PEP Badge: Round Wood Woodworking

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?

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.  ??

Sounds good Paul.

This. Is. Amazing!

Check out that mallet at 9:05!

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?"

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.  

So, there's no way to prevent it?

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.

somehow this seems like the sort of thing for the wood badge.  





source

an even easier way to get a dowel end:



In that video, he is referring to this video:

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

I think Mike Jay has finished all of his Roundwood Badge Bits! Here's a link to all of the posts for this badge.

club style mallet (hand tools only) https://permies.com/wiki/30/98371/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-club
compound mallet (smaller dry stick goes into bigger green stick (head)) (hand tools only) https://permies.com/wiki/30/99244/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-compoundmallet#927342
carve a big, ugly, nearly useless spoon (hand tools only) https://permies.com/wiki/30/99344/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-spoon#932678
add one horizontal log to berm/hugelkultur scaffolding https://permies.com/wiki/99605/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-scaffolding#931527
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 https://permies.com/wiki/10/99897/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-drypegstool#932673
three log bench https://permies.com/wiki/10/99566/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-bench#929095
two coat hooks made from small trees and the hooks are the branches on these trees https://permies.com/wiki/98655/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-hook#932675


For those of you who think you've finished a badge, make a post like this on the Badge's thread, with links to all of the ones you've completed! (It's way too easy for us staff to not realize who's done what. So, make a post like this! It's also a great way to double-check that you've actually finished it. I'd thought I'd finished this one, only to realize I'd forgotten about the scaffold!)

Mike Jay now has the sand badge.

Thanks Nicole and Paul!  You beat me to posting it

So, I'm a bit familiar now with this badge, and thought I'd spotted Leif Ing as having completed the harder badge bits, and thought maybe he'd finished the whole thing. I did my research...

club style mallet (hand tools only) https://permies.com/wiki/30/98371/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-club#928675
compound mallet (smaller dry stick goes into bigger green stick (head)) (hand tools only)   https://permies.com/forums/posts/preList/99244/930735#930735
carve a big, ugly, nearly useless spoon (hand tools only)   https://permies.com/forums/posts/preList/99344/929529#929529
add one horizontal log to berm/hugelkultur scaffolding https://permies.com/forums/posts/preList/99605/931345#931345
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 https://permies.com/forums/posts/preList/99897/931143#931143
three log bench https://permies.com/forums/posts/preList/99566/933925#933925
two coat hooks made from small trees and the hooks are the branches on these trees https://permies.com/wiki/98655/PEP-BB-roundwood-sand-hook#930685
   - no need for any joinery

And he DID complete them all. I wanted to push the shiny certification button, and so I did. Leif, you now are the proud owner of the roundwood sand badge!!!

Here are the links for my sand badge.
Club Style Mallet
Compound Mallet
Spoon
2 Hooks
Dry Peg Hooks
3 Log Bench
Scaffolding

You're now certified, Robbie, and the third proud owner of of Roundwood Woodworking badge! Congratulations!

Are we allowed credit for BBs at any level? For example, I need more spoons anyway, so I knock off all spoon BBs at all levels while working toward sand or straw.

Also, can we get BBs for things that were sufficiently documented in the past?

Hi Michael, I am pretty sure that if you do a BB for a higher level, you'd get certified for it.  Then when you have all the BBs, you'd get that badge.  So it's fine to work ahead.  If the BB isn't fully detailed (like most of the higher level ones currently), it may be hard to predict what their requirements will be.  They are also subject to change until they show up officially.  So there are some caveats...

Yes, you can get certified for things you did in the past as long as the documentation was done.  

Mike Jay wrote:Yes, you can get certified for things you did in the past as long as the documentation was done.  

I can verify this! I'd made a map of my property years ago for a birthday party scavenger hunt for my son. I'd taken a bunch of pictures, and they ended up fitting the Create a Map of Your Property badge bit for the Community badge.

I did some round wood projects recently and they were fun.  They didn't fit any of the BBs so I figured I'd post some pictures to see if they'd be a fit for Sand or Straw.

In both cases I had cedar posts in the ground and top rails connecting them.  The posts were shaved into a two bevel shape and the rails were drilled/chiseled out to sit on the posts.  This way rain won't sit on any end grain.  I also came up with a way to connect them end to end that I think reduces the likelihood of rain sitting on a spot and rotting it out.

Maybe oddball's the best place for them but I figured I'd check.

Huzzah! Badge me up!

Scaffold: https://permies.com/p/1173297
Mallet: https://permies.com/p/923292
Compound mallet: https://permies.com/p/923376
Spoon: https://permies.com/p/933817
Dry peg coat hooks: https://permies.com/p/928052
3 log bench: https://permies.com/p/932810
2 coat hooks: https://permies.com/p/927967