building an oak bridge

[robin wood]

I am very lucky to work in some beautiful places and at the moment I have been working on a new oak footbridge at Padley Gorge on the National Trust Longshaw Estate on the moors just outside Sheffield.

My friend Barn carving initials of the chap in who's memory the bridge is built.

and this is how it looks at the moment.

Handrails will have to wait till next week as I am teaching a bowlcarving course this weekend, same sort of thing, cutting bits of wood up trying to find the nice looking lines, just on a smaller scale.

More pics here

 

[ex-member Raikey]

Thats beautiful!...

it sort of exactly fits with the brook and the look of the place,,,well done..



it is true tho,,,you are very lucky to work in those kinds of surroundings.

i sit at a desk all day, working on my headache,,,

today i managed to build up a beauty,

right behind my eyes,

and was rewarded by being given another 3 months worth of unachievable, soul destroying, contracts.

and now i cant sleep!...

sorry to spam your thread with my rant , but if it helps to keep you appreciating what you do then at least a little good came from it...

 

[dwardo]

Looks lovely, cant wait to see it finished

 

[addo]

Great stuff Robin, I was talking to the ROW chap for that area the other day about your bridge. I'll have to have a walk up there soon, its been a while.

 

[SimonM]

Lovely...post pictures of the finished bridge please.

Simon

 

[robin wood]

Great stuff Robin, I was talking to the ROW chap for that area the other day about your bridge. I'll have to have a walk up there soon, its been a while.

He's a nice chap, gave us a bunch of Boletus badius for tea.

 

[shaggystu]

that's a lovely looking brdige robin (as always!). on the bottom picture it looks to me as though one end of the bridge has been charred, am i right? SWMBO asks if it's charred on purpose as a preservative?

cheers

stuart

 

[demographic]

Did you use a chainsaw mill for making that?
Looks good Robin.

 

[robin wood]

SWMBO asks if it's charred on purpose as a preservative?

Yep, SWMBO is bang on. Woodwork in the countryside fails at the points it gets damp, so where it touches soil or at the joints. Best thing for bridges is to have a nice slope on the top surface of the abutments to shed water and a damp proof membrane between abutment and wood. We chared it then burnt wax into it to make it damp proof.

Did you use a chainsaw mill for making that?
Looks good Robin.

No all sawn free hand with a big 3120

More pics of that stage here