Slat-a-licious!

I chose to celebrate the 4th this year by working on my independence from conventional housing structures. After a one-two punch of successive parties the night before with JT in town, drinking around the barbie wasn't high on my agenda. I also had previous arrangements with my friend Cage to borrow his contractor-grade table saw. In addition to providing this material support, Cage has also been generous in dispensing all the right answers to my woodworking queries. He is a highly skilled independent contractor and a useful sage to a relative novice like me embarking on this yurt adventure. Any Portland-area homeowners doing a little renovation would be well-advised to get Cage on the job!

Today I'm working on the yurt wall. My 2x2 boards need to be split in half lengthwise to form the wall slats. At first I was a wee nervous that my wood would crack and split out near knots while being run through the table saw. I spent a lot of time earlier sorting the wood and reserving the straightest, least knotty wood for the wall slats. In the end I didn't lose any wood to breakage or splits. My fears were overblown, but I know my resulting slats are more uniform and stronger because of my sorting efforts. Running curved or warped boards through the table saw would also have risked greater chances of dangerous pinches and kick-backs.


I didn't take any pictures of the table saw work because I was in a hurry to finish up and meet JT for lunch before he headed back to Seattle for the rest of his conference. However, above is a sexy photo of Steve cutting wall slats to length for all those ladies reading the blog! While I was splitting the wood into 1x2 slats in the morning I got a call from Steve, eager to lend a hand with the yurt. We made plans to work in the afternoon after I had lunch with JT and returned the table saw to Cage. Splitting boards into slats on the table saw was actually about the quickest work on the project so far. The long table on the output side of Cage's setup meant that my 8' boards were well-supported for the whole cut and I was able to zip them through very efficiently. The saw performed like the pro it is, but the fine dusting of wood particles all over the basement took a long time to sweep up!

When I reconvened with Steve, he got right to work on cutting the wall slats to their final length. On my first day with the chop saw I had begun to cut wall boards to their final 6'6" length before splitting them into slats. But then I spoke with Cage and he advised to hold off. This voice of experience was wise. There was splintering and minor issues on the ends of some slats after splitting, and I was glad to be able to trim them off while cutting slats to size.

As I walked Steve through the various components of the project and the current stage of each, he got that boy-like excitement that has been driving my efforts. Steve is always enthusiastic anyway, and expressed interest in helping with the yurt from the moment he first heard about the project. Our friend Matt celebrated his 30th birthday out on the Oregon coast in rented yurts for his cleverly dubbed 'Yurty Thirty' party. I wasn't living here at the time, so until my yurt is completed I have to be jealous of Matt and Steve for actually having seen and slept in a yurt.

Anyway, Steve and I finish the work and sweep up in a few hours before heading to the Rogue Brewery for dinner. Although he is the one helping me, Steve pays for my meal. Once it is time for the yurt-raising, a place at the back of the yurt -- where honored guests are seated -- will be reserved for Steve. Actually, it might be crowded back there with Cage and all the other people helping me out along the way!