Salvaging my Beam.

Lately the heat has been so bad that I haven't got out to work on the Barn project and my schedule at work hasn't helped. This morning I decided since the sky was overcast and the temperature was in the upper 80's (not the 90's), that now was a good time to take the 8x8 beam that I had made a couple of bad cuts which made it no longer suitable for the sill and cut out a couple of sleepers. As I said earlier the sleepers I believe will look good, help support the joint at the pier and also reduce the height of the concrete pier.

The sleepers will sit on the pier like this with the longer end supporting the joint. I had to plane the ends down after cutting with the 16" makita. I have a love hate relationship with this saw. I have decided since my last sill mess up to always set the depth of the saw to cut approx. 4.5". This would create a slight overlap and allow me to get through with 2 cuts since the 6.25" cut  would still require 2 cuts. Since there was no joint to worry about I didn't have to be accurate and the opposing cuts didn't necessarily have to line up perfectly, although it would have been nice. I'm now thinking about purchasing a slightly smaller saw that will cut a minimum of 4" or purchasing a base for this one which is supposed to be much sturdier than the one from the manufacturer. I believe the Timberframers Guild has one for sale for about $350.