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@@TRUMPARMY-d6r Because it’s a worn out axe that should have been in the scrap pile long ago. As it is, looks fine hanging on the wall.

Dude! I’m a big fan of your work.

@@HiraethRestorations Thank you ! :)

I agree. My earliest videos still make me cringe. Can’t wait to delete them after I’m monetized and cover the subject more competently.

@@jsmythib Yeah, I was definitely pressed for time. This one did ok for one season anyway. My goal by the end of this year is to build another one modeled on some of the existing ones I’ve got access to for copying designs and materials.

@@HiraethRestorations Just to be clear, I was joking about my lack of skill and patience :) Good luck on the next build. Those stones are heavy :)

Honestly, I’m kind of amazed that I’ve gotten as many views as I have. I think if I published more regularly, it would be a big help and the TH-cam gods would reward me. As it is, it takes me FOREVER to film and edit some of these, especially the one I’m working on now. As it is, thanks for watching and welcome to the channel!

Ah, it wasn’t so bad. It paid for itself in a few months. And if she spoke, I’d prefer French myself.

It definitely was a consideration. Unfortunately, this log was a bit too small to make two posts and too big for one post. I originally wanted this timber for a floor joist but when I saw how much sapwood there was, I had to change its final destination. Splitting it would have made two Timbers with too much sapwood. Once I got it worked down and the mortises cut, I knew I made the right choice.

@@HiraethRestorations makes sense,well said

Logie ‘o Buchan, an old Scottish air.

One of my favorite movies.

An excellent question! Generally, all my work is in replacing something that’s probably worked for over a hundred years. That makes it easy for me. With floors, I’ll copy exactly what worked before, down to the hand planed tongue and groove boards and proper nails. If it is new construction like I’m doing for myself, not climate controlled, I pretty much use the same simple methods. The key would be ensuring that there’s enough ventilation. What my practice has been is to put down green planks, screwed usually, and after they dried and shrank, I pull them up and tighten them up to close any gaps. After that initial drying and tightening, the flooring shouldn’t experience enough swelling from moisture to have any noticeable impact. But that’s mostly down to a proper balance of ventilation and protection from the elements. My recommendation would be to put your planks down with screws, see how they do for six months or so. If everything seems good, replace the screws with nails and you’re set. If the planks are swelling and shrinking more than you can tolerate, I’d try to establish better ventilation. This springhouse, I expect, will be a real challenge in this regard. So much water and humidity to contend with, I’ll probably learn a lot from the experience myself.

I think all the bees are at my house. I’ve been lucky out on job sites so far. It’s only a matter of time until I hit a nest of yellow jackets though.

Yep. Goat hair is best. Cattle hair is second(and most common historically). Horse hair is, m’eh, from all accounts.

Yep, sounds about right. I’m literally exactly halfway between Baltimore and Philadelphia, right where Md, De, and Pa come together.

Thanks! I’m hoping my new content’s a bit better than this.

Keep chasing it man. I jumped in five years ago and it's been awesome. This is a great channel

The best part about learning this stuff is about 80% of the info was published at some point in the 19th Century. The other 20% is just practice and a bit of experience.

@@HiraethRestorations i've read Roy Underhill's books and have been watching youtubes videos since the dail up days

@@davidreed2135 I like Underhill. Alex Bealer, too. This fence series, though, is from a hundred and some odd page paper published by the New York Agricultural Society in the 1850’s. Painfully detailed stuff.

Yep, mostly to keep the dogs and chickens in the yard. Maybe a new product line in the future though.

The easiest I’ve ever split was a twelve foot length of English Chestnut I found somewhere. If American chestnut is anything like it, it explains its use as the premier fence rail material years ago. I’ve got ten American chestnut saplings on the way and I’m hoping I can keep them alive long enough to make a couple of fence rails each. In the meantime, I’ve got the log off of this particular tree(pin oak) to tackle when I work up the nerve to do it.

Oh, and Sassafras is pretty darned easy to split for fence rails, too. I split a few that gave good service for a few years.

@@HiraethRestorations It's really terrible we don't get to see and use american chestnut as a resource. Such an ecological disaster. I would not feel any need to go see the redwoods if we had trees on the east coast of similar diameter and I've heard the flowerings were beautiful. I've riven pin oak for axe handles (i'm crazy). Honestly not bad at all but 3/4s of the log was relatively clear. Pins aren't an issue. It's the big knots that kill ya.

@HiraethRestorations one of my favorite trees but I don't see them very big around here. I believe they get bigger closer to the Appalachian mountains. Black locust didnt seem nice to rive otherwise I'd try that.

I hope it is. It’ll probably be another couple of weeks but it’s competing with some other pretty serious projects.

I meant to bring one of my axes with a narrower bit for slicing into the tree. This particular axe has a thick bit that felt like I was trying to fell a tree with a splitting maul.

@HiraethRestorations even if you had a file it's no fun to reprofile and thin the cheeks on sight. I could see the axe didn't penetrate much. Have you tried a long handle hookaroon for moving logs? Not sure if dragging this stuff would have been easier though.

You and me both. Just started splitting some rails this evening.