June 2022 Build Update

A June build update

Decided that we should do monthly build updates as we march towards the end of the year. We’re hoping to reach lock up by then (walls, floor and roof complete) and 31st December is our D-day.

What we’ve done

Erny bought a second hand table saw for $400 a few months back and it’s been an absolute workhorse. With it we’ve milled our wood down to size (70x45mm) for our walls and have started cutting down the blackbutt for our window frames.

Working with a job site table (one that’s portable) saw has meant there have been a few tweaks that we’ve had to make. The first is that the vibrations and when one rips though a particularly long length of wood the fence is prone to shifting. Erny hacked a wood piece to clamp on to the table saw to minimise this.

Another is that the vibrations move the table saw forward on the table that we’re using. Once again clamps come to our rescue as we decided to clamp down two pieces of wood to the end of the table. These act as a stopper to stop the table saw shifting.

Something else that we’ve noticed is how good douglas fir smells. Apparently it smells like citrus but it just smells really fragrant. And as a soft wood it’s super light! Douglas fir is considered one of the most resilient softwoods in the commercial market and can handle really hard conditions. You’ll find it in older style houses or in large beams. Apparently, it was the go-to wood in the 19th century and was milled in all over Sydney. Now, apparently, Australia goes for treated pine for its lumber material as its quicker to grow and Douglas fir is less available. Our lumber comes from a timber mill that was closing down to make way for apartments and off cuts from a housing renovation.

Blackbutt is our wood of choice to frame our windows with Erny having the bright idea to make the window frames himself. It’s a ridiculously heavy native hardwood that has a gorgeous grain and colour. We picked up the planks at an auction house to save them from getting mulched as they have quite a few cracks and burls in them (or as some people like to say - character). It also smells different to the Douglas fir when it gets sawn - because it’s a hardwood. Since Blackbutt is so dense it causes the blade to heat up due to increased friction. This burns the wood and brings out a more burnt smell.

Also, we’re following part of the Unified Construction Method by Fred Schultz, by creating ply connectors for our roof rafters and have measured 23 of these out. Lys had to hunt high and low for a protractor that hadn’t been touched since Year 6 Maths.

Challenges

We’ve had a string of pretty good weekends in June so can’t complain about the weather! ☀️🌧️ A thing we’re trying to tweak at the moment is finding fastest and most optimal way to set up our workspace since we’re working outside. Currently we’re putting out two fold out tables and using some spare agriculture pipe to manage particles.

What’s next?

Erny’s flying out to the US for most of July and the forecast is looking pretty awful so it’s unlikely that we’ll be getting much done this month. We’ll probably be writing up a bit more content as well catching everyone up on what we’ve been up to over the last 6 months too!

Catch ya later, Lys & Erny