Mid September comes and we see the results of all that cutting and peeling we did in the summer. We worked from Wednesday to Monday, dawn to dusk with Ronn Hann the log builder and Dangerous Dan (nice fellow, relates to another story) helping out, as well as Elaine and Frank on Monday. Ronn and Dan stayed here with us so we had some great visiting and dinner conversation too. Here the fabricated railing pieces are assembled, using a nice set of Veritas brand cutters for making the dowel and tenon end fittings for the spindles and rails.
Dan stands in front of the freshly installed elephant tusk, adding more curves to add to the roundedness of the house, giving the picture that it is growing right out of the ground. These corner braces were my idea because I did not like the lack of support at the ends for the straight rail run, despite assurances that it was acceptable. I could see that bending moment in my mind.... so we adopted a creative solution! Bob was the one who conceived the idea to put them on this way around, we'd also toyed with using the radius the other way around, scooping up instead of down.
Here is the nearly completed railing. After this photo was taken, Dan inserted and sanded down wooden plugs over the lag bolt holes at the bottom. I then polish sanded the whole thing again, scrubbed it with 25% bleach solution and finally "painted" it liberally with Sasco Boracol 20-2 BD (a water based solution containing 20% disodium octaborate tetrahydrate). The latter is a preservative that prevents blackening of the wood and protects it from insect infestation. Once dry, I will be able to put the final three part Sansin stain and sealer on - hopefully within the next week or two.
