? on round wood

I am starting on a gazebo that will be 15ft sqr. The thing is i want to leave the bark on what can i use to seal it? My plan is to use mortise and tenon with the tenon having an offset hole to pin it in the mortise using no screws. Any ideas or experience with this and will it hold up since it will be exposed to the elements

Hi Richard,

Wish this was going to be more encouraging than it is...yet most species of tree do not "hold bark" after death...

Another issue is that with the bark left on you are risking further infestation, and degradation by wood infestation Coleoptera. "Adirondack" style architecture and its related vernacular globally, is one of my specialties, it is virtually impossible to keep bark on, and you will only find that gluing is going to be necessary in due course. I would need more details (photos, blueprints etc.) to give more advice on your joinery methods. I would strongly suggest "shouldered joints" with "mortise and housed socket" joints if employing round tenon and mortise modality. Cedars, locust-acacia, cypress, musclewood, manzanita, madrone, and their related ssp. are some of the best to achieve your desired effect. All will require continuous touch up of their natural oil finishes (once a year minimum if exposed.)

Regards,

j

I have a draw knife so i will just start the wife to work. lol here are a couple of pics, I,m learning as I go

So sorry for the typos. My keyboard is sticking

Hey Richard,

Very nice chainsaw work! That is a good and quick way to do it. Be careful with plunging the mortise as kick back is really dangerous, but you probably know that by now. What is the species of tree you are using? How are you doing the layout? Are you going to "scribe fit" each piece after roughing in? Have you used "line layout" methods before? Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Regards,

j

Thanks J. I have no idea what all that is I'm just making them fit as I go, there will be a shoulder also and the tenon holes for the pins will be offset from the pin holes thru the mortice. Just not sure how much
to offset them. Any and all advice is welcome.

When you say "offset," I take you are describing the peg hole so you can effectively "draw bore" the joint. They typical offset is 2mm to 4mm, in most cases and species.

Not real sure.

Hey Richard,

Are you good for now or did I explain enough? Just let me know and I will expand wherever I am able.

Regards,

j

Looking good... dont get to worried because its a learning process... when you get the tenon fitting mortise try scribing the pole so to get a nice fit... there are chisels you can get with a curve on them to get a nice chiseled line on the scribed line