back in business

More work on the purlins today. We began notching what will be the bottoms of the purlins where they will sit on the posts.

This morning Paul & I built the slab for the oven. It is full of small stainless steel needles that are mixed into the refractory cement to provide strength to the suspended portions of the slab. The randomness of the needles provides fewer places that the slab would be likely to crack along than using rebar or mesh. Next comes a layer of fire bricks which will become our baking surface.

purlins are all cut

After a little nap this afternoon, we finished cutting our fourth and final purlin! Now there only remains lots and lots of sanding to do on the last few beams, most of the posts, and the purlins. We are planning to pour the oven slab on Monday, so stay tuned.

still millin' purlin

Almost done. We spent yesterday and today trying to get our purlins finished. We almost got our last purlin milled today, but we had to dash off to a motor vehicle accident page for the fire department. There is about 40 minutes of sawing left to finish the last one. They'll definitely look impressive in the bakery. We're hoping that building the oven will get us pumped-up enough to lift them up onto the posts when its time.

Market day tomorrow again. Time for bed.

milling purlins

We finished peeling the purlins today, and began setting up a jig for the Alaskan mill. It took a while, and a fair amount of fiddling, but we finally got it set up satisfactorily, then came the slow job of actually cutting it. In the end, it turned out very well. Only 3 more purlins to mill. The kids seem to love sawdust and planer shavings only slightly less than sand.

planing

Today we planed. We planed a lot. The stack of wood you can see at the far left of the photo is what we planed today. I wonder if I can put the word "planed" in every sentence? All the boards we planed today will be part of the ceiling, above the 6x10 beams.

We picked up the items we need to get going on the oven. We may start the slab on Friday or Monday. We shall see. Until then, there is some planing to finish, and a lot of log work and sanding too.

the market has begun

Today was the first of many farmer's markets. Paul and I started baking at 1am this morning, and actually got to the market with lots of time to spare. After baking for most of the night, the market is a very satisfying way to end the work day. So many people so eager to take home a bit (or a lot) of what we worked so hard on. Not that it all makes it all the way home. Even the sun came out for our first market. Back to cleaning up posts tomorrow. I wonder what the neighbours would say if I got up at 1am and fired up the chainsaw?

check out our beams

They are long, smooth, and have gorgeous grain.

We spent today sanding beams, moving beams, and sanding beams. Our posts are all milled now, so the crew can start prepping them for installation as well.

Not much else to report. We're planning to mix and pour the slab on Tuesday. Stay tuned.

First Farmer's Market of the season this Saturday. I'm not sure that I feel like getting up at 1am to start baking, but there are only about 22 markets, so we better make the best of them.

sawdust, sawdust, everywhere

We might not be able to work on the oven right now, but the building site was a busy place today (even if its not obvious from the photo). Our logs were being milled into lumber, posts, and beams. Our beams were being sanded and prepped for installation once the posts and purlins are in place. Okay, when I summarize that way, it doesn't sound like that busy of a day, but it was, with lots of people working.

All in all, it was another lovely day on Gabriola. The only problem is that it is way past beer time.

ready for cement slab (almost)

The oven is ready for the slab to be poured, but we aren't. We need more "needles". For each bag of cement we use for the slab, we need to add 1 pound of 1" long stainless steel needles to give it added strength to span the 3 foot gaps on each side of the oven. Hopefully the back ordered needles will arrive soon.

The top photo is the completed layer of insulating bricks. The middle picture is of the completed plywood forms supported underneath by short 2x4 posts (check the Picasa web album to see these). There is a ring of 1x4" strips around the top to hold the 4 inch thick slab.

The bottom picture is of one of our many 6x10 beams being sanded. The fir is beautiful after a bit of sanding. We only have about 38 more hours of sanding to go!