It's only 34' tall and 46 1/2' wide. If I didn't have all that stone processing equipment in there, I would have set up both gables. As it is, I have to spread out the other barn for next week, our architect is coming down to start measuring and assessing.
I'm about an hour or so away from finishing this barn, and the last pieces will be stored against the wall. Then I'll start on the other barn.
I've mentioned the new corner post a couple of times, there is a photo of it in post #200. It got fit into the longitudinal wall assembly first, as it would have been originally. I know this by chance, as I saw scribe marks on one of the other posts that could only mean they fit the post in the wall first, then into the gable.
This was a bit tricky to fit, as there were several dimensions that had to be maintained, or the post, with about 8 hours into it already, would be junk. The upper horizontal timber had to be mortised into the new post at just the right height, or the stud below it would not fit, as well as the door post that goes above it. Also the width of the building is dependant on proper mortise location as well. This post was already hewn on three sides during fitting in the other dimensions, and had to have the inside face hewn to width. I did a mock up of the horizontal piece and made a mark and hewed to that mark. Only one chance to get it right.
Things can get interesting sometimes.
Some more line projecting. I had to do two of these brace repairs. If the lines cross at the midline, then you might have gotten it right.
Brace ready to receive repair.
Repair cut. I always try to leave small repair attached to the bigger piece of repair stock. It makes it easier to work and clamp. This stuff is white oak. Stringy and tough. It will get cut off on the right hand side.
Hewing the repair piece on my little small parts hewing fixture.
Well, that's about it for that barn. Now for a preview of the next one. That's a shot down the top of a 24' purlin post, through the rot hole in the top. Blue light is from a flashlight shined in a mortise. Rot goes over 4 feet down the post. The knot whorls, EWP, remind me of something Indiana Jones might have to deal with.
We got the drawings for the new floor system for the new barn this week. I started getting a log order together for our logger who will be supplying some of the smaller stuff. Bigger stuff will be an interesting process. This floor will be very similar to a traditional Dutch floor system, with two small (ish) changes. Originally, a Dutch barn would have only had a threshing floor in the center aisle. Each of the side aisles would have been dirt floors for the horses and oxen. We will be planking the entire floor of this barn. The other change is a full basement. There are 7 sills that run the length of the building. Normally they would be supported on big stones called stattles. We will be building three Samson beams to hold them up, with each Samson having three posts underneath.
Timber List:
Sills
2- 12"x10"x46'-6" Range wall sills
2- 13"x10"x46'-6" Arcade sills
2- 15"x7"x46'-6" Sleepers
1- 16"x10"x46'6" Center sill
2- 12"x10"x46'-6" Gable sills
Here we go again. "Bob's Barn" is done, now we are moving on to "CanBarn" from Canajoharie New York. There will be a lot of interesting stuff going on in this project. A lot of new parts due to rot and neglect. Also, we are doing a hybrid traditional Dutch floor system, which I mentioned in my previous post. For now, nothing too exciting. Just a neat old wrought nail we extracted with a nicely spooned point on it. There are 10 main posts called Purlin Posts. Five of these we have to replace completely, and five will get new bottoms scarfed on. Sometime in the early 19th century, about five feet of this barn was chopped off the bottom, and a stanchion barn was put underneath it. This is causing some complications, as we cannot scarf all ten purlin posts. However, to get legal head room, we would have to have scarfed all ten purlin posts, and all 20 range wall posts to make them taller. Fortunately ( ) none of the range wall posts were saved, so we get to make them new, and of a legal height.
Nail:
I was going to try and make a GIF of these, but gave up. Chopping out a repair with an axe:
Most of the hole you see is the anchorbeam brace mortise. There is a little bit of rot in this repair. However, it is in the middle of the timber, which is a neutral zone as far as stresses are concerned. Timbers are treated with Timbor to stop the bugs. Keeping the timbers dry will stop the rot from spreading. Most rot in old barns comes from the sills and post bottoms coming in contact with the muck and moisture from animals. In this barn, there is a lot of damage from a bad roof. If buildings can be kept dry, they can last many hundreds of years. The oldest wooden building in the US is the Fairbanks house in Dedham, MA, which is something like 1637. There are tithe barns in England from around 1200. I believe the oldest buildings are in Japan.
Made from pine that was ringed and allowed to slowly die over up to 60 years. That made then completely resin filled( like the wood sold for firestarting) and extremely rot resistant.
Unfortunately it also makes them burn easily, a bunch of asshole satan worshippers have torched a couple of them in recent years.
Is that a stave church Stig, or are they a Norwegian thing? I figured you'd be better able to tell us about your old buildings than me. My architect has been over there to visit and photograph them. He said the oldest buildings in the world are softwood. I really like that building. I've never seen anything quite like it.
If you google Stavkyrkja, the Norwegian word for stave church, you get a lot of pictures.
And, yes, they are all made from softwoods. No hardwood to speak of in Norway, but lots of lovely tightgrained pine and spruce.
I've visited a bunch of those churches over the years ( and I normally refuse to enter churches) the workmanship is extraordinaire.
They are "painted" with a mixture of wood tar and linseed oil. Hence the dark brown color.
I needed a mailbox, as my bills are starting to come next week. Damn.
I started putting this together. I need to put a brace underneath, for looks. I won't mortise and tenon that one, it'll be a fake. Gotta get some pegs, should look pretty cool.
I disagree with needing the bottom brace 'for looks'. Let everybody wonder how come it doesn't fall apart after 3 years like the ones they bought from Lowe's.
That is cool Brendon. Is that red oak? That through tenon is very Dutch. Maybe you could add a couple of wedges, that way you can always keep the joint tight. Dutch tenons could be round, square, or sort of octagonal like yours.
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) none of the range wall posts were saved, so we get to make them new, and of a legal height.
