! In the quiet hours of the bootcamp grind, I found myself: Esteban's Bootcamp Experience

Esteban Ademovski wrote:B.E.L. Post # 39

After the morning meeting, we kicked off the day by getting the shop fire lit and warming up. Once that was going steady, we headed over to the Abbey for our usual rounds—everything looked good and quiet.

Coming back to basecamp, John and Stephen peeled off to run a garbage load to the transfer station. Meanwhile, I hauled a crate of cardboard over to the main house and got to work processing woody bits.

Once everyone regrouped, we all ganged up on the chair project. Made solid progress and managed to get it nearly finished by the end of the day.

Were the chair tenons secured by draw boring?

B.E.L. Post # 40

Today was one of those days that reminds you why community living feels so good—especially on Thanksgiving.

First off, the Duke absolutely spoiled us. He fired up his magic and made us his famous signature pizza's… and wow. We demolished those pies like there was no tomorrow. Zero regrets. Only crumbs and smiles left behind.

Between food comas, I kept myself buzzing around like a proper worker bee.

* Cut some logs that will be used for the motion-light project we’ve got on deck.
* Processed a few squash: chopped them up, cooked them, and got them into the dehydrator to dry nicely.
* And I managed to assemble one cage to protect one of our bushes from the deer—those little plant bandits won’t be getting this one!

All in all, a great Thanksgiving at Wheaton Labs—full belly, good work, good people. Feeling grateful.

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Esteban Ademovski wrote:B.E.L. Post # 39

After the morning meeting, we kicked off the day by getting the shop fire lit and warming up. Once that was going steady, we headed over to the Abbey for our usual rounds—everything looked good and quiet.

Coming back to basecamp, John and Stephen peeled off to run a garbage load to the transfer station. Meanwhile, I hauled a crate of cardboard over to the main house and got to work processing woody bits.

Once everyone regrouped, we all ganged up on the chair project. Made solid progress and managed to get it nearly finished by the end of the day.

Were the chair tenons secured by draw boring?

Excellent question!  No, the tenons on this chair weren’t secured by drawboring. For this particular project we went with a more straightforward fit — the joints were cut clean and seated well without needing to pull them tight with a drawbore. It still came together solidly, but drawboring is definitely something we might try on a future build.

B.E.L. Post # 41

Friday 11-28

Started my morning by lighting the fire at the Classroom and getting the dehydrator going. Once everything was warmed up and humming, I headed out to wish John a safe farewell on his journey back home to Washington state. Always bittersweet sending someone off, but good energy all around.

After that, Stephen and I did a trail cam run and then made our way to the Abbey for the usual routine — feeding the cats and doing the fence perimeter check. Everything looked good and the feline crew was happy as always.

Back at basecamp, Stephen dove into troubleshooting an electrical short, while I set to work notching logs to receive solar motion lights for the pathway lighting project. Felt good to see that coming together.

Later in the afternoon, Stephen transitioned to repairing the tractor seat, and I shifted over to splitting firewood — a solid rhythm to end the work day with.

All in all, another productive day at the Labs with a good mix of projects, teamwork, and progress.

B.E.L. Post # 42

This morning started with lighting up the fire at the dehydrator to get things warmed up and running. After that, I headed out to the Abbey for the usual routine — feeding the cats and doing the perimeter check. Always peaceful out there, even on the chilly mornings.

Back at base camp, I hauled a few logs I had harvested earlier. They’re staged and ready to be bucked and split tomorrow. While I was out in the woods, I noticed a couple of good dead-standing trees that will make excellent future firewood, so those are on my list to fell as well.

Before wrapping up for the day, I gathered a nice pile of woody bits to collect tomorrow — good material for the main house. All in all, a productive day of tending, hauling, and planning for more firewood goodness ahead.

Esteban Ademovski wrote:Excellent question!  No, the tenons on this chair weren’t secured by drawboring. For this particular project we went with a more straightforward fit — the joints were cut clean and seated well without needing to pull them tight with a drawbore. It still came together solidly, but drawboring is definitely something we might try on a future build.

When we built a couple chairs for Preonicke day in '22, it was decided drawboring would be something to look into in the future. Last year, those chairs were taken apart and reassembled with sap to try and keep the joints from wobbling so much.

My understanding has been that drawboring isn't to make the joins seat well, but to keep them seated tight after repeated stress on the joint. Outside of a timber frame building experiencing frequent earthquakes, I'd say something like a tenoned chair would be an example of joinery most in need of securing that way. I did notice the design was tweaked to allow green and seasoned wood to be exclusively used in mortise and tenon parts respectively, so perhaps that will be enough to take care of joints loosening with use, as last time we had pieces that served as both mortise and tenon...

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Esteban Ademovski wrote:Excellent question!  No, the tenons on this chair weren’t secured by drawboring. For this particular project we went with a more straightforward fit — the joints were cut clean and seated well without needing to pull them tight with a drawbore. It still came together solidly, but drawboring is definitely something we might try on a future build.

When we built a couple chairs for Preonicke day in '22, it was decided drawboring would be something to look into in the future. Last year, those chairs were taken apart and reassembled with sap to try and keep the joints from wobbling so much.

My understanding has been that drawboring isn't to make the joins seat well, but to keep them seated tight after repeated stress on the joint. Outside of a timber frame building experiencing frequent earthquakes, I'd say something like a tenoned chair would be an example of joinery most in need of securing that way. I did notice the design was tweaked to allow green and seasoned wood to be exclusively used in mortise and tenon parts respectively, so perhaps that will be enough to take care of joints loosening with use, as last time we had pieces that served as both mortise and tenon...

Thanks for the detailed breakdown — that lines up with what I’ve understood about drawboring too. It’s less about pulling the joint tight during assembly and more about keeping that tightness over years of stress and movement. Chairs definitely take a beating, so I can see why those earlier ones ended up needing to be taken apart and tightened up with sap.

On this project, we didn’t end up drawboring the tenons.  Using green wood for the mortises and seasoned wood for the tenons — were meant to help with that long-term snug fit as everything settles and dries. I’m hoping that combination will give the joints enough natural bite to stay solid without needing the extra mechanical lock.

That said, I’m still really tempted to try drawboring on the next round, especially for chairs. It seems like a solid way to avoid the “wobble years” later down the road.

I think the advantage of draw boring is that you can get a wedge in a tenon in a way that's invisible or otherwise hard to access from the back side.  A disadvantage is that they're fiddly to get right and hard to undo if you're halfway into it before figuring out your wedge is too big.

In a chair of this style, a thru mortise and tenon with a wedge might look just fine and be much easier.  Make sure the wedge orientation is perpendicular to the grain of the mortise wood.