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Mortise & Tenon Sawhorses at the Log Cabin, Is This Really Off Grid Living?

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

I finally spend some time building a set of sawhorses for the off grid log cabin using mortise and tenon joinery, a simple woodworking technique that is well suited to my rough carpentry skills and primitive life at the wilderness homestead. I really didn't take me long since I had cut the red pine log in half almost a year ago and I cut the balsam fir legs last March, 2017. Cutting the tenons with a knife, axe and draw knife took very little time since I didn't need a precise fit and did not need it to look like finished furniture. I cut the mortises with a 1/1/4 auger, a simple hand tool traditionally used for drilling deep holes through wood in timber frame structures. Cali, my golden retriever, did slow me down a bit as she is constantly asking me to throw her training dummy for her to fetch, which she does with a lot of energy, eventually burning out and falling asleep at my feet despite the noise that I make with the woodworking tools. The pair of sawhorses, which are about four feet long and thirty-four inches high (I'll cut the legs down a bit and even them out once the snow melts) came in very handy while I worked on the rest of the log cabin this week. I used them as a base to cut the pine logs to trim the west window, to cut short lengths of pine for floating shelves between the window and the woodstove and to plane smooth the flat side of the balsam fir logs splits, the wood that I'm using as the stringers for the staircase to the loft of the tiny house. The weather this week is a little unusual - very sunny but cold, quite a bit colder than is typical for mid March. In fact, the sap in the sugar maple trees has not flowed since the day I tapped the trees and installed the spiles and buckets, more than two weeks ago. Judging by the forecast, sap won't start running for another week or so (maybe by the time this video is live. However, even though it's cold this week, February was a record year for warm temperatures, which really cut back the amount of firewood I burned this winter. In fact, I burned less than a cord of wood since early January, which means I have a good start on next year's wood. My meals are relatively simple in this video. For dinner, I make venison stir-fry and bannock, using the bannock as a wrap to make fajitas with venison, onions, leeks, garlic, tomato, hot and sweet peppers and mushrooms. Click on this link for my bannock recipe. For breakfast the following morning, I have leftover bannock with butter and peanut butter and oatmeal with blueberries. Instead of coffee, I drink black tea sweetened with maple sugar
Date: 2020-11-30

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Comments and reviews: 10

Ten
I spent an interesting evening eating a late supper, watching this video. :)
And although there is summer in Warsaw, it was very nice to look at a piece of snowy forest.
This little house in the forest is wonderful!
And the dog is fantastic!
I greet You from Poland. :)
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Lez
Hi Shawn, great vids. slowly getting through them, I like to watch a couple a week if I can. Just an idea but have you looked at thermal generators for your log burner (works on the same principle as your fan) could be a great way to keeping a battery charged. Lez, South UK
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Rachael
The strangest thing of all is that I am watching videos in the wrong order. Latest to the earliest. Watching a project and thinking, why didn't Shawn use the shaving horse. wait a sec, he hasn't actually made it yet. :)
Your friend Rach
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Gary
I do not know if it would work for you but have you looked into Tesla battery banks. They would be much lighter and maybe less maintenance. Plus I think you might get more bang for your buck. And then maybe iam wrong. Just a thought.
And
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Martin
to me this is exactly how i see and call it-off the grid! if anyone told you different they're full of it!
now this is a very nice place, quiet nature. and your dog with you, what else do you need? nothing!
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Scott
When you are living off grid like as shown in this video, I realize that you have not gotten your garden established yet. How frequently are you restocking your fresh supplies and your dried grains / beans?
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Maria
qe bien qe trabaja este hombre qe ermoso lugar y todo lo hase bien felicito todo lo qe muestran soy deargentina y me apaciona todo loqe muestran me encanta espero seguir viendo cada video gracias mil
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John
Great explanation of off grid on grid life Shawn. Youre doing it right! I hate the stress of all the on grid expenses and how Power/Hydro companies continue to bleed us all dry
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biocybernaut
Living off grid, but making money on grid, the best of both worlds.
Got to love the dog watching you eat, she's very well behaved, lovely animal.
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Basque
We live in a world of labels, particularly acute in social media. Just do your best with what you have while trying to live in harmony with nature
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