Don't light a match.

It feels like the whole neighborhood smells like turpentine. I heard a jogger exclaim, "What's that smell, someone must be cleaning something." I guess it smells like pine sol. I do believe it looks pretty good. They still feel a little oily and they are starting to lighten up a bit. When I first applied a mixture of 50/50 linseed oil and turpentine, they appeared almost orange. And they soaked the stuff up like a sponge. I have read that the linseed oil is like food for mold and mildew but some guys have been doing this recipe their whole life with no problems. At least I feel better about them not drying out so bad and the look isn't too bad either.

Washy, Washy

The reason for the washy washy is that is what we tell our dog Chloe when it's time for a bath, she always tilts her head and gets really nervous. She hates the bath.

After reading and reading about the process of how to clean and care for the natural finish of the wood, I am still somewhat confused. I guess I look at this wood so much that I have really become infatuated or obsessed with the color and grain of this wood. I think it's beautiful. I type this as I sit in my living room in front of my fake fireplace (gas logs) and plastic floors (fake floors, aka laminate). I like the gas log technology but miss the look, sound and smell of an open fire. As for laminate flooring, the stuff looks great and will resist scratching under our dog playing with here bones and Frisbee and the two cats as they propel themselves forward or upward but I have learned to hate the stuff, It's just not natural. I digress, back to the wood. I have even counted the rings on the 8x8's and was a bit sad to find out if I have counted the rings correctly that these trees are over 100 years old. The next thing you know I will be trying to name them and include them in my will.  

This brings me to how to preserve the look because it appears they will darken over time and if left unprotected they will grey, which some people like. When they arrive at my home in the back of my pickup, the beams have a little dirt and some marks from the process of cutting and hauling whether they be from the saw or heister. The black marks as seen in the picture below are very difficult to remove. I have resorted to Kaboom, and pouring on some tide with bleach concentrate and scrub. Then I spray the whole beam with a mixture of bleach and water to brighten up the wood by removing any dirt and mildew. Then rinse thoroughly. The jury is still out as to whether there is any long term damage to the wood or fibers by doing this. After they dry I intend to put on a coat of boiled linseed oil and turpentine. Hopefully this will keep the mildew down and bring out the natural colors of the wood grain. It is also supposed to keep the beams from losing moisture from the sides too quickly and causing splitting and checking. 

I Can't do Sheetrock!

I actually thinks it's a disorder. When I do sheetrock I sand and sand  until I have a pile of dust and have to apply mud again. I then repeat the process while getting nowhere. I just can't get it perfectly smooth. My wife, my dad and I built the above house in Georgia and basically had to move because I knew every small flaw and some not so small until I almost drove myself crazy. I have to admit there were some other reasons but it sure didn't help. I could go on and on about some of the subs we hired also. There were some I wanted to hug while some, let just say prison is not an option. Being a contractor would be so easy if only you could find good honest help. Lets face it, you get out of jail and where do you go to get a job? The building industry! The reason I am writing about this is sort of therapy.  I basically completed the first cypress bent today and feel like I could still get it better but since I took another delivery today, I decided to consider this bent complete and get to work on the next one. It's only a barn and since I will be lucky if I live another 30 years so,  I am starting to wonder why I didn't just buy one of those cheaply made barns from  one of those big box stores like my neighbor suggested. It's the American way, right. My wife promptly explained to him that it was a work of art. I'm not so sure about that! Sure I'd like to think so but it would only be a work of art if someone that was skilled in timber framing had made it. Also someone that knew what he was doing would already be done.

How do you eat and Elephant?

     Well assuming anyone would want to I have heard it is one bite at a time. This comes to mind as I drill and chisel away in my garage as my neighbors walk by and peer over at me to see what their deranged neighbor is doing. Occasionally one will stop and ask but for the most part they just look over. This is a very small percentage because I have many neighbors. About a hundred more than I am comfortable with. Anyway I have decided maybe to tell them I was building and ark like the guy in the movie. Although several answers do come to mind I just tell them the truth and they proceed on their way. I fantasize about hanging a gun on my belt, putting a chew of tobacco in my mouth, wearing a patch over my eye and doing some thing weird like talking to myself to stir up the rumors. Wait a minute, I'm already talking to myself!  I surely would like to know what their thinking. I've been doing this so long I am sure they give directions by saying "go a few houses past where the guy is always cutting wood." or something like that. It is usually strange to see anyone outside in the neighborhood except for the occasional walkers, dog walkers and a few bike riders sporting the latest attire probably designed by the latest Tour De France winner. Mostly all people down here do is eat out and shop. It is rare you see a neighbor cutting his own grass. I guess it would mean you didn't have anything better to do or don't have the money to pay someone else. This is mainly the reason every day is a parade of workers driving buy the house as they head to their next job to repair some broken item, clean a pool or scope out their next job. It is this reason I don't leave my tools out because items have been known to  just walk away at times. I know this because there is a nice socket set of mine who has a new owner or maybe sitting in a pawn shop somewhere waiting for one.  I digress, back to the bikers. Although I admire them for what they do I just get extremely bored riding the bike in the neighborhoods in Florida. I guess that's what they think about me as I sit in my garage and driveway  pounding away at my Cypress wood.
     I do feel as if I am getting better and faster at cutting joints but as I look at my pile of wood with hopeful expectations that it will all fit together nicely someday,  I get a daunting feeling building up inside as I look ahead at what I have left to do. Like the martial artist I slowly become one with my chisel, well maybe 50 or so but at least I'm better than I use to  be and somewhat closer to they day when I assemble my massive pile of wood into a small but very unique and sturdy barn/studio/greenhouse or whatever it turns out to be. If it doesn't work, I'm building a fire!