Thread: Shade house/Pergola

I had been thinking about the housing on top of the post vs where the mortices in the side would land.

There are 9 "rafters" but only 5 posts. Where the intermediate rafters are going to land on the stretcher between posts, it will be below the top of the posts ... and a bit below the bottom of the post housings.

The other half was watching Jamie Oliver making fish-and-chips comfort food ... and watching it at the end of the segment, he was in a wooden 'conservatory' or 'sun-room' ... and the 'rafters' landed on a stretcher along the top of the wall. I didn't wake up to trying to take a photo of the screen until just after it was never shown again ... and can I find that episode online? Grrr.

But ... out of focus ... this is it ...

jamie f-chips.jpg

Originally I had thought of some 180mm x 40mm boards for the morticed-in stretchers for visual weight.
The longest one had quite a bow to it, but some limestone blocks have been re-educating it.

Then I woke up to the fact I had 9m of 100mm x 35mm (in two lengths) which used to be attached to the fence to catch the rafters.
So I then planned to use that as the stretcher/s.

Now I'm thinking of using the 100x35 across the tops of the posts ... lapped or housed ... to make a level surface for all the rafters to land on ... as well as some other size (equal or larger) morticed in also as stretchers ... but able now to be at a lower level without affecting the rafters.

That photo of the rafters has suddenly made me very hungry ...

Posts are cleaned up ... I uncovered the jointer

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of course I must acknowledge some help in supply of sandwich (the other half) ... and disposal of same (a quarter?) ...

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I started to chamfer the edges with the trusty #5 and some cutting edge workholding.

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All done ... now to decide at what height the mortices should go ... and give the morticer some work.

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Sussing out the arrangement with some stand-in timbers and clamps.

The original idea was to half-lap along the top, and mortice in the lower stretchers ... but then the stretchers would be out of vertical alignment. Could work possibly ... with the right vertical spacing ... but now I'm thinking haunched tenons (vs an open housing) so that both stretchers are centred on the post.

(borrowd pic)


The lower stretcher looks still kinda high in those photos. I thought it looked ok at the time.

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I'll try Phi ... the golden ratio ...

phi.jpg

I think it is better ...

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Is the sandstone block to stop the timber floating away?

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

Is the sandstone block to stop the timber floating away?

It's quite windy here sometimes you know.

(... It's helping to re-educate a bowed 2"x12".)

I'm in two minds about the top "rail" ...

A half-lap would be simpler, and it looks quite good being at the rear of the post sitting at the level of the top of the fence.

On the other hand, double mortices would look more even.

Hmmm.

Thought for a moment that your fellow diner had been hung for eating the wrong tucker!!

Originally Posted by pmcgee

......

The other half was watching Jamie Oliver making fish-and-chips comfort food ... and watching it at the end of the segment, he was in a wooden 'conservatory' or 'sun-room' ... and the 'rafters' landed on a stretcher along the top of the wall. I didn't wake up to trying to take a photo of the screen until just after it was never shown again ... and can I find that episode online? Grrr.

But ... out of focus ... this is it ...

jamie f-chips.jpg.......

Do you think sending him an email asking about the backdrop and to take a few photos. After all there is a cooking section in this forum.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f120

Could convince him to signup as a member.

Originally Posted by pmcgee

The previous one rested on the fence ... it must have been there a long time ... this one will be independent of the fence.

I forgot to say that it will all be slathered in thick brown outdoor paint in the end. :/

Interesting work Paul. I too did wonder about the post leaning on the fence.

You must come from my father-in-laws school of painting. He "helped" us paint the interior of our house when we bought it (he came to Australia from Greece in the 60's and got a job as a painter for a few years before opening his own cafe'. He thinks he's Michaelangelo, I think he's more of a Picasso ). Slathered is how I would describe his painting technique at our place. While i have repainted since then (without his knowledge) i still have to look at the paint drops all over our lounge & bedroom carpets on a daily basis ....

Originally Posted by artme

Thought for a moment that your fellow diner had been hung for eating the wrong tucker!!

Oh he's not a stealer ... but he was keen to be cut in on the deal.

Originally Posted by Christos

Do you think sending him an email asking about the backdrop and to take a few photos. After all there is a cooking section in this forum.
Could convince him to signup as a member.

Maybe he already is?

Originally Posted by Ozziespur

Interesting work Paul. I too did wonder about the post leaning on the fence.
You must come from my father-in-laws school of painting. He "helped" us paint the interior of our house when we bought it (he came to Australia from Greece in the 60's and got a job as a painter for a few years before opening his own cafe'. He thinks he's Michaelangelo, I think he's more of a Picasso ). Slathered is how I would describe his painting technique at our place. While i have repainted since then (without his knowledge) i still have to look at the paint drops all over our lounge & bedroom carpets on a daily basis ....

It's not even me ... it's the other half. She has done inside the house too, but for the exterior ... she feels it should be more like laying plaster. Seems to work.

I forgot to mention our shadecloth. Wow. You sometimes think there isn't that much in the way of quality in products these days ... but maybe it is just there is so much rubbish on top of the good stuff. We have had the shade cloth to cover roughly 8m x 3m for about 8 years or so. We have huge winds here part of the year, it hasn't torn very much at all, it's still dark green ... I was pretty stunned when we pulled it down.

I've decided I can make the middle mortices for a full section, put it up in place and then decide what to do with the top rail. The lower rail is about 35mm wide (by 120mm), and the post is about 70mm (square).

I have the position for the rails/stretchers now so I had to make the mortices ... and decide on a size.

I was thinking a good solid tenon would be a good thing, and I marked 20mm in from each side ... actually 20mm and 50mm from the face side ... and 80mm long.

Having made the first one, which he realises now could/should have been a blind mortice ... but can now become post #2 ... I then started thinking about the potential over time for a deforming stretcher to basically lever the post apart.
Better I guess that the tenon tears off than the post be affected.

I think I will reduce the other tenons to 20mm wide ... although maybe it's more likely to sag than twist.

Cheers,
Paul

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