[GaryO]

WOOD
I so wish to be it’s friend,
but it resists my abuse,
when I carve it for use,
splintering at the very end……

Building cabins is very forgiving in the wood butchering dept.
It’s all rough, little fine work. Still, it should be plumb and square.
I recently made windows and a door for our little kitchen addition to the cabin.


I almost left the kitchen in open air mode....kinda liked it like this...in summer



Windows
2x2 SPF with ½” ripped slots, 45° cuts, custom cut pan










The door
Had some 2x2 SPF lying around, so, cut, glued and screwed some together. A bit of stain, and a tad of ingenuity begets a cabin door:





Excuse the stained OSB scraps, it’s free stuff from a buddy that I used for sub wall. I’ll nail on cedar shakes later this spring








presto
semi-finished kitchen

[Feasibly]

Looks like some nice quality work there Gary!

Are you sure you don't have any professional home building experience in your background?

[GaryO]

Nada
Self taught….since about 10 or 12 yrs old
Loved watchin’ my granddad make something
Loved watchin’ his ol’ brace auger a hole, and his saw travel straight and true…his hammer felt good in my hand
All that stopped when he passed
…then it started again
Like anything, if it’s fun for ya, results tend to get better.

Thanks Feaz

It helps to build models first if it's yer own plans....


then the fun

[M0rd3kaI]

Wow Gary... I have to say that seems like mighty fine work there... Would not mind having as much skill in woodwork, but I guess that it all comes with experience and experience only comes with practical 'hands on' tasks, due to various restrictions I can't do things like this on a regular basis though... wouldn't mind to anyway.

I absolutely love the cabin, I love wooden houses/ cabins, they feel 1) 'warmer' than concrete or steel and 2) they're so much cosier, it feels as if you're at home and should make a cup o' brew and just chat to the owner while the 'pitter patter' of the rain can be heard outside while the gentle crackling and popping is heard from that few logs burnin' away in the fireplace... ah makes me think of holidays in my aunts home in Yzerfontein... those were the days... until that place also became a damned city >.> I want a holiday home where as little people as possible are... or rather as little signs of civilization as possible... I went to that house about 6... maybe seven years back and it was awesome... a few years back... bloody hell, should be about 2 years max and I could not tell the difference between that and the high street in the mothercity... only thing missing is skyscrapers, but seriously if you have a 3 storey house that you never visit... I consider it 1) a waste and 2) just a f***ing sin almost... sigh, I'm ranting on about my childhood dream area be turned into the very thing I despise... anyway.

As I was saying, that is some fine craftsmanship, if I may ask how long did it take you to construct the Cabin and if you don't mind, the first set of pictures showing the kitchen and the 2-part door... is that on the same cabin as the second set of pictures with you 'inspecting' the roof layout and design?? or am I just completely con-f***-ulated?

[GaryO]

Same cabin

It took my lady and I a summer.

Well, I must confess, I just cruised thru the pictorial, and it confused me too.

Thing is, I gotta dig into my camera, or a mislaid card, to find what I need to make things more clear. What I have in a file is mostly copyrighted (I had a book published)

In the meantime, here’s a pic of the next model. It looks a bit odd (too high for the size), but imagine a wrap-around deck, and waking up to full sun from a nine light French door in the loft, stepping out to the deck, coffee, toasted raison bread, and perhaps some frolic……………

[Mooooooooooooooooooo]

Damn Gary.....That's beautiful work.


And I should know. I come from a family of cabin builders. My Grandfather bought virgin land in northern Ontario and turned it into a resort, 3 Cottages, a dozen overnight and seasonal camping sites and rental boats....Walleye that would make a grown man cry. My Father added 6 more cabins (mostly A frames built from on-site timber) and 50 more seasonal sites. All off the grid. Solar power, outhouses and lake water.


Sadly, I have none of those skills. I'm more comfortable elbow deep in a computer.


But I know quality work...and I see it in your pics. I'd kill a bag of puppies or one moderator for your abilities.

[M0rd3kaI]

Oh, ok, I'm still a bit in the fog, but I'm assuming the first post of yours was done after the second post so to speak, adding additional space (so to speak) to the already existing cabin.

Oh bugger off ... Building cabins, playing 'chase the grandchild' with your toes, writing books... all you have to do is say you own about a dozen firearms and I will intentionally get hair implants on my chin and jawline, dye them grey, fly over there and kick you out of your own life... happily replacing you. Really...

But that cabin looks really nice, I take it with a wrap around deck it will look much better and most likely something you're building for me eh?? (jk jk)

And now that I actually notice it... nice and neat working space you have, loving the 'hanging' tools style... reminds me of my father's tool cabinet and 'board'

And Mooooo+... agreed... I'll gather the puppies... if I don't find a mod first

[GaryO]

You guys are killin’ me!!...’bag of puppies’, oh lawdy, sends me back to the dead baby jokes of the sixties….

M0rd, I have a gun cabinet fulla artillery…….
OK, nuthin’ special. Sold more than I have, but still own bird, deer, and Elk guns. Hand guns are the next to pare down. Ammo is expensive, and never took the time to learn to load my own….might do that though…..might.

Mr Mooo, your folks sound wonderful, just wonderful.
I’ve been to places like that…..heaven.

M0rd, I’d trade 10 years of experience for one of yours you have right now…..you’d be holdin’ the fecal end of the stick.

OK, I’m glad you guys approve, and yes, the warmth of wood does it for me too, but even more so, having put my own hands to it is immeasurable for me.
I so enjoy the forgiveness of wood.
Anything you do with it can still become kindling....of which I seem to never run out of.

Truly, you guys could build, if you so choose, but you’re doing exactly what you want to do, and it shows.

I might be a dying breed. Reborn of the simpler things.
No longer lost in the time and soul consuming trap of acquisition.

Yeah, there’s wonderful artisans that erect huge log edifices, and they are beautiful, front page magazine stuff.
But they aren’t mine.

Again there are hobbit like creations made from natural shapes…gawd, I wish I had that talent. They are wondrous, every nook, every cranny.
But they are not mine.

There are posters that rock the ages of time.
But they are not mine.

There are acquaintances that become immediate friends.
They are mine.

[M0rd3kaI]

Ok... it's official... Imma do some research on beard implants... Yeah Weapons are like cars, they are expensive... but the maintenence (repairs, ammo, fuel) is what will forever rape your wallet like a child molester.

Although I'm unsure of your part:

[...]
M0rd, I’d trade 10 years of experience for one of yours you have right now…..you’d be holdin’ the fecal end of the stick.
[...]

Wood (I'll say) is one of the best mediums to build with, if you cut this piece a bit too short, not the end of the world, use it somewhere else, sand it down and make a little trinket or something...

I mean I stayed at my aunts house last year June-ish and we had a few crap days considering weather and those were the only days we get off of work, so this one day I ask my aunt if she has a piece of wood and a bit of wire so that I can keep myself busy, of course she had and I spent the rest of that day making a little trinket for my 'braai' room (fireplace basically) it took not too long and I messed up on a few places, but it was just for the heck of it because I didn't want to just sit round watching TV all day.

I based it off of Cape Town's most significant characteristic... feature, Table Mountain


End result was this:

IMAG0732.jpg

(1.02 MiB) Not downloaded yet

I just bent the ends of the wire at 90degrees, drilled little holes, shoves a little glue in the holes then hammered the slightly larger wire into the hole.

Better angle here:

IMAG0733.jpg

(931.71 KiB) Not downloaded yet

I did not have a reference to Table mountain while making it, so yes, there will be discrepancies, but show any person in Cape Town this and they'll know it's Table Mountain, so I'm not too bothered about that, my mind didn't recall details, but enough to keep me busy, which again, was the very point of this.

anyway, back to NOT ranting on about myself...

I really like the poetic style of your comments and posts

[...]
Yeah, there’s wonderful artisans that erect huge log edifices, and they are beautiful, front page magazine stuff.
But they aren’t mine.

Again there are hobbit like creations made from natural shapes…gawd, I wish I had that talent. They are wondrous, every nook, every cranny.
But they are not mine.

There are posters that rock the ages of time.
But they are not mine.

There are acquaintances that become immediate friends.
They are mine.

Just makes me realise all the more, good friends is all that you need to make your life worth living... With money comes friends.... they are gone sooner than the money, true friends are not only hard to find, but even more difficult to get rid of once found...

[M0rd3kaI]

I do apologise for all of my pics only showing up as links and not the pic itself, I really don't know what's going on there, but anyway...