!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

Another reason to come back... I live to solve problems!

One time the saw was curving while the blade was vertical. Turned out to be a bearing underneath that just needed to have its mounting bolts tightened

Incredible on the young praying mantis.  Isn't it awesome what we come across when we're out in the relatively natural world and have our senses open for observation?  Having never seen such an egg mass or babies, are you able to provide an idea of the size?

Thanks.  Enjoy the snow!

BEL #846

Decent progress to report on this week, and I'm pleased. I don't think I will meet my arbitrary goal of finishing the structure by the end of the day this coming Thursday (I'm spending Thursday through Sunday in Missoula for spooky movies), but considering both interruptions I allowed into my schedule and a couple weather interruptions, I could have done much worse.

Meanwhile... We're making tenons by hand to fit the mortises made with the hole saw. Here's how they start. I'm using my late Uncle Bob's straight chisel in this photo.



Repeated checks and test-fits result in a tenon that looks pretty damn close to machined:



I also want to introduce a SEPPer currently in residence: welcome Emi, who's here for a couple weeks. When I rattled off this past Thursday afternoon's tasks, she opted to join Erik and me over at my stewardship acre. Big thanks to Emi for fearlessly jumping in with both feet and being another set of helping hands over at the acre.



Speaking of Erik, he also jumped into the fray, putting his Morakniv chisel to the task of cutting out more tenons. I appreciate his willingness to join me, apparently on the regular, in my quest. Paul has granted the "loan" of a fellow Boot for a shift a week, and Thursday afternoons seem like a good fit for both him and me.



These poles are to be fitted together in the main doorway of the willow feeder we're building out. Here's a rare photo of me (AKA "the Rocky Mountain Hirsute Dipshit") in another round of test fittings.



I haven't bothered to learn the proper way to properly offset the pieces connected in a true drawbore joint, and that means we're settling for "drawbore-lite." Holes are half an inch in diameter, and we pass sections of dowel rod through each joint. I hope there's enough roundwood-introduced tension to keep these dowels in place. We'll see down the road how things fare.



More photos of the RMHD test fitting the assembled pieces of the roundwood, no-metal-fasteners door frame.





I forecast that I will have the outer walls complete, along with the door, by the end of my allowed time this coming week. The inner box and seat will have to wait until November. So it goes.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Derek Thille wrote:Having never seen such an egg mass or babies, are you able to provide an idea of the size?

I'd say the egg mass was roughly 3.5 to 4cm long, and then maybe a bit over 1cm in width. The babies, from what I remember, seemed to be something like 1cm in length.

Yeah, when I recognized what I was seeing, my astonishment was plain to see. "Life, uh, finds a way."