Toby Rheaume brought his portable sawmill over for a couple of hours. He was able to get a 6″ beam out of the log I had set aside for a new 10″ beam, then we had to scrounge through the discard pile to find a log from which we could (just barely) get a 4″ sister beam. After Toby departed, Zook and I sistered that beam together using a whole tube of PL400 construction adhesive, then tried to bind it using 5/16″ lag bolts. Unfortunately (and is invariably the case), the long ¼″ drill bit I needed for the lag bolt pilot holes was in Virginia. Using a shorter bit and then forcing
the bolt in resulted in one sheared off bolt and some words that can’t be repeated. Guess I have to stop eating Wheaties… So after lunch, while Zook drilled countersink holes, I made a quick trip to Goodro Lumber for a ¼ x 9″ ship auger bit. Once the two beams that needed to be sistered were made up, used Perry’s new monster Rigid ½″ drill with a 1″ ship auger bit to drill the holes through which the cement column J-bolts will go. That combination pulled chunks of wood (vice sawdust) from the bore hole – now that’s a MANLY tool!!!!. Zook used the Rigid for a few minutes with a 2″ Forstner bit to drill a couple of countersink holes… until the torque of the drill caused the bit to simply shatter. Woof!!!! By the end of the day all the beams were ready for hoisting and Ice and Water Shield (donated by Perry) had been adhered to the tops of the columns (so that moisture won’t leach out of the cement into the beams… causing them to rot over time). Lake temperature still a balmy (yet MOST refreshing) 80 degrees.
Toby Rheaume brought his portable sawmill over for a couple of hours. He was able to get a 6″ beam out of the log I had set aside for a new 10″ beam, then we had to scrounge through the discard pile to find a log from which we could (just barely) get a 4″ sister beam. After Toby departed, Zook and I sistered that beam together using a whole tube of PL400 construction adhesive, then tried to bind it using 5/16″ lag bolts. Unfortunately (and is invariably the case), the long ¼″ drill bit I needed for the lag bolt pilot holes was in Virginia. Using a shorter bit and then forcing
the bolt in resulted in one sheared off bolt and some words that can’t be repeated. Guess I have to stop eating Wheaties… So after lunch, while Zook drilled countersink holes, I made a quick trip to Goodro Lumber for a ¼ x 9″ ship auger bit. Once the two beams that needed to be sistered were made up, used Perry’s new monster Rigid ½″ drill with a 1″ ship auger bit to drill the holes through which the cement column J-bolts will go. That combination pulled chunks of wood (vice sawdust) from the bore hole – now that’s a MANLY tool!!!!. Zook used the Rigid for a few minutes with a 2″ Forstner bit to drill a couple of countersink holes… until the torque of the drill caused the bit to simply shatter. Woof!!!! By the end of the day all the beams were ready for hoisting and Ice and Water Shield (donated by Perry) had been adhered to the tops of the columns (so that moisture won’t leach out of the cement into the beams… causing them to rot over time). Lake temperature still a balmy (yet MOST refreshing) 80 degrees.
