All ladders, work horses, and boards have been cleaned up.

Just wrapping it up.

The final Product

A few more rafters and some more rustic latticework and then we'll call it a day.

End rafters installed. Getting easier all the time.

The rear of the structure is stable enough with the cross bracing however the front was a little floppy so to prevent racking, I stiffened up the front with a couple of braces as well. I was lucky to find a couple of nicely arched branches, again thanks to '98 Ice Storm damaged trees, which made nice decorative braces, although straight poles would have been much stronger and would withstand bending much better.

Each slat had an identical mirror image pair, so I positioned them opposite each other on each side. I also put the curvier slats further outward with the concave side facing out. It adds to the fan look.

Must say this felt very fruitful. Now it is back to the easy stuff again of drilling, sawing and screwing. I want to add a rafters for the vines and fill in the sides so that the Virginia creeper and wild grape have more to climb on. I chose these two plants since they are indigenous to the area and grow easily and quick and both become a showy red in the fall.

I figure another day or work and it should be done.

BTW, the seat is very comfortable.

I had to reposition the slats a couple of times. I did it completely by eye at first and 'tilt' they all sloped to one side. Back to the drawing board.

I then accurately positioned the centre slats, end slats and two slates in the middle of each side, and then eye balled the remaining. I had to saw 7 logs in half to make 14 boards.

Today was more interesting than past days. After all the sawing I got to assemble all the back boards or slats. I tacked them on with nails and then sat back on my foldable chair and stared at it a while. Eventually this fan pattern emerged. I then fitted the three seat boards. So the chair is done.

I put the seat boards in place to get a feel for it. Looks like I'll need a third board to make a wider seat.
This is design on-the-fly.

To determine the size of the seat I went around to our various lawn chairs and patio chairs to determine what size was the most comfortable.
I figured that the front edge of the seat had to be about 45 cm off the ground, the seat should go back (width) about 45 cm with a slope of 10 to 1 going down so it goes back 45 cm and drops 4.5 cm. The back height should be 60 cm and slope back 10 to 4. So If I go up 50 cm it slopes back 20 cm. In the end we'll only know how comfortable it is by sitting on it.

I used the same technique to rip smaller logs for the back rest and it worked like a charm. I didn't need the board on top to guide the log from dropping as in the earlier cut. The log is much lighter so I was easily able to keep the log up and the guide-board flat against the fence while feeding the log.

The spots in the photo turn out to be back scatter from the camera flash reflecting against floating airborne sawdust particles.

Worked like a charm. Being rough on the outside all measurements were by eye for example when trying to find the center of the log. A center-finder would not have been of much use in this case since the end is not exactly round. It might estimate the center of the end butt, but the since the logs are not straight in the middle of the length of the log it could be cutting to one side.

The log is fastened to the guide board. Blocks were nailed to the log such that the front edge of the block is exactly centered with the desired cutting plane. The fence was adjusted so that the saw blade lined up also with the intended cutting plane.

Quite honestly I was worried that this jury rigged setup might jam and cause the saw to bind but it actually worked quite well.

The log is now ready for ripping. I'll rip one side and then flip it over and rip the other side always keeping the base up against the fence.

I decided to use a piece of scrap lumber as a guide-board which I made sure was very straight to feed the log into the table saw while holding the guide-board against the fence. I fastened the log butt ends to two small perfectly square plywood blocks so that the front edge lined up with the middle of the log, and fastened it with a hinge to the guide board. The width of the two blocks from guide-board to front edge were exactly identical and I set the fence on the table saw so that the blade lined up exactly with the fronts of the blocks. I screwed a board on top of the log to keep the log from dropping in case it was too heavy to safely hold the guide-board against the fence.

Yesterday grandsons and I pulled this larger trunk out of the bush and cut it to length to make the seat boards. The challenge for today is to try to split this log in half and then use the flat side up to make the seat. If I had a saw mill this would be easy enough but all I have is a table saw and it only cuts 7.5 cm deep.

The log is not perfectly straight, nor perfectly round and is tapered, so there is no way that you can just throw it onto a tablesaw to cut it down the middle.

To find the plane of the curve of the log I laid the log on the floor and let it roll until it settled. This way I found a rough determination of the plane. I then pencilled a line on each end of the log parallel to the floor. I had to make sure the knots were smoothed right down to let it roll freely.

Sun stream through the clouds viewed over the field.

I finally found some help. There is nothing like good enthusiastic grandsons to help out.

As a result of the 1998 Ice Storm quite a number of trees in the woodlot were damaged. 13 years later some of the broken trees survived and grew these interesting arched branches which make up the top of the arbour.

Frames are now braced together. Front view.

The Arbour frames are up -- still a little tottery -- as viewed from up the trail looking out towards the field.

Trail Entrance Near Chosen Arbour Location

View of the entrance to the trail leaving the field at sunset. The arbour will be just to the right of this photo.

A very late Snake.

This is a small (full grown) red bellied snake found by and rescued from our cat, near the arbour. It preys mainly on slugs so it is a welcome tenant. This time of year this would be quite rare but since it is so warm I guess the snakes are not inclined to go to hibernation yet.

Setting up the Frame

Round logs, even though they look straight really aren't. That makes it challenging to make a square, true and plumb structure. I used these boards as reference points. They were cut to exact length and fastened squarely on the logs.

To ensure that the two boards are square I measured the diagonals to the outside corners of the boards and kept adjusting the shape until they were equal.I then fastened a diagonal brace to keep the shape.

An Initial Sketch

Lots of ideas emerge at the most inopportune times like at three in the morning. This sketch is the result of one such inspiration when the arbour concept emerged.

Building an Arbour from Rough Logs

The first project will be the building of an arbour. This arbour will be made totally of eastern white cedar found in the local forest. The cedars are cut where the trees are too crowded and thus stunting each other's growth. It's called thinning in the vernacular.