Hardwood.....it ain't easy!

One of our initial design specifications had been to partly replicate the feel of an exposed timber frame English medieval house. Ideally we were after Australian hardwood power poles; imported from last century through to the first half of this one i believe. To cut a long story short we met a lovely guy who had several piles of poles in his paddock and needed to clear them. We found thgere was about 5 distinct colours, with varying shades as well. Handling these beasts is very hardwork by hand and potentially quite dangerous. The old white HIAB we used in 2009 used to strugge at times too. I've lost track of the number of times i've (and often very patiently Greg) sorted through them for just what i was after and then re-stacking them for various organisational reasons.

To summarise a year's worth of work (on and off) to now:- Choose poles to satisfy engineering requirements of the post and beam system. Rechoose half of them because i wanted to match colours! Set up the 2 longest largest poles as runners for a processing area and place chosen poles on these, for a reasonable working height. Spend 2 days pressurie washing them. Start the drawknifing process (lovely green woodworking tool, "google" for more info) as opposed to the usual approach of grinder with wire brush then sanding disc. Takes approx a day a pole. Bloody hard work but very pleasing result. Much time spent sharpening drawknife.

Beam system constructed on ground but posts stay on runners as project delayed. Throughout the year gradually choose more poles for different parts of the project, pressure hose and then sharpen up yet again! By March 2010 have drawknifed 40 poles (ie 40 days of work!). Enter Tomek. when house build restarts

Teamwork

I'm finding that good teamwork is crucial for the enjoyment and progress of this project. Greg has been, and continues to be, the cornerstone for our project; able to consider anything the project, which in so many ways is outside the square, can throw at him. Such as the house plans themselves; working with old unsymmetrical hardwood poles (that at times i have obsessively matched for size and colour), rough sawn slightly twisted rafter and framing timber, my continual crazy ideas (which will gradually become apparent throughout the project); the list continues.

We started building a year ago with another carpenter who along with considerable hardwood experience had advised us on the jointing system (based on his log cabin building experience) for the beam system. On site however he was not easy to work with and considered the beam system construction his domain; keeping all measurements etc to himself and not keen for Greg and i to 'interfer'. After a very stressed couple of weeks he left the project after making a straightforward and avoidable mistake. The result was that Greg and i had to pick up the pieces and in some ways start from scratch again, as he had not shared he ideas etc. To correct this took considerable time as more mistakes became apparent and everything had to be re-measureed/calculated etc. Lesson learnt; team players only please!

March 2010 and enter Craig. Him and Greg compliment each other; they work very well as their own team but patiently answer my questions relating to something outside their then line of thought. Everyones' families are very important within the project and there are frequent visits by everyone and always flexibility regarding family priorities. We all feel happy and relaxed to be there.

We have also 3 travellers helping too, Tomek and Chari for the last month or so and now Till as well. This brings a very European flavour to the site but also requires a lot more organisation/planning on my part, so that T, C, T and me can support G & C in their work and then move further ahead along the planned building route. Although at times intense, this has enabled a lot of work to be done.

Teamwork definitely seems to pay off

recycled timber........is it worth it?

Our dear friends Paul and Michelle offered us a run down turn-of-the-century timber villa to take down. I obviously jumped at the offer. Armed with no experience/idea, a hammer, saw and crowbar (as no power closeby) i started tearing bits off the inside. In the process splitting all the more valuable rimu trims etc. Ah...first lesson learnt there, lets slow down and have a think about it. I got pretty good at this though by the time i reached the less valuable framing timber!

The house was actually complete with floor lino, wall paper, gib, everything; so for every 1 weekend of timber work the next 2 were spent clearing up and removing the mess created. Removing wall T&G is pretty tricky, so a friend helped with that. By now timber stacked everywhere so another weekend or 2 transporting this to a nearby shed. Basically i worked on all the internal framed walls etc and then took the roof down; a big job but satisfying. Then strip off the weatherboards and struggled to pull the exterior walls down. All the time assessing the timber, sawing off the rotten ends and doing denailing here and there, more stacking etc. Borrowed a floorboard lifting jig off a friend (turing over the floor on my own and then banging off the joists just wasn't going to happen!) that worked very well.

Result:- Time taken was one weekend a month for 18 months on my own generally; a huge burn pile as 2/3rds of the timber only suitable for this; a double shed full of stacked timber with 1/2 of it still having nails. To cut a long story it took a further 14 days to denail and stack that timber into the container. Half of it painted.

Would i do it again.............denailed stripped recycled timber is expensive to buy but the route i took was so slow. Interestingly I salvaged a few bits from a local villa that had been pushed over by a digger. Whereas i had tried to save every useable length, the timber here was still in reasonable condition and a lot was salvaged by many people. If i was to do it again i would carefully strip any valuable internal timber, then have the house pushed over and then carefully lift the floor.

The story continues as the container load of timber will need to put through a thicknesser (with plenty of blade sharpening time!), have paint stripped, and further sorted with more eventually burnt. But if you want that look and can't afford the prices...............