After many weeks spent slowly picking away at odds and ends, I got sick of making little visible progress. So, over the past few days I finally pegged and wedged more than half of the frame. I used a large ratchet hold-down strap to pull the joints together before drilling and driving in a peg. It is nice to see that all of my time spent calculating the angles and dimensions payed off with tight joinery!

Yesterday I ran enough of the oak through a planer for the floor. There is some incredible wood under the rough weathered exterior! This floor might actually look too slick for my taste. I'll have to be sure to ding it up some by dropping some heavy things on it and by leaving a few strategically placed stains (not that I will have to try to hard to do that). To finish the prep work on the boards, I need to get a cutter for my router to mill the lap onto the edges.

More fun work is fast approaching! Soon I will get to lay the floor and build walls.

Could someone find one of these for me?

I could definitely use the help. (source)

Tiny house in a landscape

The Tiny House Blog features photos of small houses in beautiful landscapes every so often and this week they posted one that I took while I was in Peru. Click here to see it.

This past week I finally cut oak wedges to tighten up the dovetails on the joists. The tenons are intentionally cut slightly under size to allow room for a hardwood wedge. When this is driven in, it pulls the joint togehter allowing it to stay tight even as the wood continues to dry and shrink. I also filed down a 1" drill bit for the peg holes. The pegs are 1", but they were loose in a hole drilled with a 1" bit. By filing a little bit off of the bit, they fit in the hole better. Check back soon to see the frame tightened up and pegged!