My recent years' "woodworking"...

[dpb]

I've commented here several times in the past most of what I've gotten done since coming back to family farm hasn't been "fine" woodworking...here are a few pictures from the barn reroof/refurb, there's one of the detail on the old doors; I didn't have one of the replacement in progress but there's one on the south side west end in the "then and now" as well as the haymow small door that were done at that time...I've still not gotten to the big main doors...

I'm the one in the overalls standing w/ the roofing hatchet...

[Leon]

Darn fine looking barn. I wish it was in my back yard and I wish I had a back yard big enough to put it. :~)

I would love to see inside and out pictures when you get done, if that ever really happens. I could see something that big as being a constant work in progress.

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------------------------------- Now that is by definition, is a never ending project.

Looks like you are gaining on it.

Good luck.

Lew

[DerbyDad03]

You missed a spot. ;-)

Man, I'm not sure what to say. Spare time project? Full time job?

Nice. Really, really nice.

[Sonny]

That's one heck of a nice (hobby) project. Good for you, to restore it.

Are you near the coast? I suppose a barn with a widow's watch is not too c ommon. That's a nice feature. *With those silos, I'm thinking you're not near the coast, but in middle America. Or is that feature called somethin g else, in your neck of the woods?

Yeah, the view of the interior would be a nice, but considering the size of the barn (multiple "shops" in one building!?), the effort you're putting i nto it and the general view of the surroundings, I'm wondering whatall othe r interesting things you got going on, to warrant all that effort (beyond t he barn restoration)?

To me, those kinds of restorations are almost candidates for a vacation spo t, to visit, see the restoration process, etc.

I can imagine some of those old (past/before.... and recent?) pics hanging in various places, inside, when done.

Hats off to you!!

Sonny

[Unquestionably Confused]

Personally, I don't think that's a Widow's Walk or Watch. Most likely what we're looking at is the Central Air Conditioning System. ;)

You can see - in both the before and after photos - the slats that allowed for ventilation.

All barns have roof vents or one sort or another.

Very neat project and nicely done, dpb!

[dpb]

...

Correct, it's a cupola. The barn loft was built to handle loose hay (the track for the fork(*) is the structure projecting out from below the roof ridge) and the cupola is the outlet for the upflow thru the loft for ventilation. There are eight openings, four each side, along the long walls that were both locations for access and the air ingress locations. There are no windows in the loft except those very high on the east/west ends.

Thanks...

(*) The fella' in the yellow shirt on the scaffold at the corner (same one on the roof where I'm in the lift and we're replacing a section of the bed mould on the upper section) is a guy I found at the local homeless shelter the day before the scaffolding was coming in by truck and I needed some help to unload it. He'd just finished getting mugged while riding a freight back from El Paso and had spent the previous week painting tank batteries for one of the local oilfield service companies but hadn't found anything yet that morning when I called for that day/week. After we got stuff unload, he say "Need somebody to help set it up tomorrow?" and ended up working for me full time for almost two years.

[dpb]

Oh, and the point of the above was to say he really wanted to see the hay rake work again, but we didn't get that far -- have _not_ opened the big door at all; it, unlike many others, is _NOT_ hinged at the bottom to swing but is in a set of vertical "tracks" built on either side an hangs on a couple of block and tackle ropes. Those are, I'm sure the originals dating back to 1920 or thereabouts(**). I am unwilling to risk removing the blocking underneath the door until those have been replaced; they look to still be in good condition but I'm not going to risk it; the potential damage plus risk to life and limb if that comes down is too great.

(**) I do not know precisely when the barn was finished; the two silos to the east were put up by 1916/17 and the foundation poured for the barn shortly thereafter. But, the WW I rationing on lumber occurred before the lumber was obtained and so the actual construction didn't commence until after Armistice Day (Nov 11, 1918) so know it likely was

1919 when completed. The story goes that the local lumberyard owner is supposed to have called grandpa the day after the armistice was signed and started the conversation with "Andy, we can build that barn now!" :)

[dpb]

Your supposition is correct, nowhere near a coast; it's far SW KS (and hence, there are no "woods" anyways close to be in a neck of! :) ).

At the moment I have virtually none of the interior and it's also currently in such a mess I'm ashamed to even let anybody else inside. It's interesting, but as you can tell from the one where were replacing the sill plate it is conventional frame construction, not beam and post or the like. The lumber is all SYP but is far removed from what one commonly finds today; very fine grained, slow growth virgin timber and lengths to 28-ft in the loft columns which are multiple 2x nailed together rather than large dimension stock. Some of those even that long are essentially knot-free. The 3-1/4" siding and 2" mow flooring is fir; I had a small shop in Wichita run some for the replacement; could not find it available at all any longer other than the 5-1/4".

There was only one corner are that had a pretty solid roof over it w/o too many leaks when we returned; it had been converted into use as a grain bin for storing seed wheat back in the 50s, even, so has a second inner wall on the north wall and had interior walls to near ceiling on the interior with just a small entry area with slatted cross boards in a corner. I took one of the short walls out, removed some the siding down to about 4' on the long inside wall and wired it and added some additional light where I have crammed in the TS, jointer, BS, and the small shaper. It's been enough to "get by" but is cramped and low ceiling which is part of the reason not much else in "real" wwing is getting done. I had the original intent of eventually moving the shop to the mow, but there's been "issues" with that as well...

I'll not burden the newsgroup w/ more unless is actual interest...

[dpb]

Indeed, which is why I just couldn't stand the thought of letting it go...

It's kinda' bogged down for the time being, I'm working on trying to get another shop area closed in so can have enough heat to do some things like build the windows during cold weather this winter if nothing else...

I'll try to get a few of the inside when I get a chance to pick up some of the litter--I started trying to fill in some of the areas that hadn't had slab floor poured and got sidetracked and things have just gotten worse from there...

[dpb]

Only one? :)

Been some of both; we hit it pretty hard while doing the roof and initial work for a couple of years; wasn't much farming going on as was so dry and Dad had put most of our ground into grass...since, have started more work elsewhere on the place and it has (finally!) rained some this year so other priorities have brought progress to pretty much a halt.

Was trying to get restarted plus had an electrical problem w/ the neutral feed which prompted me to post a query to another group while was have brain cramps figuring out what was the issue. Ended up being the connector from the meter pole overhead and had commented there when found it that having the manlift was a boon; another commented in jest that having one was clearly "cheating" which prompted me to post these showing it in action. That got me thinking that at least some folks over here might would like to see the wood parts...

Thanks...have to credit my grandfather with "doing things right!"

[Scott Lurndal]

Most city-slickers don't realize the amount of heat generated by drying hay. Easily sufficient to cause a fire if the hay isn't dried and stacked correctly. Thus, one leaves a gap between the barn walls and the hay to allow airflow to extract excess heat while the hay dries and the cupola acts as an outlet.

Of course, drying it before baling it is preferred.

Most of this has been obsoleted by the use of outdoor storage techniques (large round bales, silage socks, etc).

[woodchucker]

That's a beauty of a barn. But a hell of a lot of work. Glad you have some help, as it could take a long time alone.

[dpb]

On 11/09/2015 2:03 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote: ...

For the "mandatory" definition of "preferred"... :)

Once it's baled, if it's not sufficiently dry first about the _best_ one can hope for is some deterioration, far more likely is mold and useless...

The bales are tied too tight for effective drying once done.

We never baled anything until very recently...we had an old twine binder and bound and shocked sorghum for winter feed thru the 70s and 80s if had more than would go in the silos.

Indeed, we've not filled the silos since in the '80s altho it was by far the "most funnest" job of the year; great fall weather by then plus we filled with several neighbors so were big crowds of people around so was as much a party as work...

The south one of the two small silos had been rotated slightly by a small tornado years ago and was standing on only one remaining block on the south foundation. I finally knocked them both down some time after the bulk of these pictures were taken.

[Ed Pawlowski]

You can avoid fires by building the storage facility from fireproof material. I have word from a reliable sources (Ben Carson) that they used stone to build the pyramids so the stored grain would not burn them down.

Meantime, that is quite the restoration project. Glad it is being done to save a nifty looking building.

[Unquestionably Confused]

Bullshit, Ed. They were built out of stone because there were no trees and the sand wouldn't hold its shape! Brian Williams was there and he told me that's what the deal was.

[Jerry.Osage]

I found your post much more interesting, and informative, than posts on the merits of straight vs curved cauls, or the merits of various style clamps.

Restoring a barn may not be "fine" woodworking, however, this group isn't called rec.fine.woodworking. I would like to hear more about the progress of the project. Moreover, since there are many off topic threads, I think hearing about farming in SW Kansas would also be interesting.

Jerry O.

[nailshooter41]

I have to say, I really admire your project, but admire this aspect of it j ust as much. Sometimes folks just need a hand up for a while. Good on ya' for giving a man a chance. Surprisingly, being an employer for almost 33 years now, I still find a good man to bet on now and then.

I hope you continue to post pics of your barn project. I don't think you n eed to hold your hat in your hand about it not being "fine woodwork". Almo st without exception, I can easily take my cabinet makers out to a job site and ask them to establish the size of a common rafter and then cut jacks b ased on wall perimeters and requested pitch and they don't have a clue. Th ey don't know standards framing walls to loads, rigidity, nor do they know all the million little details that go into installing a waterproof roof, h ow to stabilize/repair structures, etc. They don't know practical design el ements needed to create well functioning purpose built structures. Convers ely, many of the guys that are conversant in those skills can't easily buil d a piece of nice furniture.

I started out in the trades more than 40 years ago (sigh...) with my trade being woodworking. Over the time I have that I have been doing all manner of wood contracting for a living and learning more skills along the way, I learned years ago to appreciate the skills needed to do what you are doing just as much as I do someone that builds fine furniture.

The work looks great from here! I hope you continue to post more as you go along.

Robert

[Scott Lurndal]

Ah, the binder. Not so fond memories of times walking after the binder shocking oats.

Feeding the beast:

[dpb]

...

Other than at steam or other old exhibitions never used a stationary thresher but had essentially the same task--we had (actually still have it just no longer used) stationary chopper that had to haul the bundles to...I didn't mind shocking nearly as much as the retrieval; by then the dirt had blown into them, often had to dig out of snow, was invariably cold and windy I seem to recall... :)