Hi everyone:

Just a little change of pace and back to basics again

Here is a photo of a few of the large mud sills (12" by 12" by 30 feet) being prepared adjacent to the reconstruction area.

In the foreground you can see on of my favorite tools, I have just finished fashioning out a tenon with it and also in the background you will see the tenon guage that I use to make sure that the exterior size of the tenon is as accurate as possible. this is obtained by sliding the guage along as it is being created.

these timbers were created from large hemlocks that squared 12" at 30 feet, each timber took a tremendous amount of work considering that the large ends were over 36" in diameter.

the whole network of timbers making up the floor alone took us 1 full season to create (may 15 to sept 15), and contained the largest of the timbers that were hand hewn.

I hope you enjoy
NH