the tie beams on the 15' side that will connect to the posts below the 24' beam. Since those are horizontal and won't sit on anything, they need to be fully housed mortise and tenons. I will cut and fit the tie-beams after I finish the other 24' side. I bored the first hole for the tenons in order to use the hole for clamping the posts tight to the 24' beam. All the tenons in these joints have been marked for boring. Since the holes in the tenons are offset by ~1/8" from the holes in the mortises, they will be bored as I take this side apart.
The center post has braces directly opposite each other so that mortise is cut all the way through and those two tenons had to be shortened a bit.
I also cut the 24' beam to it's final length, 24' 2", and cut a 1" chamfer all around on each end. The end rafters will butt against the chamfer so they will be exactly 24' outside to outside. There are lots of different "end effect" designs for beams that I found but in the end decided to keep it simple.
The center post has braces directly opposite each other so that mortise is cut all the way through and those two tenons had to be shortened a bit.
I also cut the 24' beam to it's final length, 24' 2", and cut a 1" chamfer all around on each end. The end rafters will butt against the chamfer so they will be exactly 24' outside to outside. There are lots of different "end effect" designs for beams that I found but in the end decided to keep it simple.
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- #32
I dug the other three post holes yesterday. I'm still amazed that I'm not hitting major roots in every hole but my luck finally ran out on one hole. I am digging the holes 4 1/2' below the top of slab and plan on placing 6" of tamped gravel in the bottom of each hole. There is a major root right at the bottom of pole/top of gravel interface in the corner of one hole. It will just barely interfere with the bottom of the pole. I could cut the root but I think I'm going to just cut that post 2" shorter and bring the gravel ~2" above the root. That's why I'm digging the holes before cutting the posts.
I also got all the peg holes drilled in the tenons. It's kind of a tedious process. You first fit all the joints up tight and make sure that everything is square. You then mark the tenon holes with the auger bit by pressing it through one side of the mortise peg holes. You then disassemble everything to drill the tenons but you don't drill them where you marked the center of the mortise hole. Instead you offset the center of the hole 1/8" towards the shoulder of the tenon. When you assemble these joints for the last time and drive the 1" peg through it will bend around the hole in the tenon and act as a kind of spring to pull the joint tight and to keep it tight if you get some minor shrinkage in the timbers over time. This technique is called "drawboring" and apparently has been in use since the 1400s.
Now I need to move all these timbers out of the way and layout the other side. I am starting to feel a bit of urgency as I have my son in law penciled in for weekend after next and the concrete guy penciled in for the week after that.
I also got all the peg holes drilled in the tenons. It's kind of a tedious process. You first fit all the joints up tight and make sure that everything is square. You then mark the tenon holes with the auger bit by pressing it through one side of the mortise peg holes. You then disassemble everything to drill the tenons but you don't drill them where you marked the center of the mortise hole. Instead you offset the center of the hole 1/8" towards the shoulder of the tenon. When you assemble these joints for the last time and drive the 1" peg through it will bend around the hole in the tenon and act as a kind of spring to pull the joint tight and to keep it tight if you get some minor shrinkage in the timbers over time. This technique is called "drawboring" and apparently has been in use since the 1400s.
Now I need to move all these timbers out of the way and layout the other side. I am starting to feel a bit of urgency as I have my son in law penciled in for weekend after next and the concrete guy penciled in for the week after that.
“Epic”…
I thought I caught a hint of “farm boy” in your early posts.
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- #34
Very happy with today's progress.....especially considering I quit around 2pm. Moved the finished timbers and got them stacked out of the way. Staged 3 new 16' posts and another 24' beam. Got the posts cut to length and the tenons cut. Started on one of the mortises and decided that was enough.
It sure is nice to have a tractor. I was a little impressed it would move two of these 24' beams without any issue, especially on the tips of the forks.
It sure is nice to have a tractor. I was a little impressed it would move two of these 24' beams without any issue, especially on the tips of the forks.
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- #35
Well it's been a productive week on the shed, in between other domestic duties. I finished the other 24' side so that's two of the three 24' beams done. Now that the 24' sides are done, I have to work on the 15' side tie beams and king posts. These are done a pair of posts from opposite sides, one pair at a time (3 pairs total). The 15' tie beams ride below the 24' plate beams (an arbitrary 3" below) and have to have fully housed mortise and tenon joints since they are load bearing and don't sit on top of a beam. I will show some photos but it will be much clearer in a week or so when we get some of the shed erected.
Today I got one pair of the fully housed joints finished. I still need to do the knee braces for this pair and then I can move on to the king post for this tie beam. Once I finish all three pairs of posts, tie beams, and king posts, I can work on the 24' ridge beam which sits on top of the 3 king posts........and that beam and knee braces will finish the heavy timber frame. The end is in sight.
As an aside, somewhere around mortise number 12, my 2" timber framing chisel handle started mushrooming. I continued to use it for a couple of days as it was the weekend so I couldn't contact Barr Tools. To my relief they said that was normal and I should (or could) cut the handle off just above the retaining ring and keep on working. So I cut it off and it worked great. The photo below of the cut off handle is after the chisel has been used for about 10 additional mortises and there's no sign of any further degradation. I actually prefer the shorter handle so now I'm just waiting for the 1.5" chisel handle to mushroom.
Seems like I spend half my time sweeping, vacuuming, or blowing.
Today I got one pair of the fully housed joints finished. I still need to do the knee braces for this pair and then I can move on to the king post for this tie beam. Once I finish all three pairs of posts, tie beams, and king posts, I can work on the 24' ridge beam which sits on top of the 3 king posts........and that beam and knee braces will finish the heavy timber frame. The end is in sight.
As an aside, somewhere around mortise number 12, my 2" timber framing chisel handle started mushrooming. I continued to use it for a couple of days as it was the weekend so I couldn't contact Barr Tools. To my relief they said that was normal and I should (or could) cut the handle off just above the retaining ring and keep on working. So I cut it off and it worked great. The photo below of the cut off handle is after the chisel has been used for about 10 additional mortises and there's no sign of any further degradation. I actually prefer the shorter handle so now I'm just waiting for the 1.5" chisel handle to mushroom.
Seems like I spend half my time sweeping, vacuuming, or blowing.
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- #36
Took until early Friday afternoon but I finally finished all three of the 15' "bents" including fitting the bottoms of the king posts into the 15' tie beams. We staged everything and got ready to start the assembly and erection process Saturday morning. I still had some prep to do before we could start which took a couple of hours Saturday morning.
All the holes needed around 6" of tamped gravel in the bottom and they all had to be more or less level. I also needed to build a vertical extension for the forklift. My forklift tines go up just over 9' with the tines level and maybe 13' with them angled up. Of course the load bearing capacity of the forklift goes down the further towards the tips you go. I needed 13'+ clearance from the bottom of the tie-beams to get the posts in the hole and, given the ground conditions decided to build a 5' tall frame out of 4x4s as an extension for the forklift.
We assembled each bent on level blocks adjacent to the cook shed site and then I lifted under the tie beam with the forks as high as the forks would reach. We had a lifting strap loosely strapped around the forklift extension frame and the tie beam. Once I reached max height with the forklift I slowly backed the tractor up. At this point the lifting strap engaged and I slowly pulled the assembly vertical. We then propped it with some 2x4s and I was able to lower the forks and get the extension frame under the tie beam. After strapping the beam down a bit tighter I was able to safely move the bent sections into place.
It took lots and lots of fiddling to get them plumb, on the strings, and ultimately at the exact same height but we finally got there. All in all that was easier than stick building these two sections in place. Unfortunately the middle section will have to be stick built or we won't be able to get the back 24' beam in place.
I have to say I was a bit apprehensive driving that first peg into the hole. 1/8" offset of the hole in the tenon doesn't sound like much but it certainly looks like a lot when you look through the holes and see how unaligned that appears in a 1" diameter hole. Not to worry though, they all went in without any issue and I was beyond impressed with the way it tightened up each joint. We also made an onsite change in plans and decided to leave the pegs exposed (10" long pegs so about 1" showing on each side). Original plan was to cut them flush but we like the look with them exposed. These pegs are made from white oak, tapered on each end, and waxed. They are also made with the grain so they are very strong.
Friday afternoon staging:
First peg
All the holes needed around 6" of tamped gravel in the bottom and they all had to be more or less level. I also needed to build a vertical extension for the forklift. My forklift tines go up just over 9' with the tines level and maybe 13' with them angled up. Of course the load bearing capacity of the forklift goes down the further towards the tips you go. I needed 13'+ clearance from the bottom of the tie-beams to get the posts in the hole and, given the ground conditions decided to build a 5' tall frame out of 4x4s as an extension for the forklift.
We assembled each bent on level blocks adjacent to the cook shed site and then I lifted under the tie beam with the forks as high as the forks would reach. We had a lifting strap loosely strapped around the forklift extension frame and the tie beam. Once I reached max height with the forklift I slowly backed the tractor up. At this point the lifting strap engaged and I slowly pulled the assembly vertical. We then propped it with some 2x4s and I was able to lower the forks and get the extension frame under the tie beam. After strapping the beam down a bit tighter I was able to safely move the bent sections into place.
It took lots and lots of fiddling to get them plumb, on the strings, and ultimately at the exact same height but we finally got there. All in all that was easier than stick building these two sections in place. Unfortunately the middle section will have to be stick built or we won't be able to get the back 24' beam in place.
I have to say I was a bit apprehensive driving that first peg into the hole. 1/8" offset of the hole in the tenon doesn't sound like much but it certainly looks like a lot when you look through the holes and see how unaligned that appears in a 1" diameter hole. Not to worry though, they all went in without any issue and I was beyond impressed with the way it tightened up each joint. We also made an onsite change in plans and decided to leave the pegs exposed (10" long pegs so about 1" showing on each side). Original plan was to cut them flush but we like the look with them exposed. These pegs are made from white oak, tapered on each end, and waxed. They are also made with the grain so they are very strong.
Friday afternoon staging:
First peg
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- #37
The original crew lineup included my middle son, BIL, and son in law, with of course the Civil Engineer 
supervising and providing general quality control. Son in law got called out of state last minute so my working crew was down to just 3. Also I had originally planned on feeding my crew (and families) Boston Butt. Nothing like the smell of slow smoking pork butt wafting down the hill to keep a crew motivated. To further complicate the proceedings, my wife's family is having a family reunion in a few weeks and we volunteered to bring pork butts. I always cook an extra one or two which I then foil wrap, shrink wrap, and freeze. After thawing and going in a low oven for a couple of hours you would swear they just came off the smoker. We need about 6 for the reunion so I thought I would cook an extra one or two "while I was at it".
Butts were on sale at the local grocery this week but only in packages of two. I have never tried to smoke more than 3 on my large BGE but thought maybe if I stood them on end that I could get 4 to fit. A bit of multi-tasking on the day but thankfully the BGE holds temps really well so it wasn't too much effort to let them smoke for 9 hours. 4 barely fit but it worked.
supervising and providing general quality control. Son in law got called out of state last minute so my working crew was down to just 3. Also I had originally planned on feeding my crew (and families) Boston Butt. Nothing like the smell of slow smoking pork butt wafting down the hill to keep a crew motivated. To further complicate the proceedings, my wife's family is having a family reunion in a few weeks and we volunteered to bring pork butts. I always cook an extra one or two which I then foil wrap, shrink wrap, and freeze. After thawing and going in a low oven for a couple of hours you would swear they just came off the smoker. We need about 6 for the reunion so I thought I would cook an extra one or two "while I was at it". Butts were on sale at the local grocery this week but only in packages of two. I have never tried to smoke more than 3 on my large BGE but thought maybe if I stood them on end that I could get 4 to fit. A bit of multi-tasking on the day but thankfully the BGE holds temps really well so it wasn't too much effort to let them smoke for 9 hours. 4 barely fit but it worked.
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- #38
Late start today and it was just my son and myself. For most of the day even my QC princess was MIA. Well it was fiddly at times but we managed to get the back center post and the back 24' beam erected. The most enjoyable part of this build is driving the pegs in and I didn't even have the energy to finish that today. Finishing those will keep me occupied for a bit in the morning so I don't have to wake the boy too early.
Congratulations. Great progress. I am impressed how clear and clear the air looks in your pictures.
Over night here in the metro Atl, the tree pollen valves were opened wide with the green and yellow snow covering the ground this morning. All day the sky has been hazy with a smog-like look. And you have been maintaining your tempo even with this. Kudos
Over night here in the metro Atl, the tree pollen valves were opened wide with the green and yellow snow covering the ground this morning. All day the sky has been hazy with a smog-like look. And you have been maintaining your tempo even with this. Kudos
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- #40
Thanks. We have had a bit of pine tree pollen but the oak tree pollen hasn't started yet. That's when it will get a little rough at our place.