I reuse the old cabin door, converting it into a dining table for the off grid home. For legs, Cali and I snowshoe out to the primitive Adirondack shelter that Joe Robinet and I built last March where I cut some of the logs to length and haul them back to the cabin. The snow is deep in the meadow and Cali, our golden retriever dog, plows through it, loving every minute.
Back at the cabin, I use an axe and drawknife to remove the bark from the logs out on the front porch. Inside the cabin, I use a hand ripping saw to rip a log in half to use as braces on the bottom of the table. I use a brace and hole saw (manual, non-power drill) to make mortises in the logs, and I handcut the tenons with a Virtus knife and a wooden mallet.
For meals this week on camera, I have curried squash stew, chicken and fried potatoes, all cooked on the wood stove in cast iron pans.
At the end of table build, I explain why I made it the way I did, and what I still have to do to it to make it more permanent and stable. Working with green wood has challenges.
I bring a couple of items of furniture for the off grid home - my childhood chair from my rolltop desk, and a foot stool that I made in 1996 out of white pine, the year I got married. On the front of the stool, I hand carved a white timber wolf.
In my self reflections, I talk about gratitude, thanking all of the amazing viewers and/or subscribers for following me on my journey in 2017. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, or happy holidays, and I talk about my plans for 2018.
In 2018, I plan to build all of the infrastructure required to make this a permanent wilderness homestead, including a workshop, implement shed, woodshed, root cellar, smokehouse, outdoor kitchen, bread oven, cheese cave, food cache, sauna and more.
For the solar light bulb; amzn.to/2BQvSQ2
For the Agawa Canyon saw: amzn.to/2BPV6OF
To see what I’m up to during the rest of the week between videos, please follow me on my other online channels;
Website: myselfreliance.com/
Facebook - / myselfreliance
Personal Facebook Page (Shawn James) - / shawn.james.msr
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#offgrid #logcabin #woodworking