Kevin Olson

Coydon Wallham wrote:I thought an Alaskan style mill might be workable for this, but shopping around they seem to max out about the same as portable bandsaw mills, well under 20'. Can they be hacked to work longer logs, or would this be a matter of hand hewing or 'freehand' chainsawing? I'm not sure if the 'spacer' method from the ProjectHighlander videos works on long logs, I'm only through the first video there...

Will Malloff's "Chainsaw Lumbermaking" shows a method of using lag screws to set a datum plane for the (homemade) guide rail.  The rail can be repositioned along the length of the log, from one set of lag screws to the next.  Once the initial cut is made, the cut becomes the guide for the saw carriage.

I think I have a low res scan of this arrangement, but I'll have to dig in the trove.  That might obviate any need to splice logs, assuming you have long enough logs to start with.

Malloff designed his lumbermaking setup to be portable in a small boat, to run out to offshore islands on the West Coast of Canada.

Mike Haasl wrote:Alternately you could splice two logs together with a scarf or spline joint of some sort.

The Bearded Carpenter has a 2-part series (part of a longer cabin build series) showing how he splices two lengths, which is simpler than using a timber framing grade "bolt of lightning" scarf, stopped and wedged.

Part 1:

Part2:


Though he's using a big circ saw to rough the splice joint, an aggressively toothed hand saw (maybe 5 points/4 teeth per inch), well sharpened and set, should be pretty quick, too.  I have one which is 5ppi which I got for $8 that I need to clean up, sharpen and set.  It has a cast pot metal handle.  The word on the street is that these metal handled saws were used underground when setting stulls in the mines, but I haven't been able to verify that.  Last fall, I was using a Stanley "Jack" induction hardened saw, but that was all 2X dimensioned lumber, so no deep kerfs.

I believe this is also the cabin build where he shows a stiff leg derrick type of crane for lifting logs to the top of the walls, which he had on the floor inside the pen, and which he could move around from wall to wall, as needed.  That required building a floor deck on the joists pretty early on in the build sequence.

It seems to me that with some careful shimming of the two log lengths (maybe with plastic felling wedges or hardwood gluts), it should be possible to use the Project Highlander method with this Bearded Carpenter splice.  This joint won't take much bending load, so it seems to me that you'd need to make vertical adjustments carefully.

The other option would be, as Mike suggested, burying the lengthwise joint in a vertical post, or in a cross wall (even if the wall is short stub, as you might do with the one notch long Lincoln Logs).  I think Hermann Phleps shows burying the splice in a cross wall, but I'll have to check later.  I have an early meeting with customers over the water (they're already 5 or 6 hours ahead of us), so I need to get my day under way.  I'll take the book with me to work, and if I can spot the relevant picture or two, I'll scan it with the flat bed scanner and post it later.  James Mitchell shows the post method (which is the bread and butter of his short log construction method).  I can probably find a good picture or drawing of that, as well - standard post and beam or Red River Frame construction, really.

What about Glauber's salts (sodium sulfate decahydrate) as a phase change material?  Maybe the economics just aren't there for this use case...

Carla -

Here's one more video of a DIY fold-flat stove (from a Newfie!):


Kevin

Note: edited to embed video (doh!).

In Russia, many cabins had masonry stoves installed on post foundations.  At least some of these foundations failed, eventually, which often lead to failure of the stoves, as well.  However, these masonry stoves also required regular maintenance, and sometimes a total rebuild, anyway.  They were usually constructed of low fired country made brick (on site, or near to it), so no fire brick.  Even with due care, durability was finite, because of the soft, low strength brick.

I'll try to find a good YT video showing this foundation arrangement.  There is a nice series of a teardown/post-mortem on an old Russian stove, if I can find it again, with good details (and auto-generated closed captions which were at least passably understandable in English).  I'd suspect that cedar or tamarack/larch would have been good choices for such purposes, but no doubt many things were pressed into service.

I'm not suggesting that you use posts - the other recommendations are better from a structural and durability standpoint - I am simply pointing out that there was an historical approach to this same problem.  With more durable stove materials, a more durable foundation is imperative.

When I install a thermal mass heater in our house, I'll need to build a masonry plinth from the basement floor to the ground floor level in the middle of the house to support it, even though I'll be using a pre-fab double-wall metallic chimney (in a chase) for the stack.

On edit: here's the first video (in a series of 5), covering the investigation of an old Russian stove

This one shows the post foundation for the stove (and that, in this case, the sill logs of the walls rotted first).  But, if you are interested in old masonry stove construction, this is a good series to see how they used to be built (or at least, one version).

Coydon Wallham wrote:Have you seen that topic described in any other books or websites?

Here's another reference which shows a birch bark lined roof eave detail (and other construction details, too):
https://nylaatelier.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-01-19_memoire-finale.pdf
Go to page 26 of the PDF (numbered page 51 of the original document), and page 35 (69) for a closer look.

This is in French.  I am still digesting it (slowly - my French is pretty rough these days).

Suzette Thib wrote:Hello You Green House Warriors!

Which direction is your greenhouse oriented? We get really really hot here June-September, so I am thinking of an east facing greenhouse so nothing fries! But, I don't have much experience so, please advise.

The standard advice is to orient the ridge/long axis of a greenhouse North-South below 45 degrees latitude, and East-West above 45 degrees.  But, your site and usage will dictate whether this is correct for your specific location.

The rationale for a N-S axis is that things inside get good sun exposure on all sides (again, depending on surroundings).

The rationale for an E-W orientation is that lower sun angles (the not-summer 6 months of the year, more-or-less) the equator-facing glazing will let in more light, and the interior of the other side of the greenhouse can be lined with something reflective to help even out the light on the "back" side of the growies.

My brother and nephew just bought a going-concern hydroponic micro-farm (tomatoes, hot peppers and more). We're north of 45 degrees by a couple of hundred miles, roughly.  That greenhouse is oriented with the ridge N-S.  But, it has a blown double skin, with a wood fired boiler for winter heat.  For this application, the current orientation is probably as good as anything.

In northern climes, some greenhouses are actually shed built, with a low-angle single pitch roof and a glazed south facing wall (sloped or vertical).  Sometimes, end walls will also have partial or full glazing.  Good insulation on all unglazed walls/roof, and thermal mass (IBC totes full of water, thermal mass floor in part) can help to stabilize (even help to annualize) temps.

Caveat: I haven't built mine, yet.

Kate Downham wrote:Scalding some of the flour in boiling water does a few things:
• Starch gets gelatinised, adding strength to the dough, which is especially helpful if your flour is low in gluten or not ideal for bread.
• Bran gets softened, less ‘tiny knives’ to cut through the gluten strands.
• Brings more hydration into the bread without making the dough too slack to shape - this extra hydration helps it stay fresh for longer.
• Helps create a soft and flexible crumb.

To adapt an existing recipe to use some scalded, flour, use up to 20% of the total flour in the scald, pour over the same weight in water, and then reduce the amount of water in the rest of the recipe by half the amount that you used in the scald (e.g. so if you used 200g of water in the scald, reduce the water in the rest of the recipe by 100g).

That's very helpful, Kate.  Thank you.  I'll pass on your explanation to my daughter, as well (since I was grilling her about it about a week ago, and she had no ready answer to my pestiferous querries!).  I'll try scalding some of my flour when next I bake.  It sounds like it may help with my chronically shaggy whole meal dough.  Or is at least worth a trial.

Thanks again!

Rebecca Norman wrote:Hi Kevin! I used to knead a lot, thinking it was necessary for gluten development. But in recent years a close friend convinced me to try the no-knead method, and wow, it results in much better gluten development and crumb structure! Like, MUCH better. Consider giving it a try.

Sorry, I missed your reply, somehow.  Thanks for the tip.

I've used the "no-knead" method with commercial bread flour - mostly King Arthur White bread flour - with very good success.  I was more-or-less following the "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" method.  Stir together the water, salt yeast and flour; allow to rise somewhere between 12 and 24 hours, depending on temperature and other factors not immediately discernible to a tyro like me; refrigerate the dough; then cut off hunks of dough to shape, proof and bake, as needed.  I don't know if I really buy the "5 Minutes a Day", but it isn't very much more than that - of direct labor, anyway, no matter how much calendar time is required.  If you had to stoke a wood fired oven, then all of the oven firing and minding would, of course, be in addition.  And, that's what I'm hoping to get to eventually - a genuine wood fired bread oven.

But, I haven't (yet) tried the no-knead method with the home ground whole meal.  In general, what I've made so far has been stickier than dough made with commercial white flour at the same hydration.  Unfortunately, I don't have a grandmother or great grandmother who remembers making bread before modern conveniences, and so could offer me some friendly advice while breathing down my neck.  My mother only ever used commercial flour - never home ground - so I didn't have any experience with that as a kid (though I did spend a fair bit of time kneading dough - she believed that everybody needed to learn basic skills like sewing on buttons and making gravy).  Now, all of the senior distaff members of my family have passed on to their rewards.

My daughter has been making bread with home ground, but mixed 50/50 with King Arthur white bread flour, which by inspection behaves entirely differently from my 100% whole meal dough.  We went to visit her and her husband over Easter, and I got to help her when she made their sandwich bread for the week (she's recovering from a broken leg, so I really was able to help, even if mostly as a "gopher").  Her dough was far more manageable than what I've made, but she was starting with a different wheat; and doing the 50/50 flour mix; and using sugar to get her yeast "working"; and added boiling water to some of the whole meal flour (I'd guess to promote gelatinization of the starch, but she didn't know why - that's just how she learned to do it from her friend); and a bunch of other differences from what I've been doing.  That's pretty much the only in person bread making community I have at my disposal, however, at least until my sister is more available.  At the moment, she has too many irons in the fire, and is driving back and forth 8 or so hours each way, in the process of moving back here.  By the end of the summer, she may have time to offer me some gentle guidance and course correction in my efforts.  She'll be running the kitchen for a youth camp this summer, so I know I won't see much of her until that's done.

So all of that to say that your kind advice is much appreciated.

Tracy Steele wrote:I've followed Mr. Mixer's re-greasing video for two mixers.

In addition to Mr. Mixer's videos, I found this one, specific to my old K5 bowl lift:


Pretty good garage or basement DIY level of R&R (though I am admittedly, only halfway through the video, so far).