Australia 2012 - Week 2

September 26, 2012

 

(above)  Before dawn I set up the time lapse camera for a test…It should work great…I’ll wait until there is a truly spectacular before I post a video…

 

(above)  Walking down to the house I thought these as photo worthy…

 

(above)  Front porch shoe drop…Blundstones and mud boots are what EVERYONE wears…

 

(above)  French toast & juice this morning…

 

(above)  The kids having a typical morning…

 

(above)  I went with Andrew & Rye to the house and cabin that they’ve been working on…

 

(above)  There are some big trees here…

 

(above)  Perfect for the ultimate tree swing…

 

(above)  While the boys finalized some work, I went around and took photos…

 

(above)  Front porch roof framing…

 

(above)  Two steps inside…

 

(above)  The kitchen…

 

(above)  Kitchen island…

 

(above)  Stove countertop…That is an amazing piece of wood…

 

(above)  Wood stove and main post…The thing is massive…

 

(above)  Andrew built this…

 

(above)  Bathroom…

 

(above)  Another Turner Built…

 

(above)  Tub view…

 

(above)  Bedroom…

 

(above)  Stitched together photo of the main room roof framing…

 

(above)  Post and beams at the kitchen corner…

 

(above)  …and looking up at the beams and pegs…No steel is used on any of the joints…

 

(above)  Beam scarf joint…The wedges draw the joint tight…

 

(above)  Cross beams keep the walls from spreading…

 

(above)  Living room corner detail…

 

(above)  The clearstory windows bring in the perfect amount of light…

 

(above)  Main post and cross beams…

 

(above)  Another scarf joint…Notice the wood pegs that further strengthen the joint…

 

(above)  Each joint takes an hour or two to cut…

 

(above)  Outside there is a wrap around covered porch…Notice the steel brackets that support the roof…

 

(above)  It is truly a work of art…

 

(above)  A fossil on the kitchen counter…

 

(above)  Outside, Buddah is “in the zone”…

 

(above)  Twigs gathered on the other side of the tree swing…

 

(above)  Built to last…

 

(above)  Another busy day…

 

(above)  Again, purple flowers explode…

 

(above)  The bird proof veggie patch…

 

(above)  On the Granny Flat cabin…There are some decorative brackets…The wood joints are blind dovetailed…

 

(above)  This scarf joint still needs to be wedged…

 

(above)  Post brace at the floor…

 

(above)  Cabin corner post detail…

 

(above)  Andrew names each post and beam and writes down an assembly plan using the names…Sophie is under Morgan, etc…

 

(above)  Dylan is over Christopher…

 

(above)  The skill level to do this is 11 on a scale of 10…

 

(above)  End of the day, the beverage of choice…

 

More later…

September 27, 2012

 

(above)  Yes, it’s going to a fine, fine day…

 

(above)  Time to see about getting some things off the trees, let them ripen and be ready to eat once the Turners leave…

 

(above)  The paulwonia trees are coming into full bloom…

 

(above)  The swing hangs steady until the afternoon when it will be put to full use…

 

(above)  Be advised…

 

(above)  I heeded the warning (for now) and kept my distance…

 

(above)  Over near the orchard, the bee hives were fairly quiet in the morning coolness…

 

(above)  I harvested a weeks worth of these…

 

(above)  …and these…

 

(above)  …and some of these…

 

(above)  Easy picking…

 

(above)  In the workshop, Andrew prepared a handle for a window opening hook, then turned Finn loose to shape it…Finn is ten years old…

 

I spent the afternoon cleaning up the shop…It needed it…

 

In the early evening we went to Graham and Angela’s for a farewell party for the Turners…

 

(above)  The colors of the bushes right now is amazing…

 

(above)  Caldersmith Luthiers world headquarters…

 

(above)  Cozy, efficient and the home to some cutting edge guitar designs…

 

(above)  The stained glass window is rightly suited for the classical guitars that are made here…

 

(above)  Rye at his work bench…He started working here when he was fifteen…That was five years ago…

 

(above)  Rye explained the design differences between what most guitars builders make and how the Cauldersmith designs are different…

 

(above)  The essence of it is the super thin tops that go on them…Superior resonance…

 

(above)  This paulowonia grid is the key…Rye passed some of the credit to me…When I was here two years ago, we built the surfboards from paulowonia wood…A wood as light and strong as it comes…That got Rye to thinking that it would be perfect for the interior grids…Turns out he was right…

 

(above)  The grids are glued on, then finely tapered and tuned for perfect resonance…

 

(above)  A wide variety of woods are used for the guitars…This one has a very cool natural color variation…

 

(above)  The necks start like the one on the bottom and finish like the one on top…All hand carved…

 

(above)  Ready to bolt onto the body…

 

(above)  The pictures don’t do justice to the caliber of work that these instruments are…

 

(above)  Each guitar is tested, fine tuned, tested, etc…Throughout the process all the measurements are recorded…

 

(above)  Thickness measuring calipers…Fractions of a millimeter make a difference…

 

(above)  A plane used on violins…Pretty darn small…

 

(above)  …and they come even smaller…

 

(above)  In case you were wondering…

 

(above)  Check out www.caldersmithguitars.com

 

(above)  Back inside Graham and Angela’s the party was on…

 

(above)  Lamb, bread and sausage, and veggies…

 

(above)  It was really fun evening with toasts given, friend telling embarrassing stories about each other and lots of laughter…The Turners are well loved…

 

More later…

September 28, 2012

 

(above)  Giving in to the addiction yet another day...

 

(above)  Everyone here is still hoping for some rain...it's been a very dry year...

 


 (above) Today I'll get started on building the fridge freezer from this stuff...

 (above) First I need to read this...

 (above) Half way through the book, Rye needs some help unspooling the pipe that will go from the spring fed pond to their water storage tank...

 (above) Like Bre'r Rabbit, Rye goes deep in the thicket to get the pipe to the pump...

(above)  Back in the shed, Andrew finishes up the pole for the window hook...

(above) Then they tag-team sharpened the chisels they will take to India...These boys know how to make an edge keen...A keen indeed...

 

More later...

 

September 29, 2012

 

 (above) Today is forecast for rain...

 (above) Maybe they will get it right this time...

 (above) The wind is up, get the kite...

 (above) There are parrots around here...

 (above) I helped Rye connect the water pipe we laid out yesterday to the pump...

 (above) Soon the tank will go from near empty to 6,000 gallons...

(above) One of Andrews friends from preschool came by and shared some Coopers...

 (above) Mid afternoon...A tree in front of Till and Annette's was blocking the solar hot water heater, so today was the day to do something about it...

 (above) Andrew makes the first set of cuts...

(above) "No worries mate..."

 

 (above) Not everyday do the kids get to do this...

 (above) That's a pretty big tree...

 (above) Barefoot just feels better...

 (above) Gemma uses the brush from a bottle brush bush to comb through her hair...

(above) Time to cut it up...The butt end will be used for furniture later...

 (above) No way around that thing...

 (above) Till takes over with the limbing...

(above) Six year old Yuma is as comfortable up there as he is on the ground...One thing you rarely hear is "Be careful"...Everyone knows their limits...

 (above) The tractor ferried slash to the burn pile...

 (above) The pile will be burned some evening soon...

 (above) Yuma's kitten was curious about the new pile of wood out front...

 (above) Another load goes on the pile...

 (above) Two hours from falling, it's a passable driveway...

 (above) Heat source for winter...

 (above) Just another day on the Comboyne...

 (above) As the daylight faded the sky started to get colorful...

(above) Colorful indeed...

 

More later...

 

September 30, 2012

 

 (above)  The morning after the spectacular sunset reveals another gorgeous day...
 After breakfast, we went to make secure Andrew's sailboat since they will be away for five months...

 (above) Fishing and pleasure craft...

 (above)  A trawler with a lookout...

 (above)  Andrew's 38 foot sailboat...

 (above)  We added tarps to protect it from the weather...

 (above)  Under the tarp, it looks like this...

 (above)  The Turner's can now go away without worry about their boat...

 (above)  Pelicans are all over the place...

 (above)  Big bird...

 (above)  Out on the bay, a deluxe police boat cruises looking for scofflaws...


(above)  Later we stopped in to see Deb who was part of the surfboard workshop two years ago...

(above)  It was glassed professionally and looks great...

More later...

 

 

October 1, 2012

 

(above)  The last day on the Comboyne for the Turners found Andrew and Rye heading down to the pond to get the pump fired up...Till tried and couldn't...

(above)  Backlit morning leaves...

(above)  After fifteen minutes of hard hand cranking the pump still wouldn't start...Time for a new head gasket...

(above)  Next on the 'to do' list was to pick up some lumber from the local mill...

(above)  This region of New South Wales reminds me of Ireland in some ways...

(above)  After going through three gates we were at the mill...Stack of off-cuts will sell for cheap...

(above)  Andrew brought in some logs and they are half way through the process of becoming lumber...

(above)  These will become a timber frame house some day...

(above)  The log rip saw is a beast...

(above)  The blade is about four feet across...

(above)  It's big and sharp...

(above)  All the saws are powered by automotive gasoline engines...

(above)  Built to rip really hard wood...

(above)  The smaller saw, if you could call it that, cuts square lumber to sizes smaller than beams...

(above)  The saw runs off of the drive shaft of an old Dodge truck...

(above)  This blade is about three feet in diameter...

(above)  This is the definition of old school technology...

(above)  A drum of gasoline feeds the motor...

(above)  It works, no need to upgrade...

(above)  The wood outfeeds the saw and the track has a cart that rolls out the cut lumber...

(above)  Control panel for the motor...The lever engages the saw...

(above)  Near that saw is the crosscut saw...It too has it's own car engine...

(above)  Andrew's lumber pile...

(above)  The cost for this stuff is a bit over $1,000...Dirt cheap...

(above)  Saw mills like these were prevalent decades ago, but times change and sadly this one is in it's final days...Sad...

(above)  Back on the farm, we stop to talk to Till...

(above)  Such a peaceful place..

(above)  Mid day we went to Andrew's parents home for an outdoor lunch...

(above)  This was Andrew's first attempt at building a timber frame structure...Winner...!!!...

(above)  Up in a tree someone saw a Koala...

(above)  They are rather reclusive and nocturnal, so seeing one this close, in the day, was something special...

(above)  It hung around for a while then headed up and away...

(above)  Ready to head home, the Dirt Devil living up to it's name... Visibility through the rear has been measured at about one percent, as it usually is...

(above)  Back at the Turner's, there is another going away party...

(above)  Till and Matt talk about pruning avocado trees...They know, that's what they do...

(above)  The fire was hot, the steel was ready, let's barbecue...

(above)  Sizzzzle, snap, crackle and pop...

(above)  Locally raised lamb and pork chops...The best...

(above)  Final packing, weighting, removing items, feasting and good conversation sum up the night...

(above)  I walked back to the cabin for the final night there and sliced up some oranges for desert...Another good day done...

More later...

 

October 2, 2012

(above)  Travel day for the Turners...It's going to be a very long one...

(above)  The bags get hoisted to the roof rack and at 9:00 sharp, we roll...

(above)  Half an hour later we are at the Kendall railroad station...


(above)  Unload the baggage...

(above)  Smile for the camera...

(above)  The travelers and the going away party...

(above)  Just the travelers...

(above)  All there is to do now is wait for the train...

(above)  Right on time...

(above)  And away they go...
Stay up to date on their incredible journey to India: http://sustainabletimberframes.com/india/








 

 

 

 

 

 

(above) Back on the Comboyne I get up close and personal with a local...Diamondback Python...

 

(above)  Snakes I expected...This I did not...A four foot plus Forest Iguana...It was licking the drippings off the barbecue grill...When I saw it I realized, I'm not in Kansas any more...

 

(above)  It wanted nothing to do with me so it went off running...Too bad, I was ready to go all Crocodile Dundee on the critter...

(above)  Running pretty fast too...

I went about moving my belongings into the house and setting things up for the rest of my stay here...

(above)  Late afternoon...Looking back up the hill to where the cabin is...

More later...

 

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