Mortise & Tenon Sawhorses at the Log Cabin, Is This Really Off Grid Living?

• Report rights infringement
• published: 23 Mar 2018
• views: 166903

I finally spend some time building a set of sawhorses for the off grid log cabin using mortise and tenon joinery, a simple woodworking technique that is well suited to my rough carpentry skills and primitive life at the wilderness homestead. I really didn't take me long since I had cut the red pine log in half almost a year ago and I cut the balsam fir legs last March, 2017. Cutting the tenons with a knife, axe and draw knife took very little time since I didn't need a precise fit and did not need it to look like finished furniture. I cut the mortises with a 1/1/4" auger, a simple hand tool traditionally used for drilling deep holes through wood in timber frame structures. Cali, my golden retriever, did slow me down a bit as she is constantly asking me to throw her training dummy for her to fetch, which she does with a lot of energy, eventually burning out and falling asleep at my feet despite the noise that I make with the woodworking tools. The pair of sawhorses, which are about four feet long and thirty-four inches high (I'll cut the legs down a bit and even them out once the snow melts) came in very handy while I worked on the rest of the log cabin this week. I used them as a base to cut the pine logs to trim the west window, to cut short lengths of pine for floating shelves between the window and the woodstove and to plane smooth the flat side of the balsam fir logs splits, the wood that I'm using as the stringers for the staircase to the loft of the tiny house. The weather this week is a little unusual - very sunny but cold, quite a bit colder than is typical for mid March. In fact, the sap in the sugar maple trees has not flowed since the day I tapped the trees and installed the spiles and buckets, more than two weeks ago. Judging by the forecast, sap won't start running for another week or so (maybe by the time this video is live). However, even though it's cold this week, February was a record year for warm temperatures, which really cut back the amount of firewood I burned this winter. In fact, I burned less than a cord of wood since early January, which means I have a good start on next year's wood. My meals are relatively simple in this video. For dinner, I make venison stir-fry and bannock, using the bannock as a wrap to make fajitas with venison, onions, leeks, garlic, tomato, hot and sweet peppers and mushrooms. Click on this link for my bannock recipe. https://myselfreliance.com/my-self-reliance-bannock-recipe/ For breakfast the following morning, I have leftover bannock with butter and peanut butter and oatmeal with blueberries. Instead of coffee, I drink black tea sweetened with maple sugar. At the end of the video, I talk about what off grid living means to me, both as a literal definition as well as a way of life. Off grid literally means living disconnected from the utility grid, which in Ontario Canada means the Hydro One electricity transmission and distribution utility. I'm definitely not connected to the grid at the cabin, but to me off-grid means more than being independent for electricity. It also means being free of other dependencies, including heating fuels such as coal, gas or propane, phone service, internet service, transportation fuels, and more. In this regard, I am far from off the grid - I'm just as connected as most people living in developed countries. It's something that still bothers me and I'm doing the best that I can do to disconnect and become more self reliant, but I acknowledge that it's unlikely that I'll ever be truly off grid and independent, and I'm okay with that. Links to products I use at the cabin; Solar LED light bulb 15W http://amzn.to/2BQvSQ2 Agawa Canyon Boreal 21 Saw http://amzn.to/2BPV6OF Copper Fairy lights http://amzn.to/2BCmF0X Solar String Lights http://amzn.to/2DvgU2n Banneton 12" round http://amzn.to/2ByxwsF Lodge Dutch Oven http://amzn.to/2kHuxDQ Flamen heat resistant gloves up to 500 degrees http://amzn.to/2l1mRMm Rocksheat baking stone http://amzn.to/2kF6eql Mora Knife http://amzn.to/2BOiv35 Lamp OiI http://amzn.to/2qz0nZ1 Wall Lantern (candle lit) http://amzn.to/2Dpa0MK Moka Pot http://amzn.to/2DEomvO Canada http://amzn.to/2ndmtw6 USA Canon 6D http://amzn.to/2EdaZjs DJI Mavic Pro http://amzn.to/2DHuJib Bragg's Sprinkle http://amzn.to/2EdouzK Axe http://www.torontoblacksmith.com/ To see what I’m up to during the rest of the week, please follow me on my other online channels; Website: http://myselfreliance.com/ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/MySelfReliance/ Personal Facebook Page (Shawn James) – https://www.facebook.com/shawn.james.msr Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/myselfreliance/ Mailing Address: P.O. Box 20042 Barrie, Ontario L4M 6E9 Canada