Harold

Another of those joinery weeks. This is the second of six joints of this type that I must make to complete the framework of the gateway.. They will tie in three beams that run front to back across the span of the roof. One of these is visible down the end. I have this pair of beams tied to the stalls aligned with their level lines true. This allows me to use a spirit level to check the planes of the joint. I think this would be an 'Ari-otoshi' among the locals. Arry who, you may ask, but it is simply a kind of drop in dovetail. The bottom of the beam is curved so that final trimming adjustment to the recess will be cut when I have the thing dropped in to draw round the beam and mate it up.
It has been quite a solid week on the roofery with lots of fiddling about with offcuts of wood to make a mock up of the rafters as templates for the cutting out I need to do on them to make them curved. Lots to do on the bandsaw when the time comes.
Having decided on the curve I am now ready to change tasks and fetch the rocks that the pillars will sit on as a foundation. I felt like I had to keep the designer hat on until I had that decision made, then I switched back to the carpenter hat for the rest of the week and will shortly turn that inside out to form the stone mason chapeau and start work on the rocks. Somehow the carpenter hat and the stonemason hat are a lot easier to swap between than the designer beret.
It was actually a lucky coincidence that helped me make the decisions on the roof design, my daughter spotted a roof truss design while on a visit to an unrelated architectural beauty. She made a sketch of what had caught her eye and that made change my plans for the better I hope.
Unfortunately I forgot all about picture taking during the mock up procedure, so pictures of the roof truss will have to wait until that is back up together next week.
The project does feel like some kind of juggling act at the moment and I would rather not have to change hats while the balls are in the air, so I need to make decisions before I can move on to some other element. The decision making on the rafters has convinced me that I will have to ask to cut down one of the cedar trees that is enjoying a little too much propinquity. I am hoping this will be OK, but if not I will just have to make the overhang of the roof at the back very truncated to compensate.
I left sharpening the chisels a little too long, but I have certainly felt the difference working with them since I did, I must remember not to be so lax in the future.