wildcat-bridge

[wildcat-bridge]

I wasn't well yesterday, but fine today. The weather was dry, so I got on with the last bits of sawing; two end cross beams and the last recess cuts.

Drilled and coutersunk the deck nramd ready for attaching to the cross beams and applied two coats of wood preservative to the notches and screw holes.

Finally I assembled the middle three flat pack assemblies, and I'm completely ready to do the last four.

[wildcat-bridge]

Nearly there!

A slight drizzle in the air today.

I cut the cross beams to length and cut the halving joints for the handrail posts at either end. Hard work doing the cut along the grain as the circular saw wouldn't cut that deep and was very hard to keep on line as full depth in wet wood put it really at its limit of torque. Finishing of the cuts with a hand saw was very tiring.

I'll have to adjust the halving joints on the uprights to match.

The wood preservative arrived ready for tomorrow.

Once I've cut two end beams to length I'll be ready to start assembling; drilling the holes, painting preservative on exposed post interiors, and then bolting the assemblies together.

[wildcat-bridge]

Getting started

I collected the wood from Andy's. Unfortunately it has been sitting in the open for a long time, and so is rather wet. Also, it is all 2.4m stobs rather than the 1.8 that it should have been. Hopefully I'll be able to use the excess for the fill in pieces for the deck.

The mitre saw works fine, and I've made sure it is correctly zeroed for the angles.

Three clamps secures it to the picnic table.

I'll have to cut a piece of wood to support the free end of the stobs.

It was snowing in the early morning, but when it had stopped I set up the mitre saw to do the ends on the longitudinal timbers. I found an ex storage heater brick which was just the right size to support the ends, and used a clamp to line up with the saw fence. I was very careful to get the correct angle, and off I went. Did one end of the first 14 stobs before lunch. Even the driest were really wet.

Finally finished all the stob ends and set up to do the end rebates next.

After a day off when I went cycling, and this morning when I had to do some repairs at Dunmore, I got back to the bridge. All the bevelled ends have now got the first cut for the cross beam cutout. The second cut will have to be done with the circular saw as the angle is too extreme for the mitre.

Before packing up for the day, I did the first mid beam slot. Having carefully set the depth limiter to 67mm I trench cut with the mitre saw, and the used a router to clear out between cuts, finishing off with a plane. I'm very happy with the results and I'll do the other 23 tomorrow.

I ordered some coach screws from Amazon for the assembly, and checked I had the right size drill.

At last good weather and nothing more to be done to Dunmore. I did get started yesterday before rain stopped play, but today I completed all the cross beam recesses. It was a complicated and time consuming task involving trench cutting with the mitre saw, chiselling, routing, and a touch of planing.

The depth stop on the mitre saw isn't very precise, and with it set at 67mm from the base, the timber needed to be held away from the fence by 75mm

Another dry day, though rather cold.

I did all the cutouts for the cross beams today, except for the double size ones for the ground beams. Rather tricky work with the circular saw leaving a lot of tidying up by hand with a chisel.

All these cuts penetrate into the interior of the stob that is in affect shielded from the pressure treatment, so I have ordered some Cuprinol to treat the new surfaces.

Next job is to make a start on the cross beams (and to finish off those awkward end recesses).

[wildcat-bridge]

I'm building a Leonardo da Vinci bridge for the Wildcat Trail.