Wood prep

Timbers in the foreground are 2x10 inch white oak, mid ground are 2x6 inch white oak and the pile in the back is 3x12 inch red pine 30 feet long.  We felt that their rough sawn finish needed to be refined to match other planed materials.

White oak timber rough sawn,

Planing a timber on all four sides takes about 45 minutes per timber.  The first step is to scrape the surface clean and remove any frost.

A small electric planer is best for the edges.

A large 12 1/4 inch planer smooths the face of the timber.  It usually takes three passes and the slower it progresses, the better the finish.  It weighs 40 lbs and cuts with two blades at 12000 rpm.  It's performance and the results exceeded expectations.

Planing reveals a lot of personality in the timbers.

The red pine cleaned up beautifully.

After only a few days of planing, a mountain of shavings piled up.

Going up

The three steel posts that will support the beam and the rafters were installed with anchors epoxied into the concrete.

Made of stainless steel, the hollow post is 1/4 inch thick and polished with a 180 grit.

Two plies of 3x12 inch red pine will sit on the post and be bolted together on either side of the knife plate.  The seat and knife plates are 1/2 inch thick.