Arches and braces

We have been hit by a lot of rain and the weather has turned much colder but since most of the work is inside, it hasn't really slowed us down that much. Working in the layout barn is a challenge in really cold weather but the crew is pushing on and the weather turned nicer towards this week.

	Most of the main arches have been completed. Doug is applying the initial finish before he lays out the joinery. The laminated arches coming together very well although it is a complex operation compounded by the curving shape of the arch. When done, this should make an impressive structure.
Richard is shown hand planing the finished timbers. This particular post is one of the main post in the great room. The 12" hand planer is electrical driven at a very high speed. You should notice all of the wood shavings on the shop floor. The planer produces a very smooth finish on the timber surface. All four sides of the timber are hand planed. At this point, there is a lot of hand work going into each timber. Once the timber is planed, a Danish antique oil finish will be applied.
	You can see there is still a lot of timber to finish but the pieces are stacking up. Notice the stack of finished timbers at the right which are next in line for hand planing. Richard is a pro at hand finishing and is a bit picky about how the work appears. He is also responsible for the final quality check and final packaging.
Back in the Timber Shop, will is working on the knee braces used throughout the structure. I think he dropped his square in the image!
	Kevin can be seen forming and smoothing the curved section of this knee brace. Since there are a lot of these to do, he is constantly working with the belt sander. A lot of wood dust is flying around the shop and since it is very cold out, we have to keep the windows closed. Face mask help with dust control.
In this picture you can see some of the finished arch pieces. These are the smaller sections that will be used in the bedroom arches. The were cut from single pieces of wood and the compound curve was hand formed using a belt sander. Kevin looks something like frosty the snow man at the end of the day... there is that much saw dust flying around!
	Kevin has finished a rather large stack of braces that can be seen resting on stakes just to the right of the loading dock. The timber stock on the loading dock is for additional braces. This load of finished braces will be moved to Brace Land for final hand finishing. If the weather ever warms up, we can move some of the brace work outside, but for now, the upper 20's is still a bit too cold to work outside. Teak the wonder dog is catching some rays while keeping an eye on the braces! There is still more to come. In the next report, we'll look at more of the finishing process and some of the work being done on the bedroom arches.