The Tractor Shed Delima.

I call it a delima but I actually enjoy trying to figure out the best way to assemble the joints and their locations for structural purposes. This is the barn rafter and I wanted to use this joint somewhere. I felt since I had already cut the Edge Halved Scarf  with Bridled Butts four times for my sills and would also use this joint for my top plates, I decided to use the Stop splayed scarf with wedges for my rafters over the tractor shed portion of the barn. As I stated earlier I am limited to 12' beams due to the fact that I have to carry them in the back of my pick up. On one hand I it has caused me to have to cut many more joints than normal but has given me more experience also. Since the tractor shed rafter will be approximately 14' long  to cover the tractor and to extend out in order to have protection for wood storage on the north side of the barn,  I plan to use two 8x8 beams and connect them with the stop splayed scarf joint with wedges. I will use 4x6 purlins and 3/4 in. tong and grooved plywood with a metal roof which should be a light load for this joint to carry. As you can see the upper half of the rafter will be supported by the brace and this will also support the connecting end of the other portion of the rafter. The rest of the weight of the second half will be supported by the post. Although this is not the most preferred way, I believe it will work for my purposes and give me more headroom. I believe this is known as the Colonial version. The reason I used the Edge Halved Scarf with Bridled Butts, especially on the top plates is that this joint resist twisting. I was afraid that any outward thrust of the rafters resting on the top plate would cause it to rotate and the splayed scarf would not resist the twisting as much. Since there is no live load and a light roof then the tractor shed rafter might be a great place to practice using this joint. I love the way driving a wedge in the square in the middle causes the joint to tighten. My biggest decision is the exact placement of the brace and mortise for the purlins so that I would not weaken the joint. The mortise for the purlins will be a lap joint and only cut into the rafter 3" which will enable the purlins to extend out a minimum of 2' past the rafter.

Questioning My Sanity, Again!

Since no one is reading this blog I guess maybe it is therapeutic for me to write about this. I am constantly asking myself why? I guess because when I tell people what I  am doing they ask me, Why? As I look at the floor system I am currently working on I still have to cut out the dovetail mortise for my current sill which shouldn't take too long. Then I have three more sills to cut and make fit and then there will be all the dovetail tenons for the 6x6 floor joist. Then when I get everything to fit and all squared up on my test fitting I will have them all numbered and then stacked. I figure I will have a stack of wood which will weigh about 3500 lbs. cost somewhere in the ballpark of $1300, not to mention all the $$$ I laid out for the tools. Can't forget about the new truck to carry and pull this stuff. I will then have to get a tag for my dual axle trailer and drive it down from Georgia, about 8 hrs. I will then load it up, drive back to Ga. and stack it neatly (somewhere), and out of the weather until I can assemble it at some later date. That is if it hasn't warped to the shape of a pretzel. All of this for a basically small building of about 11' x 20' inside with an 8' porch which will have a loft accessible from the inside via a ladder. To complete the barn look there will be a wing on each side. On the north side will be a shed for my tractor and wood storage, and on the south will be the future greenhouse for my wife. Boy is this going to be alot of work.
    Here are some of my latest pics. In the first pic you are looking down the full length of the sill on one side. It is 28' total in length. I am almost finished with the whole floor and will assemble it and hopefully have photo's. I am planning on video taping the assembly.

Testing, testing and more testing. I believe that the only way these beams won't fit together after all this testing (on assembly day) is I end up with some unexpected shrinkage and warpage. My fear is when it comes time to put it together and it doesn't fit. I'm almost tempted to assemble it myself to save myself some embarrassment. I've actually read about guys who have done this with old fashioned gin poles. I intend to make one anyway to help with the lifting of the bents whether I do it myself or not. 

I made a testing tenon for the post out of scrap wood. This turned out to be a great idea. I ended up having to do quite a bit of work on the mortise of the upper and lower portion of this joint. I just love the way the post tenon goes through the top and then the bottom and locks it all together. Once fully assembled and pegged this will be an incredibly strong joint.

Chloe our mini Australian Shepard is ready for a trip to Pine Mountain Ga. It was a very quick trip due to we had to deliver a bike to our daughter at college in Gainsville Fl. She left her old bike unlocked for about an hr. and it just rode away!

Back in the Saddle

     Well it's still warm outside but I've been fortunate to have some overcast days to hide the blazing sun so I mozied out to the garage to see if I could get anything accomplished. After butchering the last beam I was a little gun shy about cutting up another one at $105 bucks a pop. Needless to say I was very very careful. Since part of my problem is the awkwardness of the 16" Makita and the way it easily wanders, I decided to begin by making a first cut with my 7 1/4" Dewalt and follow up with the Makita to cut the 4" depth I needed to get half way through the beam and do the same on the other side. This seemed to work pretty well  but I still needed some plaining after the cut. Here are the results. As you can see I have about an eight of an inch gap and am working on getting it to a 1/16. The top half has a mortise for the post and the bottom half will have a 2" mortise for the 6" post tenon to extend into. This will help hold the two sills together along with the pegs.