A Real Workshop

[3 toed sloth]

Scally, a truly epic tale of shedmanship and blokeyness of the highest order. Looking forward to seeing it come together, and more looking forward to seeing what comes out of it

Regards, Peter

[Trav]

Yep, having great fun with this WIP. Looks like it will be fantastic when it's done.

Trav

[wun4us]

That stack of bridge timbers looks very inviting......makes good furniture items too.

[ian]

Now I have all the timber for the pergola so I can work out how to fit them together.

Do I cut everything to size and bolt them together?
That would be pretty straightforward and quick.
Sounds a smart move.

or

I could be silly and mortice and tenon the beams to the post and do some sort of housing joint for the rafters and beams?
Lots of woodworking. No nails or bolts.
Need lots of tools, power tools and hand tools. It would be heavy work. It would take a long time.
Silly idea.....

Either way it will be a bit tricky because no two pieces are the same dimension.
The beams vary in width by a few centimetres.
The rafter vary in thickness.
Even the posts vary a bit in size.

There is no way I am going to joint and thickness all these big lumps of wood.
This means every joint would need to be measured and marked and cut individually.

oh the joys of post and beam construction

usual process is to mark and cut each joint individually
only use M&T where a rail joins a post part way up. Quite often these very large joints are constructed as dovetails -- basicly keep to furniture like proportions and mark everything off the actual pieces being joined.
tools?
you may want to get a carpenter's slick for trimming the joints
a sabre (recipro) saw will go a long way doing most if not all of your joint cutting -- remember in the "olden days" the primary timber framing tools were an axe and an adze

[Scally]

Thanks for all the interest in my folly and I appreciate the comments.

It's time to start the woodwork for the pergola.

First I need a big workbench for the posts.
My neighbour kindly arrives with his forklift and we move the shed posts to the front of the garage/tool room.
Two on the bottom and two on top makes a nice big 500mm high workbench.
Add the 200mm pergola posts on top and we have a 700mm high work area.
A good height for handtools.

I make up a story stick for the length of the beams.
Then label the stirrups.

I decide on a mortice and tenon joint with the beams flush with the outside of the posts.
The tenon has three shoulders (one less cut to make).

The beams are pretty heavy to move around but the sawhorses hold the seven beams.

The first tenon looks Ok.

[NCArcher]

Nice work Scally.
This is shaping up to be one of the most entertaining shed builds I have seen

Very handy neighbour to have.

[Scally]

Thanks NC but if you want some real entertainment you should drop over for a day!!!

wun4us I was surprised at how good some of the timber was when I cut into it. Some really deep red colours. It is a bit soon to think about furniture but I will be keeping any useable leftovers.

Thanks Ian. That is exactly what I am doing......mark and cut one part then use it to make its mate.
I have never enjoyed digging deep mortices in hardwood. It is slow and hard work. The domino is a great invention. Unfortunately cutting 100mm long x 38mm wide and 100mm deep mortices is beyond the domino.

My chisel collection is for cabinet timbers and carving. My biggest Lie Neilsen, 1", looks a midgit near these big lumps of wood.
I also have a 6mm Sorby mortice chisel, still tiny, and a heavy one that is about 5/8th inch that I found somewhere. The heavy one is getting some use.

A friend lent me two slicks. One about 25mm and the other 38mm. Massive chisels.
I did the first tenon with my chisels before I got the slicks.
The extra size and weight make a big difference.
I keep them sharp on the diamond stones but they keep their edge very well considering the hard timber.
I will need to replace the handles when I am finished because they are getting a real pounding.

My ironbark mallet is too light so I have been using a 1kg hammer.

The slicks are doing most of the work but I get to use a lot of other tools, as you can see in the pics.
Metal detector, lots of pencils/crayons/marking pens, stanley knife for sharpening pencils, marking knife, squares, Winkelfix for angles, tape measures, rulers, pull saw, power saws, belt sander and electric planer, electric drill and a new portable bandsaw.

One of my 25mm spade bits has a new twist after drilling 90mm into a mortice! Heavy duty auger bits are proving more durable.

I bought a cheap electric planer to finish the 7 degree bevel on the top of the beams. It is rough work and it is likely that I will miss a nail or two. I couldn't see the point in buying a good planer and wrecking it. I don't like them anyway so I doubt it will get much use after the pergola.


I have an axe but no adze. I have considered using a draw knife to bevel the corners of the posts. Does that count?

[ian]

I'm sorry Scally, but that tenon looks a little on the puney side to me, unless the mortice incorporates a shoulder for the beam to rest on

are you using riven and driven pins to hold the joint together?

[Scally]

I tend to agree Ian.

The tenon is about the size of a 4 x 2 so it isn't really that puney.

About 25mm of the beam rests on top of the post so that takes most of the weight.

The tenon stops the beams side way movement.

I will pin the tenons. My plan is to drill through the posts at the mortices before I stand them up.
Then once the posts are up and the beams in place, I will drill and pin them. Theoretically I could dry assemble and drill the holes before assembly but I am not confident they will fit the same way when they are stood in place.

The tenons are 100mm down from the top of the beam. This gives me 100mm wood above the mortice on the posts. I was worried that any less and I might break through the top of the post if I was too rough doing the assembly.

Life probably would have been easier if I used a bridle joint.

[ian]

halving joints at the top of your posts would be much easier and from what I can see of the posts wouldn't require any joint making on the beams

[Scally]

I finished the tenons on the beams.
Next time I might change the tenon design Ian!

The occasional shower caused some concern using power tools outside but I was keen to keep moving on the beams.

I cut a shoulder on the beams 230mm from the top of all the beams to take account of the varying width of the boards.

I will need to make a 7 degree bevel on the top of the beams but I will wait until I make the mortices. That way I can match the top of the posts and the beams.

The plan didn't show any bracing for the pergola except joining it to the shed.
It looked like it should have more bracing than that.

My plan is to add knee braces to the end posts at the back of the pergola, the centre posts at the front of the pergola and the two posts at the spa end.

I cut the front and back knee braces. Forty five degree angles on both ends.
About a metre long looked OK.


The knee braces on the spa end will be done after I do the posts. I need to allow for the 7 degree slope from front to back and my brain can't work it out.

When I dry assemble the end post and beams I will decide what size and angles to use. The cut knee braces to fit.

All the tenons will be pinned, probably with a 20mm dowel.


I am a bit worried about how I will assemble the posts and beams with the knee braces.
I think I need a little bit of play and three hands to pull them together?

[Grandad-5]

What a fascinating build. I'm thoroughly enjoying coming along for the ride with you on this one.

The occasional shower caused some concern using power tools outside but I was keen to keep moving on the beams.

For many years I did a lot of outdoor carpentry in the Dandenong Ranges of Melbourne. During winter, a light drizzle was considered a good day. Rain certainly couldn't stop the work or I would have gone broke.

I invested in an inline ELB (Earth Leakage Breaker)
It saved my bacon more than once. They're quite cheap now and well worth the money IMHO. I can highly recommend one, even if you already have one in your home's switchboard.

Cheers
Jim

[Scally]

I bet it was pretty chilly up on the ranges too.

I had a beanie and scarf on this morning and it was 10 degrees.

A breaker does make sense. I'll keep an eye out for one.

Hopefully I will have a shed to work in soon and shouldn't need to worry about a bit of drizzle.

The mortices are taking a while to do even with the big slick.

I have to man handle the post and beam into place before I can mark out the mortice on the post.
The move it around to work on.


The knee braces are the worst because I need to put two posts and their beam together. Get the angles right. Strap them all together.
Then mark the location of the knee braces.

Then pull it apart and start on the mortices.

Steady work.

[Wongo]

Beautiful work. Can't wait to see it done.

[ian]

you're sure making a meal of it Scally
It would be far easier to just sit the beams on a "ledge" (i.e. half a halving joint) on top of the posts

I will need to make a 7 degree bevel on the top of the beams but I will wait until I make the mortices.

why do you need the 7° slope?
normal practice is to notch the rafters to account for the 7° or to notch the top of the top beam just were the rafters cross it.

The knee braces on the spa end will be done after I do the posts. I need to allow for the 7 degree slope from front to back and my brain can't work it out.

on the post it's 45°, on the rafter it's 45+7=52° at the other end it's 45-7=38°



I've done it in my head, so hope I'm right,