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PEP Badge: Round Wood Woodworking

posted 3 months ago
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(note:  this document is still under construction - feel free to comment!)

general

Zero glue.  Rarely using metal.  Everything built from logs, branches and sticks.  Nothing starts with dimensional lumber.

Power tools can be okay, but, in general, less power tools.  Some projects specify no power tools.

sand badge

club style mallet (hand tools only)
compound mallet (smaller dry stick goes into bigger green stick (head)) (hand tools only)
carve a big, ugly, nearly useless spoon (hand tools only)
add one horizontal log to berm/hugelkultur scaffolding
dry peg in green wood project (build one):
   - coat hooks (4)
   - half log bench (six feet long) on four legs
   - saw horse
   - saw buck
   - stool
three log bench
two coat hooks made from small trees and the hooks are the branches on these trees
   - no need for any joinery

straw badge

lightweight stool
shaving horse
3 three log benches
carve a nice, lightweight spoon you can eat with
bowsaw frame
decent sawhorse
decent sawbuck
basic heavy kitchen chair with a back

wood badge

shrink pot
japanese chisel box made from a block of firewood
pole lathe
bowl from a pole lathe
honey dipper from pole lathe
lightweight kitchen chair
heavy table
skiddable shed for green woodworking that includes
   - a cleave break and
   - a place to dry wood/pegs
   - storage for a shaving horse and pole lathe
   - storage for mallets and other tools
proenneke hinge - using root wood
really nice door latch
light and excellent bowsaw frame
validate the sand badge of six others

iron badge

light dining room table (no metal or glue)
wood log trough
magnificent roundwood bed
two really nice wood bowls
two really nice wood plates
a steamed wood project
swinging bench in a skiddable structure
outdoor firewood rack
2 nice outdoor chairs
rocking chair
bunk beds
2 more lightweight kitchen chairs
carve 2 large spoons for cooking/serving and 3 small spoons for eating
excellent shaving horse
curtain rods
broom
picnic table without dimensional lumber
   - pretty much an extension of the 3 log bench
   - https://permies.com/t/37509/a/68569/thumb-round-wood-picnic-table.jpg
deck railing
wofati freezer
   - 200 square feet of freezer space
   - 100 square feet of root cellar space
   - at least 7 feet tall
   - large eave
   - cold charging tube for mass
   - logging thermometer records temps below freezing from april through october
validate the straw badge of six others
COMMENTS:
 
Daron Williams
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posted 3 months ago
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Question about the "add one horizontal log to berm/hugelkultur scaffolding" item for the sand badge.

It feels out of place compared to all the other items for the sand badge and the other badges. The reason it feels out of place to me is that it requires the construction of something else before someone can start it - in this case the hugel bed or berm.

The other items - unless I missed one - don't seem to require something else to be constructed before being able to start.

I think this could hold up people from getting the sand badge. I know for myself I could do all the other sand badge items fairly easily (some I have done in the past but don't have pics so I think I will redo them - the mallet for example) but while I have a lot of large hugel beds none of them would really benefit from scaffolding. They are all planted fully and turning into nice hedgerows that I don't want to climb up onto - they are meant to be dense enough to keep deer out and all the stuff I would want to harvest are planted down low.

So if I was to try to get this badge I would need to first build a new large berm or hugel bed and then do the scaffolding project. Which is fine if that is what you want people to do - to me it just feels a bit much for the sand badge and out of place compared to the other tasks listed for the sand badge.

So I guess the question is... Do you want people to have to complete part of the sand badge for the growies PEP (the large hugel bed) before they can complete the sand badge for the round wood PEP?

Do you want to work with nature to grow your own food and build/start your homestead? Check out Wild Homesteading so you can gain the skills you need.
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paul wheaton
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posted 3 months ago
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Question about the "add one horizontal log to berm/hugelkultur scaffolding"  



We added a couple of horizontal logs this year.  It turned out to be an excellent learning experience.  We could use half rotten logs - so they were really easy to shape.   And since it is in the garden where the logs would rot completely in a few years, having things perfect was not a requirement.  

On top of that, the vertical logs are not vertical.  And they never will be.  So you just aren't going to be able to measure things perfectly.  It's just an excellent opportunity to learn so much.  

The first version was more like "do one of these things" but the other things were really weak in comparison.  

We needed a start.   We needed to get the full PEP document up to version 0.7beta and this point was gumming up the works.  

Maybe a few months from now, we will get some good ideas and update this.  But for now:   this is just far too good of an educational tool.

Another possible idea:   suppose a person such as yourself completes 90% of the BBs to get to PEP1.   You might then come by and spend a week in the bootcamp here and knock out that last 10% on the evenings and the weekend.  Or maybe we can have a PEP1 wrap up event that is a weekend thing where a dozen people that are 90% along can come out and wrap up that last 10%.  ??

Or maybe there is another place, much closer to you, that will offer such a weekend?

For now:  I had to let go of coming up with a universal answer in order to be able to move on and come up with a rough draft of the whole program.  I would really love to hear about suggestions for alternatives.  ??

Check out my Rocket Mass Heater DVDs Better Wood Heat

 
Daron Williams
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posted 3 months ago
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Sounds good Paul.

Do you want to work with nature to grow your own food and build/start your homestead? Check out Wild Homesteading so you can gain the skills you need.
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Dave Burton
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posted 2 months ago
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Dibs! I'm making the page about the three log bench

"Alea iacta est" -Julius Ceasar / Welcome to Permies! / Learn Permaculture / Logos for Permaculture Peeps

 
Steve Thorn
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posted 2 months ago
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This. Is. Amazing!

Check out that mallet at 9:05!

My website and blog https://www.naturalplantnursery.com/ and my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRCqBr9G8JObD-cxQG8s5A

 
Nicole Alderman
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posted 2 months ago
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As I was making a tiny green wood stool for my kids' fairies, my husband asked, "How do we keep the wet wood from cracking while drying?"
IMGP9888.JPG
[Thumbnail for IMGP9888.JPG]
Put together!

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

 
paul wheaton
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posted 2 months ago
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How do we keep the wet wood from cracking while drying?



Green wood will check as it dries.  

Keep in mind that a 2x4 will start off green.  When you buy it, it has dried without checks (usually).  Think of it this way, suppose 30 studs all roped together made up a previous 8 foot long log.  If the log was left in tact, then the log would eventually check (crack).  But if we cut the log into the studs, then all of the checking would happen where the cuts are.  

So if your stool is made from a 2x10 that you cut to 9.5 inches (a 2x10 is actually 1.5 inches by 9.5 inches) and then you rounded off the corners, then it probably won't check.  The way it shrinks is unlikely to cause checking.    

But if you have a peeled log that is 9.5 inches in diameter, and you cut off a slice - like you did for the tiny stool, the shrinkage around the circumference will be enough to cause a check.  There is a high probability of checking.  

Check out my Rocket Mass Heater DVDs Better Wood Heat

 
Nicole Alderman
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posted 2 months ago
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So, there's no way to prevent it?

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

 
Becky Weisgerber
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So, there's no way to prevent it?



The best way to reduce the risk of checking is to dry it SLOWLY.
David F Fisher has some good tips about drying green bowls - he puts them inside a paper bag on a shelf that won't be disturbed for a couple months, then does the finish work after they're dry. I've also had success with drying the item inside a paper bag full of the green shavings you took off the item while shaping it; and I've tried putting the item in a plastic bag that you have to turn inside out every day. (Forgetting the daily part of this gets you mildew.)

If you get a crack anyway - you can prevent further movement by inserting a separate piece of wood across the grain of the crack. Check out the nice butterfly in the post I linked above.
 
paul wheaton
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posted 2 months ago
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somehow this seems like the sort of thing for the wood badge.  





source

Check out my Rocket Mass Heater DVDs Better Wood Heat

 
paul wheaton
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an even easier way to get a dowel end:



In that video, he is referring to this video:

Check out my Rocket Mass Heater DVDs Better Wood Heat

 
Nicole Alderman
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I'm wondering if maybe a simple roundwood trellis/arbor/pergola would be good to have at one of the levels, maybe straw? I'm thinking about making a trellis for kiwis over my kid's playpit (to give them a shady place to play in the summer), and it looks like a relatively simple building project...except I don't know how. Would it give a good foundational experience before building a skiddable structure, or would the skills learned in making a skiddable structure be simple enough that one wouldn't need a simpler project before them?

Edited to add: I just gotta say how much I'm loving this roundwood PEP. It's giving me foundational skills that I've always wanted, but didn't even know how to go about getting because I knew NOTHING about the subject. I was like a cave man looking at a circuit board, not even knowing what to learn to gain the skills to understand it. Thank you, Paul (and everyone making Badge Bits!). I've always wanted to make things, and now I actually am.

~ Dragons, Fairies and even a Mini-Paul! ~ You Know You're a Permie When...~ All About Permies, including tutorials ~Herbal Hugel Spiral of Randomness!~Tricks to Keep the Dirt from Sliding off a Hugel~List of Cascadia Bloggers and Facebook Pages!~

 
douglas Huajardo
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posted 1 month ago
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Some ideas  to keep wood from checking
These were shared with me by old school Bulgarian, now deceased

Avoid wood containing the pith ( center of tree) if possible
Boil green piece  to be worked in water (55 gallon barrel over camp fire) to relieve tension, then slowly air dry

I hope this is helpful

 
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