Bert and I got the rafters up yesterday. There are only 16 or 17 but each one started out at about 18 feet and they were rough sawn, meaning that they were thicker than most lumber people are used to from Home Depot. Some of these were a full two inches thick.

Just so you know: a 2×6, twelve feet long from Home Depot weighs maybe 20-25 pounds (I am guessing). A 2×6 out here is either Hemlock or Fir and weighs at least twice that. The local boards are much, much stronger and much, much more attractive than the paste-and-soap boards at the local building supply store.

Bert, like many locals, has his own mill to make the boards he needed to build his house. If he needs lumber, he just cuts up a fallen tree. I have never seen the process from start to finish but it is easy enough to imagine. Carry, drag, cajole a ‘cut’ piece from a fallen tree (at least one foot longer than the pieces you need) and lever the damn thing up onto the bed of the mill. Typically these ‘beds’ look like rails and, of course, they are off the ground a few feet so there’s a bit o’ heavy lifting right there.

And trees never fall conveniently close to the mill, either.

After they take off slightly rounded slabs that include the bark (which pretty much ‘squares the log’), they begin to cut ‘for real’. The first two inch slab is carefully cut up to ‘set’ the depth of cut and put aside. Then, after all the two inch slabs are done, they are run through again to make 2×4’s, 2×6’s and more – up to 2x 12’s. I’ve seen wider, even. Most of the guys do this work alone. Bert cut some 8 x 12’s at least 16 feet long!

Then, after they have their rough lumber cut, they stack it and start again on the next log piece. I swear a 2×12 wet Hemlock 16 feet long weighs in at about 80 pounds. It certainly feels that heavy! The majority of our rafters were 16+ and some were recent cuts so they were still wet and pretty damn heavy.

Bert is virtually the same age as I am (a few weeks apart) and both of us have more than a few creaky parts. So, for the most part, we carry these boards together but once in awhile, when it is necessary, I’ll pick one up and carry it myself. 80 pounds. No big deal.

But they do seem to ‘add up’ over the course of a day.

After the rafters are cut to length and ‘notched’ expertly by Bert (birds-mouthed), we have to get them up on the roof of the bunkhouse. A little lifting, a little ladder climbing and maybe a sliver or two and voila!, one board is on the roof. “Only 16 or so more!”

Of course, I made the mistake of yawning.

“Hey! We’ve got a few of the boards on the cutting table already. I can manage. Why don’t you go inside, maybe put on a movie? Take it easy, old man. You are looking a bit tired.”

“Fuggedaboutit! I’m good. C’mon, let ér rip!“

“Hey, you can’t fool me. Sal would kill me if I let you die out here! Go on, now. Go in and watch something nice on the DVD. Disney’s Bambi is in there. You’ll like that. Watch Bambi! That’ll put you to sleep. Go on. Have a little nap, eh?”

It is embarrassing how tempted I was.

“No way, you old bastard. That is all I need. ‘Dave watched Bambi while I cut rafters!’. Ya think I’m stupid? Just cut!”

Bert cackled away to himself for a bit. But he began to move slower as the rafters accumulated. We got ém all up. Covered them with a tarp and put the tools away. By the end of the day, we were happy to quit. Very happy indeed.