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How to maintain your Pleasant Lake Hardwoods Leopold bench

6/23/2014

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PictureA faded bench
When people buy a bench from us they usually ask how long the finish will last, and what they have to do to maintain it.  The answer to the first question is about a year.  Here’s what we recommend regarding the the second question.

PictureAfter a good scrubbing
About once a year your bench should be cleaned.  Mix 1/4 cup of TSP all purpose cleaner with 1 gallon of warm water.  Set the bench on a driveway or patio and, using a stiff-bristle brush scrub all of the surfaces thoroughly.  The bench seat and back typically take the worst beating from the elements, so give them an especially good brushing.  Rinse the bench with a strong spray from your garden hose (you can also use a pressure washer, but don’t overdo it).  Finally, set it in the sun to dry.

When your bench is completely dry, coat it with an exterior penetrating oil finish.  There are numerous commercial products available from brands like Cabot, Penofin and Sikkens, and they run from the $35 per gallon range and up.  If you can find a product in quarts, one quart will give you three rounds of refinishing.  These products also come in various tints.  Your bench was originally finished in Cabot Woodtone Deck and Siding Finish, with the tint labeled “natural”.  We suggest that you talk to a local paint retailer about your options, then follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for applying their product to your bench.

PictureA restored bench
After refinishing let the new finish dry completely.  This usually takes about 24 hours.  This is a good time to snug up the 1/2 inch nuts that hold the leg assemblies together, but again, don’t overdo this.  

With regular maintenance your Leopold bench from Pleasant Lake Hardwoods should give you many years of comfortable outdoor seating.

A bench seat before cleaning...
...and after
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Processing logs: two days of "sawing, sweeping and stickering"

3/24/2013

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PictureThe first log is loaded onto the portable sawmill
A couple of weekends ago we had our local sawyer out for what we expected would be two days of "sawing, sweeping and stickering".  With 42 logs piled in the yard we had our work cut out for us (pun intended).  These logs had come from about a dozen trees, each one selected for a specific reason.  Some had been damaged by storms, some were growing on a fence-line, a few had been salvaged from a nearby pipeline company clear-cut, and others were removed to create better growing conditions for nearby trees.  With the exception of the salvaged logs, all had been harvested and hauled out of the woods by Bob and me.   

Starting at about 10:30 on a sunny Friday morning, the first piece tackled was an eight-foot-long,  30" diameter white oak log.  The hydraulic arms of the portable saw mill quickly moved the trunk onto the saw carriage.  Having decided to quarter-saw this particular piece, Jeff Tervol, the sawyer, began to work magic with his 40 h.p. band saw.  Soon he was pushing beautiful, clear boards off the log.
   

PictureOur Saturday sweeping crew
We had recruited a number a friends and neighbors to help, and we broke up into two crews: sweepers and stackers.  The sweepers first job was to remove and pile the initial slab wood that Jeff trimmed from each log.  Later, as finished boards started to come off the saw, these folks laid them out perpendicularly on two railroad ties, and quickly swept sawdust from both sides.  After each board was swept it was stacked at one end of the ties.  When the pile reached the maximum carrying capacity of Bob's tractor, he slipped the improvised fork lift attached to the tractor's bucket underneath the new-sawn lumber and motored over to the barn.

PictureStickered cherry and walnut slabs
At the barn another crew waited with what seemed like a more-than-adequate supply of stickers.  These 1" x 1" sticks of wood, in various lengths, are laid crossways between each layer of stacked lumber.  The spaces between the edges of each board, along with the gaps provided by the stickers, allows air to flow between and around all of the boards, allowing them to dry.  As Bob pulled up to the barn door, the stacking crew unloaded the lumber and arranged boards carefully in pre-designated spots in the barn.

Between a relatively late start, quarter-sawing that first white oak log, and minor mechanical adjustments to the saw that slowed Jeff's pace, we were only able to process 12 of the 42 logs on that first day.  It looked as if our work might stretch into a third day.
Starting early the next day, with a new crew of sweepers and stackers (more friends, more neighbors), we worked together like a finely-tuned machine.  By late afternoon the stackers were scrounging for stickers.  By five o'clock the remaining thirty logs were sawn and stickered.  We now have a barn full of beautiful red and white oak, cherry, walnut, and hickory, along with some sweet-smelling spruce and white pine.  All together those two days of teamwork resulted in over 5000 board feet of lumber.
Now nature does the work.  Using the rule of thumb that, for hardwood lumber, each inch of thickness requires about one year of air-drying time, we'll have this wood ready for use in the summer of 2014.  For the next three seasons we'll walk in the woods and enjoy the the tranquility it offers.  On occasion our eyes will focus upwards, in consideration of next winter's work.

Peter Smith
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A timber-framed shed

3/10/2013

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Picture
Two bents
Last Spring Bob and I built a small 6' x 8' shed for a preschool in Ann Arbor.  We had harvested some spruce the previous winter, and had had it sawn into various-sized timbers and boards.  Using 4 x 4s for the main posts and beams, we prefabricated a simple timber-frame.  The photo to the left shows the side wall framing, traditionally referred to as "bents" just after being erected.  These include diagonal braces for strength and horizontal "girts" to provide a nailing surface for the siding.    

Picture
Top beams on
The bents, having been fixed to the floor framing with stub tenons, were then joined together with two top beams.  These were also braced at both ends, with door posts and girts added at the same time.  In traditional timber framing all parts of the frame are joined with mortise and tenon joints, and secured with wooden pins.  The budget for this project precluded our using this time-consuming method of joinery, but we did use a variety of lap joints which allowed the various pieces to "nest" together, securing each of the components of the frame with lag bolts and washers.

Picture
Partly sided
 Five prefabricated roof trusses were then secured to the top beams, 24" apart.  Again, we used simple lap joints to build these sturdy trusses, three of these being reinforced with collar ties.  The photo at left shows the completed frame with roof sheathing attached, and partly sided.  The siding itself was also spruce (from the same tree as the framing), in widths ranging from 6 to 12 inches, which we shiplapped and nailed vertically to the frame.  

Picture
Satisfied customers
We finished up with a minimal amount of trim and topped the roof with standard three-tab fiberglass shingles.  The door was built with the same shiplapped spruce with which we had sided the shed, and completed with a wooden handle and latch.  The program directors pronounced themselves highly satisfied with the results, and it serves as storage for the preschooler's playground equipment.  

But why a timber-framed shed?  Certainly standard 2 x 4 frame construction is easier, the materials more readily available, and the skill set required less extensive.  All of this is true, yet I have several reasons for preferring this method of traditional building over its modern cousin.  Assuming a 24 inch-on-center (OC) construction (acceptable for such a small structure) the standard method of frame construction in this case uses 14.6% more lumber (this comparison only applies to the frame - the siding, roofing, etc. require the same amount of material in either method).  If one opts to use 16" OC walls, that difference jumps to 18.5%.  Using less of any resource is, in my mind, the right thing to do.  But lumber is cheap, right, and time is money.  True enough, but the timber-frame is much more rigid, and arguably stronger, than standard construction.  Also, all of the frame members  were actual size, so a 4 x 4 is really 4" x 4".  This means less energy used in processing the lumber, and marginally greater strength.  Furthermore, I built all the components of the frame in the comfort of my shop, fitting all of the pieces together, ensuring that everything was square, marking the material and pre-drilling  holes for hardware as I went, to make it easier to reassemble.  On the site Bob and I simply put the pieces back together and secured them with the lag bolts we had brought for that purpose.  As the frame went together on site it proved to be level and plumb.  The result was a relatively lightweight but strong structure, using less material and energy overall, and built largely with locally sourced materials.            
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    Peter Smith

    Peter is the co-owner of Pleasant Lake Hardwoods.   He and his business partner Bob Miller are passionate about trees.  They both admire the beauty and flexibility of wood as a building material, recognize the significance of wood in human culture, and enjoy the peace that comes from simply working or resting in the shade of trees, whether in a wilderness tract or a small city yard.       

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