The spoons are our hobby but this is the day job, just finished today. Its made from a single sweet chestnut felled in the ajoining plantation.
not really bushcraft but here's a nice bridge
- Thread starter robin wood
- Start date
That's brilliant, am I right in thinking the whole bridge (including the bit you physically stand on) is made of this chestnut tree? EDIT: I now no longer think I'm right in thinking that. What's the bit you're standing on made of?
Mike
Mike
Did you get a shot of the abutments? Wouldn't mind seeing that being a bridge spotter and all that!
The whole lot is made of sweet chestnut. The main beam is cut in one piece from the trunk, following the natural curves of the tree - it looks different because the rest has just had a coat of oil. The hand rails are cut from a slab off the side so they too follow the natural curve of the tree.
If you want to see it, come to the wonderful Peak District! It's on the main footpath out of Edale that goes up Grindsbrook onto Kinder Scout - just where it crosses Golden Clough.
If you want to see it, come to the wonderful Peak District! It's on the main footpath out of Edale that goes up Grindsbrook onto Kinder Scout - just where it crosses Golden Clough.
Absolute corker. Well done you.
I shall have to look out for this next time I go for a wander up Kinder Scout.
I shall have to look out for this next time I go for a wander up Kinder Scout.
I`m up that way on Sunday hopefully so I`ll make it part of my route, great work fellas
Rich
Take a camera and take a snap of the abuttments please!
here you go ... it's just the slabs of rock the previous bridge sat on:
Happy now?
Nicola
That is really lovely work, you must be well pleased with it...Is that copper dowels or screw head covers on the rails I can see...
Well done on a great job...
Well done on a great job...
copper boat nails, they are really nice, cone shaped head with a square shank, one in each rail goes right through and has a "rove" riveted on the back. Same way clinker built boats were held together.
That bridge is beautifull! You are lucky to have a job like this! I know a lot of us would give anything to do things like that as a job! Well done!!!!:You_Rock_
Where is the location?
Where is the location?
did you get the crook stanchion's out of bent branches or did you have to hew them to a pattern out of straight stock? And what method did you use to set out the joinery, am I right in thinking the rail's are housed in lap's, (some are some appear not to be ) Did you do it all on site or in a shop then re assemble on site? It will look real well in a few years with the copper going green and the wood grey, it should fit well in its surroundings.Will it survive its first flood? How deep into the stone works do the main beam sit?
) Did you do it all on site or in a shop then re assemble on site? It will look real well in a few years with the copper going green and the wood grey, it should fit well in its surroundings.Will it survive its first flood? How deep into the stone works do the main beam sit?
gosh lots of questions....
yes I know i am lucky to have a job like this...well no its not luck is it just the result of various choices along the way...most of which mean we are poorer financialy but perhaps more fulfilled than some of the other paths we could have gone. I am grateful to my other half "doctor spoon" for sharing the "road less traveled'
back to the bridge, it was made on site from a tree 50 yards away. It's not an easily accessible spot we walked in each day. We moved it by hand with turfor winch and rigged up a tripod type wooden crane with the winch to help lift it into place. The uprights have the grain running round the bend, I cut them out with a chainsaw from the buttresses (the bit where the tree flares at the bottom) Nothing used to "set out" the joinery, there isn't a straight line or right angle on the thing to work from..everything is just done by eye. Uprights are not housed or jointed just butted up and with a big steel threaded bar right through from one side to the other, my thinking is that with the fixing to the rail at the top they are not going to swivel sideways. Yes it'll survive a flood, in fact this particular brook does not flood up to the level of the abutments, its very steep. The main beam is 14" wide by 12" deep, we concreted a 2 foot square stone slab in for it to sit on then built up the sides, as we were building up we added another steel rod through the beam and into the concrete so its not going anywhere.
Oh yes and I am very pleased with it thats why I wanted to show it off and I very much appreciate all your comments.
yes I know i am lucky to have a job like this...well no its not luck is it just the result of various choices along the way...most of which mean we are poorer financialy but perhaps more fulfilled than some of the other paths we could have gone. I am grateful to my other half "doctor spoon" for sharing the "road less traveled'
back to the bridge, it was made on site from a tree 50 yards away. It's not an easily accessible spot we walked in each day. We moved it by hand with turfor winch and rigged up a tripod type wooden crane with the winch to help lift it into place. The uprights have the grain running round the bend, I cut them out with a chainsaw from the buttresses (the bit where the tree flares at the bottom) Nothing used to "set out" the joinery, there isn't a straight line or right angle on the thing to work from..everything is just done by eye. Uprights are not housed or jointed just butted up and with a big steel threaded bar right through from one side to the other, my thinking is that with the fixing to the rail at the top they are not going to swivel sideways. Yes it'll survive a flood, in fact this particular brook does not flood up to the level of the abutments, its very steep. The main beam is 14" wide by 12" deep, we concreted a 2 foot square stone slab in for it to sit on then built up the sides, as we were building up we added another steel rod through the beam and into the concrete so its not going anywhere.
Oh yes and I am very pleased with it thats why I wanted to show it off and I very much appreciate all your comments.
Right-angleism is an abstract greek concept
If I was to get a stone wall, I'd rather have a dry stone one, not a fine dressed one assembled by a mason like you see on old bank's and theatres and that.Check out french or english scribe framing carpenrty, its a system that actually encourages the carpenter's to join wonky/wany/cupped/bent/twisted and generally out of square timbers within a predetermined plan and still end up with a sound structure. Ancient and effective, just like pole lathe's
There work still stand's. My neighbour's house was built that way and Henry VIII was the king then. One problem you will encounter as your timbers begin to dry out is that they will shrink (as much as half an inch or more on the floor beam) and the stantion's will shrink as well, so those butted "joints" will loosen in time. Scribe carpentry makes allowance for shrinkage so it doesnt compromise the structural integrity. If you had housed them even in a shallow 1/2 inch housing, this would have made it more structurally sound. Your relying entirely on one fixing (single bolts). Those cross bolt's will need checking and tightening a few times to alleviate that.Similar threads
